About two hours. Sometimes they can run over a bit depending on what work we’re doing. In some circumstances I might suggest that we won’t need that much time, or that we might need more but if that’s the case we’ll discuss it by phone in advance.

I’ll bring anything that might be useful but if the dog is partial to a particular type of treat it might be useful to have some.

This is very much tailored to the dog and what the owner wants to achieve. My sessions are very bespoke in that way. It’s all about enabling the owner, not waving a magic wand. Generally, I like to start a session by discussing with the owners what the dog does now and what they would like the dog to ultimately do. We can then start to explore some ways to achieve this. Normally we’ll go for a walk as well. This allows me to take a look at the dog outside of the home and how it interacts with the owner. Often the problem behaviours occur outside of the house so it’s a critical time to make some changes.

Firstly, I’m not usually training the dog, I’m teaching the owner how to better train the dog. The owner is then enabled to carry on and bring about permanent change. I would expect to see some improvement in the dog during the session but for the majority of behaviours we’re looking at finding lasting strategies to help you and the dog.

Technically, I could, but it is more powerful if you train your own dog and I’ll teach you the methods to do that. That way you learn how to do it but crucially you develop a better relationship with the dog and that is vital.

Yes, whatever the breed, whatever the size. Different breeds have their own quirks but they are all dogs at heart. Having an understanding of the breed characteristics might help us get to the root of a problem and to find the right solution, especially with working breeds. This is one of the reasons why a bespoke approach works so well, we’ll deal with the dog that’s in front of us regardless of breed, size, age or sex.

A dog trainer is teaching a dog to perform a task or develop a skill. A behaviourist is using psychology to uncover why a dog is doing something and how that behaviour could be stopped, changed or developed. There is a grey area in the middle. To get a good result when training it helps to have an understanding of behaviour; to change behaviour we might use training techniques, so a good trainer is also a behaviourist and a behaviourist will have a good working knowledge of training methods.

In-home training allows me to see how the dog behaves within its “natural environment” and how it interacts with the owner there. With a problem behaviour this gives me a better read on what’s going on and how best to move forward. When you take your dog to an unusual place there are subtle indicators which might not be expressed. The added bonus is that it is normally more convenient for the owner too.

I can’t give a guarantee because it depends on the input from the owner, for lasting change the owner will need to put in a certain amount of work. However, to make sure you are supported to do that work I do offer everyone free ongoing telephone support. So if something doesn’t quite make sense when you’re next out for a walk, the dog does something unexpected or you can’t quite remember something that was discussed you can drop me a line and we’ll work through it.