What to expect from a house visit or one to one

Dogs are living creatures, not machines. Neither we not any other trainer can give guarantees about the results of training and house visits.

Nevertheless, knowledge and experience tell us that we can give the following rough guide about what to expect.

A house visit for a consultation or one-to-one session is usually around two to three hours. In the majority of cases for most problems, further house visits are not necessary.

Here are some of the most common types of problems that we do house visits for

The Problem		What we would normally expect to achieve in one visit
Aggression to other dogs at a distance
	Your dog starts pulling, barking and being aggressive to other dogs at a distance. You can't walk down the street without your dog exploding at another dog on the other side of the street.	In most cases, we achieve a reduction of your dog's reaction and increase your control. We do not guarantee no reaction at all. We give you advice on minimising the problem and how to get out of difficult situations. With some breeds and temperaments, this kind of problem can often be so severe that there is no improvement in one session, in these cases, all we can do is increase your control and reduce the likelihood that you will be pulled over or hurt by your dog's antics. Aggression problems with most dogs usually require long-term attendance at special classes to make a real difference.

Aggression to other dogs only close up
	Your dog doesn't explode or throw itself around with dogs at a distance, it tries to attack them only when it gets close enough	This is much more tricky. We don't guarantee to solve this in one session and this kind of thing usually requires you to practise certain things we show or describe to you long-term. Commonly, we demonstrate ways you can reliably interrupt the process before attack occurs and we give you practical management advice on avoiding the problem and avoiding coming into breach of the law on dogs.

Running off to other dogs
	You hardly dare let your dog off lead because as soon as it sees another dog it runs off and ignores you (no aggression is involved)	We show you how to stop this happening and we actually do it. By the end of the session, in most cases, your dog will be voluntarily hesitating and/or responding to recall where it would have just continued running off and ignoring you.

Chasing livestock, geese, cyclists, joggers etc
	Your dog lunges at or chases moving objects, animals or people	Same as for "running off to other dogs"

Pulling on lead
	Your dog spends most of its time pulling you arm off and ignoring you	Your dog will be walking voluntarily at your side with a slack lead. You will be coached in the technique for getting your dog to carry on doing this permanently. If your dog also tends to lunge at passer's by or other dogs etc. then this may complicate the situation and you should see the entries for "Aggression to other dogs..etc". We do not just fit a face collar, take your money and leave.

Hyperactive in the home / jumping up / barking
	Your dog never relaxes; the batteries never run down. It jumps up visitors, pesters you all the time, rushes around perhaps it barks all the time at things.	We will determine the cause of this and show you some calming exercises and methods on the spot to stop this. We will also give you a program of things to do (and not to do) and rules which will keep the dog calm in future.

Barking / howling / vandalism / toilet in the home when you leave your dog alone
	When you go out, your dog barks or howls or chews and wrecks things	We will determine the cause of the behaviour and give you a program of things to practise and do (and not to do) to stop the dog doing this. It is almost never possible to stop this behaviour on the spot during the visit. In most cases, if you do what we advise, the problem will stop within a few days. In some severe cases, it can take a few of weeks.

Aggression to visitors
	Your dog barks all the time or threatens or actually bites visitors	We will determine the exact nature of the aggression (there are several common variations). Depending upon why your dog is being aggressive, we may demonstrate things you can do immediately to stop it or we may give you longer-term advice with practical things you can do to minimise and avoid the problem.

(We can't list everything here but we hope this list shows you roughly how we go about things)

In virtually all cases, during the visit, we will demonstrate things you can do to control the situation and change the dog and we will coach you in doing these things. You will almost always be given a set of things to do (and not do) that will enable you to continue pushing back against the problem yourself, without further help from a trainer.

The advice we give you on the spot will normally be put in writing in a report to you so that you don't have to remember it all just from the visit.

The report will usually explain the behavioural nature of the problem in ways that enable you to understand why it is happening and what else you can do to help solve it yourself.

In almost all cases, solving the problem will involve you learning certain physical moves and being able to do them with reasonable accuracy and timing. It will also involve you being willing to practise the things you have been shown regularly and consistently. When you are training a dog to do (or stop doing) something, what you get out is simply what you put in.

The relationship you have with your dog in the home often makes a big difference to its behaviour outdoors and we may occasionally advise changes of domestic routine and house rules.

For some problems, we may recommend a course of lessons as a follow up and aggression problems frequently require long-term attendance at special classes to complete the cure.

Sometimes, people own dogs that are frankly too big and strong for them. When certain kinds of dog learn that they are stronger than their owner, it can take a lot of practise and commitment by the owner to put things right again. If you are in this situation and you have mobility or physical problems that affect your strength and fitness then sometimes, it may not be possible to achieve a satisfactory resolution of the problem.

There aren't any - snake oil and mumbo-jumbo don't work. Changing what a dog does can only be done by practising doing and not doing certain things with it.