I was lucky enough to sit next to Mike at a dog training seminar (not realising at the time he was a behaviourist!) and we had fascinating talks about dogs. I had gone to the seminar in search of more answers to dog behaviour, with regard to my retired rescued greyhound Oscar, then aged 10. I had adopted him aged 5. He had clearly had quite a long (and tough) career as a racer, but very little socialisation in the outside world.
Oscar had always been quite reactive/unpredictable around unknown dogs – particularly ones who rushed up to him. I had consulted several trainers and behaviourists in a quest to improve Oscar’s behaviour and make both of us more confident in dealing with and meeting other dogs out and about. Most of these trainers – although perhaps they had *some* good advice – were not at all useful, or if they were any help, they disappeared after a while! I began to think that this was an intractable problem.
After meeting Mike, I was keen to have a consultation with him. Mike was so kind throughout and the best thing was that he could give me a ‘diagnosis’ – which no one else ever had. I will never forget Mike’s words “Your dog is not aggressive” – that gave me so much encouragement! Mike’s techniques, training and support enabled me to gradually increase my own confidence in handling Oscar (which, I must admit, had fallen to an all-time low, due to other personal problems) and he also showed me techniques to get rid of nuisance, out of control dogs that ran over, so that Oscar would feel protected, instead of thinking he had to protect me!
Over a year later, the difference in Oscar is remarkable. I feel confident to leave him off the lead if we see another dog coming (he ignores it usually) and he has successfully met and politely greeted several unknown dogs at the vet and out on walks. I feel much more in control and less worried by his behaviour and this confidence has rubbed off on him too. I now feel I can trust him quite a lot with calm, well-behaved dogs, to greet them nicely and I can deal with difficult or out of control dogs that we encounter.
So I should like to thank Mike very much for his help and would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone having problems with their dog.