Hi - We have a fantastic 13 month old black Lab, our 4th in 30yrs. Sam has a fine strain of English blood in him (Rocheby Navy Blue etal) and as our son is a vet in Devon I thought I'd pop in and say "Hi" offer my 2cents worth if I may?

The Dog Listener turned up in a pile of appro books. After just buying another for the library which was to be "The Answer to our Town's Dog Problems" but not, I was cautious. Fortunately I snuck it home over last weekend to preview and truely our life has changed. I now want to own a pack of dogs - shhh! don't tell my husband or the neighbours!

Sam would not walk on a slack lead - any amount of us eating first, him waiting at doors respectfully etc, crate training, the works, have not solved this problem It was ridiculous! A nice slack lead at clip-on time resulted in a gigantic pull on the road to the lakeshore.

I kid you not - it took less than a half a day of just giving each other space. Fancy not catching onto "dog" after 30 yrs of being a dog owner (feeder more like it). To have a dog that returns to me in a flash, ears bouncing round, running hell for leather, with a smile, is worth everything to me. I can at last walk my dog in confidence, not freak out at a runner or cyclist using "our" track around the lake. No more bouncing at visitors, no hole staring to be worked on in the garden, no undies getting dragged out of the washpile. We were getting so sick of having our shoes slammed into us first thing in the morning. Ohhhh meanie, you all go but its true!

I will pass on the book to my neighbour via her 3 teenagers. They have an even more expensive Westie than our noble hound, same age as Sam, semi-ruined as well, but at least he walks nicely on his lead. She bought the other book on my recommedation so don't think she will trust me to buy another. At least that was the first time we both learnt about dog's behaviour in a clear accessible style. Had great cartoons too esp of whisper walking the dog down the street. I tried that for weeks too. Crazy lady!

I didn't even know that a dog couldn't understand English ;-) but now I think I can understand Preliminary Dog 101.

All thanks to Jan, and Sam too.
Barbara in NZ

I had Jan Fennell come to my home to help me sort a problem I had with my Police Dog & I was impressed by her advice & confidence. The main ingredient is respect & changing leadership, whether we like it or not the majority of dogs believe they are in charge through no fault of their own. At the time of Jan's arrival I had a 10 week old Beauceron/GSD bitch & we began to train her (& ourselves) Jan's way, the results were great & still are 18 months later. The most important aspect is not to speak to the dog just because the dog wants attention it must be on your terms. The training also worked for my Police dog, who was much older. I am a believer in this gentle way of training & I surprised myself particularly as I have had Dogs all my life including showing & judging since 1978 & I thought I knew what I was doing. There are always things to learn with animals, they are a great leveller.

Since reading the posts I've gone out and bought myself a copy of the book. I can't put it down (except to come on here). I'm trying to convince my lovely, lovely boyfriend that it would be a great idea for me to go on her course as well but he's not convinced yet. Thanks for bringing up the subject of Jan Fennell. PS If you can think of any clean ways that I can persuade the other half to give me the dosh to go on the course they would be greatly appreciated! :D

Why Jill, think of all that money you will save being able to train your own dog and not having to spend it on expensive training courses!! :D