Dog And Friends Boutique

We contacted Craig for assistance with our 2 year old Airedale Terrier who was super confident and over exuberant with visitors. He was also becoming a handful when walking. Craig spent a lot of time listening to our concerns and interacting with Robin on our first visit. He was really patient despite the fact Robin spent most of the visit trying to sit on his head. (Sorry Craig).

He gave us tools that were easy to understand and checked numerous times that we understood. He visited us three times, each time extending our training exercises in line with Robin's progress. We could contact him at any time, which we did and he always responded quickly. Robin is a work in progress, he's a big terrier of course he is but I can honestly say he is a different dog.

He is much more polite and calm and we are enjoying our training as he is so eager to please. I can't thank Craig enough and would highly recommend him. His methods are calm and positive at all times. Robin was never frightened at any point.

Lorna was amazing, my chihuahua had very bad separation anxiety after losing my other dog, I didn't think I could ever leave him on his own, but after only a few days following Lorna's advice the difference in him was incredible, 2weeks down the line he is a different dog.i can't thank Lorna enough and highly recommended her to anyone with a doggy problem

Lorna was amazing from the start and knew instinctively what I had to do to help my dog osha with her anxiety.she stayed 3hrs for first appointment to show me what to do and gave me homework with exercises to work on until next appointment. My dog osha is now months calm with minimum barking, I can let people into my house, garden and we are calm in the park now.

I can hover and cut the cut the grass without osha becoming distressed. I am now TOP dog in my home and osha is a more relaxed happy pomeranian.my neighbours, friends, and family cannot believe the improvement in her behaviour. So happy with lorna 's expertise and money well spent. Thankyou so much lorna x

Couldn't speak highly enough about Craig and the way in which he has transformed my relationship with my wee cockapoo. Just a few simple changes to the way in which I was approaching things with her and the difference is incredible. Thank you, Craig!

I paid over 400 for a minimum of 3 sessions. We decided we would need more than 3 which was fine as these were covered in the original price. It all went well to start with. We enjoyed the exercises and i followed what was said to the letter. The trainer cancelled a few of our sessions and they were rescheduled and sometimes i felt the sessions were becoming too far apart.

The trainer also told me to contact him at any time, which i did, but many times he never replied. I would contact him if we had a bad day but he never got back to me. In December 2019, he recommended that i get my dog neutered, . I contacted him to tell him my dog was booked in for January 3rd. He never even responded to my message and even after my dogs op went ahead, he still never got back to me.

So that was the end of our training sessions. Never heard from him again. A year ago i found a trainer online and he has helped me a lot with my dog and when i ask him for advice, hes always there to help

I contacted pawsitive solutions for my rescue dog ozzy.he is reactive to people and other dogs.after a few training sessions with Craig I see a huge difference in ozzies behaviour. I will continue using the training given by Craig and would have no hesitation in recommending him to anyone looking for a behaviourist.

My experience with Lorna was actually from a few years ago now. However, the more I have learnt from working with other dog behaviourists the more I have grown concerned over some of the practices suggested to me. Whilst I hate leaving any kind of negative review, I have felt compelled to share my experiences so others can make a more informed decision about working with this business.

When I called to enquire about dog training for my nervous rescue dog it was not Lorna that I spoke to. I stated that I was looking for positive reinforcement training and at this stage there was no information offered as to the type of training Lorna delivers. When Lorna visited for the first session it was clear that her approach was based on dominance theory (based on evidence that has long since been discredited).

She told me that my dog considered me her puppy and was sleeping by my head as a form of dominance (she actually just likes to rest her head on the pillow). To try and counteract her 'bad behaviours' (looking back now these were just normal dog behaviours), she wanted me to bark at my dog and slam metal discs on a hard floor next to her, which clearly caused her distress.

She also wanted to use a scarf to wrap under my dog to physically force her to walk. I felt incredibly uncomfortable and it felt 'wrong' but I was naive and had no idea about nervous rescue dogs at this point. I used the methods for all of two hours with my dogs tail between her legs and ears back in fear (she is noise sensitive due to her horrendous past) before deciding that there was no way I was going to put my dog through this anymore.

I contacted Lorna to thank her for her time but said that I wanted to move down a more positive reinforcement route. Lorna agreed to part refund me for the course block, however I never received this money. Having worked with some fantastic dog behaviourists since then I have learnt how damaging these types of techniques can be, especially to fearful dogs who have come from a history of fear and abuse. I would much rather have a dog that wants to stop and sniff every few feet (actual normal dog behaviour) than have a dog that does whatever I want out of fear.

My dog was reactive to specific breeds and I wanted a trainer who would use positive methods to help her so I contacted Pawsitive Solutions. They were confident that they could cure her and recommend we do 3 1-2-1 sessions. In the sessions it became clear that the trainer was a big believer in dominance theory and he thought that all my dog needed was obedience and manners.

This wasn't what I was expecting but they had my money and the trainer was genuinely trying to help so I followed his instructions to the letter and put a lot of effort into daily obedience training. After 2 sessions and lots of obedience, Daisy was reactive to all dogs to the point that I could no longer distract her or calm her down. Our trainer could offer no advice on what to do when she reacted or how to help her.

I was scared to walk her and felt completely out of my depth. I didn't do the third session. I switched to an online course that is more than 10x cheaper and genuinely uses positive methods. My dog loved it right from the first session and after 2 weeks her reactivity was almost gone. I now have lots of tools to help her on the rare occasions she does react and a better understanding of my dog.

I'm really angry with myself for putting my dog through so much stress on the advice of an "expert" rather than trusting myself. I'm also not happy at wasting such a large amount of money. Edit: I was refunded for the last session after talking to the trainer who said that there is a strict no refund policy but agreed that in our case he wasn't to able to help and there wasn't much point in doing another session with him.

I was grateful to get at least some of my training budget back as I really needed help. Given your stance on aversives I think that you need to speak to your trainers as you guys aren't on the same page. I'd be happy to share the name of the online training company with you as they do courses for trainers too.

Everything Lorna suggested didn't work with our dog. She was extremely confident when I spoke to her, and explained the issues our Maltese has. She spoke at length about solutions and nothing worked. She promised she would continue to work with my partner and I until we saw an improvement but as she was going on holiday, she asked us to give her a couple of weeks.

I actually had to contact her after 4 weeks, and her advice was contradictory to everything she previously told us. If your dog has complex needs, I would steer clear of this company. I feel I've been conned out of 300 and my dogs behaviour is worse than before we listened to her advice.

Contacted pawsitive solutions for my Yorkshire terriers ages 4 and 2. Had both since puppies however things turned nastie when the wee one turned 2 when eventually had to keep them separated at all times or they would fight. We did this for about 6 months before seeking help trying to introduce new things and trying to reintroduce them periodically. Lorna came out and with her help and guidance after the 2nd visit they were playing again as if nothing had ever happened.

We still have work to do but feel confident the situation is more or less resolved. She advised what the issues where and gave us strategies for changing our behaviour to help with changing the dogs behaviour which we did. Can't thank Lorna enough. Very competitive prices and packages available so you know how much it will be up front. Top marks all round!