I think it’s fair to say that this profession is in my blood, and that I was always destined to work with animals.
I grew up in the beautiful Hampshire countryside where my late mother Caroline was a dog trainer who competed in obedience, agility, sheepdog trials and flyball, so from a very early age I was submerged in the world of dogs. I went to agricultural college and qualified in Countryside Management and Animal Welfare, as well as taking courses in Canine psychology and behaviour. These courses are of limited value in my opinion, as really worthwhile, meaningful knowledge comes with years of experience, from learning what does and doesn’t work, and a genuinely deep understanding of animals cannot be gained from academic studying and books. Over the years I have worked on various farms, gaining invaluable hands-on experience with a variety of animals and livestock as well, of course, as dogs.
My background has also given me an invaluable understanding of how the countryside works which I feel is crucial for the type of training I specialise with, as I am aware of the potential risks involved when untrained dogs encounter wildlife and livestock in the countryside.
I am a reward based trainer but I take a balanced approach to training, which means that I teach everything with rewards and where necessary I will use the minimum amount of pressure that the dog dictates is needed to help him/her understand what is required – it's how dogs learn from each other and it’s a kind and compassionate approach as it builds confidence in both the dog and the owner. There is little more demoralising than months of unsuccessful training with the hapless owner desperately employing high pitched squeaky voices in their hapless attempts to become more relevant to the dog, and the dog becoming gradually more confused or anxious and still they see no measurable progress towards reliable recall or obedience – a frustrating situation that sees many owners accepting their dog’s lack of recall as par for the course – how often have you heard or said it - ‘It’s okay, he’s friendly’ or ‘He’s a rescue’ or ‘He’s never run off for this long before!’
I am often the last hope for owners who have often invested a lot of time and money with trainers who have not been honest with them and have, instead, taken huge sums of money and spent months and sometimes YEARS assuring owners of highly driven dogs that it IS possible to overcome what is a perfectly natural, genetic but incredibly powerful innate desire to chase something that moves, if they just keep practising or buy more tasty rewards. Owners are far too often left feeling their dog is naughty, wilful or somehow broken, and they feel sad and deflated at their inability to stop their dog from tuning them out on walks when he/she ‘goes deaf’ and no amount of frantic calling or delicious smelling treats will bring their dog back. These dogs are so often failed by ‘purely positive’ trainers who denounce the use of any forms of pressure in training, but these are the dogs who often will not take treats - the only thing they’re interested in is getting their nose down and following scents – this makes rewarding them nigh on impossible and this is the reality so many owners face. These hard-wired hunting and herding dogs and dogs with genetics from breeds originally bred to work are often the ones who pose the most risk to themselves and other animals, as their innate, purpose-bred drive to hunt and chase moving objects cannot always be overcome with treats and praise – people who claim it can often proudly call themselves ‘science based’ or ‘force free’ trainers. What these trainers fail to realise is that the mere fact that they are restraining a dog whilst it lunges and drags them towards a deer or squirrel IS force – they are forcibly preventing the dog from acting on its impulses. These dogs’ prey drive can make relaxing walks in the country a miserable and stressful experience either struggling to negotiate a tangled longline or taking the risk that today might be the day the dog never does find his way back – at the end of the day, if you cannot call your dog back in EVERY SITUATION, NO MATTER WHAT, then he isn’t SAFE. Every year thousands of livestock animals, deer, hares, ground nesting birds, swans, and many other animals are killed unnecessarily due to dogs’ genetic urge to chase prey, or the dogs are put to sleep when their owners come to the sad realisation that for some dogs, life on a lead is just too frustrating and stressful, in fact it’s no life at all.
When I first embarked on a career in dog training, I had an idealistic vision of being able to exclusively use rewards to achieve complete reliability for every dog in every situation. In 2020, I was forced to re-evaluate my training methods and open my eyes to alternative options for keeping these kinds of dogs safe. I was notified of the tragic deaths of three dogs I had trained over the years, all in completely separate incidents. All three had met a terribly sad end due to their desire to chase prey and DESPITE all having great overall obedience. One took off to chase sheep and was subsequently shot by the farmer, one ripped itself open on barbed wire in the pursuit of a deer and one was hit by a car while chasing a squirrel. I was devastated and took the loss of these dogs and their families’ grief to heart. I felt I had failed as a trainer and questioned what else I could have done but these were all dogs who were whistle trained, who normally listened to their owners and who were ultimately killed by a sudden surge of prey drive. There had to be an answer.
I started researching the work of some of the world’s most internationally renowned trainers such as Bart Bellon, Larry Krohn, Ivan Balabanov and Jamie Penrith, all of whom work with very driven and often very challenging dogs. It very quickly became obvious that they were all able to safely manage drive and most importantly, the dogs they worked with were very obviously happy and fulfilled! Unlike self proclaimed ‘force free’ trainers who talk a lot and show extraordinarily little in terms of real world obedience in real life, let alone in extremely highly distracting situations, the trainers I was watching were able to maintain incredible levels of enthusiasm and joy in the dogs, but the dogs were reliably obedient even when faced with the most tempting of potentially dangerous temptations. They had learned lessons that would enable them to be safely off lead and the specific training that had facilitated this SAFE freedom was e-collar training.
I spent time with other experianced trainers and professionals who showed me that a high-quality remote collar in the year 2020 was FAR from the crude tools they once were, even ten years ago, and now they are technologically advanced and can be used at incredibly gentle, subtle levels to teach dogs how to respond to the remote pressure as they would respond to pressure from a leash. An experienced trainer and a remote collar can see the most prey driven dog recalling very enthusiastically, and crucially, reliably! I have even trained deaf dogs to be able to enjoy complete off leash freedom to express natural behaviour, exploring and following scents but bounding back to mum at the lightest of barely discernible stimulation from the collar. A remote collar incorporated into the training of any dog, any breed, by an experienced and capable trainer, is a huge boost to welfare.
The process of recall training and making that recall reliable is fun for the dog, contrary to what you may have heard about remote collars! Today’s high quality remote collars are an investment but modern technology means we are able to utilise incredibly low and subtle levels of barely perceivable stimulation (stim) so that the dog understands the sensation as being pressure such as they feel from a leash if they pull – we teach them that the sensation signifies that the ‘lead’ (the invisible/remote lead) has become taut; moreover, when they ‘give’ to the pressure and head back to mum or dad, they’ll get a big fuss or a treat! Proper e-collar training is as simple as an invisible longline, and with my expertise at reading dogs’ body language, my accurate timing (which I teach YOU) and your happy praise, your dog will pick up the concept in no time - it is far less intrusive than hitting the end of a long leash in a surge of prey drive and far less frustrating than being restrained on a lead, as many hundreds of clients can testify – this client was amazed;
“Don’t be fooled by positive only trainers, we wasted thousands trying to stop our dog from chasing after deer and then Rich fixed everything in one week!”
The Dogtra collars I use and recommend are of the highest quality, and I can advise which model will suit your individual needs and dogs’ temperament.
It is no secret that I love Hungarian Viszlas; I have two of my own called Nala & Odin and I train a lot of hunting/pointing/retrieving breeds but there is no dog or breed who cannot be reliably recalled despite high prey drive. I believe all dogs should be loved and live a fulfilled life that enables them to express their natural behaviour and I also believe that a trained dog is a happier dog. I believe that an owner who has off leash control will enjoy their dog more and that the world opens up for the exploring when a dog is highly responsive to the recall command NO MATTER WHAT.
