These are for dogs and owners who would benefit from a group situation, and are held on Mondays and Thursday evenings in a church hall. Visitors are very welcome to just turn up, though if you are thinking of joining, I suggest that if it's your first visit, you should probably leave your dog at home, so that you can more easily observe without the dog distracting you. Classes are held on Monday and Thursday evenings at 7.30pm. The price is £70.00 for the nine week course. The address is: All Saints Church Hall, New Cross Road, New Cross, SE14. The hall is situated between Monson Road, and Casella Road.

NO DOGS ARE ALLOWED TO JOIN THE CLASS IF THEY ARE VOCALLY AGGRESSIVE TOWARDS OTHER DOGS, as if they are aggressive, putting them into a hall full of untrained dogs is unlikely to make them feel any better, and may make them much worse.

Dogs are trained in groups of no more than six, and there are normally at least three and sometimes up to five trainers present at a time, so plenty of individual attention is available.

Unlike many classes, we do not run sessions strictly for puppies, as we feel that it is important for puppies to quickly learn how to behave around dogs of all ages. After all, the majority of dogs that they meet when they go out on walks will be adults, and if they do not know how to behave, they are likely to get themselves into trouble.

Classes focus on typical training problems, such as pulling on the lead, lack of recall, reluctance to stay, jumping up, and refusing to leave when told. We also do exercises in teaching your dogs to accept being handled, and an exercise in play.

Printed handouts explaining exercises covered are given out at the end of each session.

This is for dogs that primarily have basic training problems and/or relatively minor behavioural problems, but where either the dog and/or the owner may not want a class situation, or feel it more suitable to carry out the training in situ, with each session normally lasting around two hours, with prices starting at £150.00 for the two hour session, though journeying time will obviously affect the price.

Training sessions are normally carried out at the owners home, or local open space, depending on the problems the owner and dog are having.

the one-one session is usually spent looking at the relationship between the owner and the dog, and the problems that relationship is causing. This is usually carried out indoors. Sessions may be carried out outdoors if that is where the training issues manifest themselves.

One-one sessions focus on typical training problems, but what is taught will be decided as much by the owner as by me. So, the owner will tell me what they want the dog taught or un-taught, but there may be other issues or exercises that I might suggest may be useful to them.

These are for dogs and/or owners with serious behavioural problems, such as aggression, separation related behaviours, sound sensitivities and phobias, and inappropriate toileting. They will also cover any training problems that the dog and owner may have.

Consultations usually take around two-three hours, and are normally carried out at the owners home. That time is spent gathering a history of the dog, it's problems and why I think that it has them, it's relationship with the owners, and how we will aim to re-educate the dog and remove the problem behaviours. I then take that information away with me and write a step-by-step program for the owner to follow to put right the problems we have discussed. I then get them to keep in touch on the phone on a weekly basis for as long as they feel necessary. The cost for all of this starts at £200.00 though journeying time will obviously affect the price.

Rob's Basic Principles of Dog Training and Behaviour