Rosie & Jim

I have been working with Anthony since early November; I reached out to him as I had a 10 year old Labrador (Jim) that is super protective of me and the house and has a tendency to not like men either!

I made the very quick decision to get Rosie a puppy Labrador and just thought I could pop them together with no implications but how wrong was I!!

Anthony was really professional and answered my initial email really quickly and came to the house 3 days later. By this time I was super stressed and actually regretting getting the puppy! Anthony was great at talking me through the process and how we would get the 2 integrated over the next 10 weeks.

Initially I thought I can’t wait this long as a real faff keeping the 2 separate…… however I did stick to his guidelines and created a puppy jail for Rosie so she was in the room with Jim but he couldn’t get to her. Within a week the growling at her stopped (the odd one when food was involved).

We started by just holding Rosie while sat with Jim and cuddling him, then moved to Rosie coming out on walks being carried until jabs done so he got used to having her around. Then we progressed to the garden within a couple of weeks under safe supervision.

Then by week 4 after jabs we were out on walks together but on lead for both and at a safe distance and lots of treats so Jim got to realise that Rosie meant treats for him. Week 6-8 while still having puppy jail at home we were out on walks off lead with no grumbles from him. During this time we also had a bit more time in the house together also.

By week 9 puppy jail was down and they are out together all the time now apart from when I am not in the room and at night time when Rosie goes in her crate.

I couldn’t recommend Anthony more highly but you have to stick to what he tells you and be patient. His care and passion for dogs is unconditional and I am hugely grateful to him for getting my fur babies together and both happy. We will continue to work with him as Rosie develops.

Just FYI – I got a different trainer 8 years ago when Jim first started showing signs of aggression and we never really fixed his aggression, and the style was very different to what Anthony has shown me recently. Anthony’s approach has had material results in a very short time – we can get out on a walk without Jimmy growling at other dogs now through the reconditioning work that we have done.

Kim, Rosie and Jim’s owner.