This is quite an emotional story to write, now that I am thinking about it!

We decided to add a dog to our family and I spent a long time researching dogs which would not stimulate allergies which some of us have and would be a suitable temperament and size for the kids to walk. I had had dogs in my family all of my life so was keen my kids had the same experience. Having spoken to lots of breeders on the phone and spent hours reading up, we welcomed 9 week old Luath (a show cocker spaniel) into our home. She was great and was socialised with lots of people of all ages. When she was 12-13 weeks old she started showing anxiety and became reluctant to interact with new people or dogs.

Puppy classes were really stressful for her, she wanted to hide behind the chairs the whole hour and wouldn't go out for a walk for 2 days after each class. Visits to the vet were difficult and I was told to 'get on top of her behaviour'. Hmmm!! An animal behaviourist was recommended and on meeting Luath for an afternoon, informed me that I needed to do three things - cover over the windows in the living room so she couldn't see out; not let her near other dogs and not let the kids walk her on their own. By the time he left, I was fighting back the tears - our lovely dog so affectionate and loving with us and struggling with her fears which we couldn't really understand was condemned to a life of being unable to interact with anyone else but her close family (and had to stay in rooms she couldn't see out of!!) We tried reactive dog classes - no help.

After a period of feeling quite sad, I decided to have another try for help. I was looking for another dog trainer closer to where we live and with experience of anxiety and reactiveness when I found LInnea and Gregor's website.

The first time Linnea came round, I immediately felt that she understood the issues we had and had a sensible approach to managing them by looking at the emotions behind the behaviour rather than the behaviour itself. Initially, she and Luath had a 'tussle' on either end of the lead but after 2 hours, Luath had learned an automatic sit, dog parkour and was walking beside Linnea and taking treats from her!! It was magical to watch and be part of.

We have had 1:1 sessions at home and in the Meadows as well as play sessions in our garden with some of the daycare dogs. All of these have taught my family and I how to manage Luath in different situations and allowed her to gain confidence.

The Sunday morning social walks have given Luath the chance to gain trust with other dogs - all of whom have their own issues. She has learned that nothing awful is necessarily going to happen with other people and dogs around. She will now walk and play with the others - even giving one larger, boisterous dog a kiss on the ear last week!! She will approach the owners too now and does not have a meltdown if something happens which she was not expecting.

I read Walk & Train reviews before contacting them but did not really believe that our dog would achieve so much that I would ever be writing this!! Luath still has lots to learn - so do we - but she is able to enjoy being a dog now which wouldn't have happened without Linnea and Gregor's support and knowledge.

Oh yes and if anyone says 'Linnea' in the house, Luath runs to the window, tail wagging and looks for Linnea!! Positive conditioned response, I think they call it!

- Alison

We cannot praise Gregor and Linnea enough for the amount of help and advice they have given us and our dog Crazy Maisie.

Although Maisie looks very cute and innocent she can be very nervous and aggressive around other dogs. This reaction was a result of being attacked a few times by other dogs while out on walks.

Maisie’s behaviour was so unpredictable it made walking her something we dreaded rather than enjoyed, which is not ideal for a very hyper Spaniel who needs lots of walks.

After trying lots of different techniques and reading a lot about aggression in nervous dogs, we felt like nothing was working. We would see some small changes, but they would never last.

We first contacted Gregor and Linnea about 8 months ago and have noticed a massive improvement in Maisie’s behaviour already. So much so we have been able to hire a dog walker, who takes Maisie out with other dogs and hasn’t been aggressive with any of them to date.

Gregor and Linnea taught us that Maisie isn’t a bad dog and that it is other owners who do not have control over their dogs when running at Maisie. This was a huge relief to hear.

We had one individual consultation with Gregor, who taught us how to try to keep Maisie calm outside so that instead of being at 100 when she is out, she starts the walk a lot calmer and can now sit and stay outside.

We also attend the Sunday group sessions which are a life line for us. Maisie gets to socialise with other dogs whose owners are in control and her confidence has grown massively. She now very rarely reacts to dogs and is starting to become calmer outdoors (which for a Spaniel is the impossible)

The class is also very good for us, as it not only gives us a chance to catch up with Gregor and Linnea, who are always on hand to help and give us tips, but it also makes us feel like we aren’t the only ones and that other owners face the same challenges as us.

Linnea and Gregor clearly have a passion for what they do and they are amazing at it. So much so, when Maisie wasn’t well, Linnea was on hand to offer advice. They really do love our dogs as much as we do.

We can’t thank them enough for helping us make walks with Maisie something we love doing again.

-Laura

When we adopted our first dog, she was just under 6 months old, and came from a very different home in a rural location, to live with us, in a city. As Lily is our first dog, we decided we would like some professional help just to make sure that we were doing the right things. Linnea helped us learn how to read Lily’s body language, understand her better and respond appropriately. We have been very fortunate and never had any real difficulties with Lily, but there were lots of everyday behaviours we wanted to improve. Lily used to constantly pull on the lead and whine as she became frustrated about this, which still happens occasionally, but now, if I get her in the right frame of mind, we can walk through a busy park, or past birds/cats in the street, without even having a lead on! We have done lots of work on calmness and frustration, which I don’t think we even understood was the issue before working with Linnea.

Friends and family often comment on how well behaved Lily is, which is lovely to hear, and reminds us how hard we have all worked! It’s often easy for us to forget how much Lily, and we, have learned and changed over time, and how things we now take for granted are behaviours and skills that we have all worked on. There are lots of behaviours that we want to continue to improve/work on, but we now feel comfortable in how to achieve this.

Linnea is so generous with her time, often spending extra time with us and always being available for extra support or guidance if we needed it. It’s reassuring to know there is someone who will understand, and most likely have a remarkably simple solution, to any issues we face with our dog. We first made contact with Walk and Train Edinburgh in 2015, and still have contact and support from them now!

Walk and Train Edinburgh has also allowed us to access a whole other community of dogs and their people, new walks, different management techniques and advice about anything and everything dog related! Although our initial intent had just been to make sure we understood the basics, thanks to Walk and Train Edinburgh, we have a happy, relaxed dog, who we can understand and effectively communicate with. We are always recommending them to anyone who is thinking about getting a dog, and genuinely think getting in touch with Walk and Train Edinburgh is one of the best decisions we made since getting a dog!

-Frankie