Client comments

I’m writing to express my thanks & gratitude to Bev Thomson for teaching me the skills, and giving me the confidence to be able to walk my nearly 9 year old dog Milly out on the leash in close proximity to other dogs without her barking uncontrollably.

Until coming to ‘Bev’s Manners class’ we would turn around and go in the opposite direction or cross the road or not even go on the beach if we saw another dog in the distance as her behaviour was so bad, it became embarrassing and she would totally switch off and work herself into such a frenzy with uncontrollable loud barking and manic behaviour. We used to live on a lifestyle block so her exercise was always in paddocks and as a puppy she would follow her older dog brothers about but they never put her in her place. They have recently passed on and her behaviours got worse. She was our 5th dog and our only female dog, and all our other dogs have been well behaved and socialised and walked well off leash, so it wasn’t as if we were novices with dogs. We took her to another trainer approx. 5years ago and spent hundreds of dollars but  her behaviour never really improved & she would switch off and the trainer didn’t know what else to do with her. ( maybe I didn’t practice with her enough!!)

A few months ago her last elderly dog brother passed on and a friend suggested we get another puppy, which I immediately decided against as Milly’s behaviour was so bad we didn’t want a puppy to learn bad manners from her, so the friend suggested I try another trainer which I initially declined with her approaching 9years thought it was far too late & I’d already spent a fortune on her to no avail,

but I saw an advert for Bev’s class at the vets, and it appealed because it said it would work when conventional training had failed!!

I phoned and spoke to Bev who was very helpful and honest and wasn’t sure how far we’d get with a dog of 9 years but suggested I join in to an existing manners class to see how she responded to the other dogs and if she could help.

I must admit I was dreading the first class & was very nervous as there was supposed to be x2 other dogs there, and I had visions of only lasting at the class for 5 minutes as I couldn’t imagine her not causing chaos and disrupting the class.

We have now had 6 lessons with Bev (2 individual classes with Bev & her own dogs & 4 group classes with a variety of other dogs), and  Milly’s behaviour has improved 100%,  she is like another dog, she is engaged and focused on me when we go out walking, she seems to enjoy & be excited by the training, and lockdown has meant we have seen many other dogs whilst out walking, and I no longer feel nervous or cross the road, and we can safely do walk byes with other dogs with minimal of fuss and no barking. I’ve even recently been on a 20min walk with a friend & her dog which I never thought would have ever been possible.

I would certainly recommend Bev’s classes to anyone with a dog, the results I’ve seen with Milly have been amazing, and more than I’d ever hoped for, it really is like living with a different dog and I’m loving the changes in her behaviour, I still wouldn’t trust her off the leash but I’m thrilled with the progress we have both made, and it certainly makes going for a walk enjoyable again rather than something I used to dread in case we saw another dog.

Thank you so much,