Fred’s Story

I learnt this the hard way when I became a pack walker 5 years ago. Responsible for up to 13 dogs at a time they sniffed out my inexperience and gave me a hard time. I got bitten, I got bowled over, my dogs ran away from me, there were dog fights, my pack got out of control when seeing other dogs. It was a stressful nightmare!

In particular I dreaded my Thursday because I had the worst pack. They were all big, powerful, high drive dogs. Teaming with reactivity, they ran away, didn’t listen, didn’t sit, got into fights, ran after other packs. The dogs would lead the walk instead of me. I felt embarrassed, got told off by other pack walkers and came home stressed and Exhausted.

I realised what I thought was right worked well for some dogs – the gentle, already obedient kind. But I had packs of rough dogs, big dogs, reactive dogs and they needed a different approach. In despair I realised that it was on me to do something about it. So I started an intensive education in dog training. I spent hours picking up and dropping off the dogs every day listening to the best dog trainers in the world. I devoured every resource I could find—dog training YouTubers, socialization strategies, positive reinforcement techniques, you name it.

And out on our pack walks I put it into practice – these walks became my trials, testing out what worked and what didn’t. I learnt hard and fast to “learn to talk dog” in the process. I learnt that “positive only” training is a lovely idea but doesn’t actually work for all types of dogs. It’s like parenting and never saying no to your child. I ditched the methods that didn’t work and came up with my own based on proven dog training concepts. I used rewards and heaps of praise but found I needed a way to let a dog clearly know what it can’t do, what’s not acceptable, and what is REALLY NOT acceptable. I learnt to communicate a “no” effectively.

Soon the Thursday pack that was the worst became the role model pack for training new staff.

I would get those 12 big dogs to wait patiently for my release at the beginning of every walk, they stopped running away from me, the dog fights disappeared. I began to feel in control, the walks became enjoyable and even felt easy! The best way to train your dog is to spend years of trial and error figuring out what works and what doesn’t.

But luckily, you don’t have to—because I’ve already done it for you.

My Reactivity Rewired Programme is a complete, step-by-step guide that teaches you how to stop wasting time on methods that don’t work and start seeing real, lasting improvements in your dog’s behaviour.

I customise every programme to your particular dog as I KNOW that a one-size can never fit all in the dog world.