Susan Mortimer – Luna

I met Sarah when she came to do a home visit to see my dog Luna and our family. Luna, who is a white GSD, was almost one year old at the time, I had had her from eight weeks old, and as a puppy she had seemed fine, but had become increasingly nervous with age. She was fearful of human strangers, and was very unhappy about people she didn’t know entering our house. I have grown up with dogs, but I have never dealt with a problem like this before, and I knew that I needed help with her. I asked my vet, who recommended Sarah for behavioural advice. I had previously been to training with Luna, but I had a problem with this as I had been urged there to put a pronged collar on Luna and I had refused, so I had to leave!

On the home visit I immediately liked Sarah and she gave informed and solid, down-to-earth, practical advise. I then attended training with Luna, completing a bronze and silver obedience course, and after doing one-to-one training with Sarah. The training provided by Jenkins Canine Services is the best training I have come across in my time training my dogs. It is extremely well organised, practical, and with very knowledgeable staff, who understand the many varied and difficult issues we deal with with our dogs. What I particularly like is that their methods are neither too soft nor too harsh, it is reward based training but with an emphasis on respect between handler and dog, and demanding discipline from both human and dog. It was great fun too, and Luna and I both loved going and met friends who have stayed with us on our journey.

We are still training with Sarah, and Luna is steadily improving. I believe that her behavioural problems are genetic, passed on from her nervous mother, and I know that she will probably always be nervous, but with Sarah and her teams help we have learnt to deal with this, and we have put in place strategies to cope with her behaviour. Luna leads a very happy and fulfilled life, and I am confident now that I can handle her correctly and keep her safely throughout her life. Before I met Sarah I had doubted my knowledge and ability to do this, but we have grown together and now the future for Luna is safe and secure. This is down to hard work and dedication, and I owe a huge debt to Sarah for her part in making me understand that.