Welcome to the website of Animal Behaviour Clinic and Take the Lead Dog School
The Animal Behaviour Clinic & Take the Lead Dog School has been in existence for over 10 years. We work extensively throughout Scotland and the North of England carrying out home visits for animal behavioural consultations and one-to-one training sessions.
We run dog-training classes in Bridge of Weir and in the South Side of Glasgow at the Pet Therapy Clinic. We also have a monthly Pet Behaviour & Training Clinic held at Bute & Argyll Veterinary Practice in Dunoon.
Teaching any dog some manners, no matter what its age is, is difficult, frustrating and time consuming. As with other areas of our lives, what you put in, you get back out again.You don’t have to train your dog all day, everyday, but it helps if you at least spend a few minutes each day teaching the dog some basic obedience.
Is Your Dog or Cat…
Aggressive towards you or others
Distressed when left alone
House soiling
Destructive
Nervous or anxious
Attention seeking
Is Your Dog...
Jumping up
Not coming back when called
Pulling on lead
Food or toy guarding
Barking
Fighting with other dogs
Then we can help, we offer the following services ...
- Pet Behaviour Consultations
- One to one lessons
- Dog training classes from puppy to advanced
- Good Citizen awards
- Expert witness reports
Our methods
We don’t teach formal obedience at dog-training classes. Instead we help you to teach your dog some manners:- to pay attention to you; to respond to his name; to walk on a slack lead; to sit or lie down when told; not to jump on visitors or strangers; to come back when called.
At class, we use positive reinforcement and motivational methods of training. Motivational training is giving the dog a reward for completing a required task. The more we use rewards the more the dog will work to get the thing that he wants, the reward. We reward acceptable behaviour, always at first and then intermittently. Once acceptable behaviour has been established, random rewards reinforce it.
If (any kind of) behaviour is rewarded, the behaviour is likely to increase in frequency.If behaviour is not rewarded, the behaviour is likely to decrease in frequency.
These techniques are the quickest and most enjoyable methods for both the owner and the animal.
