My name is Richard and I've always had dogs in my life, as a child in the 1970's I watched my Father training dogs spending time with him in the countryside with various Lurchers, Labradors and Spaniels. I went on with my own dogs, competing in working competitions. From this young age my passion and experience have continued to grow. 

In the early 1990s, I joined the Police with the intention of becoming a Police Dog Handler, I soon achieved this goal and completed my initial dog handlers course with my wonderful young German Shepherd, Jed. There then followed a successful and rewarding career, handling German Shepherds, Labradors and Spaniels, across various disciplines, catching hundreds of criminal suspects and missing persons.  I have searched venues, vehicles and routes for Royal visits, Political conferences and summits plus sporting events including the London Olympics. The last 12 years of my career were spent as an instructor, training, assessing and licensing dogs and their handlers all over the UK.

As an Instructor, I was responsible for sourcing and training potential Police Dogs and also assessing and training would-be Dog Handlers, these would become our future Police Dog teams. Many of our Police Dogs were donated as unwanted pets or sourced from dog rescue centres around the country.

Will's Story.

Will was a feisty young Springer Spaniel who displayed a number of undesirable behaviours, as a result he'd spent months in a South Yorkshire dogs home and was facing destruction.  I arranged to visit and carry out an assessment of Will, who had been described to me as disobedient and untrainable.  I carried out a series of tests with him and saw something I liked, he was tenacious and spirited, very spirited.  He was soon in my van and on his way back to our kennels, lined up for an Explosives Search course I was planning.  Three weeks later Will started an eight week initial Explosives Search Detection Dog course, along with three other new dogs and their handlers.  Will and his new handler worked hard throughout the course, they passed their licensing assessment with flying colours and formed a lifelong bond. They became a very accomplished and decorated team.  Will gave his all to provide the highest level of assurance when tasked to search against explosives threats. He retired at 10 years of age along with his handler, and now spends most of his time in front of the fire. 

This may sound a country mile away from teaching your dog to recall or walk to heel, but over the years I have rescued, trained and turned round several dogs like Will. Dogs who were once pets and usually, through no fault of their own, had found themselves being given up or left languishing in dogs homes up and down the country.  Many of these dogs were tough to train and had trust issues, some had been abused.  Training these dogs required lots of understanding, creativity and most of all patience.  

Outside of my police work, I have continued to train my own dogs and others throughout the past 30+ years and there are few dog training challenges I haven't faced.  I look forward to assisting you and your dog in overcoming any issues you may have, or if you would simply like to learn something new .    

                      There is no such thing as a bad dog, only a dog who lacks good guidance, understanding and care.