Testimonials
Sam was amazing with our anxious rescue dog and gave us the foundations to work on her reactivity and big feelings!
The sessions were well structured with realistic set ups and Sam’s clear coaching style was great at building our confidence and independence too. The summary reports gave us plenty of resources and guidance to continue the training in our own time which meant the value went far beyond the 90 minute sessions.
Sam helped us with visitor introductions in the home, engage-disengage to address reactivity out and about and muzzle training. He was an expert in reading our dog’s behaviour throughout. In the short time since our sessions she has successfully met family members and responded very well to Sam’s cooperative care plan.
We can’t recommend Atta-Dog enough!
Chloe and Ethan
Sam has been absolutely incredible with my fear reactive rescue dog, Koda. Koda is usually very unsure of new people, especially men, but he warmed to Sam straight away. His calm demeanour and patience made Koda feel relaxed and safe around him. Each session has had great structure and I have come away feeling very positive without being overwhelmed. Sam explains everything very clearly and is always more than happy to answer any questions I have.
Sam’s knowledge is amazing and has shown me how to introduce new people to Koda in the garden and home. In the two years I have owned Koda I have never had anyone Koda isn’t comfortable with nearby without a big reaction so this is a huge step forward for us. He has also given me tips to help Koda feel more comfortable wearing his muzzle and activities I can do with Koda to stop him fixating on triggers and escalating to a reaction during walks.
I can’t thank Sam enough for helping me with Koda’s issues and I look forward to continuing our sessions to improve Koda’s confidence and behaviour even further.
Tilly
I contacted Sam after seeing him on fb. I wanted help with my 1 yr old French Bulldog Bambi. Bambi is a very excitable lovable dog and just wants to greet everyone in the park! I was finding her running up to anyone and everyone getting a problem for me! I was starting to keep her on the lead if there were lots of people around especially people without dogs who may have just wanted a nice peaceful stroll! Sam understood my worries and we worked on Bambi’s recall! She responded amazingly!! Out of all our sessions I think she only ignored the command once! With Sam teaching me the commands and when to execute them I had full control over her! She was like a different dog!! I have carried on using these commands and techniques and have also had other dogs walkers praise my control over her!! This is all thanks to Sam and his very calming and patient ways. I would 100% recommend him and will be using him again for other behavioural issues with my other Frenchie!
Lisa
Sam started working with us almost straight away when we brought our collie puppy home. He supported us in understanding our puppy’s needs and building the first basic training blocks. Sam was always kind and answered every question we had (which was a lot!) without any annoyance. He was patient and knowledgeable, anything that he didn’t know there and then he would go away and research. When we encountered some behaviour problems after a nasty incident Sam was willing to support and guide us to better the situation. It is due to his knowledge and unending patience that our boy is now a well behaved and loving dog. Would highly recommend to anyone.
Emily
It has been such a pleasure having Sam work with our almost six year old cockapoo. Sam is calm and friendly and both Humphrey and myself have learned so much in our sessions with him. The sessions have focused on areas of behaviour of my choosing, but with guidance and support from Sam about how best to implement strategies to support us. Humphrey is particularly triggered by our doorbell chime, and with Sam’s excellent suggestions we are slowly changing his behaviour when someone rings at the door!
We have also been able to work on his garden barking, and training him to come in and out of the garden on command. Having not done any training with our dog since he was a puppy, this has been incredibly valuable. The sessions are also great mental stimulation for Humphrey – he’s tired out after a visit from Sam!
Sam is calm, gentle, respectful and easy to have in your home. I have no hesitation in recommending him!
Viki
We are so grateful to Sam for working with our lovely terrier/spaniel cross Dotty and us over the last few weeks. Thanks to Sam’s expertise and patience we have made a real breakthrough with Dotty in terms of distracting and calming her when people come to the door. Sam showed us how to use ‘marker words’ and cues to distract Dotty and encourage and reward desirable behaviours. He was so patient and kind in explaining how to do this and was incredibly knowledgeable. Dotty took to Sam immediately and she was really responsive to his suggestions and methods. We have gone from feeling helpless when Dotty goes a bit bonkers with visitors to feeling confident about how to distract and calm her.
Our dog growls and guards when she has a precious toy or bone, and it can be hard to get an object she shouldn’t be chewing away from her. Sam showed us the ‘counting method’ to get Dotty to come away from an object and even into another room. We have now used this to encourage her away from a cat, easily into another room when shopping is coming and to leave a sock she shouldn’t have been chewing. Sam explained and demonstrated the method really clearly and was really positive and encouraging about the progress we had made at a follow up session.
Ali
We need to help Dotty to feel comfortable wearing a muzzle when she goes to the vet. In just a couple of sessions, she went from being terrified of the muzzle to put her nose in when I say ‘in’ and staying there for 10secs. Sam was really kind and encouraging and explained exactly what I needed to do. He made me feel confident in the training and I think we will soon be able to do up the strap of the muzzle and take Dotty to the vet again.
Henny, 14 years old