Working with dogs was never the plan...

I never really expected to become this obsessed with dog behaviour. It all started when I lost my mum to cancer. I needed something to keep my mind off it, so I started walking dogs. That's how I met Jasper, a distraction from the grief, but not in the best way. He was reactive, constantly on edge, and honestly a chaotic mess 24/7.

When I realised this was more than I could handle, I looked for professional help, none of them getting me the result I wanted. One of them even told me euthanasia might be the kindest option (being as stubborn as Jasper, I couldn't accept that).

So I fell down a rabbit hole of studying dog behaviour. I studied through the British College of Canine Studies, learned from other trainers and behaviourists, and basically learned to rebuild everything with Jasper from the ground up. What I learned was that the answer wasn't more obedience, more walks, more repetition. It was regulation. Once I stopped asking a dysregulated dog to just behave and started addressing why he couldn't, the foundations finally started holding.

It took longer than I would have liked, but I finally had that regulated and reliable companion I always wanted. We had a really good run together, but I lost him down the line due to neurological issues; issues I'm convinced were made worse by the stress and chaos he carried for so long.

That loss is the reason I do this now, because I don't want other owners wasting precious time on the wrong things when they could be enjoying their dog.

That's what Junior Trains Dogs is built on...