GTDog Training

GTDog Training The only thing Greater Than your dog is the relationship that you can create together! My journey into dog training started with a difficult dog.

After being badly bitten several times and spending thousands with various dog trainers, I started to learn for myself. It took time, but finally we found a trainer that could help. Rather than stop learning, I ended up with more questions than I had answers to. So, I continued to learn. Attending seminars, taking online courses, watching videos and reading. I completed a formal qualification. I s

tarted helping assess and train the rescue dogs at a Dobermann rescue. Any answer to a question usually led to more questions. At the time I was working as an engineer. I became so passionate about helping people train their dogs that I decided to give up engineering. Engineering demanded an eye for detail and a need to know how things work. This drives me to understand why certain methods or techniques work for a dog rather than just accepting that they do. Having a greater depth of understanding enhances my ability to problem solve and help you and your dog! I had amassed a huge amount of knowledge from various sources, different training methodologies, dog sports and dog trainers. As important as what worked, was what didn’t work and why! I still felt I needed something to tie it all together, so I travelled to North Carolina, to Tarheel school for dog trainers. There I spent 3 months training under Jerry Bradshaw. Training the most intense dogs that could be found, focusing that intensity into police work and turning them into dogs capable of working the streets. Once paired with a handler these dogs complete training and hit the streets to begin apprehending bad guys. Teaching them to target and bite, to track people, to detect Narcotics and to listen to their handler while in states of high arousal did exactly what I wanted it to. It tied all my knowledge together. At GT Dog we believe every dog should have a job. A job for your dog doesn’t have to be difficult or strenuous, although in some cases this is what’s needed! Your dog just has to have a sense of purpose. We have bred our dogs for specific purposes, tapping into a dogs genetic need to carry out certain behaviours is key to a happy healthy dog. So, whether you have a problem or you are looking to fine tune some behaviours, let us help you improve your communication, your relationship and ultimately build a partnership that is Greater Than Dog. The only thing Greater Than your dog, is the relationship you have together!

21/02/2026

End of week 2 with Mya! Week 3 we will continue to expose Mya to other dogs in as many different situations as possible!

14/02/2026

First of three weeks with Mya. We start by checking the things we covered in our first 1-2-1 session.
It’s important to me that the owners are as invested as I am. The first session is usually a week or two before the day train begins. At this point we go through the basics of motivation, reward markers and play.
If the owners do a good job it means I can start to focus on the tricky stuff quicker. It also allows them to be part of the process and begin their learning.

Mya’s reward markers are good, she finds play tricky so we have to come up with a game that suits her. Lots of experimentation this week!

We have also started recall and improving her understanding of loose lead. Both play a role in reducing reactivity. No footage of that, I think the rain is getting to me…!

We then start to introduce the idea of pressure as a motivator, a call to action not a stop it tool.
This we can then use to keep her on task in her loose lead.
Sometimes by doing this we can avoid any kind of punishment event.

Lastly we have some of Mya’s walking antics! She is a fun dog! I can’t wait to get her off lead!

01/02/2026

Last day of George’s training, He has been a lot of fun! Bea and I will miss him, I think Bea more than me she loves a good chase.

Recall done, loose lead walking done, no more running at strange dogs or people, no more pulling like a train!

And a few thoughts from Mark, a very happy owner!

28/01/2026

George is now good enough for me to use as an off lead stooge dog.

I chose him today instead of Bea for 2 reasons, firstly Skye the GSD x Mal has already seen Bea, and secondly, for today’s recall session we needed Skye to be successful, Bea is very fast and her movement is exciting, George is much steadier so better suited to this intro to calling away from other dogs.

I didn’t get much footage because the session was about Skye, although it’s great to get George more practice in different situations this was about coaching Skye and Claire through their interactions around other dogs.

In this clip, we have just created a little distance to decompress Skye after a successful recall from both dogs running towards each other, not sure if it was Skye or Claire that needed to decompress!

27/01/2026

Week 3 for George, the boy is doing good! Recalling away from his favourite things now seems easy to him!

He is a tremendously social boy, so other people and dogs are a big draw for him.

Nobody likes being rushed by off lead dogs, so we need to make sure George isn’t that guy!

So now we are at the back end of the process, the ecollar is barely used. The learning has taken place and he understands what is required, now I keep looking for ways to safely make him fail, but so far George isn’t falling for it!

Thanks to and Gr**go for the assist again!

26/01/2026

Recall, with no exceptions. This is carefully built. Don’t let anyone tell you ecollars are for the lazy.

This takes effort, it’s foundation is in positive reinforcement, the behaviour is taught before the ecollar goes on, the individual components are heavily reinforced and it’s turned into an exciting behaviour which the dog wants to execute with enthusiasm every time.

One we have that, the E-collar is carefully laid over the top, a tactile feedback that is paired with the recall, a low level stim that is information to the dog. It can’t be high because we need to maintain clarity of thought and a classically conditioned positive mindset.

Once we have that we layer in difficulty, we go and find scents to follow, creatures to chase and dogs to run up to.

Now we have understanding of what’s required we can use the collar as a reminder if things get a little too tempting.
When the balance of interest tops away towards the distraction, we have the ability to insist on a recall.

Usually after a little experimentation by the dog and a little insistence they come back, we rarely if ever have to use the collar again.

E-collars are quite possibly the best training tool there is because it can allow your dog to cut loose, to run as hard and as far as they want, to really let out all their demons, and stay safe.

24/01/2026

The real welfare compromise is within the system that’s trying to ban tools that can help dogs and owners.

While euthanising vast numbers of dogs they try to ban the tools that can help give dogs freedom and prevent them festering in a cell for 23 hours a day.

The sooner the public wake up to the real welfare issue that is being funded while disguised as rescue, the better.

Stop giving these large organisations your money.

They stopped being concerned about welfare long ago. They are large businesses masquerading as animal welfare charities.

Stop giving them your money, find a small struggling local rescue and donate to them.

23/01/2026

George is having a great time being chased by Bea.

This high arousal game of chase gives me a great opportunity to recall out of play, which is helped by Bea.

As she breaks away and sprints back, George follows. There is of course an element of pack drive and Labs have a tendency to be extremely social so he follows every time.

Getting reps in the bank during high arousal is super important.

Ahh pissfingers!
22/01/2026

Ahh pissfingers!

Be mad all you want, but it’s true. 🫩

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