Calm Under the Collar

Dogs have always been a part of my life from childhood, although in my 20s owning my own dog was not an option. We got our first dog as a married couple came from Battersea Dog and Cats Home over 20 years ago, he was a 4 year old saluki x greyhound, his name was Indy. He was my first sighthound. We attended a couple of dog training classes which were very traditional, I wasn't comfortable with the methods so we didn't continue with the course. We then just made it up as we went along, always force free and had a great bond.

Six months later along came Rio, 9 weeks old from Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue, then followed Bertie from Greyhound Gap. My current crew are Angus, Bella and Ollie, all from Greyhound Gap as well as Holly who I foster for Gap.

Many foster pups and dogs have been through our home over the years. It really is extremely rewarding to teach new dogs some life skills before waving them off to their forever homes.

I was one of the original trustees for Greyhound Gap when the charity started nearly 20 years ago and remained a trustee until 4 years ago and am still involved to a lesser extent as a fosterer and I do some fundraising.

Positive, force free training has always been important to me.

I started Calm Under the Collar because I am excited to share concept and games training, this super fun, bond building way of training that gets real life results. We teach through 3 minute games to boost concepts, everyone has the time for this, waiting for the kettle to boil, play a quick training game.

I train concepts through games, this method is not based on giving commands to your dog. It teaches your dog to make good decisions so you don't have to continually tell him what to do. It gives you a calmer and more optimistic dog who has the confidence to ignore situations which are not his business and builds the relationship between you.

My lurchers are always up for the games. I love this way of training and want to introduce the joy of teaching dogs through games to others.

Training is a journey..............let's start your journey, drop me message by clicking on my photo below.

KT from London

Having had the most obedient lurcher previously, I had quite a shock when I rehomed a 9 week old Maltipoo pup in the height of lockdown.

We started weekly Zoom training sessions with Annette which were a Godsend - Annette's calmness and clear instructions helped us so much. Koji, the pup, responded very well to the training sessions - we learnt so many exciting games which transformed his behaviour. Annette has the magic touch and really understands dogs!

I can't recommend Calm Under the Collar highly enough - we call Annette the Dog Whisperer in our house!

LC from Wales

Annette was really thorough in assessing what was needed. She provided really valuable insights to help with our dog's behaviour.

She followed up her initial contact with further support. Her help means we have a better behaved dog and walking is much less stressful.