Our Training Methods

Please note our training methods take time. Oakwood has been helping dog owners train their dogs to become better behaved since 2006.

Positive, reward based training is favoured here at Oakwood and only humane forms of punishment will be used. The majority of dogs that behave aggressively towards people/dogs do so from fear based emotions. By using water sprays, rattle bottles, shouting and yanking you might stop your dog reacting aggressively in the short term but their fear emotions are still true and present, so the problem will undoubtedly get worse in the long term.

You may see improvements in the short term, however by using these punishment methods you are merely dealing with the symptoms of the underlying problem, effecticely putting a sticking plaster over the problem. Trainers who lack understanding of dog psychology will use these methods rather than treat the underlying emotion and cause of the behaviours you see.

Changing a dog's behaviour is about changing the emotions that cause it, this takes time and there is no quick fix.

Complex equipment and contraptions are not relied upon. Normally a regular collar and lead are sufficient, although for particularly strong, difficult to control dogs or ones that pull, Figure of Eight Leads/Gentle Controllers or a harness may be recommended to give you better control. Choke/Check chains will not be used and they won't be allowed in classes or training sessions. 

The techniques and advice you will be given comes direct from practical experience the trainers have gained working with many breeds of dog and a variety of behaviour problems. Which means that an understanding of breed predispositions has been developed. Every dog has an individual personality, meaning they have different preferences to motivate them. From German Shepherds to Yorkies, from Collies to Great Danes... any dog can have an aggression or other behaviour issue. Having seen over 4000 different dogs in the last 11 years you can be sure the advice you are getting is tried and tested.   

You will receive a premium service from us at Oakwood but it is unlikely you will see results in the first session. Anyone who claims to be able to give you results quickly may not understand a dogs psychology and may be treating the problem symptomatically. Emotional problems will not be tackled by the use of obedience, as this will only help in the short term. Instead you will be working on changing your dogs perception of the person/dog etc that it finds difficult to deal with, therefore resolving the problem for the long term.