Dog Behaviour
References
After just a few session with James, my dog Danja responded better on lead and was much easier to walk on lead. James gave me hints on how to deal with the other issues that I have had with Danja such as his barking at strange men and aggression with visitors in the house. When we did the "homework" James gave us , we saw a very positive improvement in my dog's behaviour.
We are very thankful to have met James, as he has a real affinity with dogs and their world and knows how to bridge that world with human's and their expectations.
We can highly recommend James as an animal behaviourist that gives results.
Iain and Laurie Cunningham
Kilchberg
Mein Hund Lucy hat sich in eine junge, rumänische Strassenhündin verliebt.
Nachdem "Lilly" völlig einsam in einem Wald gefunden wurde, reagierte sie hier in Zürich dementsprechend ängstlich und gestresst auf alle Menschen (vorallem Männer), auch schwarze Hunde und allgem. Stadtlärm mit heftigem Bellen und an der Leine ziehen.
Sie war bei jedem Spaziergang so gestresst, dass sie nicht einmal ihre "Geschäftli" draussen erledigen konnte, sondern es völlig erleichtert, kaum daheim angekommen, auf dem Teppich machte. (na suuuuper)
Leider konnte ich sie natürlich auch nicht frei laufen lassen.
Dank James konnten alle diese Probleme von Lilly, innerhalb kürzester Zeit, suuuuuuper gelöst werden.
Lilly ist dermassen "aufgetaut", dass ich nun fast das gegenteilige Problem habe - sie rennt nun auf alle Hunde zu (egal welche Farbe und Grösse) und fordert sie sehr lebhaft und fordernd auf, mit ihr zu spielen. So wie es ausschaut, werden wir 3, bald mal wieder, mit James einen gemeinsamen "Lehr/-Lernspaziergang" machen, um auch noch diese neue Problematik näher anzuschauen und ggf. in den Griff zu bekommen.
Ich kann James nur wärmstens weiter empfehlen - (was sich auch bei den meisten Gesprächen mit anderen Hundehaltern ergibt) da garantiert fast jeder Hund und Herrchen/Frauchen so ihre gemeinsamen Probleme/Macken haben und ich ihnen gerne, Dank James, eine Chance geben möchte, dies in Angriff zu nehmen und gut und effizient zu bewältigen.
Moni Hinz & Lucy & Lilly
Zürich
Wir haben James Pole kennen- und schätzen gelernt. Er hat eine sehr gute Art um mit Hunden umzugehen.
Unsere Hunde (Terrier-Mix aus dem Tierheim) waren unserer Meinung nach sehr agressiv gegenüber andern Hunden bevor James uns einige Lektionen gab. Seither sind die Hunde viel besser zu halten. Im Auto sind sie nun ruhig. Früher haben sie sehr viel gebellt. Wir können ihn jedermann empfehlen.
Ines und Peter Sundt
it is a blessing to know james. i came to zürich at the end of january 2012 for a 2 month period with my 9 month old irish terrier, maggie. and i had a lot of problems with her. she was pulling me on the lead - and living at 2nd floor it was not a lot of fun to be pulled down the stairs - full speed. furthermore 2 dogs lived parterre and she was barking in front of their door, which caused a lot of trouble with the rest of the inhabitants in the house.
thanks to james i got some tools to solve my problems. i use a short sharp noise and maggie now behaves beautifully. at the end of march we went back to denmark, and some old habits came back. maggie wants to chew on everything, which can cause a lot of trouble, as she chews on sticks, but a short phone call to james solved this problem too.
james has a special gift with dogs - and for that matter - with humans too. never once has james told me, that i did something WRONG. he told me, what i was supposed to do, and i got a lot of selfconfidence. now i work with myself every day to stay calm. and i have got a very good contact with my young dog.
lots of kind regards
maggie and ellen
I have an 8 year old Husky, she is a lovely dog but she always pulled me on the lead, a number of dog trainers had told me that I would never get her to stop pulling as that's what they were bred for. James told me that he thought he could help, I was not sure because of what I was told in the past but decided to give it a try. Using quite a simply technique which James calls speed, direction and control he was able to get my Husky to walk by his side in about 10 mins without pulling, he then 'trained' me how to do it and explained it would probably take a bit longer for her to stop pulling me as she has been used to doing it for 8 years, but immediately there was a vast improvement, not perfect but much better then it was, after about 2 weeks of practising what James had taught me I was able to stop my Husky pulling me.
What I liked about this so much was there was no hard methods needed and no need to 'dominant' my dog, that was important to me as I wouldn't like to see my dog suffer any unnecessary stress, its mainly just about changing speed and direction and remaining calm when you do it. Its so great now to be able to walk with my dog without her pulling me, it is so much more enjoyable walking her now....thanks James!
Cynthia
Zurich
I went to James for help with my 2 and half year old male Vizsla called Balder. I didn't have any major problems, I wanted to know how I could mentally stimulate him and fulfil his needs as a dog, also sometimes he would growl at other male dogs when I walked him which worried me a little bit.
After a consultation with James, his assessment was that he thought me being nervous when out on a walk was causing Balder to go into 'protection' mode especially when I was worried of other male dogs approaching. I had told him I did yoga and he asked me to use that knowledge to be calm when walking Balder. The slow breathing exercises are calming signals to dogs James explained and can help. Also Balder used to pull me on the lead, James showed me a simple technique to stop Balder pulling me on the lead and also this would help with the problem with male dogs as when Balder is out in front there is more chance of him being the 'decision' maker.
I practised what James taught me for some weeks and there has been a big improvement, Balder doesn't growl at male dogs any more and he doesn't pull me on the lead. Also when out walking with James he was able to explain what was happening when Balder met other dogs and male dogs and in his view what they were communicating about to each other..... with James's help and the knowledge he has passed on to me has helped me to be far more confident and applying calm leadership to my dog has been a big help to have a much closer relationship and bond with my dog.
I do a lot of jogging with Balder and James mentioned that this is excellent to help fulfil the needs of this breed and high energy dog to help to keep him balanced, also I joined a Vizsla breed society and they have helped me to understand what Vizsla's were bred for and how to mentally simulate him.
Pia Hakansson
Thalwil
As a runner, on more than one occasion, I have been chased by dogs. One particular run was very frightening. I had been out for a run at our family lakeside home and ran by a home with two large size dogs in the yard, one dog came running after me and I tried to run away. Luckily some people were driving by and picked me up, had that not occured I would most certainly have been bitten, at the least.
I met James through a adult education class and we got started talking about our interests, and he relayed his passion for dog behavior, I relayed my story. He gave me some really good insight to deal with this type of situation. We practised how to be assertive with dogs. As it happened I went for the same run a year later, this time with my sister, and unfortunately was confronted by the same dog. He was barking and both my sister and I were afraid.
However, what was different this time was that I took an authoritative position over the dog, as James and I practised. The dog left and my sister and I were able to finish our run. I was surprised how confident I felt with the dog in the situation, and my sister was very impressed and relieved.
Teresa Gariano
Zurich
Ich hatte meinen Hund «Kimo» (Malingo) nicht von Anfang an sondern aus zweiter Hand. Er war völlig auf Äste fixiert, die er jeweils auf keinen Fall wieder hergeben wollte.
Eine Stunde mit James reichte, um zu erfahren, worauf ich achten muss und wie ich «Kimo» dieses obsessive Verhalten abgewöhnen kann.
Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit James und kann ihn mit gutem Gewissen weiter empfehlen.
Dankeeeeeeeeeeeeeee dir!
Regula
Aargau