I had a surprise request from BBC radio Cumbria this month to speak on their afternoon show for a radio call in.
They asked me if I would go live on air that day as they had a pet program and they wanted me as a dog behaviourist and dog trainer to answer peoples questions.
I love broadcasting live and a few years ago I had a weekly slot on the radio doing a similar type of show. At first it was a bit daunting walking into the studio, sitting opposite the interviewer and then having questions fired at you, however after a few visits, I soon got used to it and eventually felt quite at home in Carlisle studio. So I was more than happy to do this program which turned out to be really interesting and good fun.
There were some funny phone ins – I had a gentleman who had a problem with his gold fish swimming to the end of the tank, away from the television set, when match of the day came on! (yes really!) I don’t think my dog knowledge extended to goldfish so I don’t think I was much help for him. But there were all sorts of questions asked from dog owners about their dogs who were frightened of bin bags, dogs pulling on leads, dogs chasing livestock and dogs hating vacuum cleaners.
It brought home to me the fact that once again people have problems that are usually, although not always, related to basic training that either hasn’t been done or has been done incorrectly. Of course rescue dogs, second hand dogs etc. are slightly different but again a visit to me at an earlier stage of ownership for an assessment would have helped . That way we could decide which way to go and the type of training and work that was needed, it could have saved a lot stress and fear for both owners and dogs.
As I have been looking after and have a great understanding of dogs and how they work for so very many years now, advice and help for owners is very easy, its second nature to me, and I think that experience counts for a lot. Through the radio program, I realised, as I listened to it afterwards that my knowledge is extensive and I may be getting older, but older and wiser go together quite well don’t you think!
Listen to the interview here…
