Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist

  • Home
  • Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist

Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist Clinical Animal Behaviourist and Dynamic Dog Practitioner.

A place to book a training session, share advice or stories, to ask questions or simply read about our best friends!

29/01/2025

BRAND NEW! Introducing The Dog Trainer School LIVE Webinars ๐Ÿฅณ

๐Ÿ“May: Puppies & Adolescent Dogs with Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist

๐Ÿ“Sept: An Introduction to Assistance Dogs with Kirsten Dillon

Both bookable via the website NOW!

๐ŸŽฅLIVE via Zoom

29/01/2025

๐Ÿ’ฅCan't stop, won't stop ๐Ÿ˜‚

๐Ÿ‘‰๐ŸปNew Webinar Added!

๐Ÿ“ Feb: Loose Lead with Dog Trainer Lee
๐Ÿ“ May: Puppy & Adolescent Dogs with Kirsten Dillon
๐Ÿ“ Sept: Intro to working with Assistance Dogs with Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist

๐Ÿ’ธMembers Save on ALL!!

Bob the Builder got mashed.
15/01/2025

Bob the Builder got mashed.

This book changed so many lives for the better - human and other species. Itโ€™s a book everyone should read. RIP to its a...
05/01/2025

This book changed so many lives for the better - human and other species. Itโ€™s a book everyone should read. RIP to its author Karen Pryor, words cannot express your impact on the world of training.

Squirrel picnic table.
06/12/2024

Squirrel picnic table.

Sorting out next yearโ€™s calendar.
28/11/2024

Sorting out next yearโ€™s calendar.

28/11/2024

Fuming, perplexed, disappointed and worried!
07/11/2024

Fuming, perplexed, disappointed and worried!

Please remind children how scary their costume might be to a dog.
29/10/2024

Please remind children how scary their costume might be to a dog.

As an Assistance Dog trainer, I could not agree more! It's my focus from day 1.
17/10/2024

As an Assistance Dog trainer, I could not agree more! It's my focus from day 1.

ABILITY TO COPE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OBEDIENCE.

๐ŸŸกIn todayโ€™s fast-paced world, thereโ€™s often too much emphasis on ensuring dogs are obedient, while their ability to cope with an increasingly chaotic environment is overlooked. While being well trained is important, it should be secondary to helping our dogs develop resilience and emotional stability. The modern world presents dogs with constant noise, busy streets, and frequent changes to their environment, which can lead to anxiety or stress if they arenโ€™t prepared to cope with these challenges.

๐Ÿ”ดResearch supports the idea that emotionally balanced dogs are more adaptable and capable of learning. A 2019 study from the University of Helsinki found that training that focuses on a dogโ€™s emotional state, rather than just their behaviour, leads to a stronger overall ability to handle stress and unfamiliar situations. Dogs that are trained solely for obedience without addressing their mental resilience can often struggle in unpredictable environments, which increases the risk of behavioural issues.

๐ŸŸขWhen dogs are allowed to learn to cope first, their ability to navigate a busy world with confidence vastly improves. And more confident dogs respond better to training cues, not out of fear or command alone, but because they trust us and understand how to manage their environment. Building that foundation makes all other training a natural extension, rather than the primary focus.

๐ŸŸฃIf we want our dogs to be truly well-adjusted, we must prioritise their emotional well-being and coping abilities. By shifting the focus, we are ensuring that dogs not only follow commands but also feel calm and capable in an ever-busier world.






I rolled in ๐ŸฆŠ ๐Ÿ’ฉ!! Mum had to wash me, my 4 beds, blankets, sofa covers, towels and bathroom mats. Sucks to be her! ...
16/10/2024

I rolled in ๐ŸฆŠ ๐Ÿ’ฉ!! Mum had to wash me, my 4 beds, blankets, sofa covers, towels and bathroom mats. Sucks to be her!

This looks like the perfect โ€˜plaiceโ€™ to roll! ๐ŸŸ
07/10/2024

This looks like the perfect โ€˜plaiceโ€™ to roll! ๐ŸŸ

Meet Theo ๐Ÿ˜
04/10/2024

Meet Theo ๐Ÿ˜

So begins our new series, Assistance Dog of the Week. Meet Theo!

On my way home from presenting a seminar on puppies and adolescents. Loved it.
30/09/2024

On my way home from presenting a seminar on puppies and adolescents. Loved it.

10/09/2024
Donโ€™t believe what you see on TV!! Behaviour change and training are not โ€œsexyโ€, โ€œquick fixesโ€ they are gentle, time con...
05/09/2024

Donโ€™t believe what you see on TV!! Behaviour change and training are not โ€œsexyโ€, โ€œquick fixesโ€ they are gentle, time consuming and occasionally boring. Oh, and should be undertaken by someone with a few qualifications at the least.

โš ๏ธ ๐‘พ๐’‰๐’š ๐‘ฐ ๐’˜๐’๐’'๐’• ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐’‚๐’‘๐’‘๐’†๐’‚๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’ ๐‘ซ๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐‘ฉ๐’†๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ (๐‘ฝ๐’†๐’“๐’š) ๐‘ฉ๐’‚๐’…๐’๐’š

Yesterday, I received the following email from a researcher for the TV programme *Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly*:

"๐‘€๐‘ฆ ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘  (redacted) ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘˜ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‡๐‘‰ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค โ€˜๐ท๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘  ๐ต๐‘’โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” (๐‘‰๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ) ๐ต๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘™๐‘ฆโ€™.

๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘  โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ž๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘š ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘๐‘’๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘’๐‘˜ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐ฟ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐ฟ๐‘ฆ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘š.

๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘‡๐‘ข๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ 10๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘š ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘ข๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘› โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘“๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘›. ๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘™๐‘’๐‘โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’.

๐‘Š๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘› ๐‘‘๐‘œ๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘š๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘›-๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘ , ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘™๐‘ฆ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ .

๐‘ƒ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘˜๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘–๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘˜ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘›. ๐‘‚๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘’, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆโ€™๐‘‘ ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž, ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘–๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ ๐‘˜๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘ !"

My first thought was to delete the email. I'm not a fan of Graeme Hall. I've watched a few episodes of his show, and in my opinion, he seems to make things up as he goes along, relying on outdated training methods.

However, I was puzzled. Was the โ€œcravatโ€ unwell, and they needed a stand-in? I'm a nobody โ€“ why on earth would they want to film me training a dog when there are so many high-profile trainers out there? Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to give the researcher a call.

I'm still in shock as I write this. The researcher explained that they wanted to invite me to Lytham with my Border Collie to "demonstrate" to Graeme Hall how I would train my dog not to respond to a phone ringtone.

Graeme would then take my training method and use it to teach the Border Collie of the family seeking help โ€“ all while filming it for his TV show!

WTF ๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ˜ณ๐Ÿ˜ณ

I decided to dig a bit deeper and reached out to the force-free dog training community to see if anyone else had experienced something this bizarre.

It turns out that many trainers had also been asked to attend filming sessions to show Graeme how to train dogs before the cameras rolled. Most reported that they refused because of his methods, but a few had shown him and his team how to train a dog, only to be dismissed without any credit for their expertise.

I then did some open-source research on "The Countryโ€™s Best Dog Trainer," as the *Daily Telegraph* calls him. He has no formal training in canine behaviour or training. Heโ€™s essentially winging it with the help of whatever trainers are willing to show up and assist him.

According to his website, he charges ยฃ875 per session ๐Ÿค”๐Ÿ˜ง

Now Iโ€™m not someone who normally criticises other trainers. I prefer to let my clients decide if Iโ€™m the right trainer for them based on how I work with their dogs.

However, I couldnโ€™t let this pass without making it public knowledge.

If you're looking for a dog trainer, please avoid this programme and this man. You have no idea whose techniques heโ€™ll be using week to week, and given that most qualified and accredited trainers want nothing to do with him, the quality of training youโ€™ll receive is questionable at best.

Instead, do your own research and find a local trainer who aligns with your own dog training ethics. Organisations such as The IMDT or APDT - Association of Pet Dog Trainers can help guide you to qualified & accredited trainers in your area.

๐‘ท๐’๐’†๐’‚๐’”๐’† ๐’…๐’๐’'๐’• ๐’‘๐’–๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐’…๐’๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‰๐’‚๐’๐’…๐’” ๐’๐’‡ ๐’„๐’‰๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’‚๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’”!

Gorgeous Itรกlia ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น
31/08/2024

Gorgeous Itรกlia ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น

Address


Telephone

+447958593482

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Kirsten Dillon Behaviourist:

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Telephone
  • Alerts
  • Contact The Business
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?

Share