Happy Clients' Stories
My Story....
It can be a very stressful time for an owner to realise their dog has separation anxiety. You may feel frustrated and trapped. Suddenly you’re unable to have the freedom to live your life without fear of your dog becoming emotionally overwhelmed.
Dogs are my passion. Separation anxiety can affect dogs for many different reasons.
Throughout the training I aim to allow you to really understand your dog, what they are trying to communicate with you and how you can help them feel more comfortable and safe. Once they learn to trust you, their separation anxiety will ease, they’ll become less
dependant on you and your sense of freedom will return!
Training needs dedicated practice, but if you stay consistent you will see the changes in time. I am committed to guide and encourage you through the process but it will need a lot of commitment from you, the owner too. I hope to help you learn more about your dog, their emotional needs, their triggers, their moods and how best to support them.
Every dog is different, I listen to what your dog needs and adapt the training to get the best results for you both.
Here are a few testimonials from owners about their experience working with me:
Super understanding and empathetic dog trainer - Agnes really had our back!
Gita, Oliver and Wilson’s story
We had Wilson for eight or nine months before we got in contact with Agnes. He’s our fourth rescue dog, also suffers from epilepsy, and we’ve never had a dog with separation anxiety before so this was new to us. We did some research and Agnes came up as a specialist in the area, we contacted a few people but her reply was the most comprehensive in terms of what she could do. We had an initial call where we talked through quite a lot with her and we felt she had a good personal approach. We’ve found that trainers in the past can apply a very generic technique but Agnes was prepared to look into the specifics of Wilson’s experience, that really appealed to us.
The amount of contact we had with Agnes meant the training was possible to do virtually, which was great because she could see Wilson in his own home environment. She would adapt the training to meet the needs of Wilson. Her ability to adapt, try new things and be open to our feedback as owners throughout the process was really beneficial. Often dog trainers don’t take the owners instincts into account, but Agnes really listened to us.
Wilson had a problem with barking when visitors arrived, rather than doing our weekly catch up over video call we would do them in our house. Agnes would come round to the house to stretch Wilson’s exposure to visitors. Although this wasn’t part of our original agreement, she was always keen to try new things if it benefitted Wilson.
We’ve learnt a lot about what might aggravate Wilson’s separation anxiety. Agnes took into account our lifestyle and routine, it was a really integrated approach. We still use the tools she gave us on a daily basis. We learnt to build up his tolerance over the course of a day, understand his trigger points, read the signs if he’s particularly sensitive, distraction techniques, and how to exit the house.
It was really useful getting Agnes' feedback on the videos of Wilson. She would leave us voice notes spotting things and offering suggestions for stuff to do differently next time as well as sending loads of encouragement when things did not go well. It helped us be more confident and really motivated us. We often went through low points when Wilson didn’t respond as we expected, but Agnes was really great at helping us not be disheartened by it. She was super understanding and empathetic, she really had our back.
Agnes genuinely cares and wants to make life better for your animal and for you. She wants the best for the dog, she always prioritises the animal’s needs above everything else. Agnes told us to do certain things because it was the best thing for Wilson so even if it was challenging and we were struggling, that was always her core value.
She would even go away and research areas that she was not familiar with - she went and learnt about German Shepherds and epilepsy, even though it wasn’t overtly linked with separation anxiety. She wanted to have a full picture of our circumstances. Agnes would send us resources that were in some way related to Wilson. She would go above and beyond because she was so interested in the dog’s welfare as a whole. Her personal approach was so friendly and unique.
When approaching dog training it’s so important to remember that you’re going to have bad days but that doesn’t mean that you’re not progressing. Working with Agnes we learnt that sometimes your dog is just having a bad day but it doesn’t mean you haven’t made progress. Trust in the process and keep going!
By doing the separation anxiety training with Agnes, I didn’t realise how much we would learn to understand our dog better.
Oliver, Suzy and Stevie’s Story
We have a miniature dachshund called Stevie. He was doing pretty well but one thing we were really struggling with was leaving him on his own. The pandemic meant he wasn’t used to us going out that much. He got very attached to us and developed separation anxiety. We tried to do some training ourselves but it was quite difficult. Every book you read tells you something different, we didn’t know how to help Stevie. We needed an expert to help us.
After finding Agnes online we spoke to her about what we were finding challenging. She suggested the best route and wouldn’t automatically go to the most expensive option. She was gracious and allowed us to make a choice that would suit us. We went for the intensive programme. From the beginning Agnes made it clear that the training would need full commitment from us and kept our expectations in check, reminding us to have patience as the changes would take time. We really saw it as an investment.
From the beginning it was clear that Agnes cared. We were looking for someone who would support and help us and she did that. Her approach wasn’t ‘you have to do this’, it was, ‘you’re doing this because…’. I always felt I could ask a question, and at the beginning we asked lots!
We did the intensive programme for 2 months - as well as regular calls, we were filming what we were doing and sending it back to Agnes and she would review it. She was always available, and it was all virtual which was useful. Agnes took an active interest, asking us things like ‘what were the impacts on Stevie by doing the training on this day…’. Everything was taken into consideration, she has a very holistic approach. Every week we would have a review meeting to assess what she felt we should do next. As time went on this shifted to her asking us what we felt we should do next. Agnes empowered us, it made us really learn about Stevie.
By doing the separation anxiety training with Agnes, I didn’t realise how much we would learn to understand our dog better.
It requires a huge amount of commitment from Agnes too, she was willing to take questions via WhatsApp and would always get back to us. She gave us really detailed feedback and tips on other areas, not just about separation anxiety. Agnes just cared about Stevie. She loves dogs, she’s so passionate about them, she lights up when she talks about them.
It’s clear she tailors each approach specifically to the dog’s needs. She goes above and beyond to consider what could be affecting the dog and their approach to the training. We’ve learnt how much Stevie needs to walk before the exercise for him to be able to cope with it better. It was all about understanding how to help Stevie cope.
Agnes has the knowledge and skills, but she prioritises truly understanding the dog first. She is a really genuine person who works very hard. We always felt reassured and could see that she would put in one hundred percent to help you. If you’re paying for something you want to feel like you’re getting value for money and I think Agnes went far beyond what we were paying her for.
Currently we’re doing the app training and we check in with Agnes once a month. We’re up to a minute now outside the flat, which may not sound like a lot but we couldn’t even walk towards the door without Stevie becoming anxious before. The progress we’re making is getting bigger but we know not to rush it. So many people told us ‘just leave the dog’ but we’ve seen that just doesn’t work. Our bond with Stevie is closer. We’re still working on his relationship to separation but we’ve made definite strides. Now we’re confident that he can be alone.
Agnes is really great at what she does. It’s clear she’s in it for the animals.
Suki, Liberty and Bonnie’s story
We got a dog during lockdown, like a lot of people. Everything was going well until we moved flats in November 2021. After we moved we realised our puppy Bonnie had developed separation anxiety. We didn’t realise until we got a noise complaint from our neighbours, after that we knew we had to do something about it. We came across Agnes online and saw her reviews were all really positive so we decided to give it a go.
We had our first consultation on zoom where Agnes met Bonnie. We really liked was how warm and supportive she was. It was a tricky situation we’d found ourselves in and we were quite stressed, it was great to have someone who could take us through the process in a positive way. She really encouraged us. Even from that first consultation Agnes spotted that when we would exit via our backdoor rather than our front door Bonnie would not become much more anxious. We thought wow if she’s picking up this detail so early on she must really know what she’s talking about.
The most challenging thing about having a dog with separation anxiety was accepting if we wanted Bonnie to get better we couldn’t leave her on her own. It’s not an over night fix, it takes time. We’re quite lucky, my partner can take Bonnie to work with her and works from home predominantly. But we’re in our late twenties and we had to arrange for someone to look after Bonnie when we wanted to go on holiday, out for drinks with our friends or for dinner as a couple. We knew getting a dog was a big responsibility but we didn’t imagine we would be in this situation.
Our first consultation with Agnes was in March and after that we did a month of the intensive training with her. We recorded Bonnie five times a week and completed the exercises a couple of times a day, Agnes gave us feedback and we had a weekly catch up with her. The discipline, routine and consistency required from the training could be a challenge for some people but personally for us it wasn’t a big deal - we wanted to be committed from the beginning. After that we felt we’d got to the point where we could do things independently with the tools we’d learnt from Agnes, partly because of the financial implications and being aware that this was a long process of desensitising that would take time. We’ve stayed in touch with Agnes informally since then, which has been really useful.
Agnes is really great at what she does. It’s clear she’s in it for the animals. She brings such a positive and enthusiastic energy to both the dog and the owners throughout the whole process. We built the training up slowly - putting our shoes on, getting the keys, walking to the door - we did that for a while and it got to the point where we felt like we weren’t making progress but Agnes reminded us to remember how Bonnie was at the start of training. Having that positive attitude really helped us stay committed.
Bonnie has benefitted massively! We had a few interruptions - she had her season and then she had a phantom pregnancy, which meant it was hard to do the training as her hormones made her clingier and more anxious. It took us quite a long time to get to the five minute mark leaving Bonnie alone, but now we’re able to leave Bonnie for half an hour.
If you want your dog to be in good hands and to be with someone who knows what they’re doing, then go with Agnes. The reviews online speak for themselves, nearly every one of them is five stars. You can see a lot of people saying similar things - it’s not a quick fix but it really is a worthwhile investment going with someone like Agnes.
Agnes is there to communicate with the owners through your dog, she trains you as an owner to get the best out of your dog.
Jonathan, Candice and Teddy’s story
We started with the basic puppy training for Teddy and then after that we did the separation anxiety training. During the puppy training, the first couple of sessions were in person once a week. Initially it was quite tough, we’ve both grown up with dogs but it’s been a while since we had a puppy. Once we started seeing the results and witnessing Agnes’ training work we grasped the concept and really ran with it.
It was doing the separation anxiety training, however, that we really got Agnes’ approach in terms of how she wanted to help us really understand Teddy. He’s a little human. I always used to see a dog as a dog but now we understand his mannerisms, he has his own personality. We learnt about what he likes and doesn’t like. Previously we thought he was just being naughty or stubborn, but now we can see when he’s upset about something and why he’s getting upset.
Agnes is there to communicate with the owners through your dog, she trains you as an owner to get the best out of your dog. She’s really honest, open and transparent about everything. She didn’t beat around the bush, she clearly told us that we had to train Teddy’s behaviour now otherwise it would make our lives much harder further down the line. Agnes knows dogs very well, she knows dogs after their puppy years.
During the training, contact with Agnes was never confined to the one hour per week that we were paying her for, she was open and available at all times. She was so flexible, changing times and adapting the training to fit our lifestyle. We still have the WhatsApp group and we send video updates of us continuing the training without her. If we don’t do the training with Teddy for a few days, we see the difference. We still do it every day, even now. Agnes teaches you the foundations, but you have to have the commitment to continue to do it. If you persevere it will pay off!
The results we saw from the training were amazing. It was a lot of hard work but it was definitely worth it. Teddy’s a lovely little dog now, even our dog sitter says he’s probably the most well behaved dog that she looks after. It’s been a journey, Agnes helps you build a relationship with your dog. It’s not a quick six week course and all of a sudden you have a perfect dog, but if you put the hard work in now, you will reap the rewards.
When we first got Teddy he was really scared to leave the house but now he will run whenever he gets the chance to. We can leave him with a dog sitter and he’s comfortable going on the tube, trains, and buses. For us to be able to go on holiday, leave Teddy with someone and know he’s pleasant to look after, that’s our biggest achievement.
