THE SWINGING 60s
Hi, I'm Maria Bull and I own Train Me and My Dog with my husband, Steve. My love affair with dogs really did began at birth. As a very small child, I spent every weekend with my Grandparents, who always owned German Shepherds and this fostered my over-whelming love of the breed. I was never without a dog of my own, throughout childhood, but also had numerous doggy friends.
- Boxer Brandy - who made me late for school every day! Well, how can you walk past a dog in a front garden and not stop for a snuggle?
- Sadie - a neighbour's Labrador who snuck off to visit me whenever her owner was gardening.
- And Bob (a latchkey dog) who met me after school every night and walked me home.
I could go on and on and on about my childhood doggy friends but I'm sure you get the gist that dogs have been a huge part of my life, ALWAYS. I've sought out their company, fallen in love with them all and I still do (but more on that later).
1989
As an adult, it was a natural choice for me to find a GS puppy, to call my own. Maxie was a pup who I should've walked away from; raised in a barn with a mum who was only 6 months old herself and removed from the pups far too early. Max was 4 months old when I met her, hadn't been socialised and had never been in a real home. I knew enough to know, at that point, to know that I should have walked away, that this beautiful pup was going to be incredibly hard work but we bonded and that was it. SHE WAS MINE!
I'd like to tell you that I totally got Max 'sorted' but that'd be lies. I was a BALANCED TRAINER at that point. I used rewards to train her but also used a choke chain to 'control' her on walks, gave shouted commands and told her off, if I thought she was misbehaving.
But, over time, I realised these methods weren't helping. Infact, they were scaring her and damaging our relationship so I stopped using them! Instead, I focused on the positive and, although Max never developed into a fully social dog, she eventually found two doggy friends that she adored and she learnt to trust people that were invited into our home. She could walk through a field of dogs, off-lead, ignoring them and became pretty damn obedient. In dog terms, she was the absolute love of my life! She taught me SO MUCH about the importance of patience, of listening to your dog (they are constantly trying to communicate with you) and in allowing them to make choices so that they have complete trust in you. And, it's because of her, that I'm the fully positive, force-free trainer that I am today.
2016
I trained as a primary school teacher and spent many happy years in class, doing a job I loved but, after a lifetime of owning, training, be-friending and loving dogs, 4 years ago I saw an ad seeking puppy trainers with the leading, national providers of puppy training in the UK. On a whim, I decided to apply, never really dreaming that I'd be accepted for their training programme. To my absolute delight, Puppy School accepted my application and the rest, as they say, is history.
2018
Now, happily relocated to the beautiful Shropshire countryside, in a home with an acre of land, I'm blessed to be running Train Me and My Dog in Market Drayton, with my hubby, Steve, where we provide 5 star premier home boarding and daycare where I get to spend every day surrounded by the creatures I adore most in this world.
OUR DOGS
I share my home with my hubby, Steve, who has also spent his life surrounded by dogs, and 4 gorgeous fur babies of my own. How did I end up with 4 dogs? Well, it tends to go something like this...... I suggest getting a new dog and unfortunately my husband never says, 'No!'
Shortly after our wedding, we began building our pack. 9 year old GS, Cassie, was rescued from a family who couldn't cope with a bouncy, 6 month old GS pup with 3 children under 5 to take care of. She'd been poorly socialised so barked aggressively at people and dogs. It took 2 years of working with her holistically to develop her into the dog she is today; highly social, with a love of meeting new dogs and people. She's brilliant with puppies, and other dogs just know that she is a dog to be listened too. We unfortunately lost our beautiful girly on 28/02/21 but I haven't got the heart to remove her from this information section yet. Will love and miss you til eternity and beyond Cass; our gorgeous, baby girl.
11 year old Lab/Staff X, Holly was rescued from the Dog's Trust. She'd lived with 26 other dogs. It's unlikely that she'd ever been out for a walk and was a very nervous and timid girl but she loved one thing; other dogs and she transformed before my eyes on meeting my Cassie. As long as Cass was around, Holly's confidence grew and she was willing to try new things ,visit new places and engage with new people. Holly now helps me with my reactive dog work as she's calm and totally unphased by any dog who may bark at her, even aggressively.
Next to join our pack was GS, Bria. Unfortunately, Bria has a lifelong medical condition that became apparent when she was a small puppy. This condition made socialising and walking her during those crucial puppy months, impossible, so our darling girl became reactive towards dogs and people. Her condition also makes her prone to anxiousness and she has memory issues. If a visitor here goes to the toilet, Bria forgets that they were ever here so it comes as a bit of a shock to her when they appear back in the lounge! We had to work very hard with her, once her condition was under control, to re-socialise her. We can never make up for the socialisation that she missed as a puppy and she will always suffer from anxiousness but we developed methods to successfully introduce her to new dogs and new people and she plays happily with our boarding and daycare dogs, which really does melt my heart, considering her starting point.
And last, but very much not least, there's 6 year old Labradoodle, Cooper; our only boy. He adores learning and training and is a typical foodie Lab who would happily train all day, as long as the food kept coming! Cooper was also desperately ill as a puppy, developing auto-immune menigitis at 6 months. Again, his condition with be with him for life. He was treated with very high dose steroids over an extended period and, while these were life-saving, they also caused Cooper to become dog reactive. It really was heart-breaking to watch my social, dog-loving boy develop full-on reactivity within a week of starting his treatment. He even began throwing himself at the TV at the sight of any animal. We needed to manage his reactivity, as best we could, avoiding situations where he could practise that behaviour, and work on building his confidence around other dogs, after he completed his treatment. Fortunately, our methods proved very effective and he's now great with the dogs who stay here and has made some very special friends.
Steve and I are also both qualified trainers but our dogs are NOT perfect!
Please don't hesitate to contact us for an informal chat regarding your needs or any way in which we can help you and your dog, whether through boarding or daycare.
