Days of mad dogs are numbered

There may have been many mad dogs in Cavan over the years, but now help is at hand in the person of dog psychologist Eileen Robinson. Eileen lives in Innishconnell, near Rann in the Killykeen area and her diplomas in canine behaviour mean she is well qualified to deal with advanced dog aggression. The behaviour of many dogs that have bitten people can be transformed, saving them from death row; part of the problem is that many people choose the wrong dog for their lifestyle. Lambs and other livestock are killed every year because of roaming dogs and this would not happen if the animals were trained. "I can get a dog to do most things in 15 minutes, especially the basic commands," said Eileen. Some readers will remember the Barbara Woodhouse manner of training. Today's methods are more sophisticated and humane thanks to positive reinforcement training methods: a dog is far more likely to repeat an action if it thinks there is a reward at the end of it. Eileen doesn't allow choke chains in her classes because the muscles of the dog's neck suffer and in some cases the spine can be damaged with repeated hard pulling on the choke collar. Eileen abhors keeping dogs tied up on long chains as the animals get bored and it drives them mad. Eileen says training is important as it gives the dog rules inside and outside the home and it creates a strong bond between the owner and dog. The dog also enjoys its life much more because it knows where the boundaries lie. She performs consultations at dog owners' homes - usually for about two hours. After an in-depth discussion a detailed treatment programme is formulated and a confirmation report is either sent to the dog owner. Most of her behavioural consultations are referrals from veterinary surgeons and satisfied clients. Examples of some common behavioural problems are roaming, aggression, nervousness, jumping up, phobias, barking, possessiveness and destruction. A qualified dog behaviourist can recognise and correct these to solve the original problem. Re-homing or euthanasia should not be necessary. In most cases dogs can be rehabilitated through behaviour modification. The results are largely dependent on the owners putting the necessary work in to change the dogs' behaviour after consultation. Eileen has been doing this work for nine years and she claims it has a high success rate if the owners put the work in. Dogs learn from each other, so other dogs will copy aggressive behaviour. Eileen recognises that everybody leads busy lives nowadays, but it only takes 15 minutes a day to train a dog. Dogs have a language of their own, otherwise they would kill each other. It is human beings that interfere with their language. "I tune into their language and I teach the owner to do that as well. When they have learned to communicate with their dog, they can understand it better." All dogs can and will bite if pushed to the limit though: "I would never trust a dog 100% . I have two beautiful dogs, but I don't trust them 100%. All dogs have the potential to bite," said Eileen. She has trained her own dog Pepper to count, so when she calls 'four', for example, the dog will bark four times (I witnessed the beautiful springer spaniel collie cross performing this exercise several times). Eileen is originally from Grimsby on the east coast of England. She and her husband had been visiting Ireland for 15 years prior to settling in the Killykeen area four years ago. Contact her via her website dogdilemmas.com or telephone 086-2418106. Another matter of interest to dog owners and lovers: there are reports in this region of pedigree dogs are being stolen to order for breeding purposes. There is big money involved because the pups can fetch up to €800 each.