Those of you who have watched ‘Cesar Milan’, the dog whisperer, will be familiar with his ‘power of the pack’ methodology. We experienced the power of the pack ourselves in mid 2008 when we rescued our Rottweiler George. Our own trainer ‘Dima Yeremenko’ invites his clients to join him on his own dog walking sessions with his ’stooge’ pack (featured in the photo’s). Transition from dogs home to new home for a rescue dog can take its time as it establishes boundaries, so, positive experiences are imperative. It is said that as dogs live in the moment, each positive experience can diminish past events and teach new trust and good behaviour. We took George along to feel the energy of Dima’s pack who were all exceptionally well behaved and calm, as a well balanced pack should be. The infectious, supervised, unchallenged socialising experience moved George on in huge steps, it gave him trust in us as his leaders to keep him safe so he could fulfill his animal nature, relax and enjoy himself socialising and exploring his walk with so many dogs.

We gave George intense training and our meetings and pack walk with Dima moved him and us on a long way. We often found that when walking George, other owners would join us because their own dogs would follow George’s recall when generally they would run off and return at their own speed. This alone shows the natural following instinct and how you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Although we are not offering a rehabilitation service, we aim to enrich the dogs we walk with a supervised, positive social experience. These benefits are not always achieved when walking your dog and letting them run around with other dogs as not all owners are aware of body language and dog calming signals, often allowing their dogs to practice inappropriate dog socialising. Dogs are highly sociable animals and are fulfilled by leadership, good exercise, mental stimulation and socialising followed by a full belly and relaxation.