Specialist gundog training equipment suppliers and manufacturers Sporting Saint has teamed up with Hampshire dog trainer Sarah Miles (Smiles), offering support as she’s braced to hit our TV screens.
Sarah is due to appear in the BBC’s hugely-successful Roar children’s programme, filmed at Longleat – using her canine skills to train Lord Bath’s puppy Bathsheba .
Sporting Saint founder Pip Kendrick said: “We are delighted to be supporting Smiles Dog Training as Sarah hits the nation’s TV screens and to endorse a specialist, professional trainer who mirrors our own high quality of service.”
Sarah, based near Petersfield, works by observing each dog and then tackles any behaviour issues by observing the animal’s nature and innate tendencies of the breed. She also helps owners to carry on the good work and to understand their dogs’ needs.
Sarah’s notched up particular success with older dogs – some of whom have been dismissed by other trainers as being too old to train.
Sarah said, “Life is not always perfect so I get all types of dogs coming for training at all ages – some people leave training too late, some because they don’t require their dog to be well behaved until it gets too uncontrollable. The longer you leave the training of a dog and the inherent bad problems they pick up the more difficult it is to resolve.”
Sarah runs one-to-one training and classes from her Hampshire base. In addition, once a month she holds a workshop based on "Understand your Dog", helping owners to recognise and understand what their dog is communicating to them and how humans can communicate with them.
She said, “Psychology of both people and animals plays a large part in the way that I train and I observe the dog for some time to see what type of nature it has. With animals the signs you are giving them can be very subtle – just the movement of your hand can be enough to signal that you want them to do something.
“A lot of people treat a dog like a person and they are not – they are animals with animal instincts and behaviour. However, they are very happy to be trained and understood. They then become a well-behaved, loyal companion and friend for the duration of their lives.”
For more details about Sarah’s training methods and classes, visit www.smilesdogtraining.co.uk or call 07768830937/01730823818