Testimonials

Sonia has made a huge difference in our relationship with our year-old German Shepherd, Heidi and we thoroughly recommend her. We asked for her help as Heidi was very reactive around the house and especially on walks, when she would lunge and bark at almost anything: dogs, people, traffic, you name it. Being a strong dog her pulling on the lead was almost unbearable and walks were a real trial. We’d had a well-behaved dog previously so thought we knew how to handle them, but Heidi was something else altogether!

As soon as Sonia came to see us it was clear to her that we’d been allowing Heidi to be become too dominant and that she was assuming responsibility for leadership. She was able to show us where we were going wrong even though we hadn’t believed we were being ‘soft’ with her at all. Some of it was quite subtle and Sonia clearly has a very good understanding of a dog’s psychology and especially what motivates them.

We started by changing our behaviour in the house and moved on to changes when we walk her. These have been successful and our relationship with Heidi is now much more ‘appropriate’; not only are we happier, but she is calmer and happier too.

Sonia’s approach was very much appreciated – looking at our domestic circumstances, how the dog is fed, exercised and rested, and interaction with other pets. She devised straightforward plans for us to follow and left us with guides and videos as well as specific strategies for our particular dog.

We found Sonia to be highly credible, knowledgeable and easy to work with – we certainly looked forward to her visits ! Her advice and suggestions made sense and were easy to follow. It does require effort on the part of the owners of course, as the lessons need to be reinforced especially for an intelligent and strong-willed dog like a German Shepherd. But several weeks on and the difference Sonia has made as an experienced, professional dog behaviour expert has been very clear and worthwhile.

A big Thank You to Sonia from Heidi and her family !

We contacted Best Buddies as our son and daughter-in-law had used Sonia before to help with their dog and had been pleased with the results. We have a lovely Sproodle called Nigel, who is 7 years old, but had some issues with him barking (doorbells, car doors, random noises, etc.), shredding the post, anxiety and generally always being in the middle of us two – including in bed!

After observing us in our natural habitat, Sonia quickly identified that Nigel was in fact the leader in our pack! We were quite surprised that was the case as he’s so loving and cuddly, but it became quite clear that his behaviour (and ours!) was reinforcing this in his mind, leading quite substantially to the behaviour he was exhibiting. Sonia gave us some simple, but very effective techniques to redress the balance and we saw results quite quickly.

Sonia has since been back to look at Nigel’s anxiety issues, which for me was the most concerning issue. The worst problem with this was being unable to leave him alone as he would cry, howl, shake, pant – it was awful and had got much worse over the last two years. It was beginning to affect our social life. After some excellent advice, and some minor changes to our routine, we can now leave Nigel much longer – and he is no longer exhibiting signs of stress (we have installed ‘Nigel-cam’ a very reasonable Motorola camera where you can talk to your dog!). We still have some howling, but that is gradually getting less and less! We’re thrilled.

I think it is important to note that it does take some effort on the owner’s part, but it is well worth the rewards. We have a much calmer, happier little doggie and we can also have post delivered to the door and go out without worrying!

Sonia also recommended some excellent natural food for Nigel and he absolutely loves his new diet -which definitely keeps him full and content much longer than the previous food he was on.

Happy customers – thank you Sonia!

Julia, Mark and Nigel x

After our 1 year old toy Poodle, Teddy, bit ( luckily no serious damage) my partner, I knew we had to do something about him. Teddy was very loving but occasionally if he had something he shouldn’t and we tried to get it off him he would show signs of aggression, growling at us and on this occasion snapped at my partner. We were particularly worried that he would become an aggressive dog and take away the enjoyment of having him. I began searching for a dog trainer to come and do some one on one training with us and Teddy. I found one lady who said she could come and assess Teddy to see the issues and help us resolve them but I wanted to call around more people. I called Sonia who instantly started asking questions about the way Teddy behaves, questions not related to the incident and it was as if she knew Teddy already. She knew all about the issues Teddy had and put us at ease saying she could definitely help us and now. I booked Sonia as I believed in her training methods too which are not using treats to get your dog to behave.

When Sonia came she assessed us and Teddy and quickly diagnosed the problems and began teaching us methods to correct his behaviour and gave us advice on what to feed him as a lot of Teddy’s issues were food related. On the day of the session Teddy quickly responded to the methods Sonia taught us and it was honestly like a fairy godmother had come to help us! Teddy is listening to us now and learning to drop items he shouldn’t have. He has not been aggressive and is so much calmer and happier. We can’t thank Sonia enough. Even after our session, Sonia was on call to answer any questions by phone and keep us on track. I can’t recommend Sonia enough, she is a fantastic lady who really cares about training the animals in their best interests to make the whole family happier. Thank you Sonia!

S and C Weddington

I cannot thank Sonia at best buddies home training enough for the help and support we received whilst trying to train our new puppy.

We picked Betty up at 8 weeks old and from the very start we new that there was a problem due to her constant crying and messing in her crate whenever she got left (even for 5minutes), we were so worried about leaving her and felt terrible every time we heard her cry.

We couldn’t even have a shower without her following us!! We came to the conclusion that she had separation anxiety, after doing some research we rang best buddies and it was the best thing we ever did, we can now leave Betty for our days at work and not have to worry about the crying or the mess we would come home to, she is a very happy puppy that has learnt lots of tricks on demand due to the training that Sonia gave us!

It was the best thing we ever did after seeing how happy our puppy is now.

Thank you from Emily, Adam and Betty x

We have one Staffordshire Bull Terrier aged 11 (male) and one Staffordshire X English Bull Terrier aged 2 years (female), for the first 2 years the dogs had got along fine with each other, playing, walks and even sleeping in the same bed. November 5th 2015 (Bonfire Night) was when we had our first issue, the eldest is ex rescue and has a fear of loud noises, we were at home when a fire work startled the eldest dog, this was when the first fight happened and i don’t just mean a little scrap, this was a fight where both myself and my partner struggled to part the dogs. (We put this fight down to the fireworks as nothing like this had ever occurred before).

2 weeks later a second fight occurred this time over a squeaky toy, this fight resulted in a trip to the vets with the eldest dog, and he needed to have his ear stapled. We knew that this was getting serious and i started looking for help. 1 week after that another occurred, this time it was over food. I First called Sonia at Best Buddies in December 2015 after reading about her on her web page, I had also been in contact with another trainer but chose Sonia because when I called her I got to speak with her in person and not an assistant.

I discussed the issues that we had with the dogs Aggression being at the top of the list, I also mentioned pulling on the lead, jumping up at guests, dominance, barking at fireworks and recall issues. I was delighted when Sonia said that she could help. We booked in the first appointment for the third week in January. We were both happy that we were getting the issues sorted and did our best until we could meet with Sonia.

Christmas Day another fight occurred, even after managing to separate them by closing patio doors they would still try and fight through the doors. My partner then decided that we could no longer keep both dogs together as it was not fair to both of them, this is when he listed the youngest to go to a good home. This decision was not taken lightly and the advert was written with a lot of heart, we would not let her go unless she would be loved and looked after. This broke my heart as i could not handle the thought of loosing one of the dogs that I love so much. I called Sonia in tears. Sonia was so understanding of our issues and offered comfort in a time when I needed her. Sonia moved the appointment with her closer and came to visit a few days later.

The first visit with Sonia made such a huge difference, she advised us on so many issues and offered training on many things on the first visit, we have noticed improvement in everything and the biggest for us is that since that very first visit we have had no fighting or signs of aggression at all. We are now 3 months in and the dogs are listening to us and are a pleasure to live with again. I can walk both of them without being pulled over and they are listening to the commands that we give.

They now are learning that they have boundaries and they are not in control of us. Sonia taught us that many behaviours they had shown had been signs of dominance over each other and over us! without her help we would not have realised this. We took the 3 month package with Sonia and within those 3 months we could not be any happier, not only offering advice and training in person within our home, but Sonia is always at the end of the phone when we need advice.

We cannot thank Sonia enough for her help, thanks to her we are able to keep both of our beautiful dogs that we love so much and we now live in a much more controlled and happy environment. We cannot recommend Sonia highly enough.

Abby and Leigh (Derbyshire)

I requested help from best buddies as I have a 5yr old rottweiler that is so anxious and protective that I couldn’t take her on walks due to her lunging at everything and everyone, I also couldn’t have any strangers in the house as she wouldn’t let them in.
I tried everything to help with this but nothing helped.

After just 1 session with Sonia she was so much better qnd I was taught the tools to training her.
Biscuit is now so much better in the home and I can have people over and have full control.

We went out on the second session and I was taught the tools qnd exercises to keep her focused on me and less bothered about anything else around me so I can now take her on walks again without worrying I’m going to be injured or lose control of her.
Would definitely recommend best buddies for dog training.