Can You REALLY Fix a Reactive Dog in 5 Days? (The Truth)

People always ask the same question. Do the results actually stick? Fair question. The internet is full of dog trainers posting flashy 60-second before and afters. Dog lunging like a maniac in clip 1, walking perfectly to heel in clip 2. Looks great on Instagram, gets a lot of likes. But what happens weeks later? Months later? What happens when the trainer goes home, the cameras turn off, and you are left dealing with the real world? Most trainers will not show you that bit because for a lot of them, it falls apart the second the dog goes back to normal life. We do things differently at Yorkshire Canine Academy. We don't just train the dog, we train the human. We build a system designed to last. Not just a clip for social media. But don't just take my word for it. We just ran our bootcamp graduate day. Around 60 dogs, owners who finished bootcamp at different points over the last year, some a few weeks out, some months out. Reactivity, redirect biting, dogs that were genuinely ruining people's lives, dogs whose owners were close to giving up on them. We didn't script them. We did not tell them what to say. We just sat them down and asked one thing. What does life look like now? Here is exactly what they said.

I've had dogs all my life and I've never had a dog like Amber. Yeah. So she was fine till she was about 6 months old and then she just started going at dogs. We'd be out on walks, I'd find it really stressful. I couldn't put it down to anything, there wasn't anything that had happened. It's not like she'd been attacked by a dog. I would dread walks. Made me question, did we do the right thing? Are we the right home for her? It had upset the whole harmony of the home with the other 2 dogs as well. And yeah, it was just really stressful and it was kind of like the last roll of the dice.

Okay.

I'd given it till March and we did the boot camp in January, so I was like, I really didn't know. I already had somebody who was like, yeah, we'd take her.

And yeah, Was that the plan then?

Yeah, potentially, because I just didn't think we were doing the right thing for her more than anything. It was really the last roll of the dice.

Wow.

I tried other behaviourists and other dog trainers, travelled all around the country, and I was like, well, this is on my doorstep. There was an opportunity for me to be able to do it, so I thought, right, let's just bite the bullet.

You weren't the biggest fan of tools?

No, absolutely not. I was totally convinced I could make the dog I wanted to without needing tools. But yeah, I was very anti-e-collar and prong collar because I just thought it felt really barbaric.

But I admit now it was totally due Due to my lack of education.

Obviously you bit the bullet and you went with us anyway.

Yes.

That was obviously a bit of a hurdle for you at the start of boot camp.

Yeah.

What was maybe the first moment you realised during boot camp, actually these tools are going to help me?

For me, as soon as the collar went on her, the e-collar, felt like I was able to communicate with her much better. And I'd also gone home and put the e-collar on my kids, so I was like, well, if I can put them on my kids and my husband and they're all like, yeah, that's fine, turn it up more, turn it up more, I was like, oh, then it can totally go on my dogs.

So yeah.

Love it.

When did you So we did it in January. So we had like, it was boggy, it was snow. She was like stood in the snow, in the mud looking at me like, what are we doing, Mum? And I see there's people here today who's like, oh yeah, we did it 3 weeks ago. And I was like, oh, it's just gonna keep getting better and better and better. It's just gonna keep building.

What was the actual boot camp experience like for you?

How did you find it?

I think the boot camp is just as much about the owner as it is about the dog. I went through a real emotional rollercoaster. The first couple of days I did think, oh gosh, what have I done? I don't think we're gonna get there. But yeah, the first couple of days there is a bit, you know, you're waiting around, you're seeing other people, they're each taking turns. Turns and you kind of think, oh gosh, when are we actually going to get into the nitty-gritty? Once you go through it, you realise all of that is for a reason. So yeah, I would just prepare anybody that to know that your first day or two, it's going to be learning a lot rather than actually the doing.

What's been both your biggest win and her biggest win, both on boot camp and post boot camp?

It was definitely in the pub on the last day. It's like when they tell you your kid's going to learn to read by the first term at school, you think it's never going to happen. To have that on the Friday was Just to see her relaxed was a massive win. And then since, she's off the lead more than she's on the lead. And, you know, I feel like she trusts me to look after her and vice versa. The walks are so much better. I'm not stressed, I'm not anxious about it. I used to send my youngest ahead of us on walks to see if there were any dogs coming round the corner. Little wrecking ball. I was like, just run ahead, Ethan, and just see if there's anyone coming. So then I could get him on a lead straight away and stuff like that. And I haven't had to do any of that because I feel confident.

What almost stopped you working with us?

I think it's the fact that, you know, it's a week and you think, gosh, it's such a big commitment and the expense side of it as well, 'cause you think, oh God, that could be a family holiday or something. But actually now I don't even think about the expense because it has been so good. I would recommend it to anybody. I would spend it over and over and over again. I feel like I've got the dog I've always wanted now.

Brilliant.

Yeah, it's worth it.

How do you think she feels now post boot camp?

Oh, she's much more relaxed. She's 100% happier, calmer. Other people who maybe haven't seen her for a year have then seen her and been like, gosh, she's like a different dog.

Yeah.

So on that boot camp, especially that first part of the week, she was an absolute, Like a shell of herself.

Yeah, yeah, she was.

She wouldn't come anywhere near me. She'd bark at me. She was very skittish.

Yes.

To see her today.

Yeah, we'd have never— She's amazingly confident. We'd have never done anything like this before.

Yeah.

And how do you feel now post boot camp?

I found it really hard 'cause I've had dogs all my life and I've never had a dog like her. So it really knocked my confidence. And now I feel like there isn't anything that I couldn't overcome with her. So before I felt like I had to apologise for her all the time. And now I'm just really proud of her.

When did you do boot camp with Wilson?

Yeah, no problem.

What was life like with Wilson before you did boot camp?

Horrible. He was highly reactive.

Okay, what towards?

Hugely towards dogs. It could be on the horizon, the dog could just be a speck, and his fixation was just insane. Yeah, we just stuck around at nighttime to take him out for walks, early hours of the morning. We avoided everybody, which then just made it worse. What kind of fooled us further was he was so obedient, follow all the commands. Yeah, and then go outside and it was like he's got a different dog. So I guess that's why I was a bit Apprehensive about coming here. Yeah, because I felt like I'd already done as much as I could do. Of course. So to get the result we got— sorry if I'm getting ahead of the next question— but to get the result we got was just, you know, can't thank you guys enough, basically.

What do you think he felt before starting boot camp? How do you think his emotions were?

Frustrated. Yeah, yeah. I think he was just stressed with himself because he didn't know how to react. He didn't know how to act. Yeah, he hadn't been taught the rules.

All right, so tell me what life is like now for Wilson after a few months after boot camp. How does his life look now?

So his life now is freedom. It's changed him the most, I guess. allowing him to get off lead, run around, chase the ball. We walk miles a day.

Can you pinpoint a time after boot camp where you've had a walk and you think, wow, okay, this is different?

Went to Isle of Wight straight after, which is like the land of dogs and old people.

Absolutely.

How was that then?

Oh, it was fantastic. Yeah, yeah. Again, we didn't think it had happened. It was the last sort of like, if this doesn't work, he will have to go into the kennels, uh, cuz we couldn't risk taking him. The feeling of, like I said, the end of the course is just It was just crazy. I'd say day 3, yeah, maybe day 3, day 4, we were already off leash. Yeah. And that's when it was like, wow, he's off leash and there's dogs in the same park as him.

Yeah.

And before, he'd have just, he'd have bolted.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

Just bouncing around with his ears flapping everywhere. Yeah, he's, he's such a— yeah, he's the happiest boy. Turned out to be a brilliant investment and it was a great experience. 5 days with just people and that are in the same situation as you.

Yeah, it's a good fun week, innit?

Oh, it's crazy. We stayed at Cheshire Oaks like literally 2 weeks ago and he walked off leash pretty much around Cheshire Oaks, around people, around dogs. Yeah, so well He's been crazy, crazily good. Having people in the same situation with, you know, small dogs, big dogs, all kind of different kind of ranges, it's kind of comforting to know you're not the only one. When you are on your own in the middle, you know, in the middle of the night walking your dog, you kind of feel like you are the only one.

Yeah.

You know, so that community, it just works brilliant. And this kind of thing, just great. It just enhances the whole investment, I guess.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah.

Tell me, when did you do boot camp with Jethro?

About 6 weeks ago.

Okay.

In June.

So nearly a 2-month mark. Tell me what life was like before boot camp for you and Jethro.

He was just Obnoxious.

Okay.

He would bounce and bark every time he saw another dog, be it 2 seconds away or 2 miles away. He would react and shout. Yeah, we tried a couple of trainers and we tried the cheese spread and all the rest of it. Yeah, but he was just getting worse, not better. Um, so yeah, we were sneaking out at 5 o'clock in the morning for walks. We were doing solo walks, things like that.

Yeah, so tell me what life is like now then with Jethro. How does it differ from before boot camp to now?

He's very rarely on the lead. He's happier. Yeah, he's just— he comes with us. He can come into the pub, he can come to the cafe, he can come in the car. His life has altered completely. He's calmer, he's happier, he's more content because he's doing all his off-lead running. Yeah, he is just a totally different dog. It's like we brought one dog here and took a totally different one home. The aliens took the original one and left him.

Did you believe it could have been done in 5 days?

Before you came?

Absolutely not.

What about now? What would you say to somebody that's thinking the same as what you were?

Oh, go for it, without a shadow of a doubt. It is, it is totally life-changing for you and for the dog. Just remember when you're walking afterwards to take your lead, because we've done— we've got so slack now that we got halfway around the walk the other day and we're like, did you bring a lead?

No.

Did you bring a lead? No.

How nice is it to get to that point though?

How nice is it to be that chilled and that confident in your recall? Yeah. You know that he's not going to get into trouble.

Yeah.

And that's, that's what it's all about. Where we tend to walk is loads of farmland.

Yeah.

His absolute kryptonite is hares.

Yeah.

Yesterday we were running through a field, he was loose, he was quite a way away.

Yeah.

And we both went, there's a hare over there.

Yeah.

At the same time he looked at it, the hare set off and he looked straight at me.

Oh, nice.

And I said, no, we're going this way.

Yeah.

And he came to me.

Oh, lovely.

And that's it. That is the icing on the cake.

Oh, lovely.

Is that I know If I can call him off a hare, I can get him out of any situation. Yeah, that is going to cause him trouble. He's safe. Yeah, that's the main thing.

And that's the main thing.

Yeah, absolutely. Safe and happy. Yeah, yeah, that's what you make here.

Safe, happy dogs.

Yeah, and very happy owners. Do you know what? It's so lovely to see everybody here today. Yeah, such a huge amount of dogs. Yeah, and everybody's life has been changed. Only somebody that's been to camp knows what it would have been like beforehand.

Of course.

Yeah.

And we've all sort of stood and looked at each other today and looked around the field and gone, can you imagine this if nobody had been to camp?

Yeah.

The community is awesome. We've made friends on camp that I would imagine we'll talk to for the rest of our lives. The aftercare is just there. It's just perfect.

Was there anything that did nearly stop you from booking a boot camp with us?

Just the disbelief that it could actually happen in 5 days.

Yeah.

The only thing that convinced me, to be honest, was friends of ours came before us.

Okay.

just carnage. And they brought him into the pub.

Yeah.

And I said, what have you done? And they said, we did boot camp. And just seeing the total change in that other dog.

Yeah.

Was what made me think, do you know what?

Yeah.

If I don't do it, he's not gonna have a life.

Yeah.

What would you say to somebody then that's umming and ahhing about like the price, they're doing it in 5 days, the tools?

I'd pay double and, and I'd do it again tomorrow for any dog. Learning to use the tools in the correct manner. Yeah. Under supervision means that your dog can have freedom that you wouldn't otherwise be able to get as a standard dog owner. Listen to the trainers. And see the results. Yeah. And just the speed that we saw the results— came in Monday having done all our homework, did nose on a Tuesday.

Yeah.

Wednesday morning we were walking around the field again. Have you tested your e-collar? Yes. Are you okay to let him off? And I looked at Simo and went, absolutely not! And he just unclipped my dog.

Yeah.

And you've never looked back, have you?

No, we haven't. No, never since that moment.

Yeah.

But if you're doing it at home or you're doing it out of a book or you're doing it from a Video. I don't think I'd have ever got to that moment.

Yeah.

I would never have unclipped him in a field full of dogs. No way. I would have chickened out.

Yeah.

It's building the human confidence as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely. And once he'd done that, and we knew that the recall was in there, yeah, and he wasn't bothered about the other dogs, yeah. All of a sudden, that's it. Freedom.

Happy life.

Freedom for him. Freedom for us.

Yeah.

Happy life. Happy dog.

Yeah.

Happy owners.

When was your boot camp?

End of May. Two months.

Tell me what life was like beforehand for you and them.

Yeah.

It was nightmare. The biggest problem was that. We'd learned through vets and everything that Clover was highly reactive because of her being in so much pain.

Yeah.

And that became habitual. All the different trainers we were trying, we just could not get her to stop reacting, which in turn, Mr. Protector here, he was always in the middle of it. It got him to a stage where he'd become very reactive on his lead.

Yeah.

So we couldn't go anywhere where we thought we were gonna meet people.

Yeah.

Or where we were gonna be in a situation where there'd be a lot of dogs. That was sort of like the buildup to Finding you guys.

Yeah.

With that guarantee of the training and coming out with them being 100% not reactive.

Yeah. What did you think of that when we said—

Well, it's been truly unbelievable.

Yeah.

I'm not gonna lie.

We said 5 days, we can fix it.

What do you think? And that's, that's not blowing wind up your ass. That's the fact that we just thought you can't do it in 5 days.

Yeah.

Describe like how life is now for you guys.

We do what we want to do.

Yeah.

We were that couple that would try and find somewhere to suit the dogs.

Yeah.

And we have to remind ourselves still, well, we can go there, we can do this.

Yeah.

One of the biggest things, we love going to the beach.

Yeah.

So we go to Saltburn.

I love the sea, I love the beach.

Yeah, so we go to Saltburn.

Yeah.

And you can't walk down the prom because there's beach huts and people there and it's so busy.

It's narrow.

Yeah, and it's really narrow, so it's really hard to navigate her down there.

Yeah.

She walks down there now and just takes the praise. The other day, it was a very proud moment, to be honest, because There was a group of kids.

Oh yeah.

And she were in a, she was in a pushchair.

Yeah.

And she used to be really reactive with anybody coming to the pushchair.

Yeah.

And this school kid was like, can I stroke her? And, and for, for the first time it was easy to say yes.

Yeah.

And he came and stroked her and then the family came and then before we knew it, we had 8 or 9 kids around her all cooing over her.

Oh.

And she just lapped it up.

She loves it now, doesn't she?

Yeah.

So what would you say to somebody then that's doubting, like, that we can do it in 5 days? If they've got concerns about tools, anything like that, what would you say to them?

I had concerns about the tools massively when, you know, when we first looked into it and Stephen told me about the tools. I'm not gonna lie, my instant reaction, my knee-jerk reaction was like, absolutely not, I'm not doing it, I'm just not doing it. You've just got to try it. I think you've just got to have a bit of faith because I'd spoke to Samal before we came and I told him my concerns.

Yes.

And he did a great job of saying to me, you're gonna have to have some faith in the process, you've got to believe we can do this. And I thought, you know what, he's right. You know, there's no point in investing our time, the dog's time, the money.

Yeah.

If I'm just going to be so narrow-minded as to say, no, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that. It was a learning curve for us. We were obviously doing things wrong with the dogs. Yeah, yeah. So you've got to understand that you're going to have to learn yourself.

Yeah.

You've got to try it.

Yeah.

You've just got to have faith in the process and try it. And I, I would recommend anybody, anybody to do it because these 2 are so much happier.

Yeah.

Happier in their own skin. They're happier at home.

Yeah.

They're calmer. They're just happier dogs. And ultimately that's what you want for your dogs.

That's the goal.

Yeah. And they're happier dogs, so we're happier dog parents.

Yeah, exactly.

I think that's the key. If there's anybody out there that has got dogs that control what they do because of the reactiveness, then they have to come here and spend the money because I don't let go of my money very well, you know what I mean? So seeing how much it was, I had to have faith in your statement of it being 100%, like you've got every dog through boot camp. And cold hard reality is we did it in 3 days because we were sat in a pub beer garden on the 3rd night.

Yeah.

And that was just unbelievable. We were sat there and I said to Jill, I says, this is nearly boring.

Yeah.

Because, you know, there were dogs around us and they were absolutely perfect.

Yeah, I'm not sort of playing on the dog with disabilities thing, but she had a terrible start.

She did.

She's had a lot of problems.

Absolutely.

And, you know, she's only 6, she's got spondylosis in her spine. Obviously she's lost a leg, she's had arthritis in her back leg which was so progressive, obviously she had to have a new joint, she had to have a replacement.

She's been through a lot of surgeries, yeah.

So she's had a lot to contend with in her life. So for her now to be this relaxed and happy—

Happy is the key.

Yeah, yeah, she's not worried all the time. She's not panicking if a dog comes towards her. That, Jax would never have done that. Not in a million years would he have laid down like that. Even if he was absolutely knackered, he would never have done that.

He's so relaxed.

He'd have been weaving in between us and So just that, yeah. I mean, that's I know it's only a little thing, but for us, that's brilliant because I know he's he's quite happy laid down.

He's content, yeah.

So we've been going all over. We've actually bought a camper van now.

Oh, I love that.

Come on.

To take the dogs away?

So yeah, yeah.

Nice.

Yeah, 100%. We you know that we've been humming and ahhing, and now that we've we're so comfortable, we've been able to take them anywhere.

Yeah.

It just makes sense that we you know even if it's just going out for the day, we can you know we can just go anywhere with it.

Oh, I love that.

How long ago was it that you did boot camp?

Uh, end of May we did ours.

So we're a couple of months out now.

Yeah.

Tell me what life was like before boot camp for Skyla.

Oh, nightmare. Everything would make her bark.

Yeah.

She'd be terrified, she'd hide behind me.

Yeah.

Dogs, people, the wind.

It was a nightmare.

We couldn't take her in anywhere.

Yeah.

We wouldn't be able to pass people. She'd be fine, but then for whatever reason she'd turn behind them and start barking at them that way.

Yeah.

Dogs, she'd just lose her marbles as soon as she saw them.

Yeah.

So we had to go where it was quiet.

Yeah.

Couldn't— if we wanted to take her anywhere, we couldn't, or we'd have to sit outside.

Yeah.

Been kicked out of Starbucks quite a few times.

Did you?

So tell me what life is like now then, 2 months after boot camp.

Oh, it's brilliant.

Yeah?

She's— we can take her anywhere. We've taken her obviously to the pub, come walk past people off lead, dogs off lead.

Yeah.

She's been brilliant.

Have you taken her back to a Starbucks that you got kicked out of? How did that go?

Perfect.

Nice.

She just laid there.

Nice. Okay, so tell me, was there anything that made you like hesitant to join a boot camp?

Because of how nervous she was.

Yeah.

I was worried she was gonna lose her mind with all the people around and the dogs.

Yeah.

And the equipment, because she's a wuss.

Yeah.

So I was worried that she was gonna absolutely hate it and go the complete opposite direction.

What changed your mind on that then?

Well, we came for the assessment. We thought we'll come for an assessment, see how that goes. If it's no good, we won't do it.

Yeah, of course.

And it was Alex who did our assessment and he was It was just, it was really helpful.

Put your mind at ease a little bit.

Completely.

Did you believe you could get it done in 5 days?

No.

So what would you say to people that are like, there's no way they're doing that in 5 days?

It all just falls together. Like, you start with thinking like, oh, how's this going to work in this situation, in this situation? But then it all just falls into place. Yeah, it's, it's been really good for her.

Can you describe a walk to me, like, after boot camp that really sticks out in your mind where you think, this is amazing, this is what I wanted?

It was our first walk after boot camp. We took her down by the river near us, which is where we would go. Yeah. And she'd normally be off lead, but we had to put her back on if we saw people, dogs, anything. We let her off lead and saw a dog coming, and I was like, you know what, we'll see how she goes. And she just straight past, no bother.

Yeah.

Not a care in the world.

Yeah.

And she was really, really good.

Yeah, nice.

She's been amazing.

But just say how she was on the Monday with me when you got out of the car. She was booting off. She would not stand this close proximity to me.

No. So she was going mental, whereas now she just kissed my hand. Yeah, she's not bothered. I actually took her into— I work in a care home. Yeah, took her into work for them for her to meet the residents. Yeah, and she actually went up to them and let them stroke her.

Would you have dreamt of doing that before boot camp?

No, she would have gone ballistic. Yeah, and she would have scared all the residents off. But yeah, she did really well.

So Nelly was illegally— well, we think from the rescue that she was illegally imported at like 5 weeks. She was then in kennels Till she had all her rabies jabs and stuff like that, till she was 12, 13 weeks, and then that's when we got her. And she was also a lockdown dog, which—

Right, okay.

She's super friendly, loved other dogs for a long time, then that turned into a bit of frustration, and then it was pretty much every dog that came near me, no thank you, I'm all right. I think the first 2 years I was like, oh, it's all right, you know, we can manage it. And then it got to— she got to 4 and I was like, this is a bit annoying now. And it got to 5, I was like, I can't do this any longer. I was like, this is too much.

Had you tried anything before?

Yeah, I've been to 2 trainers before. One was a behaviourist who, she was just local so it was easy, and that just did nothing for us, and it was all about distance, and then I couldn't get any closer, and it really didn't do anything for us. And then we went to another one that was only positive, and that did absolutely nothing for us because she doesn't, she's not arsed about food at all.

After having been with the other 2, like, what made us the right trainers for you?

I think there was just no beating around the bush, it was just straight to the point. Here's what you need to do. Here's your problem and here's how to correct it. There was no like, oh, if you do this and if, you know, if you don't want to do this, that's okay. We can try this. It was just very much like, no, this is, this is going to work for you. If you, you know, you just need to listen to us.

What almost stopped you from signing up?

The time out of a working week and the distance. It's like 2 and a half hours or just over 2 hours for me. And I was worried that I'd do the week and then that was it. And it was kind of like, you've done your week, all the best. If you've got any problems, you can ring us. But it's not like that at all.

And how has the aftercare been for you?

Amazing, to be honest. Now I know you do Saturdays, that's just a game changer for me, to be honest.

How did you actually find bootcamp?

It's definitely a learning curve, which, you know, it was meant to be. That's the whole point. Whatever I've been doing for the first 5 years of my life wasn't working. The first few days it was, you know, you're obviously just learning more than anything. But I love the fact that actually as soon as we could get you out into a real environment, then you're out in a real environment. I was worried that everything was going to be too theory. And you'd be like, okay, off you trot then. But it's not at all. And I was worried that she would learn that like only here she has to behave.

Yeah.

But I don't think we went to the same place twice, so that was really nice because actually she learned that actually, no, you've got to be like this all the time.

Like, common misconception when I'm often signing people up is they think that we spend the whole week here.

Yeah.

And as you all know, like, we don't at all really.

Yeah, we only spend Monday, Tuesday here really, and that's it. For the rest of the time you're off. What was your biggest win on boot camp, and give me your biggest win since boot camp?

Oh, I would say biggest win in boot camp was just the fact that we could get a Walking around and actually taking rewards. She's not food motivated, so the fact that she would eat around dogs and she would happily take a reward, and I meant that I'm not always telling her off without, you know, at least some kind of positiveness in there, that was just amazing for me because she's never done that. And then since boot camp, it's just been nice to be able to do the walks that I've been wanting to do her whole life. You know, it's like a nice little village where I live, and I've not been able to do any of the nice walks, any of the fields, anything like that. So it's been, yeah, it's been really nice. And obviously I've been able to take her to the park.

Nice, been able to get those Guinnesses in.

Yeah, been able to get the Guinness in. One a day.

Does Nelly enjoy Guinness?

Oh yeah, she has to have the froth on top, always.

How do you feel now, and how do you think she feels now?

I've just got the confidence now. I was really struggling with if I was doing the right thing, and I think I second-guessed myself all the time. So I feel so much more confident, which in turn I think she now feels more confident. It's just been the best thing I've Done, to be honest.

Nice.

I like that.

Without being too wet about it. No, it is honestly good.

But you're happy?

Yeah, very happy. Good.

Very happy.

She's six. I want her to have the next ten more days. Probably wishful thinking ten years, but she's gonna live forever.

Prior to boot camp, Biz was really anxious about all sorts of things: other dogs, people, big prey drive. Recall was good, but only on her terms. As you can see now, she's really quite relaxed around other dogs, obedient. And her recall is, I'd say, 99%. We haven't seen a squirrel yet.

So when did you guys do your boot camp?

January of this year.

And how did you find it?

Hard work.

Really?

What was hard about it? Absolutely. It was a lot to take in, a lot of concentration, a lot of work with Bisley. I'm not complaining.

Yep.

You've got to be prepared to put the hard work in, but we saw the results.

Was there anything that surprised you during boot camp?

I'd never thought about the collar before. The different collars.

Okay.

I thought it was all about obedience, whereas using the right tool in the right situation, I found out. I had no idea that that would— that was coming up.

And what's life been like since you completed boot camp?

We like to take her a walk on a Sunday, and now we can go to a beer garden.

Yeah.

Which we would never have done before.

And also, you're walking along the street now, and I'm not— we're not worried that she's going to jump up at a cyclist or a runner or something, or If a child runs, she just watches now. Before, she'd react and try and jump and go for them. Just to bloody think she thought it was a plaything because of her prey drive. But now she just looks at them and goes, oh, another one.

Was there anything that almost stopped you from booking on with us?

Oh yeah, it claimed to do something which I thought, how can that be done in a week?

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, so I had to go down and do a little more research, find out, watch a few more Jacob videos, and then take it from there.

And did you get the result that you were after during boot camp?

Oh, definitely, and more. We came away with a set of tools that we felt we could use, including commands and physical tools that we could take with us.

And the support as well after. It's not just the week, it's the ongoing support where you're always there at the end of a message or anything that you're not sure about, days like this.

Yeah, as you know, it's free lifetime care for your dog, aftercare. Yeah, we're always here to help you. Is there anything you would say to other people looking at the YCA thinking about coming to train with us?

Do it.

It's not easy.

No, no, no.

A lot of work. You might think at some point, what's going to happen? But put the work in with her and the tools that you've given us, we think it's well worth it. There, that group of children there, I'd have freaked out before now, but she's very good.

Very quickly, if you can tell us about Bodhi, let us know the problems you had prior to YCA.

The problems we had with him, where do we start? Very reactive to people, dogs, biting history. Did the boot camp late March.

Late March.

Late March. First day, brought him into the arena, had his muzzle on because we, we used his muzzle on every walk for his own safety and other people's. You guys got to see Bodhi for actually how he was. He actually redirected on you when one of the trainers brought another dog in, so again, you all got to see what he was like. And then I would say probably the turning point was probably on the Wednesday where—

Muzzle was off.

Yeah, muzzle was off. We started to see a huge improvement, and it was just progression. And every day, got to the Friday—

Sitting in a pub on that Friday.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did a couple of walks around the local parks. Good as gold, didn't kick off. And then, like Natalie's mentioned, when we was in Hickory's, he just sat down in the corner, didn't murmur, didn't bark or anything. That was the point where it was just like, yeah, these guys at YCA are just like fantastic. They've just changed his life and they've changed ours.

Since boot camp, I don't think I've really had a reaction out of him. I can literally walk past like this close now and not get a reaction, and people still try to avoid me, and I'm like, no.

He was never able to do this. Yeah, he'd have to have his muzzle on, and he'd want to just react towards you. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Absolutely.

And then look at him.

Was there anything that surprised you during boot camp?

I think how quick you guys enforced, I think, everything on us and how quick he accepted it.

It's a very simple technique. Yeah, but with the use of tools used correctly, because he would go from 0 to 10 like that into red zone and there was no bringing him down. But straight away I was, I was just shocked at how quickly he's just— his whole demeanor and everything changed. But even now I would say he's a completely different dog. Even at home he's happier, he's, he's more chilled. Your relationship?

Yeah, definitely, definitely. Yeah. Yeah, it was his last straw with him, to be honest with you. And it's something, of course, I'd have regretted immensely. But yeah, it's changed our world and his. And yeah, he's a better dog in every way possible. So huge congratulations to you guys. Yeah.

Was there anything that almost stopped you coming to ICA?

No, being honest, no, not really.

We didn't try anything. I'm that person, like—

We'd watched enough videos. It ticked all the boxes, didn't it? And then I think for me, the week before we was due to come on boot camp, you gave us the— you invited us all in the chat and gave us the homework to work through. And the Newton's cradle was a game changer as well. In all fairness to Bodhi, from a young age he's been quite sort of obedient, but that was a real sort of game changer, the Newton's cradle technique. So when we then got to boot camp on the first day, we was fairly confident. He did us proud, didn't he?

Yeah.

Did us proud.

Obviously pre-boot camp, I was like, in 5 days, change all this. This dog that I thought, what the hell can we do with this?

And it was so nice to see not only Bodhi but everybody's dog on the boot camp. They all just changed from the get-go to the end. They was all different dogs. So it's credit to you all for what you do with these dogs. And it's almost like witchcraft.

But it's life-changing. It has been life-changing for us. We've now got a dog that we can actually do stuff with because we couldn't go cafes, we couldn't go pubs. He was too scared to take him out in public because he'd just make a scene.

What would you say to someone that was thinking about coming to ICU?

Do it.

Do not even hesitate, just do it. Best money I've ever spent.

Yeah, yeah, it's— if you can get over the initial cost, it's well worth it because you've got to think of your relationship, his quality of life, Your dog's your best friend and they're not here just for, you know, a long weekend. They're here for the foreseeable. Definitely worthwhile investing into, and I would highly recommend anybody, irrespective of how small the dog is, how big, anything. It doesn't matter the temperament. Just do your research with Yorkshire Canine Academy. Look at their videos and just don't hesitate in getting in contact with them. Do an online one-to-one call, speak to one of the trainers, and just, just go for it. Like I say, it will change your life and your dog's.

So we took Mabel on as a 4-month-old unknown rescue puppy. Turned out not to be quite the mix of breeds that we thought she was and was quite a challenge. We tried 3 other trainers. Her reactivity was getting worse because she was practicing it, and I think the thing was we had no, no way of telling her no.

Yep.

We had ways of praising her when she made a good decision, but no way of telling her when she made a bad one.

What was the point in which you realised that we were the right trainers for you?

I was just desperate. We got to the point that we couldn't— every day we took her to a remote part of the beach.

Yeah.

Where we could park right next to the beach.

Yeah.

And we walked her on a flexi lead, and if there was more than one person there, then we would panic.

Yeah.

And we just couldn't take her anywhere. And we got her as our retirement dog to come traveling with us and go camping. Couldn't take her to a campsite.

No.

She would kick off at any, any other dog.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

So you'd already obviously worked with a couple of trainers and you mentioned that you guys were desperate. Like, what did you think the next year looks like with Mabel if you hadn't done anything about it?

We didn't think we had another year with Mabel. That's why I was so emotional. Good girl. Because I knew it was make or break, really.

What almost stopped you maybe from going ahead with us?

The thought of the e-collar and the prong collar.

Okay.

Using tools.

Yeah.

I felt it was a bad thing to do with the dog, but it's turned out the opposite.

Yeah, yeah.

But I still feel uncomfortable.

Okay.

Around other people that kind of look at her and they're like, oh, you're being mean to your dog. But it allows her to do this, doesn't it?

Yeah, exactly. And what, what was your boot camp experience like?

Monday and Tuesday felt exactly like people had said. It felt a little bit slow.

Hello, sweetheart.

But what we didn't realise was that all of you guys were kind of watching very carefully and getting to know us and getting to know Mabel and all the other dogs. So you could help us with, you know, more targeted help, I guess.

Yeah.

But having that, you know, that, that no, letting her know when she'd done something wrong. And you could tell with all the dogs, it was almost a relief, I think, for the dogs.

Yeah.

That they were like, oh, I understand now that you don't want me to do that.

Yeah, they had clear boundaries in place.

Yeah.

They had something they could do and they had something they weren't allowed to do.

Yeah.

What was your biggest win on boot camp? And what's spun your bin?

Susie's slippers come off.

That can't go out.

You've got to keep that in.

What was your biggest win on boot camp and what was your biggest win since boot camp?

I don't know if there's one particular moment. It's just being able to lead a more normal life. I'll tell you what, the day after boot camp, yeah, we went for a walk. We called our daughters, come and went for a walk.

Nice.

We had her off lead. We saw a couple of joggers coming towards us, which was one of her absolute Yeah. She would really kick off with joggers. They came towards us, we popped her on the lead, walked past them beautifully. They said thank you. Mark, we're like normal people. It was just so nice to feel in control. I think that's it.

Nice.

And that kind of brings me nicely onto my next question and my final one before I let you guys go. How do you think she feels now that boot camp's done? And how do you, how do you feel?

Oh, we're all just so much happier.

Good.

So much happier.

Good.

Yeah, this is where I cry. I'm gonna try not to cry.

Mabel, good girl.

She's so cute.

Yeah. Good girl.

She looks a happier girl.

She does.

Yeah, totally.

Good.

And you guys look less stressed and you're not having your arms pulled out your sockets.

Yeah.

Good job, folks.

You just heard it from the owners. Not a highlight reel, not a scripted ad. Real people, real dogs, weeks and months after they left us. He's a completely different dog. Life is completely different. There is no stress. Best money I have ever spent. We are all just so much happier. That is what sustainable dog training looks like. It is not a 5-day magic trick. It is giving you the tools tools, the confidence, and the communications so the work still holds when you go back to your own street, in the pub, on the beach, off leading a field full of dogs. If you are living with a dog that dictates where you can walk, who can come around, and whether you get a normal weekend, you do not have to live like that. We can fix it. More importantly, we can teach you how to keep it that way. If you want results that actually stick, hit the link in the description, book a free consultation, or apply to the next boot camp. Stop waiting for it to get better on its own. It will not. See you in the next one.