Testimonials
Life BK (before Keith) was frustrating, demoralising and quite frankly, painful! Our beautiful Springer Spaniel, Spud, would pull so badly we suffered shoulder and back pain regularly. Desperate to let him run around we’d let him off the lead, call him back for him to completely ignore us and disappear for a good half an hour sometimes. So we resorted to keeping him on a long lead – this did us no favours at all.
Then, we found Keith. What a kind, calm and knowledgeable man he is. He sat and talked us through ideas he had for how we could make changes. I wasn’t always keen on the changes (figure of 8 dog lead) but he talked me through everything in a way that I trusted and thank goodness I did.
Keith then spent time with us in our local fields showing us, on a long training line, how to train spud, keep him close, bring him in and basically to become an incredibly obedient dog.
Life AK (After Keith), we have a beautifully behaved boy, we love our walks with him, I love seeing him enjoying running around and knowing that once I whistle those 3 pips, he will come straight back (or 2 to change direction!!). I can’t express how thankful I am to Keith, it really has made a huge impact on our lives as dog parents! Thank you so much.
With two fairly young labradors, one of whom is very dog-reactive, we had a very long list of needs which both Keith and Simon have helped us with. The Advanced Puppy Class is absolutely brilliant for reinforcing the basic training learned when they were very young pups, but also takes them on to the next stage. The classes are tailored to each dog’s needs on the day and Simon is brilliant at knowing exactly how much each dog can handle. We have taken both dogs to the Advanced Puppy Class to focus on different issues. It is perfect as there is so much space and the dogs can train but also socialise in a controlled and careful way. We had a really long One to One session with Keith with our older dog which not only covered the situations where he tends to react but which also corrected several other behavioural problems that we had allowed to develop. You can see an improvement immediately thanks to Keith’s advice. We are much more confident too. The advice given by both Keith and Simon is absolutely solid and we can’t recommend them highly enough!
Really friendly relaxed classes, but responsive to individual needs.
We’ve even started to take our 5 year old along to the ‘Advanced Puppy’ Class with our youngster.
Thanks Simon
Hi Guys,
The 5 lessons were great , I learnt a lot and Mabel has progressed. Working with her at home is great but the lessons with other dogs in close proximity is the real test. I have enrolled for the next courses for 6 month old puppies starting mid November.
Many thanks
Nick
Keith and Simon have helped us with all four of our Jack Russell Terriers and as a result we are super proud of their recall!
At the time we contacted Keith for his help our Sprocker was 18 months old. Although she had a lovely temperament we were struggling to stop her from pulling, recall and wait for commands. After having two lessons with Keith we could see an improvement. Keith taught us invaluable lessons on how dogs will think and how we should react and we soon started to get good results. Learning games to play on walks has changed her behaviour she no longer runs for half a mile she keeps near us at all times which has built our confidence. Keith is very calm but persistent and never makes you feel stupid when you can’t get the training right but, if you practice and persevere the rewards are endless. I would and have recommended Keith and his methods to anyone who needs their confidence building or controlling their dogs behaviour. We have been complimented on how well behaved she is and at the kennels she is allowed to run free due to her excellent recall. Cannot thank you enough Keith she has become a joy.
Thanks to Keith and his advice, my GSD is now controllable on lead. Customer service excellent, Keith explained the products available and their suitability for my dog. His knowledge prevented me from purchasing something that I might have found not as useful as the broadband harness. Delivery time was very prompt. Thank you from Steiff and I.
We recently rescued a badly treated Golden Retriever from Northern Ireland. He was incredibly nervous which turned into aggression with other dogs. Furthermore he began to chase both sheep and cattle and we were not able to let him off the lead at any time. We began to worry that we had really “bitten off more than we could chew”. Luckily a friend suggested Keith and I booked 6 lessons after he visited our house for an initial consultation. I cannot believe the change in our dog over such a short period of time…. he returns to the whistle, changes directions to the whistle and has lost most of his nervous disposition. Although we have been dog owners for many years Keith gave us the confidence and techniques to enable our damaged dog to blossom into a normal bubbly Golden Retriever.
just a quick review on are order of Walk your dog with love dog harness after ordering the harness we had a little bit trouble with postage but after speaking to the company by email this was sorted out in no time the company was great to communicate with and went out there way to help and as for the harness wow this is fantastic we have a boerboel and she is a very powerful dog but this harness works great we have spent a small fortune on different harness and we got this one for less than £25 all in so if you have a dog that takes you for a walk well this is the item for you the company and harness get 5 stars plus thank,s COTSWOLD we will be ordering from you again.
I would like to say a huge thank you for your advice about harnesses and the Serenity herbs. Harvey is like a different dog, so much more relaxed on our walks, it is now a pleasure to take him out. I have even managed to walk through a very busy park at the weekend with him at my side, hardly batting an eyelid. I will definitely be purchasing more of the Serenity.
I would like to say a huge thank you to Keith for all his time and patience training my springer Benji. I first contacted Keith to arrange some block sessions to help with recall problems and knowing he works outdoors in the countryside, this was the perfect environment to do this. My springer was around about 6 months old when he hit adolescent stages and all his training i had done relapsed and the fun began! I did not have any confidence in taking him out into fields and woods knowing that he would not return to my call once he found the scent of all different wildlife and would take a good 20 minutes to find him rustling around amongst hedges and undergrowth. He would ignore me and not listen proving to be very difficult to enjoy our walks as i could not control him. I was then to frightened to even let Benji off the lead. Before attending our first session, Keith had recommended using a long line and 3 pips on the whistle to help with his recall in the meantime, along with positive rewarding. Our first session in January 2015 Keith had done an initial assessment and took us back to basics concentrating on regaining that bond between dog and owner. Benji was difficult to train to begin with, however within a couple of sessions, we began to see a difference in Benji and could see that we was becoming more engaged and started to really enjoy his training. After successfully responding to the whistle, we were able to progress with our training out in the woodlands and quarry, where i was then able to concentrate on retrievals, steadiness and hand and whistle signals which Benji really enjoyed and was too tired to do anything else that afternoon! Keith has been absolutely fantastic, with lots of encouragement/ guidance, Benji has become such a confident mature dog now and excels himself when continuing his training at home. Training any dog does not happen over night and ensuring you put all the time and effort in and practice all the methods Keith teaches will really pay off and will help you progress further in your training. Benji is now such a pleasure to own and is always willing to please when out training or on walks despite the odd bird or rabbit as a distraction!! I could not recommend Keith enough, using gentle and positive training methods throughout and making the sessions fun but always seeing an end result, i had finished our last session with a complete different springer, which i did not think would happen! Lets just say i am glad i found Keith sooner rather than later! Keith had also recommended Salters Maintenance dog food, since feeding this to Benji from a very young age he has been in such good condition, has had no digestive problems/stomach upsets and is generally an all round healthy dog.
We would just like to say thank you for your time yesterday and the ideas that you gave us. We found your training reassuring and relaxing. You will be pleased to know that Ivy spent the night on her own in the utility room and that we have been on 2 walks using the new lead and the difference has been amazing. Thanks again Andria & Chris White
This is Fynn our 2 year old Springer Spaniel. We had worked with a couple of trainers as we were having trouble with Fynn’s recall. I say trouble, basically he wasn’t listening to us and would not come back and would run around for at least 40 minutes chasing birds or anything else that moved! We didn’t feel the previous trainers were engaged with us and we weren’t making any progress with Fynn. Then we found Keith – all I can say is thank goodness we found Keith! I do not know where we would be now without Keith’s help and training. Keith did an assessment in March 2013 and we had to go right back to basics. Keith introduced us to whistle training. We practised the whistle in the home and in the garden in between training sessions. I will admit Fynn was difficult to train as he was a year old when we met Keith and as we had had so many instances of him not coming back off the lead we did not let him off. Keith gave us the confidence to use a long training lead so we could let him run but have the safety of knowing we could grab the lead if needed. We had fortnightly sessions and every session was different, Fynn enjoyed the training and was always exhausted after the session so it gave us a quiet afternoon! Now a whole year on Fynn is off lead, yes he still likes to chase the birds but he comes back when we whistle. To see him running around is just great and having the confidence in him to come back makes the walks so much more relaxing and enjoyable for us all. My advice to anyone who has experienced similar problems to us is listen to Keith, practice what he teaches you in your training session. It will not happen overnight it does take a lot of your time and you have to be patient but it is all worth it. We have compliments from other Springer owners now to say how well behaved Fynn is. I did not imagine that would ever happen! Tracy and Andy Eales and Fynn!
I have used Salters foods for some time now both with my own dogs and in my day to day work as a behaviourist and trainer. My own dogs have never been in better condition. I recommend Salters for behavioural problems, skin & coat issues,allergies or digestive problems. One area which many people struggle to cope with is when their dogs eat their own faeces. I have successfully treated several dogs with this condition simply by switching to Salters.
My 20 month old Springer (Bert) and I have been working with Rod for around 6 weeks. Over this short time I’ve realised how little I know and understand my dog and why he is frequently confused and disobedient. I have also realised that dog training is not really dog training at all, it is owner training! I’ve been enormously grateful to Rod for his patience, wisdom and sense of humour. It is such a pleasure to work with a trainer who respects and empathises with dogs as much as Rod does. Both Bert and I have appreciated his calm assertive manner and intelligent approach. I would recommend Rod unreservedly.
I bought your Stop Pull Harness yesterday and it came today. I am over the moon with it as I took my lab…which is a puller…out this afternoon and I was amazed he didnt pull. We had a comfortable relaxed walk. Thank you so much I have recommended it to some of my Doggie friends.
We’ve been taking our 10 month old Springer, Juno, to Keith since she was 5 months old. The training has been a hugely enjoyable way of monitoring and enhancing her development. Since the first session Keith has offered practical solutions to immediate concerns. Keith adopts a synthetic approach to drawn from clear experience with many different dogs and different owners. By no means have we received the “Spaniel Training Package”, but rather the training that best meets Juno’s temperament and our desired outputs. The training environment that Keith has is perfect for her breed as it is outside in a country setting and much more like the scenarios in which we would put her training to the test. Consequently Juno is maturing into an adult dog with virtually no issues with behaviour and control. We can now feel confident that we are able to control Juno off the lead and at distance. By no means is she the finished article but the progress has been steady and a delight to watch. Keith is also a great source of advice with our 4 year old rescue Border Collie who has improved greatly in behavioural terms. One of the key recommendations Keith made was for Salters dog food. Both dogs have visibly improved in appearance, energy and temperament. In the case of the Collie, the vet commented on the quality of his condition on his last visit.
Informative and friendly sessions, perfect for a newbie puppy owner!
Mabel & I enjoyed 5 weeks at the Puppy classes .
I learnt a great deal and Mabel never let me down .
Simon is extremely patient and can get all dogs to do whatever he asks them , extremely frustrating for an owner !!
You learn a lot listening to other owners and the advice
that Simon gives them .
Very worthwhile 5 mornings so I have signed up for another 5 weeks at the advanced classes .
I hope Mabel appreciates my efforts and continues to improve!!
Simon is fantastic. Really knowledgeable and makes classes fun. I love the flexibility of the classes, so you buy 5 and use those 5 sessions when it suits you.
We really need to book some more which we definitely will be doing in the near future!
Keith has worked wonders with our two Welsh Springer Spaniels, taking them from nervous and highly reactive to calm dogs that will interact with other dogs without any signs of distress or anxiety. I would highly recommend Keith as a professional behaviour specialist as he has both the knowledge and a natural affinity with dogs.
I booked a set of 6 lessons with Keith and they have been great. We mainly worked on gundog training, but also covered some of our ‘at home’ issues such as over excitement when greeting guests. Keith gives logical advice and has a common sense approach which has worked well for us. I have also purchased dog food and sundry items from Keith’s shop, which have always arrived within a few days – Bailey likes his new food!
Having been round the loop of puppy classes in village halls and discovering that this was not a good fit for my excitable, energetic Hungarian Vizsla, it was a breath of fresh air to discover Cotswold Pet Services and Keith Fallon in particular. Keith is a trainer extraordinaire. If you can think of it – he’s probably trained it! For me having a trainer that really understood my breed of dog was invaluable and has proven to be our road to success. Keith is patient, listens to the issues you are trying to address with your dog and tailors the training to your needs and more importantly to your dog’s needs. We train 1:1 and it’s just great. Basically, if you do what Keith suggests, if you are honest with how you interact with your dog and practice his suggestions you WILL see results. Can’t recommend him enough!
I have bought several items from Cotswold Pet Services – products arrive promptly and in the unlikely event that items are stuck in customs you’re notified of the delay – will definitely recommend to my friends. Thanks again for super customer service !
I cannot recommend CPS highly enough. I went to Keith with my working cocker spaniel bitch Breeze after running out of ideas. I had already sought the help of several other gundog trainers in the region but all to no avail. She had decided that she knew far more about hunting than I did and that she knew best where to look for birds. She was hyper (as many cockers are of course) and her recall was, lets say, very hit and miss. With Keith’s training and nutrition advice things rapidly improved and what I can only describe as a miraculous change in my little dog occurred. After the first session her recall was sorted and soon we had her coming back to the whistle even when there were lots of game birds to go after. Further sessions with Paul(a vastly experienced gundog owner/trainer) followed and we were soon invited on our first shoot. She was brilliant on her first day in the beating line and we were invited on the shoot for the rest of the season. On only our second shoot and much to everyones surprise, she did a brilliant long range retreive of a large hen pheasant. She loves working and has made me so proud of what we have achieved. Thank you Keith and Paul for making this all happen for us I am forever in your debt.
I just wanted to thank you for the fantastic customer service. I purchased some of the ‘I love my dog’ luxury harnesses. The first order was stuck in customs so you kindly lent me one until mine arrived. That was above and beyond the service I expected, phenomenal in fact. I then bought another for my second dog as I was so impressed. The harnesses are nothing short of a miracle and all 3 of my miniature schnauzers have been transformed on the lead from little monsters dragging me along to lovely dogs going for a walk with me. I have recommended not only the harness but also you as a company to every dog walker I talk to and I know one neighbour has already purchased a harness from you for her Large mastiff type dog and she is now able to walk him instead of her husband.
Keith suggested putting my hyper, jittery, underweight and extremely active rescue Border Collie onto his ‘Serenity 1’ Indian herb supplement to see if it could improve his condition and behaviour as well as having regular training sessions with him. 5 weeks down the line my crazy collie has been transformed he is now relaxed his excessive barking at work has stopped, he is putting on weight and listening to commands in and out of the house overall he is a completely different dog who I am now able to enjoy and be proud of.
I just want to say how pleased I was to find Keith – he really is a life saver – before our week with Keith, my walks with our 18 month labrador were unenjoyable, unfulfilling and I felt we never walked together! However, all changed, we now walk together, she respond’s and both of us enjoy the challenge of continuing the good work that Keith put in. I have no hesitation of recommending the weeks boarding school to anyone!
Keith has been an excellent source of advice, with real attention to detail to make sure the food choices we were making were appropriate for our dog, a very energetic Korthals Griffon! The food is of excellent quality and the monthly plans are really useful. Would certainly recommend.
I decided that with all the miles l was walking that a companion would be a bonus. A companion of the four legged variety that would enjoy my company and l could train as a gun dog. I’ve been on many shoots in the past and marvelled at the work of the owners and their dogs. I also knew l wanted a bitch and was convinced as to the breed l was going for. However before l took the plunge l decided to look up a gun dog trainer on the internet and came across Keith Fallon, who web page ticked all my boxes, so l gave him a call. He was excellent and asked me a lot of questions, some l had not considered so we arranged to meet up to discuss the whole scenario. I now know that meeting was vital in discussing what l wanted to do, the commitment that would go with it and more importantly the breed of dog l should go with. This meeting took place sometime in March 2017 and following Keith’s advice it took me until June of that year to find exactly the right bitch. I travelled up to York (l live in Oxfordshire) and as soon as l met the human family and Rosie l knew that she was the dog for me and l had no hesitation in claiming her. Next on the agenda was to contact Keith and inform him and set a date for her training to begin. We began her training in September and l very much enjoyed watching Keith at work and the way he anticipated her actions and reactions to his commands. I must admit it was just as much a training scenario for me and much as her. In between the training sessions l went over and over Keith instructions and the little bits of knowledge she gained at every session and l knew that we grew up together and l felt a great sense of achievement for us both when she grasped the aim of the training. Throughout the year Keith’s knowledge and training expertise was amazing, he even told me when to expect Rosie’s teenage tantrums and how to combat them. We constantly reinforced past training and moved to more taxing training bit by bit and the enjoyment l got from experiencing her enjoyment from being worked physically and mentally made everything worth while. Keith’s expertise, persistence and encouragement was a major factor in Rosie s training and where she is now. She has a still a long way to go but remember she is still only 14 months old and with her mix of breeds in making what she is she has come a long way. I cannot thank Keith enough and l thoroughly recommend him to you as one of the most professional trainers in his field. For your information Rosie is a Sproodle, that is a Springer Spaniel/Poodle and she amazes me every.
At first we thought as a belgian family training your dog in the uk (while on holiday) was a silly thing to do but already from the first lesson we realised it had been a wise decision. Springers are rare to find in belgium and as they have a bit af an odd character, here at two dog school they couldn’t really help us. We were a bit desperate (as some other owners of Springers we know were too). In the meantime Mira is doing very well: the whistle training works most of the time. There are still some challenges but we are working on it. And it is a real pleasure to go walking on the leash. For the first time we ánd Mira are enjoying it . She also had some skin problems and the ayurvedia which you gave is really working. We wanted to thank you again for your (health) advice and training because we feel more confident and really understand Mira much better now. She is a wonderful dog.
This is Layla, our 4 years old Golden Retriever having a ‘chat’ with some sheep on Cleeve Common. Layla is no ordinary show dog pedigree Retriever, she is more recognisable as a Springer, Greyhound, Mountain Goat, Grey Seal, Collie cross who delights in 20 mile walks, swimming at sea with me and agility classes. The sheep have not always been so ‘friendly’ towards her, probably because as a playful pup she always felt a game of ‘tag’ was the order of play. Whilst we never thought she would actually harm sheep, the risk and the nuisance could not be ignored. Add to this with her highly acute nose for finding game hiding in cover, her delight at munching bunnies and her ability to take pheasant out of the air all meant we needed help big time! Like many puppy owners, we took her to “Puppy Classes” aged 12 weeks. She was one of 16 in a small Church Hall, only just big enough for a badminton court. Most sessions ended in mayhem as the “trainers” followed their set program to be completed over 8 weeks. A Total Disaster! We struggled on for 12 months thinking, “We took her to Puppy Classes, it’s not our fault”. How wrong we were. In desperation we searched the internet, found Keith and asked for help. That was two and half years ago. We soon realised that dog training is 90% training the owners and 10% the owners training their dogs. Keith’s approach to training is tailored to the individual Owners/Dogs needs. Working in his Tuesday Gun Dog class, we began with simple basics, Sit, Stay, Heal and the most important, Come! Keith introduced the dog whistle early on as to control a dog at a distance requires something distinctive and not easily ignored. Good work is always rewarded with praise and some treats and incorrect responses are corrected by repeating the task until we got the right results from Layla. But away from the classes Keith always encourage us to keep the training habit every time we took her out and at home. Layla began to make progress quite quickly, however there were many ‘setbacks’ as dogs get used to routines and how to anticipate commands on regular routes, so variety became important. With Keith’s help we have taught Layla many commands using the whistle and/or hand signals. One of the most useful being the stop whistle, a single short blast followed by the command ‘Sit’! We have used this extensively when out walking, particularly near her friends, the sheep. She now usually will just sit whenever she gets close to sheep, as you can see in the photograph, without a command. We then pick her up to heal until we are away from the sheep. Training for us is fun and enjoyable and we only have to mention the “K” word (Keith) and her eyes light up with excitement. We still go to training sessions every week, if possible because the mental challenge is so good for Layla and dog training is a life long commitment, not something achieved by “Puppy Classes” alone. Layla is now generally well behaved, and the most rewarding companion to us, although any dog can let you down, so we are always vigilant whenever she is near temptation. Our sincere thanks to Keith for all his help, guidance and support and fun activities.
Coco was superb on the shoot, she picked up about 20 birds, she found the cock birds quite heavy but she was brilliant. When we had finished the last drive before lunch and everyone was going back to the land rovers all the dogs were going home I could not find Coco, I whistled for her and suddenly she burst out of the woods carrying a Ben pheasant in her mouth, she got the one that no one could find! I was so proud of her. The only thing that needs just perfecting is her bringing them back to me, but on the whole she is great, also her patience at the peg, she does get very excited. Never mind she was terrific for her first outing and has been asked back and we hope to go in January.