I’ve owned large breed dogs since I left home 30 years ago my first being a beautiful yellow Labrador called Simba. He was challenging! He scaled 6ft fences to roam the neighbourhood, he chewed everything he could get his teeth into and seemed to forever be stealing socks to carry around. I took him to training classes taught by trainers using what are classed as ‘traditional’ training methods where we were told to be dominant and use a firm hand. I don’t think I ever really questioned the teaching style as it seemed to work, however I wasn’t comfortable and didn’t see a bond building with my boy, so we didn’t go back after the first couple of classes.
