Hello animal friend, I am Ann, the dog geek behind Spogan.

I am a Scottish Hebridean Geal so it won’t be surprise to hear Spogan is a Scotish Gaelic word.. for paws – there’s a little Gaelic lesson for you.  I’ve had all manner of companion animals the whole of my 46 years, dogs obviously, cats predictabley, sheep, a ram, a huge pig boar, ex battery hens, ex race horse.. (I have always had a horse or 4 since I was 14.) You name it…

I love ALL animals so of course stopped eating all meat as soon as I made the connection as a child.. To give you more of a snapshot into this dog trainers moral compass and ethic.. I trace much of this back to watching Watership Down as a young child and feeling deep empathy for the animals..

I abore all animal cruelty and pride myself on having an amazing bond with all my animals. This is why I trained in positive training technics.

After getting part way though a Msc, I left the NHS, retrained as a PT among various side steps. But a few years ago eventually listened to my heart and started working with animals and spending more time in my beloved outdoors. 

And here we are.. 

WHY CHOOSE SPOGAN

I noticed my own dogs, that included rehomers, some reactive, some deemed untrainable – that specific things helped them.. So I started sharing these tips some customers..

I live in an expansive rural area where where my own dogs got the genetic fulfilment & mental stimulation they needed through their exercise, play and training, then they got boundaries and security in the home. However, winter in the Scottish Hebrides dictated we needed to have days of limited outdoor activity too, so adaption were made so that we could still meet our dogs needs.

So I firmly believe with adaptions to fit your environment, you can apply these same principles to help your dog whereever you are.

In my opinion, the bases for a nicely trained dog is the bond you have with them and making sure you’re BOTH happy, safe & furfillled, I believe this part is universal. Then crucially using the method of training (there are many) suitable for your dog based on the reasons for its challenging behaviour.  A kind method.

I believe it is our resposibilty to try and understand WHY the behavoiur is happening.  That understanding informs what method of training will work best for the dog.

I will NEVER just throw a prong colllar on or wave a treat under a dogs nose to make it perform.  If thats what you want, the Spogan training approach of understanding the dogs behavour is not for you.

 Ann @ Spogan x

Member of The Dog Training School & Student of Victoria Stilwell Academy