ABOUT ME

MY BACKGROUND WITH DOGS

Murray playing in the waves

My name is Ian Mackay. I have had my own dogs for over forty years and before that I grew up with dogs. In the past, I have taken my dogs to trainers who have advocated a number differing traditional training methods – with varying degrees of success.

I originally became a Dog Listener specifically to resolve my own dog’s behaviour for which traditional training techniques hadn’t worked. When I used the Dog Listening approach with my own dogs, I was amazed that this simple, practical, effective and respectful way to communicate with dogs improved my relationship with them to the point where their problem behaviour was completely resolved. I now have relaxed dogs that are a pleasure to own and that I am able to take anywhere.

I obtained the Certificate of Advanced Canine Communication in 2006 and since that time I have helped hundreds of owners to understand their dogs and improve their behaviour.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

I have been asked to prepare various articles and talks over the years. Here are a couple of examples of recent articles.

INTELLIGENT HORSEMANSHIP MAGAZINE ARTICLE, SPRING 2013

Following a session I ran to socialise a retriever called Jack to horses, I was asked to write an article for Intelligent Horsemanship Magazine about what I do. The owner of the horse we used that day noticed the huge similarities between the method she used for her horses’ problems and what I was doing with my client’s dog. Here is the resulting piece:

DAILY ECHO / SOCIETY MAGAZINE ARTICLE, JANUARY 2015

I visited Molly, a Border Terrier with lead pulling problems. She was also reacting to other dogs out on the walk by barking and lunging at them. The Daily Echo attended the session and this article duly appeared in November 2014. The article was republished in January 2015 in Society magazine. Here it is: