No bones for trainer Mike - video

Walking into Mike Mason's dog training centre for the first time, you can't help but brace yourself for the deafening barks and yelps.

So it comes as a surprise when you spot around 20 dogs, all sitting with their owners and being quiet and calm.

Mike, aged 67 who runs South Staffs Dog Training with his wife Sue, said: "It is all about training – and that is training the owner and not the dog.

"Walking around in a village hall and offering your dog tit-bits as a reward is not the way to do it. We teach the owners and show them how to behave with their dogs.

"People come to us with the same problems – they all want a disciplined dog that comes when its called, does not pull on the lead and is socially acceptable."

Mike, as he sits in the classroom at the training school in Shenstone, near Lichfield, has been doing pet training since he retired from West Midlands police in 1993, after working in their dog section for 28 years.

His work with the police meant he had the Home Office Accredited Instructors certificate and had the first explosives search dog in the country.

He said: "Puppy training is one of the biggest things we do. The way you treat a dog as a puppy is the way it's going to behave for the rest of it's life.

"A lot of dog owners are confused about how to behave with their dog, what toys to use and what food to give them. The public are worried about dangerous dogs but the concern should be having irresponsible people owning big dogs."

Mike works with his wife Sue, aged 59, and six instructors taking owners and their dogs through various courses including the Kennel Club's Good Citizens Award Scheme.

He helped to set up this scheme in 1992 to help combat anti-dog feelings in his community.

He said: "People need to learn to communicate with their dogs and they shouldn't do it by bribing their pet with food. We bring the dogs into a calm environment and show owners how to communicate with their pets – it is one of the easiest things to do.

"I have seen people with bites and scratches but it is usually because they didn't communicate properly with their own dog."

Sue has several years experience breeding and showing dogs and was a puppy walker for the Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Mike and Sue started their business at the TA centre in Walsall, before moving to the scout hut at Rushall for a few years.

After a while they moved to Millgreen Farm on the Chester Road in Aldridge, but business grew so much they had to find their own premises and have been at their present site for five years.

Dog owner Mandy Burton, 42, takes her dog Obi to the centre to do the Good Citizen Award Scheme.

She said: "We have been coming here since Obi was a puppy and I thought it would be a good start for him. Obi is a dollie, which means a border collie crossed with a dalmatian, and I wanted to be able to control him when I took him out.

"He is six months old and knows how to sit, stay and walk to heel."

Sheila Ward, 68, from Dale Close in Great Barr has a three-year-old cocker spaniel called Rona.

She says: "Rona was kept in boarding kennels and we have only had her a few months. She was quite lively and I thought she needed some training.

"I thought I should make the effort and do it properly as no one wants to have a dog with problems."