Inviting a stranger into your domain to tell you you’ve been doing it all wrong with your beloved, but impossible, dog is not easy. I’d had various encounters with “dog experts” before—at the Obedience Classes where our shelter-dog, Shânti, had embarrassed me on a weekly basis, and over the phone after which sessions I would feel the most incompetent idiot and quite unfit to own a dog.
Then I came across the wisdom of Jan Fennell’s Dog Listening. Having thoroughly indoctrinated myself with it, I experienced such a resurrection of hope in Shânti and I somehow making it together that I bullied my husband into reading all the books and threatened him with dire consequences if he didn’t join me in a complete reversal of everything we did with and for our Golden Girl. However, although Shânti certainly knew that things had puzzlingly changed, for me and my husband it became a case of the blind leading the blind. Knowing how to control what happened “outside”—which was where most of the trouble occurred—seemed beyond us as Shânti is an escape-artist and hunt-maniac par excellence, and we live in rough terrain with no decent fence. We desperately wanted to have her return to us when we called her. Knowing that if Jan Fennell were in the area we would contact her, we eventually took the plunge and phoned Joanne Meek.
Jo sounded radically different to those other “experts” and even admitted to having had difficulties with her own shelter dogs in the past. She was immediately available to visit us and was endlessly good-humoured and patient as she answered all our questions simply, clearly and most knowledgeably. Here was a rare individual, who wasn’t interested in passing herself off as uniquely gifted with dogs. Jo really wanted to help us be the best people for Shânti to live with. We enjoyed one of the loveliest days with this thoroughly delightful, warm-hearted young woman who treated both Shânti and us two with great respect and expertly tutored us in how to put Jan Fennell’s four basic Amichien steps into practice.
Jo has steadfastly kept her promise of ongoing support, promptly helping us understand sudden behavioural problems we may have with our wild girl and suggesting effective ways to deal with them. Above and beyond the call of duty, she generously gave me detailed advice for my son and his partner who were about to introduce another dog into their pack but live too far away to avail themselves of Amichien training. Jo’s ready willingness to help has proved to me that Jo is in this “business” solely for the love and well-being of dogs. Jo’s warm-hearted professionalism is also a fine reflection of the sort of training she has obviously received from Jan Fennell, with whom she is in frequent contact.
I love telling people about how Jan’s books have revolutionized our life with Shânti and about the wonderful day we invited Jo to help us overcome the difficulties we had in putting the Amichien method into practice.
Susannah Brindle