Dog Behaviour

a) Behavioural Change

Whilst we will make every effort to assist you towards lasting, demonstrable change to your dogs behaviour, we do not guarantee that this will be the case, and  this is not a part of our agreement with you. Dogs are living creatures who’s behaviours naturally change as a result of their environment, and those who take care of them. Many behavioural issues in domestic dogs are closely linked to the behaviours of the owner. In the same way, lasting behavioural change in a dog is closely related to the extent to which an owner is able to put practical changes to their own behaviour and routines in place. We do not take responsibility for any behavioural changes or lack thereof that occur outside of our time spent with you, where we are not present to witness or influence these behaviours. 

b) Dogs as Unique Individuals

Any advice, techniques or methodologies we share with you are specific to the dog we are working with, and should not be used on any other dog unless discussed. Dogs are unique individuals and advice, techniques or methodologies we suggest for one dog may not be applicable for another. Any advice, techniques or methodologies we share are based on the assumption that the information you have provided to us about your dogs history, health and medical condition are accurate, and that you have taken the appropriate time to confirm with a veterinary specialist that there are no medical issues that may be impacting your dogs behaviour.  We do not take any responsibility for any impact of our advice, techniques or methodologies, on medical conditions which we were not made fully aware before offering our services.

c) Dogs as Sentient Beings

In working with you and your dog, we are engaging in practical activities that expose your dog to a range of sensory stimuli in the natural environment, and stimuli of psychological significance to the behavioural issues your dog is facing. Dogs as sentient beings have the ability to experience and express amongst many other emotions, pain or discomfort, fear and anxiety as well as frustration and aggression - herein referred to as ‘stress’. 

We adopt a practice of limited exposure, which means that whilst every effort and consideration is made to keep stress through exposure to a minimum, you will be working practically with your dog in real world environments, where you and your dog will be alongside other people and dogs, cars, and other stressor stimuli. At any time when your dog is exposed to stress, our role as a behaviourist is to work practically with you through these experiences, to ensure a positive psychological outcome for your dog- not to avoid them entirely. Due to the nature of working with sentient animals, we cannot guarantee that your dog will not be exposed to stress, as this is often an essential part of the process of overcoming these stressors. We will however always act for the long term psychological health and welfare of your dog. 

Appointment Times

At the Dog’s Way, we offer appointments on site in our enclosed paddocks at Underhill Farm, as well as travelling appointments whereby we will travel to your home address or another location. If you are travelling to Underhill Farm, please try to make sure that you arrive on time for your appointment. Whilst we do factor in extra time for delays, and will do everything we can to ensure you receive your full appointment time if you are held up, this may not always be possible if you are significantly delayed and another client has a session directly after yours. Full directions to the farm are accessible from the “locations” page on our site, and from your email confirmation and reminders.

When travelling to you, our aim is always to arrive at your booking time, and we will always contact you before setting off for your appointment with an ETA - regardless of whether we are anticipating a delay. Delays do sometimes occur, particularly during the winter months. -These delays are normally no more than 10 minutes except in rare circumstances. In these instances, we will always give you and your dog the full time you need for your session and will keep you updated on our arrival time before hand. Delays are an inevitable part of the service we offer, so please try to ensure that you have extra time free beyond your scheduled appointment.

Refunds, Amendments & Cancellations - In Person Services

a) Refunds

As part of our agreement, you understand that we exclusively offer our time as a service. As such, we do not offer refunds for any time spent with you. As mentioned in Dog Behaviour Section A, any changes or lack thereof to your dogs behaviour are not a part of the agreement you make with us, and as such we do not offer refunds for any reason, once we have completed the full session with you as laid out in the invoice. 

b) Cancellations

We reserve the right to cancellation of your appointment, up until 08:00am local time on the day of your appointment. Wherever possible, we endeavour to make you aware of any cancellations with as much time as possible. If for any reason we do need to cancel your appointment, you reserve the right to reschedule your appointment at the next available time within a 30 day period, or alternatively a full refund should you be unable or unwilling to find a suitable appointment time.  In the event that you chose to refund your callout fee, we endeavour to do so within 3 business days. 

You reserve the right to cancellation of your appointment without penalty, up to 3 days prior to the date and time of your appointment. This can be done using the cancellation link at the bottom of your email confirmation. In this instance, we will work with you to reschedule your appointment for a time that suits you, or in the eventuality that you are unable to find a suitable appointment time within a 30 day period, we will refund any payments made to you.

In the eventuality that you contact us to cancel your appointment less than 3 days before your session, or you are not present at the address provided as the location of your appointment, and you are unable or unwilling to reschedule your appointment within a 30 day period, we reserve the right not to offer any refund in this instance. At our discretion, we may also offer a partial refund excluding late cancellation fee equal to 25% of your session cost in all circumstances. In the eventuality you cancel an appointment on more than two occasions, we reserve the right not to offer you the opportunity the reschedule your appointment again. We also reserve the right not to offer any refund in this instance.

c) Packages

We offer packages on site which provide a number of sessions at a reduced cost to the normal price for booking. In the eventuality that you book a package and subsequently choose to cancel that package, either without having booked any sessions, or having booked some but not all of the sessions in your package, a refund will be offered on a Pro rata basis excluding sessions already used. In this instance, a pro rata refund is calculated with sessions that have been used charged at the standard rate, and this amount deducted from your refund amount - as discounts offered on packages are only available for a full course of sessions.

• For example, if you book a £249.00 package, you use your £40.00 phone call and your £159.00 specialist assessment, then request a refund on your package, the refund us calculated as £249.00 - (£40.00+£159.00) = £50.00

Use of Video Recording Equipment

We will on occasion using photo and video recording equipment to capture footage of your dogs behaviour, as well as your own - primarily for educational use during the training session. We also occasionally like to use these photos and videos for promotional purposes, on our website and social channels, subject to an opt out policy. In the eventuality that you do not wish for photo or video of either yourself or your dog to be shared, an opt out is provided when booking your session. Any photo and video recorded remains the Intellectual property of The Dogs Way UK Ltd. If you would like to be sent a copy of any photos or video footage taken during your session, you can request these by contacting one of the team. Any participants of training sessions under the Age of 18 are automatically opted out, without exception.