about STEVE

Steve Andrews is a professional dog trainer based near the market town of Woodbridge, Suffolk. His classes run from his fully enclosed paddock in Old Martlesham. He will also train at your home.

Steve offers a range of dog training classes including private, 1-2-1, group, puppy and adolescent, group walks, obedience and rehabilitation.  

Steve has designed his own range of luxury leads and collars called 'Jonah&Billys’. Made in the Uk from vegetable tanned leather, with hand forged trigger and ‘O’ ring they are the perfect combination of durability, style and great quality.

My Life With Dogs

"I've lived in the market town of Woodbridge for fifty years and for thirty of those I've had the pleasure of sharing them with some incredible dogs. My passion for dogs started when I was a young child. My family had a Chihuahua who I enjoyed being around. At the age of nineteen I was to fall in love with the breed that was to become my loyal companion and one of my teachers, my breed of choice would be the Dobermann. My current dogs are my Dobermann Ruga and my Boston Terrier Billy."

"Like many new owners that I see today, I was not prepared for the journey I had before me. Putting a highly intelligent high drive guard breed with an uneducated novice owner was a guaranteed way to learn what you don't want in your life as a dog owner. Did I make mistakes? Yes, every one in the book pretty much! Do I regret it? No! Because that dog and the many more that I have owned since then has made me the trainer and owner I hope I am today. In my early thirties I took up dog showing, from that learned that through structure, engagement and association the human/dog relationship could be built to an extremely high level. Whilst having a very successful show career thanks to my once in a lifetime dog 'Jonah' and his house mate 'Sala'. I started to work with people's dogs in my area. Firstly, free of charge to try and build a reputable reputation and to get as much hands on experience as I could, not only with training dogs but also how to teach, communicate and build confidence with the owners. That was ten years ago I'm continuously learning new skills to achieve greater obedience and behavioural modification".

My training philosophy

 "For the past thirty years I have trained my own dogs with the principle of rewarding behaviours I do want and putting a stop to and correcting  behaviours I don't want. If you apply this principle consistently from an early age in a fair, clear concise manner it's obvious that you will end up using positive reinforcement far more than correcting negative behaviour.

Whether we are talking about adults or children we go through life living with consequences for our behaviour, this happens when we are at school, work or our family lives. Through consequences comes pressure being able to work through the pressure is an efficient way to grow in confidence and and to learn positive learned behaviour, what behaviour is acceptable and what behaviour is not, in my opinion dogs learn very efficiently when using this principle."

"All my training and conditioning is applied in a fair, consistent and persistent way to keep the communication between human and dog easily understood. All dogs are different in what drives them, some dogs are food motivated, some are more toy/tug motivated. It's my responsibility to find out what motivates the dog, this is fun and bond building in itself!"

"To me dog training is not a one size fits all system so what may work for one dog may not work for another, so thinking outside the box and designing the best programme to suit a dogs individual needs is what makes me continuously grow as a trainer. I use marker training within my training to help communicate with the dog, whilst you can use a 'clicker' for this I use verbal markers because I feel it allows me to express myself more to the dog through the tone of my voice. For me to have clear communication with your dog I may suggest using certain tools these consist of: training lines, high value food, tug toys, slip leads, training collars and low level remote collar for off lead/ re-call work. None of this equipment will be used unless the customer gives their full consent."

"I often get asked how often do I train my personal dogs ? My dogs get some form of structured obedience everyday, it keeps them on their toes and obviously keeps them checked in with me. It's the regular engagement that keeps me high value in their eyes. To me training a dog isn't just allocated time slots during the day when you train your dog, to me it's a way of life  because when I'm with my dogs there are rules, boundaries and structures in place. When this is applied and paired up with making sure that your dog has lots of fun with you, you can't help but build a rock solid relationship with your dog."

"The more open I can be to different techniques and equipment the more I can help you and your dog!  I am a member of the International Association of Canine Professionals and adhere to a strict code of conduct."