Welcome to Anvilstone Dog Training

Not just dog training. We train people too.

Reviews

We love it when our clients and their canine companions are happy and below is a selection of comments from previous clients who have taken the time to leave us reviews.

If you’d like to discuss dog training or any behavioural issues with us, please contact us here.

5.0

5.0 out of 5 stars (based on 44 reviews)

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super weekend

5 April 2025

Our 2.5 year old GWP “Hunter” had super high prey drive and selective recall. After spending the weekend with Ian he has transformed both Hunter and his humans . Hunter is now much more focussed and his humans have been taught the skills to help Hunter stay consistent. Thoroughly recommend ,the earlier the better.

Thank you Ian ,Hunter ,Tiff and I really enjoyed your company and knowledge.

Paul and Tiff

Paul Field

Fabulous training day - highly recommend

28 March 2025

We contacted Ian with a view to responsibly introducing our 11 month pup to sheep and improving her recall amongst distractions. We got so much more in our day, Ian has such a wealth of information and understands the dog and it’s behaviours so well. We leant so much about focus and leadership and came away with a plan to put into action at home. Ian was lovely with both the pup and us and took the time to explain and demonstrate exercises – we are really looking forward to our future with our super pup. We are already seeing more focus and great recall on our walks and would not hesitate to recommend Ian. It was a fantastic day.

Jen Reynolds

Agressive Labrador

25 March 2025

We have a very unpredictable and agressive black lab with no recall.

Impossible to take out in public and never to the cafe, park or Pub.

Within 5 days ian had him off the lead in a field full of sheep, running with his dogs which was unheard of prior to this, walking on a lead through Kirkby Lonsdale on market day, absolutely no reaction to people or small/large dogs.

We have been to other trainers which was frankly a waste of money.

5 days with Ian, -different dog. Stress free family dog which we never thought we would have.

Highly recommend.

Janet

Fabulous training - 2yr old GWP

20 March 2025

We can’t thank Ian enough for the incredible transformation in our GWP’s training. A month ago, we didn’t have the confidence to let our boy off the lead, as his high prey drive meant recall was a real challenge. Now, he’s off-lead on all his walks, regularly checking in with us and dashing back the moment he’s called. Ian’s training has truly changed our experience, making walks enjoyable again. We’ve tried various trainers in the past, but we only wish we had found Ian sooner. If you need help with your dog’s training, we highly recommend getting in touch with him!

Zoe

First training session

17 March 2025

First one-to-one session with Ian and my nine month old lab. Within a very short time, Ian had her walking at his side with no pressure on the lead at all, no jumping up and focusing properly. Clear and thorough instructions on what I need to do to obtain the same level of discipline from her. Extremely pleased with the session.

Karen Longhorn

Grouse

6 March 2025

I had heard about Anvilstone by recommendation.

Grouse, a two and a half year old GWP bitch, spent six days with Ian and his dogs. It was decided, due to distance and family commitments for her to stay and board.

I spent four hours with Ian and Grouse (in difficult wet and windy conditions) before she came home. She worked well for me.

She is far more focused on her human now. Cheese is a great reward for good behaviour!

We have to make sure not to undo all the good work Ian put in by carrying on with all he taught us.

Ian is approachable and at the end of the phone should the need arise. Many thanks Ian.

Anne Brenkley

GSP pup

2 March 2025

A fellow pointer owner recommended Ian. We have a 7 month old GSP Dennis who has been running us ragged! Top and bottom of it , he thinks he’s the leader. We went to see Ian and spent an hour listening and observing how best to control Dennis. We feel reassured that we will have a well behaved dog to enjoy.

Ian was fantastic with Dennis, it was a pleasure to watch him walk calmly and become more focussed. We look forward to what’s to come

Sara Martinez

Fantastic session with Ian

12 February 2025

Absolutely fantastic session with Ian today. Really made a big difference and would 100% recommend.

Heather

Rottweiler

12 February 2025

Excellent trainer. Better by far than the other 7 we’ve tried.

John morrow

Such great and sensible insight

26 January 2025

We visited Ian today with Martha our gwp who was becoming increasingly reactive to dogs. Following some really interesting insights into not just this but a bigger management of our dogs scenario we have come away with the tools

We need to address these issues. Ian is calm and measured with both the dogs and owners and certainly made us and Martha feel supported and clear on the changes we need to make. Thank you so much

Lesley sewell

Kath Adamson 5 months ago

visited Ian after a online recommendation..was dubious about the timescale but absolutely amazing I have a different dog . highly recommended

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Natia Surran 5 months ago

Amazing. Within 15 minutes of arriving my dog was walking beside me, not pulling at all. She sat and chilled out as we talked, something that has never happened before. Anvil Stone Training has given me the knowledge to build a better relationship with my dog. Thank you.

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Emma O'Hagan 6 months ago

If you're searching for help, stop right here and give Ian a call!

Our 2.5-year-old GSP had been testing boundaries for over a year, and we were at a complete loss as to what to do next. After just one phone call with Ian, we felt truly heard. He gave us practical advice that we could start using immediately. When we dropped Maggie off for training, we were nervous, but Ian instantly put us at ease with the way he interacted with her and understood her behaviour. We left feeling reassured that she was in the best hands.

Throughout the week, Ian kept us updated with videos of Maggie working on her heel, staying focused off-lead, and enjoying playtime with his dogs or cooling off in the nearby river. Yesterday, when we returned for our own training session with Ian, he put us through our paces, making sure we understood everything, no matter how many questions we asked or how often we needed him to repeat something.

We couldn’t be happier with the progress Maggie has made -and the progress we’ve made too! For so long, we struggled with everything from lead walking to her anxiety in busy, high-traffic areas and chasing anything that moved. Thanks to Ian’s leadership and focus training, Maggie is now a more relaxed and content pup. We’re finally able to take the reins as her leaders and give her the freedom to just be a dog. 🐾 There's still work ahead, but with Ian’s framework, we feel confident that we can keep improving and enjoying life with Maggie.

Thank you, Ian - you’ve truly given us our quality of life back with our pup 🙌🏽

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cheryl seymour 6 months ago

We have just used Anvilstone dog training and would highly recommend Ian. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience that he very clearly conveyed to myself and my husband. We had booked in for a week with Ian, mainly for resourse guarding dead animals and dominancy. Ian contacted us after two full days for us to go and work with our dog alongside Ian. After a full afternoon's handover, we came away with our dog. We are full of knowledge and understanding of how to continue moving forward with positive reinforcement. Thank you so much, Cheryl, Dave.

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Emily Robinson 8 months ago

My friend recommended Ian at Anvilstone Dog Training after she had taken her GSP Urnie for a very successful weeks training.

We have a 5.5 year old GWP who has been with us for 18 months. He is a big dog and when we got him he had a level of training; recall to the whistle (if there was nothing around to distract him) and some lead walking with a control collar. I am not ashamed to say over the last 18 months I lost all communication with Ghillie and he was getting too much for me. Going through a field of sheep he would scream (literally) at them and pull my arms out their sockets trying to get to them, he would chase bikes, lead walking was uncomfortable and recall was ok as long as we were somewhere where there was nothing more interesting than me! In the end we did the same walks every day in the woods at the crack of dawn so I didn’t have to put him on a lead and I didn’t meet any bikes, runners or other dogs and with a ball to keep him occupied and stop him running off.
After my friends recommendation and checking out the website and instagram page I bit the bullet and contacted Ian for some training.
Ghillie spent a week with Ian and then I joined for the last day to be “trained” as well. I can’t get over the difference in Ghillie. I am not exaggerating when I say this has changed my life! I’ve been out by myself and ghillie has walked calmly on his lead, his recall is spot on, even when he got distracted by another dog and he is listening to me! We even went through some sheep and where I’m not quite confident enough to have him off his lead, he walked past them with no screaming or pulling my arms off!
Training Ghillie on our walks makes them so much more interesting and rewarding for both of us, I can’t wait to go to different places with him!
Thank you Steph for recommending Ian and most of all thank you Ian and Grace for all the hard work you did with Ghillie…and me.

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Steve Duff 10 months ago

We took our 3 year old GWP Deia to Anvilstone Dog Training to work on her reactivity and walking skills. We had intended to leave her there all week. After about 2 hours in the field with Ian she was happily walking alongside him and one of his dogs (Pepper). The instruction Ian gave us in a single mornings work was clear and effective. It provided us with the guidance and confidence we needed to carry on with the training. We cannot recommend highly enough, brilliant and back home before lunch. 🤩

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Freya Wincott 1 year ago

Annie our GWP has just graduated from boot camp at Anvilstone Dog Training !

If like me you have been reading the reviews and wanting to book in with Ian for the last 1-2 years whilst pulling your hair out about your dogs behaviour, but still trying to fix it yourself… this is your sign to book in!

Annie is 3 this month and we adopted her from a family that couldn’t cope when she was 6 months old. She is significantly better than when we first got her after a lot of training, and a lovely dog, but put any animal that moves into the equation and she would go deaf and forget about us!

It wasn’t fun walking her anymore. Times off the lead were few and far between and the times she was off were stressful and I was anxious about what she was going to do next.
We couldn’t walk her with friends because she would either drag us round on the lead the whole way or we couldn’t hold a conversation with anyone because we were too busy screaming her name and blowing the whistle at full volume when she ran off constantly.

Over the last 2.5 years we have had far too many incidents to remember that involved going deaf when chasing something, this included:
Running to the end of the long line chasing birds/ squirrels in the woods and pulling me over and breaking my finger.
Jumping a fence into a private fishing lake (no dogs allowed!), jumping in the lake and swimming after a swan that looked like it was about to kill her!
Chasing a deer (twice), once disappearing across about 4 fields and came back 10 mins later.

The nail in the coffin for me before I booked in with Ian was her chasing a deer a few weeks ago in the direction of a very busy A- road, me and my husband were running after her shouting and convinced she was going to jump the very small wall, run into the road after the deer and get run over!
I felt like it wasn’t safe to walk my dog anymore.

We made the drive and dropped her off Monday morning and travelled home for a few days before returning on Thursday and today for training with us.
Ian kept us updated each day with progress videos from as little as 2 hours after we had dropped her off.

Today we walked for 5 miles up the fell with Ian for our final challenge!
it was the least stressful walk we had ever had with her despite us coming across sheep and cows within a few metres. She was off the lead the entire time.
Her recall is spot on, she can be around livestock, she is staying close to us.
The pictures speak for themselves.

Ian we can’t thank you enough. The change in her is unbelievable.
Annie can now enjoy her life off lead, walking for miles with us as she should do without the fear of her getting hurt or lost.

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Fiona Carruthers 1 year ago

I have a 2yr old rescue GSP that is high prey drive. I have tried training myself and various other trainers too but to no avail. I was at a loss where to go from here. She was missing out on off lead walks and confined to a long lead and free runs in our garden. I came across Ian at Anvilstone through a recommendation on a Facebook group. I called Ian and had a long chat about our fears and frustrations. We agreed to leave her with Ian for a week with me joining him for a day to train me. I was updated daily with videos of her progress and i could not believe this was the same dog. She was so focussed and was enjoying herself. We have a lot of work to continue with but the change in her already is dramatic. I would have no hesitation of recommending Ian. I cannot thank him enough. We are enjoying our girl and she is enjoying life.

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Marian Kyle 1 year ago

We took our two English Pointers to Ian in February 2024 for help with recall, lead walking and reactivity. We spent 5 days with him and even within the first day, we couldn't believe the change in our dogs. Being very high prey drive dogs, we never thought we'd be able to let them off lead and now we can walk over fields and fells with all sorts of scents and animals and they come back to us every time.
We also got advice on how to help with reactivity which again, has helped us massively but will be something that will take time to help that dog relax but have seen changes already. We would highly recommend Ian at Anvilstone for any training
Our walks are now much more enjoyable and stress free, both on and off lead. Thank you Ian

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Mike Shaw 1 year ago

Having discovered Anvilstone Dog Training via a friend who owns a GWP it was with some trepidation that I made contact with Ian in the hope that he could help us with our 2 year old flat coated retriever, Fynn’s lack of recall.
Immediately putting my mind at ease, Ian arranged for a visit to outline an initial four day programme. Heading over to Lupton from our Guisborough home meant an early start on the Monday morning of February 12th. Having achieved this, the travel plan went awry with a dodgy sat nav taking me 10 miles out of my way before finally we arrived at Ian’s location.
Apologies for delay courteously accepted by Ian, Fynn was immediately put to work with close lead work followed by long lead 180 exercise with the aim of encouraging Fynn to concentrate on Ian and follow his direction.
Fully explaining the process, it was brought home to me the importance of the relationship between owner and dog, key words, treat rewards and positivity were paramount.
After the introduction, Ian agreed to take Fynn for the full four days with myself and wife Shirl due to return on the last day to work in tandem with our boy.
Returning on the Thursday to an extremely damp training field, we held our breath waiting for Ian’s
assessment, it was with some pride that we listened to Ian extol Fynn’s ability and general good nature and willingness to learn. Associating this with our knowledge of the flat coated retriever breed through 3 previous owner relationships we set to with renewed enthusiasm not to let our boy down and support him in his education. After a few minutes it was our turn to carry out the chosen exercises. Whilst nowhere near the level of Ian’s expertise, we both achieved sufficient response from Fynn to realise that we could succeed over time.
Observing Ian working with Fynn was hugely rewarding. Even being aware that we were present, Fynn was so caught up with wanting to please Ian and follow his every instruction that his focus was total. Watching this work was truly inspirational and we committed ourselves fully to continue this process. Having been home for a week, we have managed to carry out the required exercises on a daily basis and are pleased with Fynn’s response. Clearly we have a journey ahead, but we feel that after Ian’s guidance and instruction we have the necessary tools to maintain the progress and enable Fynn to enjoy an active life as a well behaved member of the “flattie” community.
A huge thank you to Ian, Fynn sends his best regards.

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Lisa Hunt 1 year ago

We had issues with our Belgian Malinois not listening and would have killed sheep given the chance. Ian explained everything clearly and listened to what we had to say. He was understanding and patient. Started with the very basics and builds the dogs trust before moving on to the next level, waiting until the dog fully understands what is currently being asked of him. Really impressed with the guidance and results, we are now totally confident taking him in with our sheep and he would not leave our side.

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Susie Whitehead 1 year ago

Took my German Shepherd for a two day training session with Ian this weekend. My dog was very bad at chasing sheep! Ian sorted it out within 5 minutes. The whole experience has been very informative, myself and my dog have learnt a lot. Would highly recommend Ian for any problems you have with your dog. Even if you just want to improve your relationship with your dog.

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Marian Colman 1 year ago

Having tried our local puppy and further training classes with limited success, and researching trainers online, we decided to book our GWP (Nancy) in with Ian at Anvilstone dog training. Nancy was difficult to enjoy walking as she would pull constantly, she was reactive to birds, leaves, and anything small, had poor recall, and in the house she would leap on anyone who entered.

After Nancy had spent 2 days with Ian, we spent a further day together learning how to make the most of the training done with her. The results are a stark contrast to the dog that went to anvilstone! Obviously all training requires the owner to continue the good work, but instantly she has been calmer, walks better on the lead, is focused more on her humans than any prey, and visitors can come into our house with little fuss. We now have a dog that we can continue to work with and enjoy life to the full, with much greater confidence in how she will react in any given situation.

To sum up, GWPs are special dogs, that need someone who truly understands them to extract the best. Ian is without doubt in that category. Thank you from Marian and Richard.

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Gayle Howarth 1 year ago

Puppy classes for Alba. Four months old and great instruction from Ian. We’ll practice all week

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Karen Salisbury 1 year ago

Fantastic day with Ian training hank our patterdale. Significant improvement with recall after just a few days following Ian’s training techniques, no more selective hearing no more barking at farm animals you can train a patterdale 😁 highly recommend 🐾

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Anonymous 2 year ago

Ian knew instantly what I needed to do ……Ghyllie, my lovely but headstrong and independent male 3 year old large breed was not seeing me as his leader!

I was struggling with pulling on the lead, excessive sniffing and reactivity to some dogs/people and the inevitable unreliable recall.

I decided to leave Ghyllie with Ian for 5 days of training….by the first afternoon he was ignoring sheep (off lead) and having lovely play sessions with Ian’s dog Pepper. Needless to say I had been worried about leaving Ghyllie, but as Ian promised, he kept in daily contact with messages and videos illustrating Ghyllie’s improvement and their newfound relationship!

Day 5 came, I was excited to see Ghyllie again and learn more from Ian...lots of very logical, sensible advice and those valuable practical tips on how to strengthen my leadership role.

It’s been a month since I last visited Ian at Anvilstone and I can honestly say Ghyllie is a totally different dog, improving week by week.

I’m learning to read his behaviour more clearly and anticipate problems before they arise and take action!

There is lots of long lining out on our walks but I see it more of a ‘fine tuning’ training tool now rather than a step backward. Ghyllie has been a pleasure to bring home and each day we are learning how to really enjoy our time together, providing stricter boundaries and rewarding with lots of positive reinforcement (Ghyllie really did love Ian’s cheese supply!!)

If you need help and don’t know where to turn then please seek out Ian at Anvilstone Dog Training and really get to know your dog.

Thank you Ian.

Ghyllie (Kirby Lonsdale, Lancashire).

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Holly Rush 2 year ago

I spent 5 days with Ian with my 7yr old GWP Lemmy, after 24 hours we were off lead in a field with him coming back to the whistle, the next day he was off lead with sheep. Incredible! I had seen many other dog trainers before Ian, with no results and I had began to give up hope. If your dog has any sort of behaviour issues please just call Ian, he is happy to chat through any of your concerns/questions and give you options! money well spent, I now have a happy dog!

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Andrew Eadon 2 year ago

Well we trained a Labrador, a Boxer and a GSP over the years so surely having a GWP would be no bother! Ozzy came into our lives, the most loving, adorable family pet you could ever wish for……
Fast forward 2 ½ years and after much research, discussion, reading other peoples experiences on the GWP FB page we decided that we needed help we clearly underestimated the task. Ozzy constantly pulled on his lead, wouldn’t walk to heel, recall was on his terms after he had a wee and a sniff, his reaction to squirrels and cats was off the scale and was always first up the stairs, through doors etc and when he didn’t want to do something would throw himself on the floor! A bit like a toddler with terrible twos.
A number of people had mentioned success about some guy up in the Lake District who specialised in GWP dog training. Having made contact, off we trundled for a week’s intensive training. Our thoughts were leave him and then have a handover at the end of the week. However, Ian’s initial assessment was that we needed to be part of the training and we were so glad this was the case as we have learnt and been taught so much in that week. As is often the case it's not the dog but the owners and we needed to learn how to communicate effectively with Ozzy. After a lot of input, training and tips from Ian and us undertaking daily sessions we have come home with a completely different Ozzy. The week exceeded our expectations - he is calm, so much better walking to heel and no longer pulls and does as he’s asked on command (most of the time) and we walked through a sheep field with him off the lead and no reaction whatsoever.
Yes it’s a work in progress and he’s not perfect yet but you know you only get out of something what you put in so it’s about us reinforcing the training several times a day and making Ozzy do what he’s been instructed to do. We are so glad we participated daily in the training as we don’t feel that a handover at the end of the week would have been enough for us or Ozzy albeit each to their own.
So in a nutshell we would highly recommend Ian as a specialist in his field with so much knowledge on dog behaviour, training and traits. Don’t be afraid to admit you need help some dogs are more difficult to train than others as we have found to be the case. When all is said and done we wouldn’t be without Ozzy he brings us so much joy so the training effort and perseverance in the short term makes for a happy dog and owners!

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Stuart Ashworth 2 year ago

If you need a top professional dog trainer don't waste your time and money going anywhere else like we did , Ian has done a amazing job from day one ,by day two our Dobermans have gone from skitty untrusting nervous dogs to confident dogs , I'm over impressed by the way Ian trains and handles my dogs very calm and professional we'll be carrying on with Ian to get the full protentiol out of our dogs, thanks for everything Ian.

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Michelle Jones 2 year ago

Absolutely amazing results after 2 short sessions with our rescue doberman Girls.

I can really say im very impressed with ians approach to dog training taking time to teach each doberman with kindness and really working out the indivsual temperament of the dogs.

Ian has a great calmness around the dogs and I think the dogs really wanted to work for him.

The difference we have found in our everyday home life already is really impressive!

Would recommend ian for all your dog training needs, problems or just brushing up on some basic training.

Michelle @gardk9collarsuk

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