Reviews

Our dog is a 11 month old Weimaraner….. who has been challenging to say the least!

From Ian’s initial assessment to the training of our dog, and then putting us through ‘training’ as well, the service was first class.

We are in our first 48 hours home and was expecting some regression but instead we have a much calmer dog, responding well to commands and therefore much calmer and happier owners!

I can’t see why you would, but if you have any doubts, ignore them and take up the training, you won’t regret it

Definitely a 5 star service.

I cannot put into words how grateful we are to both Ian and Pauline. Our GWP Russo had been attacked a few times, through no fault of his, making him nervous around other dogs especially males. We also wanted to work on his recall, drop, leave it and general commands as we just werent getting it right ourselves. Well what a transformation. We had 3 days of training, Ian had Russo instantly actively listening, following him around and we were hand to tools straight away. Turns out Russo thought he was the leader and we needed to become the leaders. Ian has a way with the dogs, genuinely he is a dog whisperer. No shouting commands, everything is hushed and it works. Pauline is fantastic, she has a wonderful way with the dogs, She is very tentative regarding the air bnb and has great knowledge overall. Russo was walking off lead with other male dogs by day 2, wandering around and enjoyjng being a dog but never too far, we went to the markets and he was a good boy sitting and lying down on command, ignoring other dogs. We have a happier, much more free (but on our terms) dog and stress free walks making both ours and Russos lives better.

We also stayed in the cottage which i 100% recommend especially if your staying and doing the training with your dog. It meant Russo could relax inbetween sessions. The cottage is lovely, bed is super comfortable. The wood fired hot tub is an absolute bonus ! Beautiful scenery, quiet, relaxing and away from the world, just what we needed. Theres a lovely pub called the Exeter Inn about 10 mins away, food is incredible and its dog friendly (they do have a pub dog which is off lead just FYI) Western Ho Beach is about 40 mins away, the beach goes for miles and is lovely! And theres Saulten Sands 40 mins away which is another huge beach with sand dunes and WW2 bits going on (didnt have time to look!) and theres a lovely restaurant called the Beachside Grill on the beach – amazing food.

I cannot fault our stay, i will always be grateful for Ian and Pauline teaching us to be better owners. Thank you.

P.S. your dog may come home with a passion for cheese !

I cannot put into words how grateful we are to both Ian and Pauline. Our GWP Russo had been attacked a few times, through no fault of his, making him nervous around other dogs especially males. We also wanted to work on his recall, drop, leave it and to grt him to stop biting the lead and chewing our arms, we just werent getting it right ourselves. Well what a transformation. We had 3 days of training, Ian had Russo instantly actively listening, following him around and we were hand to tools straight away. Turns out Russo thought he was the leader and we needed to become the leaders. Ian has a way with the dogs, genuinely he is a dog whisperer. No shouting commands, everything is hushed and it works. Pauline is amazing with the dogs and again very calm and knowledgeable. Russo was walking off lead with other male and female dogs by day 2, wandering around and enjoyjng being a dog but never too far, we went to the markets and he was a good boy sitting and lying down on command, ignoring other dogs. We did use the ecollar, which prior we were hesitant about, but it genuinely does work when used correctly and mostly only the beep is required. We have a happier, much more free (but on our terms) dog and stress free walks making both ours and Russos lives better.

We also stayed in the cottage which i 100% recommend especially if your staying and doing the training with your dog. It meant Russo could relax inbetween sessions. The cottage is lovely, bed is super comfortable. The wood fired hot tub is an absolute bonus ! Beautiful scenery, quiet, relaxing and away from the world, just what we needed. Theres a lovely pub called the Exeter Inn about 10 mins away, food is incredible and its dog friendly (they do have a pub dog which is off lead just FYI) Western Ho Beach is about 40 mins away, the beach goes for miles and is lovely! And theres Saulten Sands 40 mins away which is another huge beach with sand dunes and WW2 bits going on (didnt have time to look!) and theres a lovely restaurant called the Beachside Grill on the beach – amazing food.

I cannot fault our stay, i will always be grateful for Ian and Pauline teaching us to be better owners. Thank you.

P.S. your dog may come home with a passion for cheese !

I have just returned from spending the most amazing and transformative week with Ian and the wonderful Pauline. My usually reactive and manic rescue, is now calm, non reactive and seems so much more content. Not only did Ian and Pauline work with my fearful 14mth old puppy, they also worked on my relationship with him. We have both had a transformation and our first walk at home together was the most relaxed walk we have ever had. The whole experience was wonderful, from start to finish. I cannot recommend Ian and Pauline enough.

ExploraDora is an 11m old Springador: nice dog in pretty much every way, but wilful and with pretty much zero recall. I’d taken her to various training groups with little result and they had almost no interest in my relationship with her, as opposed to her performance with them. A friend with a GWP recommended Ian and as it was clear that I wasn’t getting through to her, and didn’t understand how to, I booked in. I stayed for a couple of days (in the Farm’s lovely cottage), and then left D with Ian, and the splendid Pauline, over the weekend, a total of six days. The improvement is just remarkable: returning to me on a long line or without, focussing on tasks and doing her absolute best for me. Ian is a reassuring (quiet!) presence and she had a ball! The collar I chose to use (for beeping and vibrate) is an extremely useful tool, sparingly used and as a way to break the red mist that overtakes the spaniel half of her brain, but she at the moment she needs it rarely. Interestingly, I also have a noticeably very much happier dog, not all-over-the-place-excitable, but focussed and keen. It’s not just a week and then done, as I have to keep on working her and practising all the things she’s ;early, but I now have the tools to do this and it’s working for me and is a pleasure to watch. And she must be about 60% cheese at a molecular level….

Ian at Anvil Stone Dog Training has been brilliant with our 6-month-old Doberman, Agnes. Over just 6 days we’ve already seen such a positive change in her confidence, focus, and behaviour. Ian is patient, knowledgeable, and explains everything clearly, making the training easy to follow and consistent at home too. Agnes absolutely loves her sessions and it’s been amazing to watch her progress so quickly. We’re really pleased with the results so far and would highly recommend Ian to anyone looking for professional, effective dog training. Off lead Agnes is a different dog, we now love our walks together, in the home she also is a great dog, didn’t think it was possible so quickly. 5 stars from us!

We sent our 2 cockapoos to Ian .

Everybody knows Cockapoos are crackers and have minds of their own…….we thought they were untrainable!! How wrong were we…. 2 weeks later we have 2dogs whom we now enjoy walking ,and they return to us when we ask!!Ian has worked wonders and I would highly recommend him.

We contacted Ian in regards to our 2 & 1/2 year old GWP bitch, who was starting to show random and unprovoked aggressiveness towards other dogs. She had extremely high prey drive and to really top things off Wilma also had severe separation anxiety.

We booked in for six days of 1: 1 training with Ian and what an experience we have had. By the end of day 2 Wilma had brilliant recall and obedience skills and we had learned the skills to be able to control her reactiveness toward other dogs. By day 3 as well as reafirming what we had learnt, Wilma was now walking at close proximity to sheep and other wild life off the lead, she was calm and we had full control of her.

By the end of day 4, Ian had enough confidence in us and Wilma to not require the last two days we had booked.

We have now spent the past 5 days with a completely different dog, she’s a pleasure to take out for walks, on or off the lead. We have confidence In her recall and obedience now, and Wilma shows a calmness that we had never been before. Also as a big plus we can leave Wilma for short periods of time which we can build on over the coming months.

Ian has, over the years learned a huge amount of knowledge from his own experiences handling his own and others dogs and from gleaning information from other specialist dog handlers that he has met.

We can’t recommend him enough, you will not be disappointed.

I brought Poppy along to Ian’s in the hope that he could help with… No recall, separation anxiety, barking when I hug anyone, screaming at cats and squirrels and generally being badly behaved.

To say I was impressed is pretty much an understatement. Within a day Poppy was calmly walking beside me, perfect recall and I was even able to leave her for 1½ hours! Wow.. who knew this would be possible.

Thank you so much, this will give me my life back and the chance to actually enjoy walking her.

Thank you so much 🙏🏻

We have just returned from an amazing week at Anvilstone. Dixie is our 10month old Hungarian rescue GWP mix, nervous, reactive and generally skittish.

Day 2 she was off lead in a field with sheep & lambs … something I would never have imagined possible.

Ian has trained us both ( us owners possibly need the most training 😉)

If you have any concerning issues with your Dog this is the place to go.

I have returned home with a calm, relaxed and focused dog and am already enjoying our walks which are enabling Dixie to live her best life.

Huge thank you to Ian & Pauline your help has been amazing.

The farm has the added advantage of a Super homely cottage on site if you need to stay

Or just want to enjoy the fantastic location.