A DOG’S life in France can very often be spent at the end of a chain in a dusty courtyard, with their owner seeing them more as a guard dog than a pet.
But James Conroy sees such dogs as an opportunity to help them have a better life, as long as their owners are willing to understand the psychology of owning a dog.
James has completed a course in Avignon, overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, which aims to help people with dangerous dogs control their animal so that both the dog and others are safe.
“New laws were being introduced for dangerous dogs after a number of incidents and I decided to undertake a four day course in Avignon,” James said.
“I am completely against the breed specific element of the rules, but I was very interested in the owner training element that meant people had to learn about a dog’s psychology. Which I thought was fantastic.
“So after completing the course I was able to provide training to individuals and help them fulfil the regulations.”
The rules mean that powerful dogs, such as Rotweilers, have to be muzzled in public, have no history of bad behaviour and be assessed by a veterinarian. While owners need to hold third party insurance and must have completed the training course.
But unfortunately for James, while the regulations are in place, there seems to be little willingness upon the authorities’ part to ensure they are complied with.
“Everything is all up in the air at the moment, you could say it’s typically French,” said James.
“What should happen is that owners go to the Mairie to find the local person able to provide the training, then after a one day course they receive a certificate to say they’ve attended.
“Then the dog should be taken to the vet for an assessment and the owner will gain permission to have the dog.
“But no one seems to have any idea who is enforcing the laws. The vets aren’t seeing anybody come to them to have the dog assessed. The trainers are not getting anybody come to them saying I need to be on your training course.
“Things have fallen between the gaps really.”
James arrived in France around four years ago, buying a holiday home in Burgundy, which has now become a semi-permanent base for his Canine Psychology Centre.
With its six stables perfect for kennelling dogs the set-up would allow him to offer facilities for the courses if the rules were being properly followed.
Instead he finds himself heading back to the UK and working from his home in the East Midlands offering help to owners, and using what he has learnt from in France on the other side of the Channel.
“The popularity of television programmes such as the Dog Whisperer and Dog Borstal in the UK has seen an increase in the number of people offering training,” James said.
“There aren’t as many doing the kind of rehabilitation work I can do, with serious issues such as aggression and tackling phobias.
“But my real worry here in France is that while nothing is being done about enforcing the regulations the rescue homes are actually filling up with dogs such as Rotweilers.
“People are worried about the laws actually being enforced, so they have just abandoned these dogs left, right and centre.”
Website: Canine Psychology Centre