About Author

• Mark Telford is a dog trainer and behaviourist, based in the West of Ireland, where he specialises in fixing dog behaviour problems and also trains dogs in obedience & tracking. His work with dogs started with greyhounds and he was a greyhound trainer, breeder, and stud-keeper for many years. He trained a dog that broke the track record at Mullingar over 600 yards on the old grass surface. The record had previously stood for 34 years.

• He bred hundreds of puppies for clients and for himself and reared these and many more, often until they started preparation for racing. he believes the insight this experience provided, gives him a unique perspective in understanding dog behaviour. As he says himself, “It never failed to amaze me how much the pups learned from their mother until weaning and beyond and the respect they had for her, even though she could be very rough with them when they stepped out of line. I realised that the closer training was to the dog’s natural instincts and the more natural to the way dog’s think, the more effective and quicker it became. My whole philosphy and training stems from this belief”.

• I grew disillusioned with the greyhound industry in Ireland and the politics around it. I also developed a back problem that curtailed what I could do physically. The 14 hour days working with greyhounds had to stop. I studied to become a dog behaviourist, where I realised I already knew much of what I learned from greyhounds. Nevertheless, it developed other training interests, such as obedience work and tracking. Without intending to do so, I took on many problem dog cases and often stopped problem behaviours in a single session. Of course, not all behaviour can be stopped that quickly, but my practical approach gets to the crux of the problems quickly and efficiently. I feel my experience with greyhounds, where I had to view the dogs as working animals, gives me an advantage when dealing with problem behaviour as I’m not blinkered by sentiment like many dog owner’s when dealing with problem behaviour. I am a firm believer that engaging in any activity that stimulates the natural instincts of the dog, leads to a much stronger bond between dog and owner. I’ve written the Dog Trainer’s Bible to put down on paper my phlosophy and training method, making these things easily accessible to anyone.

• I believe the relationship between dog and man (or woman) should always be a special thing and through training and play, this is easily accomplished”. Mark Telford currently lives in the West of Ireland where he continues to train dogs for obedience and also for tracking, specialising in fixing problem behaviours. You can contact him through this site. send him an email : dogtrainersbible@gmail.com