Our Dogs

As stated elsewhere, Peter has owned more than thirty dogs in his lifetime, almost all Rottweilers and German Shepherds. The dogs on this page though, are those that have been involved in the Ashclyst story from when Peter first started the dog training and behaviour business, covering Exeter, Devon, Cornwall and the South West soon after his retirement from the Police in 2005.

The first of those dogs were Tara, Callum and Robynne (L to R above) who actually all had success in the show-ring too, although Peter is no longer involved in that particular aspect of the dog world. Those three dogs proved they had brains as well as beauty throughout their lives (sadly cut short in Callum and Robynne’s case) all three having superb characters and standards of obedience and control, as well as being loveable family dogs.
 
Callum died at just over 4 years-old, very suddenly following the rupturing of a splenic tumour, which we had been totally unaware of until the day he died. Perhaps the most traumatic situation I have experienced with a dog in a veterinary surgery. Unbelievably, only a year before he had survived a major stomach operation for a severe internal infection and went on to be placed at Crufts only a week later, where he was on superb form.
 
Robynne was to die also very sadly from liver disease only a year later, aged only 4 years-old after an illness lasting several months. So not quite as shocking or sudden as the loss of Callum, but so sad to see this beautiful young dog waste away as she did.
 
Tara bless her, lasted to the ripe old age (for a Rottweiler at least) of 11.5 years from a combination of old age and a severe UTI.
 
The photo below shows the next generation of our dogs, Rory, Otis, Tara, Jana and Rudi (L to R). Rory, the Golden Retriever died at aged 12 in 2019 from severe pancreatitis, after Tara (2016) and Rudi 2017.



All five dogs are in the down and under control – a regular theme of our work with clients’ behavioural issues with their dogs. As well as rehabilitating their problem behaviour, it is vital that the client has control of their dog whilst out in public. Of course, if we can’t do it with our own dogs, why should clients think we can achieve it with theirs?

Again, Rudi was another Rottweiler who left us far too young at just over 7 years old from a bone tumour. This was another very sad and premature loss of what was a truly great Rottweiler and certainly the best I have ever owned, in terms of his intelligence, drive and aptitude for training. He had a truly extraordinary ability to work with client’s dogs who had less than stable temperaments and I don’t think I will ever see the like of him again.  From discovery of the tumour until his death was sadly very rapid indeed, although of course it meant his suffering was minimal as was that of Callum Rory and Tara.

 

This last photograph shows our current three musketeers, Otis 5, Jana 9 and Olive 18m (L to R Oct 2022). This great photograph shows them as always, in the down position the most important of all control commands. All three dogs happy to put themselves in a slightly more unusual location, following harvest time.

All three of these dogs were bred by our friends and highly experienced Rottweiler breeders, Stuart and Alison Thompson of Bamabel Rottweilers in Somerset. This is a great photograph, taken by Jayne in the fields near our home. They are from the best of German and European blood-lines, which of course means good temperaments but also usually high-drive, making early control and obedience work essential. Of course, this applies to all dogs in reality, but when you are sharing your home with powerful guarding breeds which have the aptitude of Police dogs, strong leadership and control are vital.

If you are experiencing problems with your adult dog, have a puppy who is developing behavioural issues, or simply want to give it the best start in life you can do no better than contacting Peter and Jayne Mounsey at Ashclyst Dog Training & Behaviour.