Ex-Lancashire Council worker takes 'dog listener' job
A woman has become a "dog listener" after taking redundancy from her policy officer job at Lancashire County Council.
Adrienne Banks, from Milnthorpe in Cumbria, took voluntary redundancy from the council at the end of March.
She said her skills would help owners who had dogs with behaviour problems.
A spokesman for the Kennel Club, which maintains dog breed standards, said this form of behaviour control was one of many that could be used.
Speaking about her change in employment, Mrs Banks said it had been a "scary move", because she was unsure how in-demand her new canine skills would be.
'Dog's body language'
She now volunteers to advise staff at an RSPCA kennel and help dogs' improve their chances of a successful rehoming.
"I have worked with one dog that was on the dangerous dog list, that has to be muzzled, and I've made the owner see she will never have the perfect dog, as the dog has a history of problems, but what I do have for her is an improved relationship with her dog," she said.
She said she was inspired by Jan Fennell, thought to be the original dog listener, who learnt from the horse whisperer Monty Roberts.
A spokeswoman for the Kennel Club said: "There are many different techniques that can be used to train a dog and there is no one size fits all solution.
"Dog whispering relies on the technique of reading a dog's body language and using the alpha theory of dominance in order to make a dog obey - but there are a host of individual training methods that are employed by a range of people claiming to follow the basic principles of dog whispering."