Is man's best friend turning against us, or is it a case of owners not being able to control their pets? Jemma Walton reports on the trouble with dogs.

NEVER mind the chewy bones and the comfy bed – the first thing anyone buying a puppy should think about is putting their new pet through basic socialisation training.

This is according to Sharon Wilson, who has trained pups for 19 years, and runs Angelic Dogs Training School.

She used to train dogs in Oxfordshire, where lots of people would bring puppies to be trained. "I have been quite shocked while running classes here," she said.

"Because people don't seem to bring their puppies along. I tend to see a lot of dogs when they're older, and people are having problems.

"But those problems could perhaps have been avoided if their dog had been socialised properly when they were a pup."

Sharon runs a basic eight-week training course, ideally for puppies aged 10 weeks. She said: "Dogs eight weeks old and under are like small children – they will investigate and are very open to everything.

"After eight weeks fear of the unknown kicks in, and they will react according to how they have been taught and what they have experienced in their first eight weeks.

"And so it is important that you get your dog from a breeder who has done some socialisation before you get your puppy from them at eight weeks."

Sharon said the point of training is to help bring dogs into the human world – which can be hard. "We tend to forget that dogs used to be working animals, but aren't really anymore. We expect them to sit at home for eight hours a day while we're at work," she said.

"And while they may be getting physical exercise, not all of them are getting mental stimulation, and that mental energy has to come out somehow, and not always in ways which are appropriate in a human environment.

"This is why heel work to music and agility classes can be helpful in keeping your dog happy."

Sharon said that no type of dog is more likely to be vicious than another, however, we need to take into account what each breed was bred for, understanding their needs and fulfilling their requirements to avoid them acting inappropriately.

"But you get good staffies and bad staffies, good German Shepherds and bad German shepherds," she added. "Two things are important when it comes to having a safe, happy dog - genes and environment.

"Finding out what a dog's parents were like will tell you a lot about what their puppy will be like, but then the environment they are in will also need to be right – they will still need to be shown and helped to live with humans."

Sharon said all dogs can be trained to be better, although some live in the wrong environment for them, and so will never be 100 per cent happy.

She said: "I had one client who unfortunately had to put their dog to sleep because it had a problem with children. We got it so that it could tolerate children, but children are unpredictable, and might tug its ear or something, which could upset it.

"They tried and tried, but realised that they had to manage the dog all the time, and that just wasn't working out."

Angelic Dogs, based on Peterborough Road, Crowland, is available on 01529 241163.

When picking a dog trainer, always choose one which is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.