James Abbott’s sausage dog Gus used to have him up and out walking at 4am. Not because Gus needed the loo. Because Gus had decided that’s what was happening, and James was going along with it.
That one sentence, from SPDL co-founder Julie Cluley, changed everything: “Gus is deciding when it’s time to get up and go out, and you’re doing as you’re told.”
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The chaos before the change
James had grown up around dogs and thought he knew what he was doing. Then Gus started barking in his face, charging round the garden, pulling on the lead, and eventually waking the house before dawn every single day.
He tried the traditional approach: commands, corrections, telling Gus to stop. None of it landed. “He just looks at you and goes ‘grr,'” James says. Eventually he accepted it as just how things were.
The insight that flipped it
It took an outside perspective to spot what was actually happening. Once James understood that Gus was setting the terms of the relationship, not the other way round, the fix was simple: stop engaging with the demanding behaviour. Let him out if he genuinely needs it, don’t make a fuss when he comes back in, and let him work out that the barking isn’t getting him anything.
It worked almost immediately.
From curious pet owner to certified dog listener
That shift sent James down a rabbit hole: he read Jan Fennell’s book, joined SPDL’s free introductory videos, and eventually enrolled on the Dog Listener Practitioner training in October 2024. He certified in April 2025.
His biggest hesitation wasn’t the concept, it was time and money. What settled it was a conversation with a friend who pointed out that dog listening wasn’t a separate skill from his existing work as a wellbeing coach. It was the same thing, just with a different species: helping something anxious find a calmer, steadier state.
In practice, the time commitment barely registered. Most of it was watching the theory content; the practical side was mostly about not reacting to Gus’s usual demands, which he was doing anyway.
What surprised him most
James expected to learn new information. What he didn’t expect was how much of dog listening relies on a skill he already had: paying attention. Watching, listening, and trusting that the dog will show you what’s going on, if you stop projecting what you think should happen.
His first practice client session, with three barking sausage dogs, drove that home. By simply not engaging, the dogs settled themselves within 45 minutes, without a single command given.
Where he is now
James is building his practice in person, working face to face with clients rather than online, and aiming to become the go-to dog listener in his village alongside his wellbeing coaching work. His advice to anyone on the fence: your clients usually already sense what’s going on with their dog, your job is to help them trust that instinct rather than override it with what they think a dog “should” do.
Thinking about training as a dog listener yourself? https://spdoglisteners.com/lp-2026-1-free-3-part-video-series
