Meet Garry Davies
35 Years of Transforming Dog-Owner Relationships
With over 35 years of experience transforming challenging dogs into well-behaved companions, Garry Davies specialises in helping owners who are struggling with their pets. From his apprenticeship under South Africa's leading trainers to his work with therapy dogs and countless "problem" cases, Garry brings a wealth of knowledge and a simple philosophy: every dog—regardless of age, breed, or history—deserves and can achieve training success. Now serving Basingstoke and surrounding areas, Garry's positive reinforcement methods make training enjoyable while delivering rapid results that turn frustration into harmony.
From South Africa to Basingstoke
A Passion for Transforming "Problem" Dogs into Perfect Companions
Garry Davies left the UK in 1981 to work in South Africa. Having owned dogs in the UK, it was only a matter of time before he once again became involved in the dog community. Garry became an apprentice dog trainer at BADTC in Johannesburg under the guidance of some of the country's leading dog trainers.
After qualifying Garry developed a passion for working with owners and dogs who were finding it difficult to achieve the basic levels of obedience in order to make dog ownership more pleasurable. Over the next 35 years, Garry assisted hundreds of dog owners in overcoming a myriad of issues that were causing unnecessary levels of stress, which could easily be resolved by some basic obedience training. Garry believes that all dogs are trainable regardless of breed, age and history.
His own dogs have included several GSDs and a variety of X-breed rescue dogs. Unfortunately, we often give up on our dogs even though they don’t give up on us. A well-trained / sociable dog is a pleasure to own, and every dog deserves the opportunity to be trained. Dogs want to please you, but often, they don’t know what you want.
The Healing Power of Dogs
Bringing Positive Reinforcement Training to Basingstoke
For many years Garry was involved with a therapy dog organisation called TOP DOGS. TOP stands for Touch Our Pets and Garry and his team of handlers and dogs would visit schools, hospitals, frail care units, etc, to bring joy to people who missed seeing and touching their own beloved pets.
Over the years, Garry has been called upon when owners were about to give up their dogs for adoption, either for continually pulling people off their feet whilst trying to go for a walk, jumping up on family members or visitors to the home or simply when the dog just won’t listen to the owner. These can be traumatic times for both dog and owner, but can be turned around by learning from an experienced dog trainer.
Garry recently returned to the UK with his family and his 3 rescue dogs and is looking forward to assisting the dog lovers of Basingstoke and the surrounding areas with their dog-related training issues. His method of training is called Positive Reinforcement, and it is designed to make training fun for the dog and also for the owner while providing the best results in the shortest possible time.
Garry has been helping us train our 6 month old puppy, and he has been a pleasure to work with. From our initial contact with Garry, which was friendly and knowledgeable, through to our first meeting with Garry, which instantly reassured us we had made a great choice in choosing him to help support us. - Garry has a great attitude and approach to training which is based on positive learning and reward, and he listened to us, tailoring each session to focus on the areas of training our puppy needed. Garry even brought along two of his own lovely dogs, to use as part of the training, which really helped assure us that our puppy remained focused on the training techniques. - This also acted as a great incentive to show what can be achieved if you put the effort in, both of his dogs were so calm, focused and friendly. Garry even went out of his way to hold the training sessions with us on a Sunday, as this was the best time when all of our family could attend the training together. If you are looking for a dog trainer, I would gladly recommend Garry to anyone. It was also great to know that there was no awkward pressure made to increase the number of training sessions, Garry kept the whole experience clam and professional. We truly have seen positive improvement with our puppy's obedience and behaviour in just a few short sessions with Garry, and we wouldn't hesitate to ask Garry for further training should we need some extra support. Thank you Garry for your time and attention. Andrew Sleight - Odiham
We have a very excitable Boxer who can become quite overwhelmed when around other dogs. Since starting training with Garry, we have already seen such a huge improvement—far beyond what we ever thought was possible! Garry’s knowledge, patience and understanding have made such a difference, and we honestly couldn’t be happier with the progress our girl is making. She is becoming much more confident and manageable around other dogs, and it’s all down to the amazing help and guidance from Garry. We highly recommend Garry to anyone looking for professional, effective and genuinely caring dog training. We couldn’t thank him enough! 🐾❤️
Me and my partner had an excitable dog with absolutely no lead training whatsoever. Within just four sessions, we’re already completing tasks and moving on to more advanced training. We’re absolutely over the moon with Garry’s progress, guidance and personal touch. The difference he’s made in such a short time has been incredible, and we couldn’t be happier with the results!
Garry is a fantastic dog trainer who really helped our rescue dog get confidence to walk with other dogs. He is gentle and calm. I thoroughly recommend him.
Garry has been a Godsend in helping train our 6 month old standard poodle to walk to heel on the lead. My husband had a fall when an out of control dog, off the lead attacked our pup. Garry kindly helped me out by taking the pup for his walks. The difference is immense.
I couldn’t recommend Garry enough. We have had 3 sessions and we have throughly enjoyed every one, making them a highlight of our week. The communication for the start was great and I never felt any pressure to book more sessions, Garry arrived and was very calm and friendly and instantly created a relaxing atmosphere. I have never completed any sort of dog training before but Garry is very informative and taught me a lot as the owner on how to get the most out of my new puppy, the progress I saw each week was fantastic. I felt confident when Garry left that I had been taught the skills to be able to carry on with the training. I really couldn’t recommend Garry enough, such a nice person and you can see how much he cares for the dogs and his knowledge and passion shines through. We will be caring on with the training Garry has given us and will be reaching out once my puppy is a little older to have a few more sessions.
We have met with Garry 3 times now and found the whole experience brilliant. He leant about our dog and then taught us as owners to get the best results. We have had to put in the work and already our dogs behaviour is much better 🐕
Garry was so helpful. You can see he really cares about the dogs and also cared about the needs of the family and household and catered the recommendations accordingly. I found his guidance so helpful and would highly recommend.
I can’t thank Garry enough for the support he gave me and my Labrador, Rue. After a phantom pregnancy, Rue had not been eating properly for over 8 weeks. I had already ruled out any medical issues with the vet, but her weight loss (2.5kg in that time) was becoming increasingly worrying, and I was running out of ideas. Garry came to my home and was absolutely brilliant from the moment he arrived. He immediately connected with Rue in such a calm, kind and gentle way, which put both her and me at ease. Amazingly, within just an hour, he had her eating out of her bowl — something she had been too anxious to do for weeks, often running away at mealtimes. Not only did he help in the moment, but he also gave me clear, practical guidance on how to maintain this progress going forward. I genuinely felt like I was clutching at straws — after all, who ever hears of a Labrador that won’t eat? But Garry’s knowledge, enthusiasm and passion made all the difference. Since his visit, Rue has already managed to eat three meals consistently, and I’m feeling so much more hopeful. It’s incredibly reassuring to know Garry is there for ongoing support if I need it. I’m so grateful for everything he’s done and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone experiencing issues or concerns with their dog — no matter how unusual the situation may seem.
Garry came to us today and helped us with a few great tips to enable us in our training of our 13 week old puppy. Looking forward to our next session before we emabark on the streets abds prairies
Really enjoyed meeting Garry. He taught us some simple things which will make our lives with our 13 week old Puppy alot easier. I very much look forward to our next lesson with his dog before we embark on the streets and prairies!
I have known Garry Davies as a dog-lover for 45 years; and as a Dog-Trainer for almost the same length of time. I have watched Garry perform at a Dog Training Club doing man-work with German Shepherds, where you need absolute control and to build a strong and trusting bond with your dog. He was always a GSD lover, so used to big dogs but over the years he and his family have fostered and adopted ‘rescue dogs’ of all shapes, sizes and personalities, gaining huge experience as to what different dogs ‘can bring’. . Garry is a natural with dogs. Garry has always been a very kind, gentle and reliable person, so when I needed to hire a Dog-Sitter to look after my dogs in July he was my first choice! Garry is a trustworthy person. He is able to find that fine line that dogs need - a balance of firm discipline combined with a kind and gentle approach. My dogs loved him. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Garry.
Garry is trustworthy and reliable. He has decades of experience training all breeds of dog and really helped me with my Cavachon. Garry is very friendly and shared his knowledge with me. I highly recommend Garry, and would not hesitate to use him again.
Garry helped me with my Cavachon who was over excited about a new cafe opening locally and kept trying to drag me into it, and lying down refusing to get up. We took some sausage and Garry showed me how to get my dog to walk past the cafe without being challenging! This has made our walks a lot more enjoyable. Garry has decades of dog training experience and is very open and friendly - he shared his knowledge and stories with me. I highly recommend Garry, he is trustworthy and reliable and I will not hesitate to call on him again if needed.
Garry was very friendly and patient with me. After a couple of lessons, and tips as a handler, it is now a pleasure to walk my dog in public.
Many years of experience training obedient dogs and obedient dog owners! 🐶
