A year ago a lady brought her dog Ozzy to class.

He was boisterous, unstable and not easy to manage. With help and encouragement Ozzy and his owner started to make progress and today I received the following email which she agreed I could share with you: Hi Vic.

I can’t believe it’s 12 months since Ozzy and I met you at Tegg’s Nose or what we’ve achieved since then. I wanted to update you on our progress and thank you for your invaluable help.

Having established the rules and been consistent, Ozzy is now very well behaved in the house and when he does slip, we simply reinforce the message as often as necessary.

He almost always barks when someone comes to the door but stops when it’s opened. He greets politely, doesn’t jump up and there is never any aggression now. Neither does he try to bolt down the path at the first glimpse of freedom any more.

When visitors come in, he is sometimes over enthusiastic when greeting some people but will come away from them when asked and soon settles down.

The endless pacing is a thing of the past, thank goodness. Barking when people leave the house is less frequent and less prolonged, if it happens.

There are no problems when my sister’s dog stays with us.

Over the summer, he walked regularly with other dogs and now he generally ignores other dogs when walking.

When he does show an interest, it’s rare for him to be aggressive and I try to avoid the opportunity by calling him away and moving on, which usually works.

I’m better at gauging when he might get grumpy and stepping in before he does.

I’m now walking him off the lead where it’s safe to do so and there are no other dogs around.

This is quite a new thing but so far I’ve had no problems. So far he’s been very good at coming back when called.

If you would like to discuss this column, email vicbarlow@icloud.com or text 07590 560012.

By Guardian columnist The Dogfather