My first encounter with Brian was when I was still very involved with the LSPCA. He contacted me offering help with any of the dogs we might have been having difficulty with re-homing due to behavioral problems. As it happened I had taken a little Jack Russell female dog in over the Christmas along with a male springer. They had been left in a shed for 10 days over the Christmas  of 2010, while their owner went on holidays. Angie the little girl had no medical problems but she certainly had major issues with people. She would hide away from people and would growl at people if they went near her. The first few weeks were spent just talking to her and eventually I got her to come into my kitchen but I was beginning to think I would never get her a home. However Brian changed all that. He come to meet Angie and showed me that Angie was really more scared than aggressive. I had a lot of other dogs to deal with and Brian kindly offered to take Angie to his house to work on her problems. As the days went on Brian sent pictures of her playing with his Children, out walking with other dogs and sitting on his couch with his family and in two weeks brought a completely different dog back to meet me. I really had resigned myself to believing that Angie would never accept other people and especially not Children but now Angie lives very happily with a loving family.

The next dog Brian helped me with was a very lively year old Retriever cross female, which I called Sophie. Sophie’s main crime was, that she would not let the Children in her home out into the garden without knocking them over and sitting on them, much to the despair of her owners. She had been taken to be put to sleep but was given one last chance with the LSPCA, to be re-homed. When she arrived at my house I could see the trouble she caused, as she would also rap herself around your feet as you tried to walk across the yard, which was both dangerous and annoying. Brian called to see her and within minutes she was walking on a lead and not trying to trip anyone up. Again after a couple of weeks with Brian’s family she was a different dog, no trying to get all your attention when you came into the yard, and no trying to jump and knock over Children to sit on them. Much to Sophie’s delight and mine she was re-homed very soon after to a lovely family in Dublin. Brian has helped me with so many dogs with issues from their past lives and who just need a little retraining before they can find the right home, and Brian makes it possible to give them that second change. I have given his name to numerous people who were finding their dogs too hard to deal with and were in need of a little help to get them to understand why their dogs just would not listen and did the bold things that they did. Sometimes it’s the humans need a little training as well as the dogs. Brian’s patience is astounding and still amazes me when I see him with dogs and even Equines. Brian has helped me with so many Donkeys and Horses, who also have so many problems due to their past treatment by Humans and he shows great calmness in the stressful situations of catching and loading them. He is a true lover of Animals and his main aim in life is for both the animals and their owners to enjoy their lives together.

--Catriona Smyth

LSPCA, Former Chairperson