Banbury trainer helps children gain confidence around dogs

Oxfordshire dog trainer Ellena Nunneley is helping children become more confident around dogs.

Nunneley, who founded Banbury-based Swift Dog Training in 2013, now runs free classes that teach children how to read dogs’ body language.

She told the BBC: “There was a puppy boom in lockdown and a lot of people got dogs on a whim, with no real understanding of how much time they would have to put in.”

Nunneley said she began seeing the consequences of this with a lot of “out of control” dogs.

She added that some children looked “terrified” and had no understanding of how to interact with the animals.

“We are passionate about keeping children safe and teaching them the correct way to behave around dogs,” she told the BBC.