A DOG trainer in Haydon Wick has been voted the best Animal Obedience Trainer in the south west for 2018.

Janet's Puppy School, which has been going since 2007, provides one-to-one and group sessions for dog owners looking to reign in bad behaviours or those aspiring to compete in national dog shows.

The high-end lifestyle magazine Lux Life has given the independent training school its top accolade for dog training in the region after Janet was nominated by a customer.

"All my life I've been very interested in what makes dogs tick and how we can get them better trained," Janet Garrett told the Adver.

She set up the school at 50 after gaining numerous qualifications in animal behaviour, nutrition, and certified dog trick instructor, in her spare time.

"Some owners get the bug and want to do more, and the cleverer their dog gets and more adapted they get the longer they stay," she said.

"Some of our owners want to do all their levels and want to go on a win lots of rosettes."

Janet is also the proud owner of a national trick champion who has earned the trick champion title in the UK and international title in America.

Champion Mack, a Bouvier Des Flandres, and Janet managed to raise more than £1,300 for children in need last month after completing a trick a day for 46 days and posting the videos on youtube.

The trophy from Lux Life even has a more sentimental value, being engraved with a picture of 10-year-old Riff, which Janet had to have put down in September after it had developed leg cancer.

"She was in a huge amount of pain," added Janet, "and it couldn't be controlled any more I had to make that horrible decision.

"I'd chosen her at three weeks old in Ireland. People mustn't take a puppies on lightly. They must be there. They're not just fluffy bundles for five minutes, you have to be there for everything that's needed."