Dogs may be man’s best friend, but sometimes they can be downright annoying.

When they aren’t digging a hole in the lawn or barking incessantly, they’re eating your slippers.

Trainer Lauren Langman believes most behavioural problems can be fixed.

Her advice? Positive reinforcement.

“We reward the behaviour we like and maybe give a consequence to things we don’t like,” she said. “If the dog does something wrong we might remove the dog from a situation, or pop them in a crate for a little while, but we don’t do scolding or punishing.”

The UK specialist is on the island for training, agility and handling seminars for The Dog Training Club of Bermuda and Avonlea Agility this week.

“In terms of basic training, I’ve heard from owners with a range of problems,” she said. “I’ve heard, my dog barks uncontrollably, my dog lunges, my dog is scared or fearful — lots of things, but all really normal.”

She started dog training as a hobby in 2005 while studying law at Exeter University.

“I was interested in horses,” she said. “I used to ride at an indoor school and there was dog training there.”

At first the dogs annoyed her but she quickly grew to admire them.

“I like that dogs are people’s companions so they live in your home and are part of your life,” she said. “Often, people’s characters change [once they own] animals.”

She set up a part-time dog training business and, once she finished her studies, realised she couldn’t walk away. She took teaching courses to get some insight into educational practices and then went full speed ahead.

“It would have been cheating myself to do law,” she said.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision for me to go into dog training instead. At first my family was upset but in time they became supportive. They all now work in [what has become] the family business.”

Her company, Devon Dogs, has three locations in Devon: Okehampton, Exeter and Plymouth. She breeds cocker spaniels and border collies — nine of which have been purchased by people here — and operates self-catering dog-friendly holiday cottages.

When she isn’t working, Ms Langman competes in agility at the highest rank of competition.

Just don’t ask her how many dogs she has.

“That’s a bad question,” she laughed. “I have at least nine dogs right now. We tend to take some in for training or we might have a litter of puppies. We do have a litter of puppies at home right now so if I counted them it would be more than nine.”

She also takes in lodgers. At the moment, a border collie from Singapore is staying with her for three months.

“It is just to get great training in agility,” she said. “When he is trained to where his family want him to be he’ll go home.

“We have a problem dog coming in June. He doesn’t like other dogs. We might rehabilitate it with other friendly dogs. We call them stooge dogs.”

She finds beagles the most difficult breed to work with.

“They are just so focused on their hunting that you can’t get into their minds,” she said.

“We just have to make everything we do with them really fun.

“We have to be really clear with them and strict with what we want and don’t want from them. Consistency is key.”

Visit www.dogtrainingclubbda.org or www.avonleaagility.com for information on Ms Langman’s seminars here.