As a Dog Listener for over a decade now, one question I get asked frequently is “What does Amichien Bonding mean and how does it relate to Dog Listener Training?"

Quite simply, years ago Jan Fennell (my mum as you may know by now) wanted a name for her Dog Listener training method, one that embodied her philosophy of kind, positive and above all good leadership, through communication in the dog’s language. 

As her inspiration was Monty Roberts and his work with horses, she contacted him to ask if she could use his title Join Up ™, adding “for Dogs” at the end. He was fine with it, but the lawyers said no (don’t you just love lawyers?) 

I thought about what she was doing – speaking another language in order to be understood, and as an unashamed Francophile I suggested putting the French words for “dog” and “friend” together. Voilá – Amichien. As is the case with Dog Listener training, once you know it, it is really simple and obvious. 

The Dog Listener book by Jan Fennell will soon be celebrating 10 years in publication, and is the best selling dog behaviour book EVER. Needless to say we are happy about that, knowing that people all over the world (the book is available in 20 languages now) are listening to what their dogs are trying to tell them, and more importantly giving them the right information. 

By the way, don't worry about getting the pronunciation of Amichien right… I've heard a lot of variations and I am not a member of Academie Francaise (in any case it is not perfect French). The main thing is to know that whatever you call it, Dog Listener training or Amichien Bonding can give you and your dog the relationship you both deserve.

Tony Knight