Keryn Smith (right) with her german shepherd Juno. Keryn and her husband hired The Paw Man, Grant Teeboon (left), to address some of Juno's behaviour issues.

GRANT Teeboon doesn't have a psychology degree and he's not a trained counsellor, but these days he is repairing more messed-up Ipswich relationships than ever.

If your wife says you spend too much time at the pub, or your hubby complains about picking up his clothes, Mr Teeboon won't be much help, but if you have a less-than-perfect pooch, he is only a phone call away.

The canine behaviour specialist and owner of The Pawman dog obedience business has spent 33 years correcting dog problems, or more accurately, correcting people's problems with their dogs.

Less than two weeks ago, Raceview couple Brett and Keryn Smith called in the expert after dog obedience classes failed to address problems with their six-year-old german shepherd, Juno.

One Friday afternoon appointment later and Juno is a model citizen, his owners enjoying a much less stressful home life.

"She (Juno) was tearing branches off the tree in the backyard, tearing her bed and anything else in the yard apart, but the biggest issue was she was aggressive towards our other dog Ellie," Mr Smith said.

"The problem was, and Grant helped us understand this, Juno saw herself below me and above Keryn (in the pack)."

Mr Teeboon said most dog problems came back to the issue of dominance, and owners needed to be educated about getting that balance right in their household.

"Nobody knowingly does the wrong thing with their dog, but if they have errors in their knowledge base they will be doing the wrong things regardless," he said.

"In this case, the more I talked to the owners the more it was clear the problem was between Juno and Keryn.

"After the consult, I gave Keryn homework because she had to be more assertive over Juno."

For Keryn, the lesson has literally been life changing.

"A few days of asserting myself over Juno and I have a dog that has far more respect for me," Mrs Smith said.

"She hasn't torn anything up or pushed herself ahead of me since the appointment.

"It has been such a huge improvement."

Mr Teeboon claims he can rectify 99% of behavioural problems in three hours and it's clear Juno and his owners won't be arguing with that.

DOGGED PROBLEMS

• Digging holes in the yard
• Excessive barking
• Destructive chewing
• Jumping up
• Biting and aggression