The Scotland based dog trainer who helped viral rescue pup to come out from behind the sofa

It was back in December 2022, when Sophie from Romania went viral on social media.

That was after author and retired BBC journalist, Rory Cellan-Jones, publicly shared his story of his traumatised and newly adopted animal refusing to come out from behind the sofa.

After reading his posts online, qualified trainer Wooler dropped him a message and offered his services.

Fast forward a few years, and the combination of love and patience from Cellan-Jones and his wife Professor Diane Coyle, combined with Wooler’s skills, means that Sophie is now living her best life.

Last year, Cellan-Jones released a book, Sophie from Romania: A Year of Love and Hope with a Rescue Dog. And, now, Aberdeenshire-based Wooler is sharing his own story, with More Than Just a Dog, which was released this month. It seems that writing a book was never part of his plan, but a bit of Sophie’s stardust had rubbed off on him.

“The notion hadn't really entered my head until the publishers Harper Collins got in touch,” he says. “As a result of the infamous Sophie, they contacted me because they thought my approach was interesting. It's the first book I've written. So, I'm an entirely novice author, but I have the great good fortune of my partner being a copywriter consultant. So she was able to help me edit my extensive prose quite effectively. It made the experience very easy. In fact, I had a lot of fun.”

In one of the chapters, the book covers his time with Sophie.

It seems that, when Cellan-Jones was struggling with his new pet, he was getting mixed advice on how to respond to her behaviour. Wooler, who studied with the Academy for Dog Trainers, offered regular support, but also stayed with Sophie, when her owners went on holiday.

That intensive time together forged a breakthrough moment.

“I went down over a holiday period that they were having in Wales, because it was quite obvious that they weren't going to be able to get Sophie in the car without her feeling traumatised. She knew me by then, so I was able to stay and work with her. Living with fearful dogs is almost a 24/7 exercise, and can be very stressful for people too,” he says. “They came back to Sophie sleeping in a dog bed, which she hadn't done until then, and not going behind the sofa anymore. So a lot of progress was made. And that's informed the way that I've approached things since, which is trying to spend as much time as possible building a bond with my clients’ dogs and ensuring that they progress with a sense of security and safety.”

As well as being a dog whisperer, it seems that Wooler is a human support too.

He’s less of a fan of television dog training programmes, as they tend to present behavioural issues as being too easily solved.

“They give the impression that the trainer walks in the house, then by lunchtime, the problem is fixed and they can go home,” says Wooler, who has a training business called Sociable Dog.

As the book outlines, it’s relatively easy to teach your pet to sit or lie down, but it can take years to correct problems.

The process can take a toll on frustrated owners.

“At the end of the day, dog ownership is a relationship and I think one of the big messages I wanted to include was that it's really important that our industry has a sense of empathy and sympathy for the people involved, not just the dogs,” he says. “We're a people industry, as well as a dog industry. And I think it’s really important not to lose sight of that.”

The book doesn’t only detail Wooler’s time with Sophie.

It also includes stories about other clients, details on various behavioural studies, and general advice on training, understanding and communication.

The chapters include The Forming of a Beautiful Friendship, Busting the Myths and When Good Intentions Go Bad, and one section is dedicated to Tyson, Wooler’s ‘unhomeable’ rescue hound, whose name was eventually changed to the less intimidating Thomson.

This rottweiler was the motivation for Wooler’s pursuit of dog training as a second career, after he quit sound engineering.

There are also other tales, from his favourite furry clients, like Winston the bulldog.

In the book, he’s keen to debunk a few myths, like the notion that the breed of dog you choose guarantees a personality type. As he explains, that can loosely be applied to certain pedigrees, including Border collies, but, otherwise, like humans, predicted behaviour can be something of a lottery.

And, as far as training goes, Wooler challenges the outdated idea that we have to ‘alpha’ our dogs. This was a technique that was championed by trainers like Cesar Milan, and is still perpetuated - usually by ultra macho muscle men - on social media platforms like TikTok.

Wooler is gentler than that. He focuses on fostering positive associations and motivating via food. In fact, he once used expensive deli-bought manchego cheese as a treat, as it’s the only stuff that his dog really craved.

“There's nothing in animal behavior science to support that construct of pet leadership, and that your dog will try to dominate you in every sphere of life. And what I tend to say to people is, look, trust me, you're in charge. You've got the car keys and the credit cards and you can open the fridge,” Wooler says. “Your dog really relies on you a great deal. Once owners understand what their dog's behavior is all about, and what they’re trying to communicate, then they get on board very quickly.”

I imagine that Wooler’s current dog, Ripley, is probably the luckiest pup in Scotland.

She is currently enjoying a pampered existence in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire.

Wooler ended up here around five years ago, after relocating from the South-west of England.

The couple fell in love with the town when they visited it on holiday, after a trip to Northumberland was cancelled.

“We haven't regretted it for one second,” Wooler says. “Ripley loves it because we live about 15 yards from the beach, so she goes straight out of the back gate in the morning onto the beach and plays ball for about half an hour. She loves all the cliff walks and all of that sort of thing. So she's, yeah, she's living her best life.”

Just like Sophie.

More Than Just a Dog is out now, Harper Collins, £16.99