Your owners treat you like a child, yet you are not allowed on the bed or anywhere near the sofa.

You are expected to plod along at the same pace as your owner during walkies - even though you have two more legs than they do.

And you're even supposed to live in harmony with the cat, whose only obvious purpose in life is to wind you up and get you into trouble.

But canines fear not, help is at hand, in the form of Ninian Beal - a retired teacher from Dronfield, North Derbyshire.

Ninian has spent all his life speaking, as a French and German tutor at schools in the north east and, latterly, at Wath Comprehensive when he and wife Joan moved to South Yorkshire.

But now it's time to listen - to dogs, not children.

Ninian is one of the UK's 100 or so 'dog listeners' - people who specialise in seeing the world through the eyes of a pooch in an effort to help it get along in the world.

"There's a lot of people out there with dogs who aren't very happy and if I can alleviate that and help ensure there are a lot more chilled-out dogs, then that's okay by me," said Ninian, aged 53.

"My previous dog did a lot of things I didn't understand, such as run 600 yards across a beach to see another family walking their dog.

"I became fascinated with why dogs do certain things and thought it might be worthwhile finding out more."

Ninian, a father-of-two, saw an episode of The Dog Listener on channel Five, and was so inspired he enrolled on a course led by the programme's host, Jan Fennell.

He spent over £1,000 to be trained on understanding dogs and the world in which they live.

"It's the most fascinating thing I have ever done and easily beats getting my university degree," he said. "What I have been trained to do is see the world through a dog's eyes, not my own.

"When people hit their dogs and shout at them for doing something wrong, the dog doesn't understand what it has done. It just knows someone is upset but it can't understand why.

"You have to treat the dog with respect and get it to change its mind through communicating with it - showing it what to do quietly and calmly," said Ninian.

He has now set up his own dog listening company, Out Of The Dog House, and hopes to bring peace and joy to households across South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire.

His method is known as Amichien Bonding, and is based on communication and positive reinforcement without the use of force or gadgets.

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