Liberton & Gilmerton · Edinburgh · approx. 20 min from base
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Liberton and Gilmerton sit on the southern rim of Edinburgh, where the last streets give way to arable fields. That edge is the defining feature for dog owners here. One direction gives you city parks; the other gives you field margins, tractors, and livestock at certain times of year. Dogs that have only ever been trained in the city half are frequently unprepared for the other.
The terrain itself asks something too. Liberton Brae is a serious gradient, and the Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park runs as a long green corridor with the water at the bottom. A dog that pulls is far harder to hold on a slope, and a dog that likes water will find plenty of it. Both are practical problems that a session can address directly on the ground where they happen.
Not every problem travels between routes. This is what the main Liberton & Gilmerton walks each ask for, and where the work is aimed.
| Walking spot | What it throws at your dog | What we work on there |
|---|---|---|
| Craigmillar Castle Park | Open parkland, historic site, mixed users | Recall, and staying with you around other visitors |
| Burdiehouse Burn Valley | Long green corridor, water at the base | Coming out of water, staying on path, checking in |
| Liberton Brae | Steep gradient, traffic close by | Loose-lead walking where pulling is hardest to hold |
| City-edge farmland | Livestock, machinery, unfamiliar smells | Livestock neutrality and lead discipline near fields |
This area produces a distinctive mix of urban and rural problems in the same dog.
Where a walk crosses from city into farmland, the lead should go on before the boundary rather than after something has already happened.
For more depth on the two issues that come up most here, see recall training in Edinburgh and reactive dog training in Edinburgh. Related reading: scent work and the weather and how often you should train your dog.
Coverage for Liberton & Gilmerton is standard: approximately 20 min from base, in-person sessions from £190 (£150 for Clan Dog members), travel included.
A session here normally covers both halves of the local walk: the park end, and the point where the streets give out and the fields start. The lead goes on before that boundary, and the session covers exactly where it is. The output is a plan you can follow without Allan there, which is the whole point.
If travel timing is awkward, the same work can start online over Zoom and move to a visit later. Either way you can book a 1-2-1 consultation and say what is happening first.
| Session type | Standard | Member rate |
|---|---|---|
| At your home, two hours, in person | £190 | £150 |
| Two-hour Zoom consultation | £120 | £90 |
| One-hour Zoom consultation | £60 | £45 |
Friends and neighbours a little further out are usually covered as well - see the areas below, or the whole list on the areas we cover page.
Every session is taken by Allan Ritchie MGoDT (MPDTI), Master Professional Dog Training Instructor. More than 40 years with dogs: RAF dog handler, then Police rapid-response and hostage-rescue work, then his own kennel and training centre.
Allan has worked dogs on farmland and in kennels as well as in service, so the transition from pavement to field margin is familiar ground rather than a theoretical risk. The methodology is simple to state and harder to do: change what the owner does. Everything in an Liberton & Gilmerton session follows from that. You can read more about Allan and how Clan Dog works.
“If I could give Allan 10 stars, 100 stars whatever the max is I would!”Paul D — published Google review. Clan Dog is rated 4.9/5 based on 39 reviews.
Independent guidance behind the advice on this page for Liberton & Gilmerton owners:
Partly. A gradient magnifies whatever is already there, and it removes your ability to brace. The work is the same loose-lead work you would do anywhere, but the hill is a useful test of whether it has actually taken.
Not near livestock. Scottish access rights come with a clear responsibility to keep dogs under proper control around farm animals, and the safe default at a field boundary is a lead. A session will cover exactly where those boundaries are on your route.
Usually the recall is fine on land and has simply never been trained in water, where the reward for staying in is very high. It is a specific piece of work rather than a general obedience problem.
Yes, roughly 20 minutes from base, treated as one area, with no travel surcharge. In-person sessions are £190 for approximately two hours, £150 for members.
If your walks cross into farmland, it is worth getting the boundary rules straight before something happens. For a stress-free life with your dog.