DOTTY, Princess Anne’s beloved English bull terrier, will undergo an intensive training programme run by a dog psychiatrist credited with calming the Queen’s corgis.

Roger Mugford, who is based at the Animal Behaviour Centre in Chertsey, Surrey, is responsible for ensuring that the three-year-old Dotty does not repeat the atttack that landed her owner in court yesterday.

Among the techniques likely to be employed by Dr Mugford will be programmes of “desensitisation” and “conditioning”, where the dog’s repsonses to different stimuli will be monitored and then controlled.

The psychiatrist refused to comment yesterday about his approach, but a spokeswoman said that he would “formulate a training regime for Dotty and her owner to follow”. Princess Anne is expected to attend many of the sessions.

Colette Kase, an animal behaviourist and colleague of Dr Mugford, said that the English bull terrier was not a particularly aggressive breed, contrary to its popular image, but would require detailed behavioural analysis.

In the programme of “desensitisation”, tests will be conducted to see what triggers its aggressive behaviour. The dog will then be repeatedly exposed to those conditions — such as bicycles or people running or shouting — until it no longer found them interesting.

“We would need to identify the circumstances and what it was in the dog’s behaviour that resulted in the injuries,” Dr Kase said. “Was it that the dog was playful, were the children running around, was it a case of mishandling? “All of these could be triggers that led to the incident and bites are not necessarily the result of aggression.”

Dr Kase said that the Princess Royal would need to attend the course to learn more about controlling her dog.

“It is absolutely essential that the Princess is present at the training,” she said. “She is going to have to be trained in skills to deal with the dogs and to recognise what behaviour needs close attention.

“The dog can be trained but if the owner does not know what to do then it will not work.” Dr Kase said the owner would also be taught to look for signals that their dog might be about to act inappropriately to a situation and would be urged to be vigilant.

Dr Mugford, who will carry out the sessions, has bee called to Buckingham Palace in the past after the Queen’s corgis started snapping at each other and, on occasions, biting their owner.

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