If you are working on attention seeking behaviour, there’s a very good chance you’ve been advised to ignore it at some point. But should we be ignoring our dogs? It feels so alien, and rude. But, if used correctly, there can lots of benefits when you are trying to change attention seeking behaviour. Ignoring as a dirty word! Of course, it is possible to get this wrong. In the early 2000’s, Jan Fennel told us to ignore our dogs ALL the time. Effectively, they should be seen, but not heard! This led to a lot of very demoralised and unhappy dogs. Very quickly people realised that this was wrong a ..read more

When it comes to habits, dogs are the same as us. When a behaviour is repeated frequently enough, it becomes instinctive. So how do we break, and make, new habits in dog behaviour training? So, how does it work? The more we practise a behaviour, the more habitual it will become until we hardly even know we are doing it. Habits start because the behaviour fulfils a need, and that is a powerful motivator for a new behaviour. For example, licking feet might relieve anxiety, or barking at another dog might relieve fear. Likewise, guarding food avoids hunger and chewing relieves frustration. These ..read more

It’s not uncommon for a dog to come to me that knows all their tricks but won’t, or can’t, do them in real life. They can sit, stay, recall and walk on a loose lead perfectly in class and at home, but when it comes to the real world, they just won’t do it. So, what do you do when your dog know all the tricks, but just won’t do them? You look at emotion. Emotion is a far bigger motivator of behaviour than logic. If it wasn’t, we would all have the same stuff. If we purely brought stuff that was the logical choice there would be no Rolex watches and we’d all wear the same clothes! A calm dog kno ..read more

Like many people, you may once have been (and if you are reading this, probably still are!) the owner of a dog with behaviour problems. But, you made the decision that you have struggled for long enough and got help. Hopefully, you gave yourself the best chance of success and employed the wisdom of an experienced Dog Behaviourist or Trainer. Or maybe you did extensive internet research and created your own strategy. In either case, the advice might have worked well at the start. So why is it then, that a month or so on, you are still struggling with the same problems. If anything the situation ..read more

In the world of dog behaviour it is easy to focus on the unwanted behaviour we can see. After all its stuff like barking, cowering, lunging, or pulling that we want to stop. But there are other kinds of dog behaviours you can’t see. Here’s why they are important and what to do about them! Going over threshold When your dog is over threshold he has become overwhelmed by an emotion. Whether that emotion is excitement, fear, sadness, or anger, he is no longer in control. His reactive brain has taken over and he is not making sensible decisions anymore. So this behaviour is big and obvious. This i ..read more

Lockdown didn’t just affect us, it also impacted the way our dogs socialise, and for some the effect has been profound. Our older dogs have coped pretty well, but those born during lockdown have felt the impact the most. In this blog I am going to talk about the impact lockdown had on our dogs confidence and socialisation skills. So what went wrong? At the start of lockdown the message was clear. Covid could be anywhere, so keep your distance from everyone and everything, and stop touching stuff! Previously we’d been happy to stop and chat to other people, and we loved watching our dogs play t ..read more

If you ever thought about giving up on your reactive dog behaviour training, I don’t blame you. It’s a frustrating job at the best of times. In this blog, I will delve into the intricate realm of reactive behaviour and show you why you shouldn’t give up just yet! Treats and Distractions Reactive behaviour often prompts well-meaning owners to turn to treats and toys, hoping for a solution. However, in this blog, we talk about why such strategies may fall short, especially when reactive behaviour is viewed not merely as a behavioural issue but as a complex biological response. In reactive situat ..read more

Dog barking, and other forms of vocalisation, are natural behaviours for our dogs. It is one of four methods dogs use to communicate with each other. The others are Scent, Body Language and Touch. We hate to listen to it, but is barking really the problem we think it is? We used to love it! Not only is vocalising normal for dogs, it is actually one of the reasons our ancestors fell in love with them. In fact, they particularly liked dogs that were ready to bark, as it warned them of potential intruders, animal or human. At that time, we often selected breeding pairs with this exact trait in mi ..read more

If you’ve ever wondered why your dog will gladly give you a high five, but struggles with watch me, or recall. Here’s one reason why dogs ignore some training cues, that you might not have considered! Training for fun For most of our dogs, sit is the very first thing they learn. Training a puppy is loads of fun and very rewarding. You practise in the house and garden, and your puppy has a great time earning your approval and some treats too. As far as your puppy is concerned, this “training thing” is just one big fun game. So, he has no hesitation in showing off what he can do. Then we start g ..read more

…and does he really need to? Does your dog speak dog? It should be perfectly natural for a dog to be able to communicate with his own kind. But more and more often, dogs are lacking the skills they need to interact appropriately with other dogs. In fact, it is one of the most common problems I am asked to help with as it can cause lots of problems. You might also be interested in this video about the future of dog socialisation on YouTube One thing I’ve noticed recently is a steep decline in the number of dogs being allowed to exercise off lead. This new trend has come about partly from a gro ..read more