I was out for a run with my bestie the other day ranting (she's very tolerant) about one of my biggest bugbears in dog ownership which is the tendency for the most well-meaning owners to accidentally create frustrated, intolerant, inflexible dogs that are totally incapable of coping if something in their world changes. So here is how to avoid that by focusing on creating flexible and adaptable dogs that can thrive in the chaos of the real world. Historically, dogs did what they were told, because they were told, and they were expected to tolerate everything without any support or training. Not ..read more

As dog trainers the best thing we can possibly do to help you is not to train your dog. Instead, if we can teach the owner how to train ..read more

Dealing with dogs and aggression is challenging for anyone. No matter how long you have worked with dogs or how many letters you have after your name, it's never easy to resolve aggression cases. It's physically demanding and can be incredibly emotionally draining. According to a quick google search, aggression can be defined as 'feelings of anger or antipathy resulting in hostile or violent behaviour; readiness to attack or confront.' This would suggest that aggression is not a personality trait but an involuntary response to a feeling or sensation, similar to hunger that leads to a specific ..read more

First of all what is a 'treat'? It can be anything that your dog REALLY likes. It doesn't even have to be food. A treat for me is to get to spend a whole day in my workshop... That's a really big 'treat' for me. It's just something an animal REALLY likes and would like to receive again, again, and again. Food is most commonly associated with treats. Food is a great treat to use for dogs for many reasons. It's something we don't have to teach the dog to want or enjoy. They literally need it to survive. Some foods are more valuable than others however. This is all subjective to the individual. O ..read more

How do I stop Fifi from barking at the cat? How do I stop Fido from running off at the park? How do I stop Bella from stealing food off the coffee table? How do I stop Max from jumping all over my guests? While the specifics will vary with each individual case, there's some exciting news - the formula stays the same. Once you understand it, the fog lifts and the world of behaviour change suddenly becomes pretty clear! Adira, our deaf & blind dog, the legendary Uggboot thief. Half of a dog trainer's job is to help people change the unwanted habits that their dogs have accidentally learnt ..read more

When dogs do undesirable things we shouldn't be overly focused on what THEY are doing, we should instead focus more on how WE respond ..read more

Kobe is our newest board and train. He is a 6 month old Lagotto ..read more

In this video we have our newest board and train, Kobe. He's an adolescent Lagotto. He's with us due to his nervousness around new people ..read more

Undoubtedly, the most common problem we are contacted for is some form of 'reactivity'. Whether that's towards other dogs, people, other animals, bins, trolleys etc etc. You name it, and there's probably a dog out there that's reactive towards it. When we work with these clients and their dogs, we tend to get a common concern voiced when we tell them "okay, well let's stop exposing them to those things for a little while". The common rebuttal is typically "But aren't we then just going to avoid the issue?" I completely understand why this would be a concern for people. Traditional thinking wou ..read more

If someone says they don't care what others think, the chances are they lying. One of our biggest challenges is to focus on what we need to do and less on what we think others think we should be doing. There's a term for this. In psychology this is known as the spotlight effect. It's where we overestimate how much others observe our behaviour or think about what we are doing. It's funny, because we will all struggle to some degree with this and so instead of others worrying about what we are doing, people are much more likely to be concerned with how they are being perceived as well. So nobody ..read more