Dogs may bark at people or other dogs for a variety of reasons and usually this behaviour is always lumped into the label of ‘reactivity’ – meaning your dog ‘reacts’ to people/dogs but in reality all dogs are reactive, because if they didn’t ‘react’ to stimuli, they wouldn’t interact with their environment and wouldn’t survive! […]
As a dog trainer/behaviour consultant, I’ve offered remote/online sessions for some time, and I have been attempting to move my business more online for a while due to health issues, but I have always been met with scepticism that it could work like this. Until now, most of my work was usually done in person, […]
I used to have a rule that my dogs didn’t approach other dogs if they were on the lead. It’s a fairly common rule of thumb amongst dog walkers, though unfortunately, lots of people don’t seem to have heard about it! You see lots of memes, infographics, social media posts, etc. stating that dogs may […]
Okay, so the title is a little deceiving – many of us don’t really mind you knowing, we just don’t make a habit of telling lots of people! For the purpose of this article, ‘we’ refers to myself, and some other dog trainers I know – I can’t speak for all dog trainers! Perfect Dogs […]
As a pet owner, there are lots of decisions you have to make that are not easy or straight forward. From whether you should crate train your puppy, to what food you feed, kennels vs home boarders, to that ultimate decision at the end, you will never find the decisions involved in dog ownership easy […]
Please note that this article is a review of my own experience, but also advertising on behalf of Furbo Dog Camera who placed the product with me for review. I regularly recommend that clients use cameras of some sort to see how their dogs cope when left. They are particularly useful when working with Separation […]
Can you recognise stress in your dog? As a behaviour consultant, I often get asked my opinion on some of the ‘cute’ videos that go viral on the internet. I was sent another recently and decided to make a video of it, so instead of a written blog post this time, I thought I’d share […]
My dog growled at me today Yes, I am a dog trainer, and my dog growled at me. And you know what, I liked it. I reinforced it! I am often called to see ‘aggressive’ dogs who have been so labelled because they have growled, but what is it about growling that gets us so […]
Apparently, it’s impossible to train dogs completely without force? Dictionary Definition of force: “coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence.” I stand by my force-free stance, and I make a promise to you as my client or potential future client. As a force-free behaviour consultant, I promise: I will explain fully […]
Firstly, let me state that I am a force free, reward based trainer. Now, I’m going to tell you something about punishment that some reward based/force free trainers don’t want you to know. It works. Of course it works! We’ve seen it work in all sorts of animals and it’s scientifically proven through hundreds of […]