Trickdogs Training

29/08/2025

🚨 The Trickdogs Training Circle is OPEN! 🚨

Most people stop at sit and stay.

But if you’re here, you know your dog is capable of so much more. 🔥🐶

That’s exactly why I created the Trickdogs Training Circle - now officially OPEN 🎉

Inside you’ll find:
✅ 170+ demo videos (from paw targets to advanced routines)
✅ Tricks, scentwork, cooperative care + more
✅ Monthly live Q&As with me
✅ A supportive private community

This isn’t just obedience - it’s about unlocking creativity, confidence, and skills that turn training into the best part of your day.

🚨 Doors close Saturday 6th September at midnight.

💥 Membership is £30/month or £300/year (2 months free).

👉 Sign up today and start teaching the tricks you never thought possible:

https://trickdogstraining.co.uk/training-circle/

18/07/2025

🚨 Something exciting is coming… 🚨

After months of planning, it’s nearly here!
I’ll be opening the doors to my brand new online training membership on Friday 29th August 🎉

Think:
🎥 Bite-sized, easy-to-follow video lessons
✅ Practical, proven techniques that actually work
💬 A supportive, like-minded community
🎯 Help with everything from recall to advanced tricks
💡 Jam-packed with value - all for an affordable monthly subscription

📹 This is your chance to help shape the membership - it’s being designed with dog owners like you in mind, and filming is still ongoing.
If there’s something you’d like to see included, drop a comment below - I’d love to hear it!

The waitlist is now open:

After months of planning, it’s almost here – and you’re invited to be first in line! On Friday 29th August, I’ll be opening the doors to my brand new Trickdogs Training Circle Membership – and trust me, you won’t want to miss it! Inside, you’ll find:🎥 Bite-sized, easy-to-follow vide...

31/05/2025

🧠 Enrichment doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated!

Today’s example? A lettuce! 🥬

Zoe LOVES shredding things - I’ve never met a dog that gets so much pleasure from shredding!

I try to provide her with something safe to shred every couple of days, usually things like cardboard and packing paper, today was her first time she’s had a lettuce!

❓Why do I actively encourage her to shred things?

🔹Encourages natural behaviour – like tearing, chewing, and exploring with their mouth and paws

🔹Provides sensory stimulation – through novel textures, sounds, and smells

🔹Offers a safe outlet for frustration or excess energy – especially on rainy days or rest days (although I think I’ll stick to outside for lettuces!)

🔹Builds confidence – particularly helpful for dogs who are unsure about interacting with new items

Just be sure to supervise and ensure your dog doesn’t ingest large amounts (although lettuce is non-toxic, too much can cause mild tummy upset in sensitive dogs).

❓What everyday item could you repurpose for your dog’s enrichment this week?

23/04/2025

Hands up if you’ve ever booked a secure field and turned up with a barking pot before? 🙋‍♀️

Zoe has been worried about hearing dogs barking, this was initially triggered by an off lead collie running round a corner at us on her 3rd walk (on a fairly busy road so it was totally unexpected!)

She was making good progress and then we had another incident which made her totally regress, and her worries spread to seeing dogs and people in the distance.

I have a Bluetooth speaker and initially I started playing music quietly through it, then progressed to ‘louder than I’d normally have’ music, then back to normal volume music with 1-2 seconds of barking every 30 seconds, then 1-2 seconds of barking every 15 seconds and then 3-5 seconds of barking every 30 seconds and so on, until we got to continual barking and then we are now working on building in some silence so she experiences intermittent barking, which is what she is likely to encounter in real life!

We’ve also been working on her feelings about seeing people and dogs in the distance and she’s making excellent progress - it’s been a strange one to work on as she is the complete opposite of every case of reactivity I’ve ever dealt with! (Normally dogs cope better with triggers at a big distance and struggle the closer they get!)
We’ve done lots of ‘look at that!’ - initially clicking as soon as she looks at a potential trigger and then progressing to giving her a chance to offer to disengage, as well as incorporating some fun trick training into our walks when there’s people and dogs around - starting initially in a park where they were close (felt so strange doing things the opposite way round to normal!) and then progressively worked up to being able to work through people and dogs being further away!

So proud of her ❤️

09/04/2025

Work in progress….. Zoe is learning to orbit!

We only started it on Sunday so super proud of how well she’s doing - this is the first time I’ve cued multiple rotations, you can tell she’s having to really think about it!

21/03/2025

Huge congratulations to the overall class winners!

NOVICE Trick Dog Class:
Winner: Helen Chu and Mango

INTERMEDIATE Trick Dog Class:
WINNER: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan and Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)
2nd place: Emma Lund and Sadie

LIMITS-FREE Trick Dog Class:
4th place :Emma Lund and Sadie

AMATEUR Dog Trainer Class:
WINNER: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan and Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)
2nd place :Helen Chu and Mango

Top 5 finalists in each of the classes of the International Trick Dog Competition 2024 are:

NOVICE Trick Dog Class:
Winner: Helen Chu and Mango
2nd place: Carla Herwarth and Woofington Bink
3rd place: Lena Brav and Nikki
4th place: Monique Jentsch and Kimani vom Bachtel
5th place: Francis Fung and Billy

INTERMEDIATE Trick Dog Class:
WINNER: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan and Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)
2nd place: Emma Lund and Sadie
3rd place: Sebrina Tingley and Blazing Sky’s Sweet Rose
4th place: Terry Swanson and MacTavish
5th place: Makayla Carefoot Wilson and Shoresy

ADVANCED Trick Dog Class:
WINNER: Emily Gomes and Brady
2nd place: Esther Wijma with Filou
3rd place: Carla Herwarth with JellyBean
4th place: Daniela Kulz with Candy
5th place: Carla Herwarth with Dreyfus

CHAMPIONS League:
WINNER: Susanne Lindros and David Bowie Grand Calvera (Gorm)
2nd place: Sharon E. Pointeer and Zerin
3rd place: Lisa Morrissey and Lily
4th place: Jane Pomponio and Marley
5th place: Ruth Sheller and Piper

LIMITS-FREE Trick Dog Class:
Winner: Simone Paulyn and Royal Colours Omari
2nd place: Mary Siero and Rudy Valentino Jr
3rd place :Sharon E. Pointeer and Zerin
4th place :Emma Lund and Sadie
5th place: Ruth Sheller and Piper

VETERAN Trick Dog Class:
WINNER: Carla Herwarth and JellyBean
2nd place: Daniela Kulz and Benita
3rd place: Simone Paulyn and Royal Colours Omari
4th place :Kathy Busam and Denali
5th place :Sharon E. Pointeer and Zerin

AMATEUR Dog Trainer Class:
WINNER: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan and Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)
2nd place :Helen Chu and Mango
3rd place :Emily Gomes and Brady
4th place: Adrienne Sherman and Paige
5th place: Sharon E Pointeer and Zuma

Trick Dogs TEAM Class:
WINNER:Mary Siero with Ricky Bobby the Rascal and Rudy Valentino Jr.
2nd place: Jane Pomponio with Marley, Cinnamon and Taylor
3rd place: Natasha Baguley with Schultz and Wilhelmina
4th place Monique Jentsch with Momoko and Kimani
5th place Jeannie Rinehart and Sebrina Tingley with Bree and Rose

HUGE HUGE well done!

21/03/2025

Congratulations to my clients that made the top 50 - I’m delighted that so many of you did so well!

1st place: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan with Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)

6th place: Helen Chu with Mango

8th place: Emma Lund with Sadie

28th place: Aoife Walker with Guinevere

38th place: Merin Dahlerbruch with Dazu

40th place: Stina Wahlén with Otto

41st place: Marie Jovydoll with Tapia Pocholo

44th place: Blue Amrich with Blacksheep Fireside Flint

49th place: Marie Jovydoll Tapia with Kenzo

Top 50 teams overall of the International Trick Dog Competition 2025 are:
1st place: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan with Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)
2nd place: Emily Gomes with Brady
3rd place: Carla Herwarth with JellyBean
4th place: Sharon E. Pointeer with Zerin
5th place: Jane Pomponio with Marley
6th place: Helen Chu with Mango
7th place: Simone Paulyn with Royal Colours Omari
8th place: Emma Lund with Sadie
9th place: Mary Siero with Rudy Valentino Jr
10th place: Lena Brav with Nikki
11th place: Susanne Lindros with David Bowie Grand Calvera (Gorm)
12th place: Esther Wijma with Filou
13th place: Adrienne Sherman with Paige
14th place: Francis Fung with Billy
15th place: Ruth Sheller with Piper
16th place: Lisa Morrissey with Lily AND
16th place: Monique Jentsch with Kimani vom Bachtel
17th place: Daniela Kulz with Benita
18th place: Makayla Carefoot Wilson with Shoresy
19th place: Daniela Kulz with Candy
20th place: Carla Herwarth with Woofington Bink
21st place: Rin James Olley with Archer
22nd place: Kathy Busam with Denali
23rd place: Natasha Baguley with Schultz
24th place: Sharon E Pointeer with Zuma
25th place: Natasha Baguley with Wilhelmina
26th place: Holly Owens with Mylo
27th place: Shannon Hintz with Reba
28th place: Aoife Walker with Guinevere
29th place: Sebrina Tingley with Blazing Sky’s Sweet Rose
30th place: Carla Herwarth with Dreyfus
31st place: Terry Swanson with MacTavish
32nd place: Barbara Dal-Bianco with Lotta, Ida & Elise
33rd place: Mary Siero with Ricky Bobby the Rascal
34th place: Jane Pomponio with Taylor
35th place: Jeannie Rinehart with Brianna
36th place: Kathy Busam with Zeus
37th place: Kristin Grudzien with Basil
38th place: Merin Dahlerbruch with Dazu
39th place: Emma Hindson with Zara, Wilf and Joey
40th place: Stina Wahlén with Otto
41st place: Marie Jovydoll with Tapia Pocholo
42nd place: Kathy Busam with Nova
43rd place: Barbara Zeiger with Igor
44th place: Blue Amrich with Blacksheep Fireside Flint
45th place: Amanda Henry with Murphy
46th place: Kristin Atkinson with Skipper & Bella
47th place: Ruth Sheller with Jiffy
48th place: Kristin Grudzien with Rosemary Parker
49th place: Marie Jovydoll Tapia with Kenzo
50th place: Sara Nunney with Bumble

This is a fantastic achievement! We had 103 very strong teams competing in the International Trick Dog Competition this year from 11 different countries.
HUGE well done to all top 50 teams!

21/03/2025

Huge congratulations to my client Alamelu Sankaranarayanan and her dog Monty on winning the International Trick Dog Competition!!

103 teams entered so to come first is a massive achievement!!

Top 3 finalists of the International Trick Dog Competition 2024 are:
The WINNER and the International Trick Dog Champion are: Alamelu Sankaranarayanan with Tigana's Tea Biscuits and Spam (Monty)
2nd place: Emily Gomes with Brady
3rd place: Carla Herwarth with JellyBean

CONGRATULATIONS to the top 3 teams! This is an amazing achievement!

13/03/2025

Very much still a work in progress but really pleased with how it's looking considering we've only done 3 sessions!

At this stage I'm looking for duration of her foot on the pedal - if she deposits the item and takes her foot off too quickly then the lid could close before her head is fully away from it, and l've seen quite a few dogs not enjoy this trick for that reason!

Using 'traffic light hands' is a great way of asking for duration of a behaviour - Zoe has learnt that if I open my hand she's doing the correct action and l'd like her to maintain it, of course starting in positions she's familiar with before using it for new things!

I really like this trick as a confidence builder - combining both noise and putting their head into something!

07/03/2025

🚨Our Happy Bucket Game Mini-Course has just launched! 🚨

Today we had a new carpet fitted in our hall and bedroom, and it was a much noisier process than I was expecting!

Leo used to be incredibly noise sensitive, and I had to take him out of the house if we had workmen in, let alone workmen making very loud noise!

This is the end result of playing the Happy Bucket Game - he slept soundly throughout the 2 hours the fitters were here! It’s an absolutely incredible transformation - a few years ago he’d have been barking, panting, pacing, and just generally freaking out, and today he’d have been quite happy to have them here for longer!

So proud of how far he’s come 🥰

Here’s the link to purchase the course:

https://trickdogstraining.co.uk/product/the-happy-bucket-game/

02/03/2025

No words for this one……. Zoe playing Connect 4 at just 20 weeks old!!! 🤯

I handed her the first counter, and then we did one more that she collected herself from the floor and then we stopped - it’s so important not to push for more, and more, and more, until their performance starts to decline and they lose motivation and confidence!

It’s been a bit of theme with my fabulous clients this week, who are trying so hard that they end up doing way too many repetitions - concentrating on quantity and not the quality of training!

So, message for this week is to make every repetition count and stop while your dogs performance is still increasing, or just beginning to plateau, but definitely before you hit the decline!

While I absolutely want to end every training session on an emotional high for my dogs, if something is not working (2 errors in a row or more) I don’t hesitate to switch to something much easier that I know they’ll be successful with, before ending the session.

I never, ever want them to leave a session feeling that they’re not awesome 🤩

27/02/2025

I just love training Zoe 🥰

She’s still really young (20 weeks), so while I want to develop her thinking ability, I also want to really set her up for success and minimise any potential frustration!

This exercise was perfect for her! She understood the goal, and releasing her to food just in front of the bowl made her think about getting back in it by moving backwards 🐾