Lead The Way- Canine Behaviourist

23/12/2024

🐾What are your training expectations? 🐾

It is important that when thinking about this you keep it realistic.
If you require your dog to listen, work, engage of focus in areas with lots of distractions or stimulation it is important to teach them the behaviour you expect in an area with none of this first. This helps to prevent your dog from being overwhelmed.
This overwhelmed dog loses focus, trust and confidence in the owner which in turn will lead to the dog failing and possible frustration from you as the owner.

Keep training achievable to ensure you set your dog up to succeed, always moving forward at a pace to suit them, as remember, each dog is different and learns in a different way and at a different pace 🐕

15/12/2024

‼️JANUARY IS FILLING UP FAST‼️
If you are wanting to get booked in for a behaviour consultation or training after Christmas I would recommend securing those slots sooner rather than later as January is already filling up with bookings.
Please drop me a message to get booked in so we can get the ball rolling for you 🐾♥️

14/12/2024

Christmas fun 🎄
The last puppy socialisation class of the year 🐾 We even made some Christmas cards and the usual puppy chaos ended the session ⛄️♥️

13/12/2024

🐾ZIGGY🐾
A lovely festive photo of the handsome Ziggy! Resource guarding and a mixture of over excitable behaviours were starting to become a problem in the home for Ziggy and his owners. Lots of changes in routine had taken a knock on Ziggy’s confidence which had caused these changes to his behaviour. Having always thought he was an anxious boy it’s clear he just gets so over excited his behaviour gets lost in translation. We are now wanting to build him back up and help his independence and take away his need to resource guard by building on positive associations to help mould a new behaviour. 🐕

12/12/2024

🐾 SUCCESS IN TRAINING 🐾
So many owners forget that the successes and accomplishments in training are not solely down to me. As your dogs behaviour or training improves this is mostly down to your commitment to follow through with the training program.
Setting your dog up to succeed by remaining consistent is so important and each improvement is a sign of your dedication to helping your dog on that path.
So, remember to give yourselves credit too! ♥️

11/12/2024

🐾CHALKY🐾
Over excitement in a variety of situations were becoming an issue for Chalky and his owners. Excessive barking when guests come over and when people come past the house along with lead pulling out on walks and lead reactivity. We have started work in the home with Chalky to help him choose calmer behaviours over the excitable barking. Small steps to make big changes. Rather than over stimulating him when guests come to the door and escalating his excitement prior to a walk we are calming everything down so he can handle each step. 🐕

11/12/2024

🎄DECEMBER PUPPY SOCIALISATION CLASS🎄
‼️UPDATE- ALL SPACES HAVE NOW BEEN TAKEN‼️
There is a very rare space for 2 puppies on my December puppy socialisation class. Please drop me a message if you are interested.

➡️18:00 13/12/2024- Sibsey Village Hall⬅️

Puppies must be 12 weeks - 1 year! All puppies MUST BE FRIENDLY. These would not be purely obedience classes, instead focus on socialising your puppies in the most beneficial way.
🎄This class will have some Christmas fun as well🎄
Booking onto this class is ESSENTIAL! If you are not booked onto the class you will not be able to attend. If you would like to secure your place you can do so with a £5.00 deposit. This will be used towards your payment for the session and can be returned if you cancel with more than 2 days notice. The class is £15 in total and the final £10 can be paid at the class itself.
🐾ALL PUPPIES MUST BE FULLY VACCINATED 🐾

11/12/2024

🐾DIGBY🐾
Lead reactivity is an issue for Digby and his owners as he will bark and lunge at every dog he sees on his walks. He’s 7 years old and come from a rescue. In his previous home he had never seen anything other than his own garden so opening up his world in his new home has shown how little socialisation he has had in his previous home. We are working on showing him how to respond when he sees dogs and build his confidence in new situations that he does not know how to handle. Many people thing an old dog can’t learn new tricks, this is not the case. We have longer of the behaviour to unpick but with time and patience we can help Digby change his behaviours. 🐕

10/12/2024

🎄Christmas Reminder 🎄

➡️Lead The Way is Closed from the 21/12/2024 and will reopen on 02/01/2024 ⬅️

🌟Please ensure all payments are made on time.

🌟Any messages over the Christmas period may take longer to get a response but I will get back to you when I can.

10/12/2024

🐾 OREO 🐾
Pulling on the lead and over excitable reactions when he sees other dogs on walks was making walks a chore. We are changing the excitable routine for lovely Oreo to build on a calmer and more engaging experience both in the home and on his walks. He responded so well during his initial consultation by making a collection of simple changes and calming down the whole walk experience. This enabled us to start them important building blocks for loose lead walking and more focus on his owners on his walks. 🐕

08/12/2024

Nearly 7 years doing what I do but it’s been 2 years since I got accepted into the Guild of Dog Trainers 🎉 I have to say this was such a big accomplishment and highlight in my career as a dog behaviourist and trainer 🐾

🐾 IT’S OFFICIAL🐾
I have been accepted into the Guild of Dog Trainers! This being Britain’s top organisation where all the trainers within it are committed to offered the best dog training.

The Guild represents dog trainers and being accepted as a member reflects my commitment and dedication to my role as a dog trainer.

I honestly could not be happier right now! The most perfect Christmas present 🎁

Charlotte Barnes
CIBDT cert MGoDT

05/12/2024

05/12/2024

🐾BELLE & COCO🐾
Random aggressive outbursts in multi dog households are no easy fix. Changing this type of behaviour requires huge amounts of patience and time. Especially where a high value resource such as owners attention is involved. It’s a hard road but not an impossible one. These two girls are a perfect example of this. They can go from being perfectly settled in each others company to a full on aggressive fight. It’s going to take time to change this reaction and feeling towards each other but again with lots of consistency and patience her owners will start to see the rewards. 🐕

04/12/2024

🐾PENNY & STANLEY🐾
Over excitable behaviour was controlling how Penny in particular behaved in and out the home. In the home guests arriving would escalate her excitement to jumping up and nibbling. Out on walks she would be triggered when seeing other dogs and her excitement would take hold again. By implementing simple changes to reward calmer behaviours we want to build on her opting to choose these when she gets stimulated by excitable things rather than losing herself in excitable behaviour. Showing here there is much more of a reward and positive engagement from choosing a calm response 🐕

28/11/2024

🐾BERTIE & CLIFFIE🐾
Two very excitable dogs displaying a variety of over excitable behaviours. Little Bertie using jumping up when excited and Cliffie will get over excited for and on walks which lead to pulling and excessive barking. Both of these combined were something their owner wanted to look at. We are working in teaching them both the more rewarding and calm behaviours get them a more positive reaction and engagement. They both showed so much progress during their initial consultation with Cliffie even going for his first no barking walk which was so lovely. Can’t wait to see these lovelies again for their follow up sessions 🐕

21/11/2024

🐾OZZY (ft his Cocker Friends Bentley & Reggie)🐾
The GSP cry for attention 😂 Ozzy had begun escalating some attention seeking behaviours so we did some work to show Ozzy that reward no longer comes when he displays these over excitable behaviours but we also wanted to build on Ozzy being to settle without destroying the place when his owner is in a different room so a few changes heading Ozzy’s way to help shape him into the perfect gentleman. 🐕

20/11/2024

🌟TRAINING PROGRESS 🌟
So many dog owners put too much pressure on themselves during training.
Progression can happen in a whole variety of ways. Throughout your progress you may have days harder than others and days much easier than others, this does not mean you and your dog aren’t making progress. This just means that your progression journey is different to the next persons.
Remember not to compare yourself and your dogs progression in training to anyone else. We all learn different ways and at different rates 🐾

19/11/2024

🐾REGGIE & RONNIE🐾
Like butter wouldn’t melt! But these two boys are having some problems with aggressive outbursts towards each other which was resulting in the household being separated. Changing these types of behaviours in a multi dog household is no easy task but by working together and being consistent and patient you can get to where you want to be. We are going right back to basics with these boys to remove the negative association they have with each other during certain times. Working back to the beginning where it seems to have started through jealousy and resource guarding of people. We want to change these triggers and build on a new and positive relationship but as always without rushing to the end goal. 🐕