Snuffle Dog Training and Walking

08/09/2025

Next courses start end of September, puppies, adolescents and adult dogs, something for all 😊🐾🐾

06/09/2025

Time for an ostrich foot! 😋

28/08/2025

👍

When we teach a pup a new skill, the memory is first held in the hippocampus, like a scratch pad. During deep non REM sleep the brain literally replays the experience and transfers it into long term storage in the cortex (Rasch & Born, 2013). Without this, the memory simply fades.

It is not just facts and associations that get processed. Motor skills and mechanical patterns consolidate during REM sleep. In humans, Walker et al. (2002) showed that performance on motor tasks improved only after sleep. In other words, the body gets better at what it practiced while the learner is unconscious. The same applies to a puppy fine tuning coordination, balance and lead work.

Sleep also boosts problem solving. Wagner et al. (2004) found that subjects were twice as likely to discover hidden rules after a night of sleep. For a puppy, this might mean piecing together how cues, rewards and environments link up.

And the reverse is true. Just one night of deprivation severely restricts the hippocampus from forming new memories (Yoo et al., 2007). A puppy that is kept constantly busy, over handled or over trained without sleep will struggle to learn.

So when your puppy curls up and crashes after training, that is not lost time. It is the moment the learning takes root. Protect it.

18/08/2025

Adolescent/ adult classes going well in Ringmer 😊 working on focus 🐾🐾🐾

08/08/2025

A free course from a reputable organisation, if you want to know more about what your dog is saying give it a go 😊👍

29/07/2025

Yep, we should do what we can to train them with clarity 😊👍

23/07/2025

The opportunity to chew often is a calming activity for our dogs, choose an appropriate item for their age, tonight it’s an ostrich knee knuckle for Miss T 😍
( if your dog resource guards then a different item, if any - safety first)

18/07/2025

👍👍👍

16/07/2025

Interesting

"Our research indicated that dogs fed a non-processed meat-based diet during the weaning period, puppyhood, and adolescence, which corresponds to the age range of 1 month to 1 or 1.5 years, were associated with a significantly lower risk of developing DC later in life. Conversely, dogs consumed an ultra-processed carbohydrate-based diet during the same periods was associated with a significantly higher risk (p = 0.01, p = 0.001, and p = 0.02 for weaning, puppyhood, and adolescence, respectively). Additionally, residing with other dogs was significantly associated with a decreased likelihood of DC development later in life (p = 0.015). Moreover, from the non-modifiable factors model, a maternal history of DC and small size of the dog were strongly associated with an increased risk of DC development later in life."

15/07/2025

👍

12/07/2025

HOT WEATHER & AN INCREASE IN BITE RISK 🥵

We've had some very hot weather recently in the UK, and for many parts of the UK- the next three days are going to be scorchio!

It's important to be aware that being too hot can lower thresholds for tolerance and overt reactions- and not just in 'reactive' dogs.

And not just in dogs!

There's a correlation between human riots and an increase in crime during a significant rise in temperature (27 to 32 degrees).
It is well established that in people, heat stress causes irritability and an increased likelihood of aggressive behaviour.

Being hot and bothered is a physical stressor - the body works hard to return to homeostasis.

Cognitive processes can be negatively affected. So if your dog is not responding to as they would normally, consider the effects of heat.

Furthermore- being too hot can interfere with a dog's ability to rest and sleep. During rest and sleep, stress is lowered, and subsequently compromised rest and sleep affects behaviour.

This can affect (lower) the dog's threshold for emotional stress.


🐕 Two unfamiliar dogs meeting while both are hot and bothered is less likely going to result in a healthy interaction. Now is the time to largely keep yourselves to yourselves on walks, or monitor the body language of both dogs very carefully.

🏡 Extra caution should be taken in situations that your dog may struggle with, such as around visitors to the home.

🧒 But the greatest caution of all should be taken around up-close interactions in ALL dogs, especially those who live children.

Remember these basic safeguarding rules;

1. No faces near faces.

2. Let sleeping dogs lie.

3. Do not forcefully take resources (toys, food or anything the dog has found/picked up) off a dog.
Children should never take things off a dog.

4. Do not 'box dogs in' with your interaction.

- Always ensure they can easily move away by not blocking a dog's ability to move forward/away (for example, wrapping your arms around to hug a dog front on makes it near impossible for them to easily disengage).

- The safest way to interact is to invite a dog to come to you.
Alternatively, if you do approach then do so when they are awake and instead of swooping straight in with strokes- wait for them to signal to you they are keen for an interaction.

- Stop stroking after 2-3 seconds, and see if your dog communicates to you they would like more, or if they are done.
This is called the consent test, and it's something all children (and adults) should be aware of.


Most people who get bitten by a dog know the dog well, didn't think their dog would ever bite someone and didn't see the bite coming.

Most dog bites are on faces and hands of someone close to the dog, and this tells us a lot about what the person was LIKELY doing (Note, there are always exceptions).


As I always say to my clients ......

🗣️ Never take your dog's current level of tolerance for granted.