Through the Dog's Eyes - Training and Behaviour

03/07/2025

🐕 Yesterday saw another one of theTTDE dogs' birthdays.

🐶 Firefly was 8 years old, and she got to do what she loves best - swimming 🏊‍♀️

🤔 As dog trainers and behaviourists, it would be easy to think that we never have struggles with our own dogs, but this couldn't be further from the truth.

😳 Life with Firefly has not been easy. Despite having lots of experience with Labradors, she's certainly taught us lots.

ℹ️ Just as people can struggle with regulating their emotions, so can dogs and Firefly is a prime example of that. It would be easy to punish her when we see behaviours we don't like, such as jumping up, pulling on the lead etc but if you look at the bigger picture and the situation in which these behaviours occur, it's because she finds it too overwhelming.

❔️How do we manage this ❔️

💢 We lower our expectations of what she can achieve
💢 We don't put her in situations she can't cope with, and if we see her starting to struggle, then we remove her from the situation and reflect on what should've been done instead.
💢 We consider how she can be carefully introduced to new situations at a pace she can manage, that means there is adequate distance and time frames are kept short. All of these things can be gradually increased as her emotional responses improve
💢 We never punish her
💢 We make sure all her basic needs have been met before starting any training
💢 She gets plenty of breaks doing 'dog' things.
💢 We reward the behaviours we do like
💢 We have lots of patience
💢 We ensure that we have allocated plenty of time so we don't need to rush through training
💢We celebrate small wins
💢We don't focus on what she can't do, but look at the things she's great at

✖️ Nobody's perfect ✖️

30/06/2025

🐕 It's been a hot one today so here's how some of the TTDE clients dogs have been keeping cool 😎

✅️ paddling pools
✅️ frozen goodies in kongs and lickimats
✅️ swimming
✅️ cool mats
✅️ swimming pools
✅️ cool rooms
✅️ splash pads
✅️ water
✖️ no walks during the day

29/06/2025

🐶When we received our Prestige Award last month for the Best Dog Training Business 24/25 - Central, we didn't know what to expect and thought we would just collect the award and that would be the end of it so we were rather surprised when we were asked to do a photoshoot and a video.

😬We had no time for any preparation or to make any notes so we just jumped right in and went for it. We are so pleased we didn't do too many 'ums' and 'ahs' 🤣

26/06/2025

Today we would like to wish TTDE's youngest dog, Ruby, a happy 2nd birthday 🎂 🥳 🎈

Ruby certainly lives life in the fast lane and loves everything in it 🐕‍🦺 She finds joy in the smallest things and can often be a little bit bonkers 🤪

When she's not being bonkers she just loves a snuggle and really enjoys climbing into laps and having physical contact. She doesn't care that she's a big dog - she is a lapdog at heart!

Happy birthday beautiful girl 🎁

Here's a compilation of videos demonstrating your slightly crazy side, and some photos showing your snuggly side.

25/06/2025

Yesterday we had a meeting at one of the cafes at Chasewater. We decided to use this as an important socialisation opportunity for one of our TTDE dogs, Ruby.

Ruby is a friendly girl, but can be "reactive" towards other dogs as well as some people. We have been working hard with her to help her to manage her emotions around things that might trigger a reaction from her, and yesterday we felt ready to move her to the next stage where she was going to be in closer proximity to other dogs and people.

👍🏻We are pleased to say that Ruby got a big thumbs up from us as she did so well. Not only did she go on a short walk beforehand, where she saw lots of dogs and was able to move past them without reacting, but she was also able to settle at the cafe afterwards whilst we had our meeting.

Well done Ruby 🐕‍🦺

21/06/2025

❌ We've been really disappointed to see people still walking their dogs despite temperatures hitting 29.5 degrees and above.

🥵 The best time to walk your dog is before 8am and after 8pm.

❗If you are unable to walk them within these parameters then PLEASE don't walk them at all.

https://www.kcinsurance.co.uk/guides-and-advice/when-is-it-too-hot-to-walk-your-dog/

20/06/2025

🐶 The lengths we go to sometimes 😉

😬 No need to worry, Sarah hasn't collapsed.

🐕 Having Holly in classes meant it was easy to show the end product of what we were training in classes as many people are visual learners, so function better when they can 'see' something in action.

🤔 Now we no longer have Holly, we need to come up with more imaginative ways of showing what we are training, so we are prepared to go to some pretty extraordinary lengths to do this. 🤣

20/06/2025

***Important notice regarding tonight's classes***

If you are due to attend our classes this evening then you should have received an email advising you that, due to the hot weather, we will be running the class via Zoom this evening, allowing you to remain in your (hopefully nice and cool) home, and practise the exercises at your leisure when the temperatures are more suitable for your dog.

If you have not received the email with the Zoom link on then please firstly check your junk email, but if you still cannot find it then please contact us and we will resend it to you.

PLEASE DO NOT TURN UP AT THE CHURCH FOR CLASSES THIS EVENING - THERE WILL BE NO-ONE THERE.

We hope your dogs are managing to keep as cool as Ruby 😎

17/06/2025

🥵 We know it's hot today and getting hotter over the week. Please be sensible about walking your dogs 🐕 The TTDE dogs were all walked early this morning. ℹ️If you are in the unfortunate position where your dog starts to struggle or you see someone else's dog struggling, then this advice from Veterinary Voices UK is essential ℹ️

Hot Forecast Due 🌅 Met Office Heat will build through the week. On Wednesday the highest temperatures values in the UK are expected to be around 27ºC.

Is it true that if we use cold water on heat stroke pets they will go into shock?

One of the most common things we still hear is that we can only use tepid water on a pet with heat stroke, incase they get some complications like hypothermic overshoot, peripheral vasoconstriction hindering a cooling response, and cardiogenic shock...

We have heard not to use cold water in case it causes shock... this rarely happens!

But guess what? In a recent study over 26% of dogs presented with heat stroke died, with flat faced breeds making up nearly half of heat stroke cases seen in the study.

You should:

💧Get someone to call the local veterinary practice and tell them you're going to travel down with a heat stroke patient
💧Pour, hose or if possible immerse the pet in very cold water (this should obviously be done under constant supervision, ensuring the head is fully above water and immersion should not be attempted if the animal is too large, or you are unable to do so without hurting yourself)
💧NB: If using a hose pipe, make sure it has run through until cold, as they can often contain water that is extremely hot in the tubing initially
💧Do not drape in towels and leave them in situ. Keep the cold water flowing.
💧Move to a cool, shaded area
💧Prepare to transport to vets in a cold, air conditioned car

In studies they found that:

🌅International consensus from sports medicine organisations supports treating EHS with early rapid cooling by immersing the casualty in cold water.
🌅Ice-water immersion has been shown to be highly effective in exertional heat stroke, with a zero fatality rate in large case series of younger, fit patients.
🌅Hyperthermic individuals were cooled twice as fast by Cold Water Immersion as by passive recovery.
🌅No complications occurred during the treatment of three older patients with severe heat stroke were treated with cold‐water immersion.
🌅Cold water immersion (CWI) is the preferred cooling modality in EHS guidelines and the optimal method applicable to UK Service Personnel
🌅Studies suggest using either ice-water or cold-water immersion

The best intervention is PREVENTION, but if you find yourself with an animal with heat stroke, using cold water either by pouring, hosing or ideally (if safe) immersion then this may help reduce their temperature to safe levels while you transport to a veterinary practice.

Read more below:

https://www.vetvoices.co.uk/post/cool-icy-cold-or-tepid

16/06/2025

🐶 Sundays just got a whole lot cuter!

🐕 Enter the Sunday puppy class crew, no nervous nellies this time around.

👏 All the puppies are raring to go and busy learning lots of new behaviours, including not bothering with all the other puppies in the class 😀

‼️ There's still time to book on to our Friday evening class in Aldridge starting 20th June at 6.30pm.

15/06/2025

🐶 Some of the TTDE dogs were on holiday last week.

🐾 Holidays usually mean different places, different people, and different environments. Whilst many humans look forward to these changes, it can be challenging for our dogs as they navigate these changes.

ℹ️ To make it easier for them, we should lower our expectations and consider whether they can cope in the situations we are placing them in.

⛵️ These two went on a boat trip, BUT it wasn't their first time. They are older, more experienced dogs and far less phased by different experiences.

😴 Historically, they've been taught to 'settle/chill out' when the purple and beige towels appear. This is a visual cue to indicate that we'd like them to do nothing but relax, and they've had lots of practise at this.

✖️ If they were young, nervous, or even high energy, then this boat trip wouldn't have taken place as it's unlikely they'd cope. It wouldn't be fair to ask them to chill out without having done adequate practise.

💢 We teach the 'settle/chill out in classes, slowly adding more layers of difficulty and distraction so in the future they too will be able to just relax in variety of situations.

🙈 We are all a little guilty of not rewarding our dogs when they are doing nothing. If you wanted your dog to keep sitting, then you'd reward them heavily when they sat, knowing they'd then want to keep sitting for the reward, so the same principle applies for them doing nothing. 😉

12/06/2025

🐶🐶 Considering puppy and dog training classes? 🐶🐶

⏱We have new classes starting this coming Sunday, 15th June at either 9.30am or 10.30am at Stonnall Community Centre, Stonnall. These are 5 week courses at a cost of £90. We have just 2 spaces left️❗️

ℹ️ We also have a mixed class starting Friday 20th June at 6.30pm at St Thomas' Church, Aldridge. This is a 6 week course costing £108.

👍Want to join us, we are an award winning dog training and behaviour business?

Please visit our website to book on line https://throughthedogseyes.com/classes/

If you want an informal chat you can contact us by calling 07572 910367/ 07894 446993