Spring into Action Dogs

30/11/2023

When it’s 0 degrees ❄️ and dark outside and the insane collie wants to do something we go to Tesco car park to do some scentwork!

People watching possibly think I’ve lost the plot, but Florries on lead searching is getting better. Just need to fix the dodgy indication now

07/11/2023

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted on here, but I wanted to share Florrie’s agility progress.

She’s just into her second year of competing, there have been plenty of car crash runs and complete disasters, but with a lot of hard work it’s starting to come together. It still feels like I’m trying to steer a runaway car with the brake cables cut 🙈 but we’re making progress, there’s some listening happening and we finally won in to grade 2 recently 🏆

This was her best run from Saturday, 5f for a cheeky dog walk, and some horrendous wide turns, but still the fastest time in grade 2 and a 3rd place 🥉 This winter we’ll mostly be working on dog walks and startline waits 🤣

14/03/2022

So pleased with Finn qualifying in yesterdays Level 3 Scentwork UK trial.
He had some long searches and got really tired towards the end, our total time was over 10 minutes. But he tried his hardest and never gave up even when his brain fell out, such a relief to see him happy and enjoying searching again.
On to level 4 next!!

12/02/2022

It was a hoopers show day today and I couldn’t be more proud of each of the dogs. No rosettes for us but although Finn was terrible in the ring he was confident and happy out of it which he hasn’t been lately at shows. Fly loved the exercise area and was completely relaxed.
But best of all Florrie had her first show! We’ve got definite behaviours entering and leaving the ring to work on, and some steering issues to fix, but for a young dog at her first show I’m amazed. I never imagined she’d be running from maximum bonus boxes at her first show (although NFC), can’t wait to see what we can achieve when she grows up a little!

07/02/2022

Hoopers for Florrie yesterday, we were working on taking the correct line when she can see more than one tunnel! I thought she’d struggle with this but she surprised me, love how hard she works and how quickly she learns

02/02/2022

I’ve been working hard on Florrie’s indication for Scentwork lately, I’m pretty pleased with how she’s getting on 😃
I rushed the early stages of Finn’s training and knocked his confidence a little, and although he loves searching now and is really reliable his indication isn’t strong. He gets pretty stressed when I go back to train the freeze, and as I’m not planning on trialling him at a high level I’m happy to accept what he offers. I’m taking a totally different approach with Florrie and working on the indication first which is looking pretty solid now (the scent is underneath the colander). I just need to crack on with the actual searching now!

26/10/2021

Finn did some scent training on our walk earlier, a tough task for him as he’s used to running and playing there, not working, and there must’ve been so many dog smells!
He’s only been searching for gun oil for a few weeks and has never searched for it away from my house, or done multiple searches for it. He found three hides that had been out for over an hour in strong windy conditions! Proud of my clever boy 😃

21/10/2021

How cute is Florrie in a box! Crazy puppy really enjoyed a fun lesson at Little Orchard yesterday.
Whenever people meet Florrie or I mention I have a 9 month old collie puppy, the first thing I hear is “I bet she needs a lot of exercise to tire her out.”
The thing is it’s actually not possible to tire a collie out with just exercise, she’d just run until her legs fell off. And then still want me to throw a ball! But an hours training session yesterday meant she slept all evening. And today a new walk with lots of recall practice and some good sniffs means she’s crashed out beside me fast asleep again. So while she definitely needs a good run, it’s definitely the brain work that makes sure she’s got an off switch!

28/09/2021

06/09/2021

Florrie got her first agility rosette at Ferne dog show yesterday 🌟
Although she certainly didn’t get a clear round, and really wasn’t doing any proper agility! I actually took her in the ring to play with her toy, practice her start line waits and do a couple of tunnels.
Florrie is stupidly overexcited in busy environments and with moving people and dogs so I’m taking every opportunity to practice skills she knows in different places so that by the time she is actually competing it won’t be such a big step.
She was totally focused on me and had no issues working somewhere new with people watching. I just need to convince her now that she can’t have everyone else’s go as well as her own 🙈

26/08/2021

Happy International Dog Day 🐶
Of course when you’re half Springer every day is a happy dog day, Finn certainly thinks so. I love these photos of him doing what he loves from Rebecca Reed Photography they really capture how happy he is when he’s working in whatever form that takes 😊

03/08/2021

I’ve been teaching scentwork for a little while but it’s definitely one of those areas where the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know yet!
I’ve been working Finn in different locations and trying to improve his problem solving skills, yesterday we had a fab time searching at Boscombe Down Aviation Collection organised by Positive Connections. He had a little confidence wobble at one point, but recovered well and found every hide.
I’m looking forward to seeing his photos as he couldn’t resist posing in a cockpit! But for now here’s Florrie pup, she was busy staring at planes taking off ✈️

27/08/2020

I wasn’t going to post this video of my CHUK finals run with Poppy at first. Partly because I definitely don’t run very gracefully 😂 but also because you can clearly see I’m not using distance handling at all. And as much as possible I like to train owners to distance handle, in fact some of you have definitely had me yell “stop running” at you!
But actually I believe hoopers should be inclusive. I’d love to work on your handling skills and your dogs independence. But if you really want to run with your dog (and you’re not just saying that because you don’t believe you and your dog can work at a distance) then that’s fine with me. Poppy can work independently, not at a huge distance, but she’s more than capable of 5 point challenge lines on many courses. But she’s happier and faster when I run, I enjoy running with her, so that’s how we work.
So if you want to run with your dog (and your dog is happy with that) then carry on, do what you both enjoy. However if you’re like me and you’re not a natural runner 🏃‍♀️ don’t worry, I’m never going to tell you to move more.

25/08/2020

Monday night’s hoopers groups did a fab job running courses for the first time, really excited to watch these dogs and handlers progress (I was too busy watching them to remember photos 🤦‍♀️) Feeling very lucky to have this amazing space and surface to run on at SWAT dogs.
There are a couple of spaces coming up for the next 4 week block starting 7th September, suitable for complete beginners to experienced dogs, message me for details or email [email protected] to book

02/08/2020

It’s been a very productive weekend. On Saturday we went to the Go Go Hoopers progression event, and Finn was a star with three good clears, all with bonus points for distance handling 🤩
Today was spent fixing hoops and making new ones (with Poppy’s help of course) It’s so good to have all planned group classes up and running at last 😃

28/07/2020

So good to have the Paws4teaching hoopers groups back up and running again. Some really fab dogs and people in the beginners groups 😊 and so good to see how much everyone in the competition groups has improved after the break, you were absolute stars 🤩

23/07/2020

So much fun teaching hoopers at Little Orchard yesterday and it’s only week two of the course. Great owners and dogs, looking forward to seeing how much they progress each week 😊

21/07/2020

Some great results from the Paws4teaching hoopers team at the weekends progression events. On Saturday me and Finn got two clears at the Happy Dog Training event. Then plenty of results from the Super Hoopers event - a 1st for me and Finn, 1st and 2nd for Jo and Cuba, 3rd for Annie and Ember, 3rd and a clear for Teresa and Sadie, and some close runs for Cherie and Gypsy. Great work everyone 👏👏

14/07/2020

So excited that hoopers is back! There are still spaces in the beginners group. Message Jo at Paws4teaching for more info or to book

15/06/2020

Welcome to my new training page!
With classes and 121’s getting closer to resuming, now is the time to launch Spring into Action Dog Training, where I’ll be sharing details of the classes I’m teaching as well as training photos and videos.
I have Melody Todd of Springer Loaded Creative to thank for the amazing branding, she took a vague idea and really brought it to life, I’m delighted with the work she has done for both Spring into Action Dog Training and for Somerset Canine Massage. Look out for photos of the full work on both pages.

24/05/2020