Croydon Companion Dog Club

11/08/2024

09/08/2024

We went to see the beautiful Tyson and boy oh boy what a cracking lad he was. Tyson got over excited to see visitors and found it hard to settle after they came in, as you can see he settled nicely by the end of the session and his owners have done extremely well with him.

05/08/2024

A Big Congratulations to Jinx, Mimi, Nala, Roxy & their bipedal companions for all their hard work!

03/08/2024

We went to see Sonny recently who was barking and attacking the Tele everytime he saw another animal....amongst other things.

Sonny has started to learn some self control and is making better choices. Well done Sonny.

27/07/2024

Thanks to Ellen and everyone who attended the last dog walk!
What a nice & talented group with their two-legged friends!

25/07/2024

The training exercise ‘Middle’ that we do at CCDC, aids engagement, makes a moveable boundary ie a calm position for waiting at the vet’s & also provides good mental stimulation as it is a gateway to further training!

18/07/2024

Looking forward to seeing you all today to talk all things dog 👍

15/07/2024

Excited to be back alongside the Croydon dog warden this summer with some local events supporting the community and their dogs 👇👇👇👇

04/07/2024

Our 9 weeks classes are well underway and the dogs and their owners are excelling at the exercises 👌🎇

29/06/2024

Early structured social walk today with the gang.

It was great to see Hector again and having the chance to learn how to be calm and relaxed around other dogs rather than thinking they are always all things fun.

The dogs got time to sniff and relax in each others company without the chaos of running around play fighting. Instead they learnt their owners were all things fun.

27/06/2024

During the hot weather it is important you keep an eye out for signs of possible heat stroke so that you can make sure your dog is safe in the sun.

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26/06/2024

It is going to be a hot week this week and therefore may need to reschedule appointments to ensure your dogs safety and comfort.

Please be assured this is for your dogs wellbeing, something that will always be paramount to us

We will try and reschedule to early morning or evening appointments where the weather allows us.

Please remember to adapt walk times and keep your dogs cool to ensure you are not exercising them in heat that might put them at risk.

22/06/2024

Have you had a consult or 121 with one of our trainers?

Maybe you've attended classes and want to progress your training and have some fun?

Our social walks are a perfect way to socialise and expose your dogs to different environments and situations.

Contact us today to find out more

[email protected]

21/06/2024

Our social walks are coming along nicely. 4 beautiful dogs with dedicated owners exposing them to different surroundings and experiences whilst learning what Social really means.

01/06/2024

It's holiday time 😁

We are away for a week and whilst the dogs, parrots and lizard will be managing the home and the goings on they will be having a break too.

This means that there may be slight delays on replies and we won't be taking calls regarding dog training until 11th June.

Thankyou for your continued support and look forward to seeing you all on our return.

26/05/2024

We have a couple of space come available in our next 9 weeks classes.

If you want to have fun with your dog in a fun, controlled setting learning some of the important life skills get in touch today.

[email protected]

01/05/2024

We have some behaviour consult spaces available for May.

If your struggling with your dogs behaviour and want professional, friendly advice from trainers who have years of experience working in rescue get in touch today.

30/04/2024

I've had a week off this week but I've been doing a different type of training 🤣🤣🤣

24/04/2024

Off to see this lad this morning....one of my favourite guarding breeds.

Watch this space......

23/04/2024

Some of the superstars from this round of 9 weeks classes.

23/04/2024

Before you read this post it comes with a health warning. I am sure there will be things in this post that people do not like or agree with and that's fine. This post, I hope, will be a thought provoking one and one where healthy discussions can be had to make a change.

Rescue

One thing I love is rescuing a dog and working with a rescue dog. We are at crisis point in the UK rescues and I can't see much changing with it unless we begin to make the change. So, although I am hoping this post will be educational, it is also a plea to rescues organisations, rescue workers and you, the potential adopters so that together we can make a change.

We all know that one of the predominant reasons for rescues being full is over breeding and the lack of regulations there are for breeding which leads to a huge number of back yard breeders who love the money, but not so much the dogs. Which in turn, leads to poor breeding. Dogs with numerous health problems and in addition behaviour problems.

Here is where I think the cycle starts and will continue to spiral until we change it....

The adopter, you. Would love to rescue, contacts numerous rescues locally. I would imagine you hear a lot of....

'we don't home to people who work'

'we don't home to flats'

'this dog can't live with children, they are adult only.'

'this dog can't live with other dogs'

'this dog needs a single person' and so on.

So having been knocked down numerous times, by numerous rescues for some of your lifestyle choices that could also have some very simple solutions in some cases you start thinking that if you want a dog your probably going to have to go down the breeders route. So you start looking at breeders.

2. The rescue

Has a kennel full of dogs. And rightly so, wants to ensure the safety of the dogs in their care and ensure that the dogs go to their final home.

I also understand that there are situations and scenarios where a rescue may need to put stringent or stricter requirements on particular dogs for a number of reasons. However...

Rescue should be about getting them in and safe, assessing and rehoming as safely and quickly as possible and visable in order to get the dog out of a stressful environment and environment that with the best will in the world is not ideal but to also free up that kennel for the next dog in need.

I think rescues have become too scared to loosen the ties on the dogs in their care because of us, the adopter and the threats they hear daily of suing them, or euthanising the dog if it does anything wrong. But I do firmly believe in order to stop the cycle and to save more, rescues need to re think their procedures.

Example:

The rescue has a 2 year old labrador. It has flown through it's assessment with no problems. Friendly with dogs and people just a little lively and may knock young children over so the rehoming criteria is teens only.

As a parent, if I applied for that dog and the rescue told me he would knock my two year old over. That is my responsibility as a dad, and an adult to consider whether that was something:

A. I could deal with and

B. I would be willing to train.

If I got that dog home and it knocked.my 2 year old over that is on my head, not the rescues.

Dogs being homed for flats = great! I bet it gets walked more than the dog homed to someone with 20 acres of land.

Dogs being left = surely 4 hours is better than the 20 hours they are being left in kennels for, no matter how good a rescue it may be that is the length of time a dog is generally on their own in a kennel.

So rescues, please think hard about why you are there. To re-home dogs, to save dogs and to offer them a safe space. Not as sanctuary's where the dogs can sit for weeks months or years to become institutionalised and therefore become even harder to re-home.

3. Back to the adopter.

So after numerous knock backs the adopter starts to wonder whether they will ever be good enough to get a dog from rescue. Just because they work, or they have children or they live in a flat dosent mean that they will be a bad home for a dog. They start searching for pups on gumtree or pre loved or looking into what they believe to be reputable breeders and with very little guidance about suitability of breed, behaviour help and no back up.

4. The backyard breeder

The adopter finds a pup, goes to view it and seemingly the breeder is reputable. The pups appear to be in good health, mum is present, the paperwork looks adequate. So they buy a puppy.

As many rescues know, this is all too often the case. Pups are often brought in for visits but are actually kept outside, no health checks have been done, excuses are made as to why mum or dad can't be seen. The breeder is in fact a back yard breeder but can 'talk the talk '

It is worth noting that I am not against breeders who are truly reputable. They health check, they vet the homes, they often have waiting lists and their dogs rarely end up causing an issue for rescues as they will generally take their dogs back at any stage of life.

These pups often have health issues due to poor breeding as no health tests have been done on the parents and all too often there are behaviour problems that won't always be visible just yet, pups are released too early in some instances but the adopter is told the pup is a different age to what it truly is, these are among some of the issues that rescues face daily. But that doesn't matter as long as the breeder gets the money.

The more we end up funding this type of practice the more it will continue.

5. The rescue.

Not all, but I think a large number of these dogs then wind up on the rescues waiting list or doorstep due to the health or behaviour of the poorly bred pups. They are now 7 to 8 months old if not younger. The vet bills became astronomical, the behaviour just became too much to handle.

Maybe, this could of been prevented, maybe not. Maybe the adopter would of suited one of your dogs but just needed an honest dialogue and a little support to ensure the dog settled and advice was given, trainers recommended, extra support from rescue staff.

And so the cycle continues....

Adopters, THINK.

Rescues, THINK

05/04/2024

Some of you may remember Louis who I went to see a few weeks back as he was struggling having people in the house, even family.
Well he's doing much better and his family are seeing some progress. They've worked really hard at building him up to become more comfortable and are reaping the benefits. Well done to Louis and his family 👏👏👏👏

02/04/2024

Useful tip....tip Tuesday 😍

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01/04/2024

Teaching your dog not to jump and to sit calmly by you when talking to people is an important skill to have.

31/03/2024

It is so underrated but YOU advocating for your dog is so important so that they feel safe and secure when they are out with you. This will help them to feel that you will deal with various situations so they don't have to.

30/03/2024

We have a few slots left our two tailored sessions for April.

121s are basic obedience for those who want to start training or develop the training they have. Covering all the important life skills like recall, leave lead walking and more you get the opportunity to practice this without sharing a trainer with others within a class environment. On a 121 we are dedicated to you.

Our behaviour consults are tailored for the more frustrating and problematic issues you may face, from aggression, resource guarding, excessive barking at more. These are there to support you through finding practical, ethical and common sense based training so that you can live peacefully with your four legged companion.

30/03/2024

We went and helped the beautiful Niko whose struggling with other dogs. He responded well and feedback from his owners is sounding positive. 😍

10/03/2024

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