Doherty Dog Services

17/12/2025

POV: You left your puppy unsupervised with an open tub of Celebrations and now you're making an unplanned Christmas eve visit to the out of hours vet.

Christmas with a puppy can be a magical time 🎄 but there can be a lot of unexpected challenges! To get you prepared, I've written a whole blog post full of tips to keep you and your pup safe and happy over the festive season. I've included advice on what foods to keep well out of your puppy's way, managing visitors and keeping on top of your pups basic training over the holidays. You can find the link in the comments!

How was your first Christmas with a puppy? Let me know in the comments? 🐶♥️

10/12/2025

Book a call with me to see how I can help you with puppy training - link in comments 🐶♥️

06/12/2025

Preach

05/12/2025

This time of year can be overwhelming. For me, there’s no can about it. It is OVERWHELMING AF. I’m supporting new puppy clients, running DDS, meeting the needs of our delightful but ever complex Dukey Silver, trying to create Christmas magic for the kids, catching up with friends ahead of the holidays, cleaning the house… the list goes on. I’m sure your life is just as busy right now too.

So there’s no tips on puppy training, socialisation or yet another thing to add onto your to do list in this post. Just a gentle reminder of the simple truth your puppy would tell you if they could:

Your best — especially right now — is more than good enough.

🐶 Gave your puppy their breakfast in a bowl? Great, the pups fed.

🐶 Didn’t work on recall today? No dramas, that’s what leads are for.

🐶 Puppy didn’t socialise with other dogs because you didn’t have the bandwidth to chat to the other owner? They’re going to be fine.

Give yourself grace. The fact that you’re worrying about whether your pup has had enough exercise/enrichment/training etc means that you are a conscientious owner with your puppy’s best interests at heart. You’re doing better than you think.

With that in mind, I may not be popping up in your feed as much as usual over the next few weeks. If you’re looking for training tips and guides, check out my blog, the link is in our bio. You can always DM with any questions.

But hey, it might take longer than usual, between the school nativity performances, wet & windy dog walks and card writing- I’m just going to give myself some grace. 🐶♥️

28/11/2025

Why you won't see any Black Friday sales here...

Doherty Dog Services is a small, local, family run, puppy training and dog walking business. We don’t inflate our prices just to slash them once a year. Our prices reflect the experience, training, qualifications and expertise that go into meeting your pups needs every single day.

Instead of a Black Friday sale, we instead:
🐶 Offer competitive, consistent and fair pricing all year round
🐶 Build a trusting relationship with each of the dogs and owners we work work with. Many of our dogs have been with us since we started nearly 7 years ago.
🐶 Ethical and effective training methods based on the most up to date behaviour science
🐶 Reliable, trustworthy service from an experienced team who all go out their way to get to know each dog and meet their individual needs.

Here in Folkestone, we have a wonderful community of small businesses offering some incredible products and services. This weekend, why not check out some of our local favourites






Sod Beff Jezos and support local, small business!

27/11/2025

Great opportunity for someone looking to get more experience with animals and work for a great charity

🐾 WE’RE HIRING! Join the Lord Whisky Animal Sanctuary Team 🐾

We currently have two part-time positions available and are looking for dedicated, hardworking animal lovers to join us!

​🐶 Kennel Hand

Days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday
Hours: 5 hours AM + 4 hours PM (PM hours as and when needed)

About the role:
Our Kennel Hands play an essential part in caring for the dogs at the sanctuary. Duties include:
• Feeding, cleaning kennels, and maintaining high welfare standards
• Walking dogs, providing enrichment, and supporting socialisation
• General cleaning, laundry, and ensuring kennels remain safe and tidy
• Assisting the team with additional tasks as required

​😺 Cattery Hand

Days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday
Hours: Same as Kennel Hand (5 hours AM + 4 hours PM as needed)

About the role:
Cattery Hands help care for the cats at the sanctuary. Duties include:
• Feeding, cleaning pens, and monitoring cat health and behaviour
• Providing enrichment, comfort, and social interaction
• Ensuring all areas remain clean, safe, and hygienic
• Supporting the team with daily routines and extra tasks

We’re looking for someone who:

✔ Loves animals and is passionate about welfare
✔ Is reliable, hard-working, and able to work in all weathers
✔ Works well as part of a team
✔ Has experience with animals (preferred but not essential)

📩 To apply:
Please email your CV and covering letter to: [email protected]

🐶🐱 We look forward to hearing from you!

23/11/2025

13 years together today! All these pictures are pre-Duke, pre-Doherty Dog Services and pre-kids... We look like teenagers, you wouldn't recognise us nowadays 😂

22/11/2025

Meet the Team 🐶

Here's our lovely dog walker Claire, who joined the DDS team in February 2024. She's a hugely important part of our team - not only is she beloved by all our wonderful dogs but she's a fab team player and always goes out of her way to help us and our clients out and keeps things ticking over like clockwork. She's a superstar! 🐶♥️

18/11/2025

Struggling to get your pup to stop toileting inside? It's usually one of these issues! How long did take toilet training take your puppy? Let me know in the comments 🐶♥️

16/11/2025

When should I start puppy training?

Your puppy is constantly learning! 🐶♥️

12/11/2025

One space left on my Ultimate Puppy Training Programme for 2025! After that books are closed until January so if you are looking for help with your puppy, shoot me a message and let's chat! 🐶♥️

10/11/2025

When we first brought home our spaniel puppy, Duke, I did what we all do and got us booked into our local puppy class. It was a fiver per class, a steal I thought.

Every week for 6 weeks we got ourselves to the village hall (except for the couple we missed because we couldn’t make that time). We stood around with Duke bouncing around at the end of the lead, desperate to meet every other pup.

The hall was massive and split into three sections by curtains, so there were two other classes happening at the same time. There were around 30 dogs and owners in this hall- you can imagine the noise!

At the end of the course, Duke ‘graduated’ and we had our little certificate. We’d learnt a few useful bits and some fun stuff. But we spent most of the time trying to get Duke to stop desperately pulling towards other dogs and chewing the lead like mad because he was so hyped up.

The class wasn’t bad, but it didn’t help the problems we were really having with Duke at home.

It didn’t stop the biting. It didn’t stop him destroying my shoes and eating the legs of our kitchen table. It didn’t stop the relentless jumping up.

It didn’t help me understand when he was over-stimulated and needed help regulating his emotions, versus when he was bored and restless.

Yes, we could walk through a gate. We could walk up and down a hall. But those aren’t the skills I really needed to enjoy life with my puppy. I was just as overwhelmed by his behaviour and unclear on how to calm him down as I was at the beginning of the course.

Years later, I would run my own puppy classes. After three blocks, I stopped running them. Because despite my best efforts, I wasn’t able to help my puppy owners with the problems they were actually experiencing with their puppies at home. When I created my Ultimate Puppy Training Programme, I knew that each programme would be completely based around the needs and lifestyle of the individual families I worked with.

Because a Daschund puppy living in a central town flat needs a very different training plan from a Labrador puppy living in a rural village. One size just does not fit all when it comes to puppy training.