Sits n Wiggles: Glasgow Dog Trainer

03/08/2025

Been a little quiet here as I’ve been busy with my lovely wee baby, Vinnie, born 20th May. But today I TRAILED!!!! Thanks to the lovely Lesley Aitchison of Mutt Nut for putting on a fun session this morning. It was so good to get back out trailing, Maya absolutely smashed it (after over a year off trailing, wowsers!) and lil Vinnie slept through the entire 2.5h session. Win win!

Not quite ready to return to work, buuuuut watch this space!!!! I won’t be too long, just figuring out how it will work with the wee man. 🐾💕🐾💕🐾

25/04/2025

Lovely trails from this lovely lot in a cool new location last weekend!!

14/04/2025

Slightly belated congrats to these wonderful teams!!

All passed their beginners man trail assessments, Team Rocky and Caroline, Team Kaleo and Clare, and Team Ziggy and Kirstin! Excellent achievement for all involved!!

02/04/2025

And another one!! Congratulations to the wonderful team Sian and Maizie on their beginners assessment! Maizie works so hard and she absolutely ADORES trailing, you should see how excited she gets when she’s getting ready to get out of the van. Fantastic work from this fabulous team ❤️🥳🐾

01/04/2025

Another big congrats to team Ollie and Mairi!
Ollie went into his beginners assessment “just for fun” with absolutely no pressure to pass, and he absolutely SMASHED IT in record time, despite having to stop for a pop 😂 he really has just gone from strength to strength in a matter of weeks and I am so proud!!!

31/03/2025

Ahhhh big congratulations to Team Moose and Lesley who passed their beginners trailing assessment at the weekend!! Fab achievement, and even more so when you look at Moose’s background. It’s been amazing watching Moose grow in confidence over the months, trusting himself and his environment more and more with every trail. Just amazing ❤️🥳

Yesterday wasn’t just Mother’s Day, it was PROUD Mother’s Day!

Our little, noisy Romanian shelter dog, Moose, with the MAHOOSIVE personality, passed his Beginners Mantrailing Assessment🤩🏆🥇

It was quite an emotional moment for me, because in my mind was the memory of the video that was posted of him when he was found by the amazing Sava's Safe Haven in Romania. A tiny puppy unable to move because his leg was broken which the rescue suspected was the result of human abuse.

So yesterday really meant something to me.

This wee guy, who spent the first few years with us very afraid of most humans (who can blame him), has learnt that searching for and finding “missing” humans reaps amazing rewards (stinky dried sprats!), and through this he now greets strangers with far more optimism (and WAAAAY less shouting!).

This was only possible thanks to the AMAZING Eliese De Rijk Elder, our wonderful Mantrailing Instructor who has been coming all the way from Glasgow to make this possible for us, as well as the compassionate and empathetic group of other Mantrailing dog owners.

Eliese is off on Maternity leave now but will be back in a few months to resume trailing with us.

In the meantime, I will be standing in for her as Instructor for upcoming Mantrailing fun in our lovely Oban area. I shall post when the dates are arranged so that anyone interested can let me know.

If you are unfamiliar with Mantrailing, in a nutshell it is giving a dog a job to do using their INCREDIBLE nose! It is so fun and satisfying for them, and it is one sport you can do where you let your dog lead the way, and your job is just to follow and learn their body language so that you can help them if they need it. It is ESPECIALLY useful for anxious or reactive dogs like Moose, and as only one dog “works” at a time, it’s fab for “dog-reactive” dogs.

I am so moved that this little fluffy weirdo has gone from the streets of Romania to finding “lost” humans in Argyll.

Well done, Moose.

You have always been a star to me (though you may look more like an angry cloud!) but yesterday you shone even brighter.

🥰🤩Lxx

If you want to see the original video of Moose being found in Romania, here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15rA8os1U7/?mibextid=wwXIfr

28/03/2025

Fab trails from these teams the other evening!!

Team Kaleo smashing it as always, and now working on their indication so that we can start adding in some split trails and other challenges. It’s hard to challenge Kaleo because he has such a phenomenal nose on him and some of the strongest work ethic I’ve ever seen!!

Team Penny had taken a couple of months off but you’d never guess it!!! We saw some incredible air-scenting from Penny, she barely touched the actual trail but yet still found her runner without any hesitation and in record time!

And a very special mention to our Team Zippy!!!! Zips has come on leaps and bounds and for the first time ever, he outsmarted me!!!! I miscommunicated with the runner so they were not in the place I expected them to be, but Zippy with his new found confidence totally ignored me and gave us some excellent body language to say he KNOWS BEST!!! An amazing achievement from this wee fella!

18/03/2025

More lovely sunny trails from my weekend in Oban!

Team Blossom were on top form today though Blossom needed a little reminder of what waits at the end of a trail. Noticeably faster on her second trails when she realised it was none other than… SALMON PATE! Then she picked up the pace!!!

Team Wilbur! Lovely trails despite the overpowering and distracting smell of wild rabbit!!! His first trail was excellent, it was as if he was simultaneously following a rabbit trail AND his human trail at the same time, but as soon as he was close enough to the human, he totally gave up on the rabbit and went to grab his treats! Fabulous!

Team Dutch! Throwing all his usual enthusiasm into it, Dutch was amazing! He actually stopped to THINK at least twice which was amazing to see as he doesn’t usually take much time to process things, so it’s nice to see him slowing down to work on his precision!

And lastly, lovely Team Phoebe! Phoebe was in season so she was perhaps a little more distracted than usual, however she aced her trails nonetheless. Actually very impressive when she’s got nothing but hunky boys on her mind 🤣

18/03/2025

Recent Glasgow trails! Not quite as scenic as Oban trails but it’s good to give the dogs different environments to trail in, and actually industrial estates are perfect as there are lots of junctions, road crossings, and obstacles to hide behind!

Team Kaleo, as always bossing it! Kaleo makes every trail look easy, and we actually need to start trying harder to catch him out as he’s just too good and that little brain of his needs a good work out! He’s super fast, and if you really were lost, you’d want Kaleo on your rescue team!!!

Team Dakota, this was Dakota’s first time trailing in an industrial estate, but she made it look as though she’d done it a million times before. We did some pretty complicated trails with stairs, junctions, main roads and she never faltered!

Team Fergus, brand new to trailing! Fergus had done a beginners scentwork course with me so we knew his nose worked, but this was a totally different game. He picked it up quickly and easily though, and despite being just 8 months old, he was able to follow trails and zone out distractions in his first session… unless the distraction was a tissue, nothing is more exciting that a tissue 🤣 fab first trails and I’m looking forward to seeing him progress!

14/02/2025

How cute are these tiny graduates?! Aida, Bunty, Freddie and Elsie are such smart wee pups, I have no doubt that with consistent training they’ll grow up to be wonderful doggy citizens out in the real world! 🐶💕🐾

13/02/2025

13/02/2025

Awwww such a shame that Sadie and Fergus couldn’t make the last class but here are Obi and Dora posing for their graduation photos. Now fully qualified sniffer dogs!!! Woopwoop! Well done for all your hard work in the last 6 weeks, the progress we’ve seen is incredible and you’re both superstar sniffers!!