The Perfect Puppy Company

24/06/2025

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙣"

Two lovely things happened to me today. I was given these beautiful flowers. And a lovely stranger found the purse that I'd stupidly left in a shop (with all my cards and cash in it) and handed it in.

Yes - both of these acts of kindness made me feel great in the moment..but, more than that, they increase the likelihood that I will, in my turn, be thoughtful and kind to someone else. Because the more kindness we see, the more likely we are to be kind in our turn.

When you are kind to your dog - when you smile at them, talk to them gently, handle them respectfully, allow them choices, let them sniff, reward them or treat them as a friend, not an 'it' - other people see that. Including people who may treat their dog differently.

Our behaviour has power. Far more power than anything we can say. And every time we choose to treat others, of any species, with kindness we are putting a little bit more good out into the world. And god knows we need as much of that as we can get right now...

Kindness is a superpower. And it's one we all have, if we choose to use it. ♥

20/06/2025

“𝗪𝗲𝘁 💦 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗩𝗲𝘁 🏥”

It’s hot here just now so PLEASE keep your dogs cool, don’t exercise them in the heat, know the signs of potential heat stroke and, crucially, know what to do if your dogs starts to struggle.

• immersion as quickly as possible in COLD water
•then straight to the vet

And please remember that flat faced dogs & double coated dogs (their coats do NOT keep them cool) are most at risk.

Enjoy the sun but stay safe!

🐕HEATSTROKE IN DOGS🐕

We've been banging on about this for years! HEATSTROKE is a MEDICAL EMERGENCY! Fortunately, now more and more professionals are communicating the same message!

Whilst the need for rapid cooling with COLD water (1-15°C) has been recognised for decades in equestrian and human medicine, the dog world has lagged behind, and very poor information still circulates. e.g. "cool the paws", "cover with wet towels", "avoid cold water as it will cause shock"

THE KEY MESSAGES ARE............

💦"WET THEN VET"💦

💦"COLD WATER IMMERSION" (1-15°C)💦
(If you can't immerse, keep pouring ANYTHING COLD over the dog - hose, soft drinks, milk, etc)

💦Dogs die of heatstroke because they were NOT COOLED QUICKLY ENOUGH, NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE COOLED!

♨️RISK FACTORS FOR HEATSTROKE IN HOT WEATHER♨️

♨️Large dogs
♨️DOUBLE-COATED breeds
♨️Brachycephalic breeds
♨️June, July, August (UK)
♨️Exercise, being outdoors, left in cars

EDIT: - If a dog is PANTING, it's struggling to control its body TEMPERATURE! 💦HOSE IT TO COOL IT DOWN!💦

❤️PLEASE SHARE - Spread accurate information; potentially save a dogs life!❤️

CHECK OUT FREE RESOURCES HERE: https://askanimalweb.com/managing-dogs-in-hot-weather/

Welfare in the Heat: https://askanimalweb.com/heat-welfare/

If you don't believe me, look at the research: Beard S, Hall EJ, Bradbury J, Carter AJ, Gilbert S, O'Neill DG. Epidemiology of heat-related illness in dogs under UK emergency veterinary care in 2022. Vet Rec. 2024;e4153. https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/vetr.4153

19/06/2025

I use food in training because...

🍗 It's highly motivating (for most dogs...there are exceptions but there are often underlying reasons for lack of food motivation which can be addressed)
🌭 It's efficient. Food is quick to deliver & to consume (which is handy when you want multiple reps quickly)
🦴 It can be delivered in multiple ways - tossed, caught, chased, searched for, delivered calmly, delivered energetically
🥕 It can be used to calm or it can be used to energise
🫐 It's portable
🍉 It's cheap
🫑 It offers huge variety - flavours, textures, size, shape
🥩 It works...

We have many potential rewards open to us when we are teaching our dogs. Food is just one of them but it's a really excellent one!

Using food in training is motivating, effective & efficient. Using food in training is not bribery and it's not burdensome. So why wouldn't you?

18/06/2025

This happy little guy is Pablo. Pablo did NOT like me when we first met. He really (really!) wanted me out of his space and he wasn't backwards about telling me.

Did we punish him for that? No. A stranger coming into his home is a legitimate thing for him to be worried about for a number of reasons... It's not something he's used to. He's a tiny dog and being in close proximity with a stranger in a small space is overwhelming. Small dogs also often have a history of being loomed over by strangers who think it's ok to pet them (question...do we think people are as 'handsy' and forward with larger, more intimidating dogs?).

Would punishing him have helped him feel safer? More secure? More relaxed? Of course not. In all likelihood it would just have confirmed what he already believed...that strangers are scary.

So what did we do? I ignored him. Totally. No eye contact. No talking to him. I kept my distance and gave him space. No cajoling or encouragement to approach me. No using food to lure him towards me. Reinforcement (from his humans, not me) of any more relaxed behaviours, even if they were only marginally better than what had gone before. No shouting at him, grabbing him or manhandling him.

Did it work right away? No. But over the course of the next few sessions he realised that I wasn't a threat, that the ball was in his court and that good stuff happened when I was around.

And now? Pablo really (really!) likes me. I get kisses, I get offered a belly to scratch, he sits beside me on the sofa. But while that's lovely, it wasn't our goal. Our goal was simply to have him not freak out when a stranger enters his home. That would have been enough. The rest is a lovely bonus.

Dogs are allowed not to say 'no' to interactions with strangers. They are allowed to not want to interact with people they don't know. Do we need them to be safe? Of course. But they don't need to be everyone's best friend.

If we want to help our dogs feel better about strangers we need to remove stress, not add it by punishing them or pressuring them. We also need to be realistic in our goals. If we exceed those goals, as Pablo has, that's wonderful. But expecting every dog to be cool with every human they ever meet (often regardless of that human's behaviour) is an unfair & unrealistic expectation.

09/06/2025

Behaviour change isn't a linear process. Not every day is better than the one before. Some days you are flying high. And some days you might struggle to get off the ground.

Torrin has been doing really well and making steady progress but today was hard for him. He struggled to settle, was more vigilant and less focused. Why? It's impossible to say for sure but changes in medication & building works going on near his home are likely to be playing a part. So instead of pushing on we took a step back, lowered our criteria and made things as easy for him as we could.

Behaviour doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's affected by all manner of things - how the dog is feeling, how you are feeling, the behaviour of other people & dogs around you, the environment you are in, the weather, how active your dog has been, how much rest they have had, what else is going on in their life.... Some days these things work with us, some days they work against us. Some of them are within your control, some aren't.

So don't let a bad day get you down. Assess what might be contributing to it. Change what you can. Accept what you can't. Adjust accordingly. And then shake it off.

04/06/2025

𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙫 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜*... The window cleaner came this afternoon. Charlie gets a bit agitated by the noise and the movement of the brushes on the window and, left to his own devices, will shout about it all!

Have I trained him to be calmer in the presence of the window cleaner? No.
Have I managed the situation to avoid the problem behaviour? Yes.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙄 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙧?
I move him away from the windows and give him a chew while the window cleaner is around. Problem solved!

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙄 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜?
• The window cleaner comes once a month which means training opportunities are infrequent
• It's not a huge problem for me. The behaviour in question isn't serious or dangerous. It has no significant adverse consequences if it does happen so training an alternative behaviour isn't imperative or a top priority for me
• It's not a huge problem for Charlie. If it was something which was causing him stress or overarousal on a regular basis then teaching him a new response would be the better long term solution for his wellbeing. But for occasional, minor disruptions a solution centred on management is fine.
• It's easy. And there's nothing wrong with easy!

Management is sometimes criticised as a cop out or avoidance (which it can be) but, sometimes, it's a pragmatic, sensible choice. For minor, temporary or infrequent circumstances then management can be a totally valid option. And it doesn't have to be a binary choice between training & management. Management can also be a temporary fix while you train new behaviours and then, ultimately, fade out the management because you no longer need it.

Sometimes management is all you need...and that's ok!

=================================

*𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦? 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦.𝘨. 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦.𝘨. 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧𝘧.

02/06/2025

𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘌𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩. 𝘚𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 '𝘯𝘰'. 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩. 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦/𝘳𝘢𝘸/[𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦]. 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.

Does the advice you see online leave you feeling empowered and educated? Or overwhelmed, confused and a bit deflated?

I'm interested in health & fitness. I run. I strength train. I try to fuel my body as healthily as I can. I follow lots of different coaches and sports scientists on social media. And, some of the time, they give conflicting advice and/or actively disagree with each other. And, as the lay person who is just trying to understand the best thing to do, it's confusing and frustrating. So I get it.

𝙎𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙞𝙨𝙚?

• On line advice is generic. It can never be specific to your dog and your situation. So while it might be good advice in general that doesn't mean it's good advice for you & your dog in particular.

• Listening to all the messages all the time will almost inevitably result in confusion because there are very different methods and ethical approaches to living with, and teaching, dogs. Think about what your core values are and find people who reflect those. When you do that you're more likely to begin to see consistent themes and messaging rather than directly contradictory views.

• Consider the qualifications, experience and education of the person giving the advice. Not everyone's opinions should be given equal weight!

• But remember...no-one is always right. There are trainers whose ethos and approach I agree with 95% of the time but disagree with 5%. And vice versa. Just because you like someone's overall approach doesn't mean that you should unthinkingly adopt everything they say. Critical thinking applies as much to those we agree with as it does to those we disagree with!

• Sometimes nuance is sacrificed to the conciseness social media demands. The limitations of social media often don't allow us to fully explore all the complexities inherent in the concepts and ideas we write about which can lead to misinterpretation and apparent contradiction.

• Lastly, trainers can be guilty (in our enthusiasm to share our knowledge!) of forgetting that most "normal" dog owners don't really want to be trainers....they just want to live a happy, quiet life with their dog. So don't feel pressured to take on 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 bit of advice we spout...start with what feels relevant & achievable for you.

Curate your feed. Think critically. And don't let the feeling of overwhelm that you can't do 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 mean that you don't do 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

31/05/2025

If your dog (or anyone else!) doesn’t do what you’ve asked them to do it’s always worth considering whether they’ve actually heard you!

In order to be effective a cue should be consistent, unique and well timed but, above all, it has to be perceptible. If your dog is farther away, if it’s windy or if they are engrossed in a good smell then perhaps they’re not simply blowing you off…perhaps they simply haven’t heard & processed what you’re asking…

PS this isn’t about cyclists, or dog walkers…it’s just an example of the importance of perceptible cues! So let’s not descend into a cyclists v dog walkers debate 🙃

28/05/2025

Is it possible to have a quiet, relaxed walk in a park with a "reactive' dog? Yes...if you do it thoughtfully & carefully.

Newly adopted Aslan has big feelings about other dogs. His behaviour suggests he's quite conflicted about them...one the one hand he kinda, sorta wants to interact but on the other he feels overwhelmed and out of his depth when it actually happens.

But we can still have a lovely, calm, relaxed walk by creating the right environment for him -

• making good use of space
• not rushing him
• reinforcing helpful behaviours (calm observation, disengagement, focus on his humans, moving with us, recalling to us)
• using a long lead to allow for more freedom of movement, more sniffing, less restriction and less frustration
• being attentive to the comings & goings around us and planning ahead
• choosing the right park in terms of geography and community. There are parks where I absolutely would not do this but in this park the geography is perfect (wide open spaces with good sight lines) and the dog community are savvy & polite.

Environment affects behaviour for sure but how we 𝘶𝘴𝘦 that environment is also hugely important. If we were in the same park but we stuck to the paths, in closer proximity to other dogs, kept Aslan on a short lead with more tension then we'd get very different results.

If your dog struggles in a given environment think about whether you are using it to it's best advantage. Switch it up & see!

27/05/2025

"𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙊𝙆...𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙮!"

What do you do when it goes a bit wrong? Today we were working with newly adopted Torrin on calmness in the presence of other dogs when a very friendly, very bouncy young dog charged into his space and kept coming back for more until she decided that, perhaps, she'd bitten off a wee bit more than she could chew (Torrin isn't aggressive but he is very big & a bit too full on with other dogs).

What did we do?

• stayed calm
• shortened the lead and held onto his harness
• waited for the dog to leave (under other circumstances we may have moved but Torrin is strong and was already over threshold so, on balance, I felt it was better to stay put & minimise movement)
• settled Torrin
• checked that the other dog and their owner were ok

What didn't we do? Start berating the other dog owner. Should their dog have run full pelt at another dog? No. Should they have been able to recall their dog? Ideally, yes. Should their dog have been fully off lead? Probably not.

BUT...we're all human. How many of us can say, hand on heart, that neither we nor our dogs have ever made a mistake. How many of us, if we've not had a reactive dog, can honestly say we've really considered what impact one dog running up to another can have? Also, it's a public park and if we're working 'in the wild' then we have to accept there's a risk that we may be approached by other dogs because that's life, whether we like it or not. I have to accept some responsibility for the situation too...I'm normally pretty good at spotting, and avoiding, potential hazards but this time I totally missed it.

When things go wrong which is a better use of your energy? Becoming angry and berating people for not doing what you think they should? Or trying to make a bad situation better and helping your own dog to rebalance and recover?

If we're trying to teach our dogs that thoughtful responses are better than over reactions then perhaps we need to try modelling that a bit ourselves...?

26/05/2025

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹? Often, it's because we ask for too much, too soon.

If your child is still struggling to grasp addition how do you think they will fare with multiplication? If you are learning to drive and are still getting to grips with changing gear do you think you'd cope with being asked to do a three point turn?

And yet we often ask our dogs to things which are beyond their current skill set. If they lose their minds when they see another dog there's no way they're going to be able to recall over any distance. If they are overwhelmed by the world asking them to walk calmly on a loose lead is a non-starter. We are inadvertently setting them up for failure and ourselves up for frustration.

But when we break things down into small, achievable steps, and master the easier steps before moving on to the more challenging ones, we make it so much easier for any learner - human or canine - to succeed.

Pablo gets extremely overwraught when people leave the room or exit through the front door. He barks, throws himself at the gate & grabs at clothing. But by breaking the process of leaving down into small, achievable steps and rewarding him at every stage he's becoming more able to remain calm when someone leaves.

We can create a beautiful, successful cycle of behaviour and reward which develops into strong, reliable behaviours with no frustration for the dog or the human.

If you're struggling to teach something (to any species!) ask yourself whether you might be asking for asking for more than your learner can currently do. And if the answer might be 'yes' try to break it down into smaller steps.

Small steps add up to big journeys.

24/05/2025

The lack of regulation in many pet industries - including training - leaves room for poor practices.

Is your trainer/groomer/daycare one which strives to ensure best practice? One which has invested time and money into their education? One which has voluntarily agreed to be bound by the standards of a professional organisation?

Or not?

The only way to ensure you put your dog in the hands of an educated, dedicated professional is to become an informed consumer.

For training a good place to start is the ABTC register (www.abtc.org.uk)

🔍 Let’s Talk About It… 🐾
There’s an uncomfortable truth in the UK dog grooming industry right now — anyone can call themselves a groomer. No qualifications. No training. No regulation.

And while many groomers work tirelessly to uphold high standards, care deeply for the dogs in our salons, and invest in ongoing education, the lack of regulation leaves room for poor practices — and it’s the dogs who suffer most.

It’s time for change.

It’s time we raise our voices for professional recognition, proper training, and national standards.

Because dog grooming isn’t “just a haircut.” It’s health. It’s wellbeing. It’s trust.

👇 Tell us:
Should professional dog groomers in the UK be regulated and recognised like vets and nurses? Let’s start the conversation.