Positive Canine Coaching

Positive Canine Coaching Positive Canine Coaching runs Puppy Fundamentails & follow-on classes, scent detection classes & 121 training. 🐶

12/10/2025
⭐⭐NEW LEVEL 1 SCENT DETECTION COURSES 2026!! ⭐⭐Ok, we're almost halfway through October, so I feel I can now mention nex...
10/10/2025

⭐⭐NEW LEVEL 1 SCENT DETECTION COURSES 2026!! ⭐⭐

Ok, we're almost halfway through October, so I feel I can now mention next year!

If you've been wanting to book on to one of the Scent Detection Courses, there are two starting in the New Year.

1) Saturday 10th January - from 9.30 am at The Harvey Centre
2) Tuesday 13th Janurary - from 7.30 pm at Elmscroft Community Centre

Scent Detection is a great thing to teach your dog. We make it fun, you will bond with your dog and they may just surprise you too!

For more information, drop an email to [email protected]


Absolutely!
10/10/2025

Absolutely!

🐶🐶🐶 ****** PUPPY CLASSES ****** 🐶🐶🐶Last round of puppy classes before CHRISTMAS!!For pups up to five months of age.  Sta...
08/10/2025

🐶🐶🐶 ****** PUPPY CLASSES ****** 🐶🐶🐶

Last round of puppy classes before CHRISTMAS!!

For pups up to five months of age.
Starting on Thursday 13th November at The Milestone School.
Help start your pup off on the right paw.
Intro to loose lead walking.
Start to introduce recall.

Drop an email to [email protected]


It's all about the little things.....small steady wins the race and all that. I've been working with a beautiful, young ...
30/09/2025

It's all about the little things.....small steady wins the race and all that.
I've been working with a beautiful, young German Shepherd, who finds everything in the world pretty scary.
At our first session, I met her and her owner outside. We were sharing space inside by the end, and starting to be friends. By the third session, she recognised my car and didn't bark at all and was so happy to see me...I wasn't a threat.
When I get messages like the below, that's all the positive reinforcement I need...I keep going. Fighting the fight to train without pain, force or intimidation.
Keeping going guys....you're doing an awesome job!

Day 1!!
23/09/2025

Day 1!!

Fab to be back at Paignton Zoo with the fantastic keepers and the wonderful Jo Mason from Educating Animals .Watch this ...
23/09/2025

Fab to be back at Paignton Zoo with the fantastic keepers and the wonderful Jo Mason from Educating Animals .
Watch this space to see what species we'll be training. ....eek

This....
19/09/2025

This....

We throw the word “reactivity” around way too easily.
Bark at a dog? Reactivity.
Lunge at a jogger? Reactivity.
Spin on the lead? Reactivity.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth — most of the time, what we’re calling “reactivity” is just… a dog being a dog.

Take Aslan, the Australian Shepherd currently staying with me. On paper, he’s a conformation-bred Aussie — a show dog, bred for looks. But Aslan is a walking contradiction. He’s aloof with strangers, fiercely loyal to his people, has chase drive for days, is highly food motivated, and shows a level of protectiveness that is classic Aussie. He’s not just a pretty face — he’s got the heart and soul of a working dog.

And here’s where it gets interesting: the very traits that make him who he is are also what people would label “reactivity.” He’s hyper-aware of his personal space, and if someone barges in uninvited, he lets them know. He’s alert, he’s responsive, and he takes his role seriously. To the untrained eye, he might look like a “problem dog.” To me? He’s exactly what he was bred to be.

It’s also worth saying that Aslan’s owners have gone above and beyond to understand this dog. They’ve worked tirelessly to meet his needs, to provide training, outlets, and structure. They’ve even gone to great lengths to investigate underlying health issues — things that could have been adding fuel to the fire of his reactivity. This isn’t a case of a neglected or misunderstood dog. This is a dog whose humans are doing the work — and he’s still a dog with big feelings, big instincts, and big needs.

The reality is, we’ve deliberately selected dogs over generations to show us very different traits. Anyone who has owned both a working-bred dog and a conformation- or pet-bred dog will tell you they think, behave, and operate differently. And sometimes, the lines blur — you get a show-bred dog who carries all the intensity and drive of a working-bred one, or a working-bred dog who has a softer, more easygoing temperament you might expect in a show line. These “outliers” can be challenging for owners because they don’t fit the expectations that usually come with their type — but that’s exactly why understanding the individual dog in front of you matters more than anything.

We have to stop acting like barking, lunging, and growling are moral failings or behavioural disorders. Generations of breeding have shaped dogs into what they are today. And we — humans — did that. We decided what traits mattered: appearance for the show ring, drive for the field, guarding instinct for our property or our homes. Then we get mad when those traits show up in a way that’s inconvenient for us.

A high-drive, working-bred dog stuck in a city flat, under-exercised and under-stimulated, is going to “react.” A show-bred dog pushed into endless social situations they find overwhelming is going to “react.” This isn’t broken behaviour — it’s predictable behaviour.

Instead of slapping the label “reactive” on every dog that expresses a big emotion, we need to ask ourselves:
🔍 What did we breed this dog for?
🔍 Are we giving them a job or outlet for their drives?
🔍 How are we contributing to this situation?

Aslan isn’t a teddy bear. He’s a dog with purpose, and when you meet him where he’s at, he shines. The problem isn’t him — it’s the expectation that he should ignore his genetics, suppress his instincts, and behave like a robot.

“Reactivity” isn’t a disease to cure. It’s feedback. It’s communication. It’s information about the dog in front of you. And it’s time we stopped blaming dogs for doing exactly what we bred them to do.

😊
19/09/2025

😊

Address

Barnwood Avenue
Gloucester
GL43AE

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 1:30pm

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Welcome to Positive Canine Coaching

I’m Katherine Johnson and I’m an IMDT qualified dog and puppy trainer who covers the county of Gloucestershire.

I’m currently trained by my 2-year-old Labradoodle, Zelda and my 2 house bunnies, Ralph and Ruby. My love of animals started over 30 years ago when we owned a rabbit and our first puppy Rebel, a Golden Labrador. Things have changed so much in the dog training world in the last 30 years and I was adamant I wanted to teach my current pup Zelda in the right way, by building trust and creating a good bond with her using positive and force free methods. I re homed her when she was just over 4 months old from a previous client, who felt she couldn’t give her the life she deserved. I was lucky that Zelda had been given a great start in life and had come from what seemed a very good, loving home. As with lots of puppies when the hormones start to kick in, many of the behaviours previously taught can prove to be a bit more of a challenge and she’s currently struggling with certain noises and objects she may have previously encountered when she was younger. We’re also spending a lot of time working on her recall as I believe as a trainer and a dog owner, recall is one of the most important behaviours to get right, but this too is a work in progress!.

Before Zelda came in to my life, my two house bunnies ruled the roost. Ruby is a rescue rabbit from the RSPCA, and I believe she was used for breeding and Ralph was the last of an unwanted litter. Ruby is the one I have to keep a close eye on. She was found with no hay and a bowl of muesli. For those of you who know about rabbits, hay should make up 85% of their diet and they shouldn’t be fed muesli. Rabbits teeth grow all the time and the hay helps keep them short. Ruby’s teeth are in a awful condition and she has to have an injection every 3 days to help her. She has also had bouts of gut stasis which basically means the gut slows down or stops working, so I monitor her closely looking for any change in behaviour. I get asked all the time “Can you train a rabbit?” Well, yes, actually you can. They both use a litter tray to go to the toilet and they both run back in to their pen, when it’s time to go to bed.

When we bring a dog in to our lives, or any animal for that matter, it should not only enhance our lives, but also theirs. Every animal has their own personality and my main reason for becoming a dog trainer is to help owners have the best relationship then possibly can with their canine and also help reduce dog bites in the home. If we can get the relationship with the puppy right from the beginning, the chances are we’ll both have a loving and fulfilling life together.