Aspire K9 Dog Walking, Henley on Thames, Henley on Thames (2024)

11/09/2022

Nice rundown through various important points ;)

07/09/2022

This is something everyone should see. This xray is of a 2 week old puppy.

When you get your 8/10 week old puppies, please keep this image in mind. Their bones do not even touch yet. They plod around so cutely with big floppy paws and wobbly movement because their joints are entirely made up of muscle, tendons, ligaments with skin covering. Nothing is fitting tightly together or has a true socket yet.

When you run them excessively or don't restrict their exercise to stop them from overdoing it during this period you don't give them a chance to grow properly. Every big jump or excited bouncing run causes impacts between the bones. In reasonable amounts this is not problematic and is the normal wear and tear that every animal will engage in.

But when you're letting puppy jump up and down off the lounge or bed, take them for long walks/hikes, you are damaging that forming joint. When you let the puppy scramble on tile with no traction you are damaging the joint.

You only get the chance to grow them once. A well built body is something that comes from excellent breeding and a great upbringing-BOTH, not just one.

Once grown - around 12-18 months depending on their breed, you will have the rest of their life to spend playing and engaging in higher impact exercise. So keep it calm while they're still little baby puppies and give the gift that can only be given once.

05/09/2022

September slots available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, please feel free to message with any questions :)

https://www.aspireequestrianacademy.com/aspirek9

17/08/2022

In my main job as a professional in equine industry, a lot of my work focuses on movement biomechanics both equine and human. Exercise physiology has been my field of study for years and I can't help but be very curious how this cute little Frenchie develops.
Contrary to many others of his breed, he is a through and through countryside dog who is owned by a gamekeeper's family.

I'd love to see some other Frenchies in active/outdoorsy homes! Please do tag me in any relevant posts if you see them 😁

15/08/2022

Well said 👌

There's a video doing the rounds at the moment of a 'Dog Trainer' in the US beating customers dogs. It's sickening to watch.

I'm not sharing it.

Sadly our industry is unregulated which means anyone can set up and call themselves a dog trainer or behaviourist. They are not protected titles.

'It gets results' is just not good enough. Dogs are sentient beings and provide so much to our lives they deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.

I find it difficult to understand why people are so comfortable with punishment, but I've seen groups of people who use punishment on dogs for training and because they're doing the same and surround themselves with people doing the same it becomes their normal. If people stick to a belief that positive reinforcement training doesn't work, it will help them justify the use of punishment to themselves and their customers.

If you watch the film the Stamford Prison experiment it will show you how humans react to being in power and control of another being. If you look at the milgram experiment you will see how most people will mindlessly follow the 'Expert' without question and cause harm to others.

I have 5 years University experience studying Canine Science. I've studied methods and approaches, I've compared and contrasted them and critically evaluated them. I completed my dissertation on different methods and learning.

I have hours and hours of CPD from a variety of other trainers. I've been assessed and externally verified by several organisations.

I have a lifetime of experience with various breeds. Living with, competing with and breeding.

The more experience and knowledge I gained, the more positive I became.

I mostly learned that dogs don't need an 'Alpha Male' for you will live in harmony with them.

Positive training works, I know it does. What I do is share all my experience and knowledge and help people learn to be good at training their dogs with positive reinforcement.

Please please please make sure you check a trainer's approach and credentials, because getting results to make your life easier isn't enough, the journey and the experience your dog has living with you is of equal importance.

Have a great week 🐾🥰

Jane Ardern BSc Hons
Kennel Club Dog Trainer of the Year
Gundog Club Accredited Instructor and Assessor
ICAN Accredited Behaviourist

15/08/2022

Infographics credit: https://sites.google.com/view/dogtraining68-/home

12/08/2022

Early morning splash for the hounds 💦

10/08/2022

Spot Piglet the Patterdale in a quiet wonder about her view 😊
I love how dogs take an immense pleasure in just being in a moment. You can take them for an awesome adventure or an ordinary walk round the block but they seem equally happy to just be 🥰

10/08/2022

Woodland adventures for Piggy the Patterdale and my Spaniels. The heat is quite relentless but working breeds are very happy with various enrichment games and don't always need to do mainstream long walks.
Piggy loves sniffing and climbing on things, she's curious and loves exploring so 45 minutes of that brought her plenty of happiness today 🤩

08/08/2022

Great read for puppy owners 🤓

What is socialisation?

It is a stage of development in your puppy. It starts at 4 weeks and ends around 16 weeks. However actual socialisation should continue well after 16 weeks as your puppy will go through other development stages having different experiences.

The first thing to consider is your puppy will go through their first fear stage 7/9 weeks old. It's important not to overwhelm them. It's also important if they're struggling to be left alone not to leave them.

During the socialisation stage of development, it's not about socialisation in the context that we understand it. It's about exposure to the world. It's so important that the exposure the puppy gets is positive emotional experiences. So a nervous or sensitive puppy needs less. They can see the world but they don't need to interact with everything in it. They need exposure that they as an individual can cope with. Doing more will not turn them into a confident social butterfly it will probably make them more fearful, even reactive.

It's needs to be a slow steady pressure free pace. Slow down your walks, stop and give them time to take in the environment, there's new sounds, sights and smells. This can be a sensory overload for some. Let them sit and watch, take your time so they can take it all in and then process it.

We used to call it a critical stage of development but it's now a sensitive, because it's flexible. Your puppy is sensitive to experiences so make sure they are positive.

If your puppy is scared support them and help them. This won't reinforce or reward negative behaviours that are driven out of fear, apprehension or caution, it will cause them to relax and feel safe and then those behaviours will stop.
Yes the puppy will become a little dependent on your support but once they feel safe you can teach independence and reward brave choices. Feeling safe will activate exploratory control processes in the brain and your puppy will choose to explore and approach. This is much more powerful than being lured to something they're scared of. Luring with treats to scary things causes pressure and conflict which are negative emotional and stressful states. Timing is key and reinforcement should happen in safe places for it to be emotionally reinforcing.

Forget behaviour and think emotions and experiences at this time.

This puppy was barking when I arrived today. Her owners reassured her and she relaxed. She then eventually started to choose to approach me. When she did they praised her, called her back to them so she didn't spend too long in the scary place and then rewarded her with them, she was rewarded for making brave choices in her safe place with her owners.
She eventually chose to come sniff me, make eye contact with me and take some treats from me. She then relaxed and fell asleep ❤️❤️❤️❤️

This lucky puppy has lovely compassionate and dedicated owners who are doing the best for her and meeting her needs ❤️❤️ I know she will be ok and I'm really looking forward to being a part of this family's journey with this gorgeous pup 🥰

Work at the puppy's pace, don't rush 🐾❤️

Jane Ardern BSc Hons
Kennel Club Dog Trainer of the Year
Gundog Club Accredited Instructor and Assessor
ICAN Accredited Behaviourist
Author of Mission Control How to Train the High Drive Dog

03/08/2022

Nearly time for official opening of all the walking slots 🐶🐶🐶

I'm available from the 8TH of AUGUST for weekday walking adventures with your pooches. Please message me on here or What's App to book a meet & greet and to secure your chosen slots 🤓😁🐕🐕

30/07/2022

Socialising for puppies 🤩 I mean, it's a hard job but someone's got to do it 😜 My Springers bring a set of behaviours which little will find useful later in life
Jazzy is extremely patient and will give warning signals that too much sharking is happening but she's never physical. She removes herself from a situation she no longer wants to participate in.
Zen is my forever enigma and can be snappy but he seems to adore Loki and vice versa.

I think socialising of puppies is an interesting and sometimes controversial subject. I've heard many different, often contradictory theories about what's right and what's best to avoid.

Have you worked through a socialising process with your pup or a young dog that turned out successful? Or perhaps you have good tips of what experiences to introduce to a puppy's life to help them become a well rounded adult dog? 🤓

28/07/2022

Great summary of the walking needs of "pet gundogs " by the awesome trainers Scurries Dog Training - I did most of my training towards Gundog Club UK Field Tests with them and highly recommend for all your active dog education needs 👍👍👍👍

⁉ HOW TO WALK YOUR GUNDOG ⁉

You might have been told when you got your gundog puppy that you shouldn't walk them because it will lead to problems. Well, this is a half truth in my eyes, especially if you have a spaniel!

Most people I see are those with "pet gundogs", defined by me as gundog breeds that live in the home and might go out working in shoot season or not! For the most part of their lives they are pets and people want to walk them.

So here is where our mooch, play, train mantra comes in to it! We need to be mindful about what happens when we walk our busy walking breeds. This is what I teach my puppies from day one of coming home, that dog walks and "working" are different things.

So how do we teach them?

✅ Mooch / Bumble
In this part of the walk the dog can be off lead or on a long line and we are allowing them to be a dog but instilling some good behaviours and rules including: Reinforcing check ins, teaching the dog to follow us rather than us following them, teaching the dog that when we stand still they should chill with us or come back to us, occasionally practice recall.

✅ Play
Stop and play with your dog on a walk, it is not about getting from A to B and your dog certainly doesn't care about walking a loop! Stop and have some games with your dog like fetch, tug, hunting, cuddles. food animation games etc. This is a great way to build toy value outside.

✅ Train
Train anything you are working on with your dog for a few minutes, it can be anything, but by bringing your training on to your walks you are teaching your dog to generalise training to all areas. Just be sure to set your criteria so the dog can succeed in its surroundings and be aware of how distractions may impact their ability to do the behaviours in that environment.

Then rinse and repeat for the whole walk breaking it up into allowing the dog to be a dog and sniff but keep that zone of control and the dogs eyes on you, as well as stopping and interacting with your dog so they don't forget you are there!

Spend time teaching your dogs how to go for a walk because they certainly don't come home knowing how to, it is our responsibility to teach them!

27/07/2022

Recall proofing...

Check out the highly conditioned reaction (the two Springers) and the work in progress response of the Borador. That moment of hesitation is the precious nano seconds where her cheeky decisions can happen 😜

I try to proof recall all the time whether I need them back with me or not. Rewards wise I use toys/games and food interchangeably because treats don't always work strongly enough in high drive.

How do you proof your recall? Any great distractions you managed to recall from in your practice? 😎😈

26/07/2022

Shaping Behaviour (Clicker Training)

My first experiences with "shaping" were spectacularly unsuccessful which was aided by my young Springer girl with low frustration tolerance.
Thankfully, I came across (an absolutely amazing dog trainer, if you don't follow her you are missing out, I'd rectify pronto 😉) and was lucky to win a place on one of her online courses a couple of years ago.
Dawn's way of explaining the whole idea and the steps needed to be taken were the key for my understanding of the concept. I did the course with my Springer boy pup who was unspoilt by my previous mishaps and we loved it.

I only do simple games like "put front paws in a bucket" etc but if you want to see more complex fun & games, check out 😁

Jazzy (Springer girl I made about a million and a half mistakes with) took about 7 minutes in total to shape the "front paws in bucket and stay still" task.

Zen took less than a minute to figure out the task and additional 2 minutes to get the "stay still" component.

I really love shaping exercises before any more complex training games I do with both of them. I find it really focuses Jazzy on thinking and problem solving rather than just acting, acting, acting.
Zen becomes much more attentive and even more driven to cooperate than he already is.

I also love it for relationship building and my own observation & timings skills.

Do you do clicker training? What do you use it for? Anything cool you shaped your dog(s) to do? 😁😁

25/07/2022

Meet my first little client 🥰
Sausage does my Puppy Play Sessions and he's a 13 weeks old French Bulldog.
He's practising his recall, attention, manners and cuddles 🤭
Swipe to see him showing his "eyes on me" skill with his owner after our play session 🥰
He's a very quick learner and has the most stoic expression at all times which is hilarious at his age
🤣

19/07/2022

Hello and welcome to Aspire K9 Dog Walking.

My name is Wiola, I'm Henley-on-Thames based, outdoors loving, fully insured Dog Walker & professional Equestrian Coach.
I share my life with my partner and his two lovely daughters, our 3 dogs, Mungo the cat and Leo the horse. I hope I will get to meet you and your lovely four legged family member(s) very soon but in the meantime, here is a little bit more about me and my dogs.
https://www.aspireequestrianacademy.com/aspirek9