Good Choice Dog Training

Good Choice Dog Training Accredited Dog Trainer (Puppies & Adult dogs) Puppy Specialist - 121’s - Training Walks - Classes

07/01/2026

Stan stayed at home this morning whilst Vinnie came to work with me as a stooge. So when I got back we swapped and Stan and I went on a little training walk in town whilst Vinnie snoozed.

I do really enjoy doing individual walks and training with them, as for that time they get all of me, and I get all of them 🥰

It’s really important in a multi-dog household to this and I do need to do it more.

We chilled on the walk up to town, had a sniff about did a few easy focus and proximity games, some play and then a few sequences of multiple behaviours. Basically I made it up as I went along and it was fun!

Look at his smile he loves it! ☺️

We chilled outside Morrisons entrance minding our own business before leaving and then chilled on the walk back.

It was lovely 🥰

I’ve had so many puppies start recently whose guardians were unaware of the FREE 20 minute puppy preparation session I o...
05/01/2026

I’ve had so many puppies start recently whose guardians were unaware of the FREE 20 minute puppy preparation session I offer.

I started this service to help future customers prepare to bring their puppy home, not only to help set the guardians and puppies both up for as much success as possible, but also after noticing some common mistakes that can be avoided between the period the puppy leaves the breeder and starts training in either 121s, classes or online.

🔹Feel prepared and supported
🔹Spend your money on recommended products and avoid wasting money on unnecessary equipment etc.

To ensure you set yourself and your puppy up for success this service is available when you pre book classes or 121s (includes online support).

So spread the word!

14/12/2025

Last class of 2025 and it was a good one!

Club walk and train in Letchworth this morning ☺️

Thank you for making such a supportive community, you are not just customers you are friends too 🙏🏻

13/12/2025

I promised fun and I’d say I delivered????

If you weren’t at the recall workshop today, you 1000% missed out!

I LOVE teaching recall, it’s my absolute favourite 🤩

It’s just so much fun, and for a fair bit of this class they were on dropped long lines, sometimes working individually with the others watching, and absolutely no one left their handler, because they were all having such a fantastic time.

I also love that when handlers see this and process the front loaded information I’m giving, you can see the ‘aahhh’ in their facial expressions, and this is a good sign!

I’ll likely run another in spring, so comment ‘recall’ to be added to the waitlist or message me 👍🏻

12/12/2025

Stan had his annual vaccinations last week and a pain check for his hip and knee.

I was worried how he would feel after his hospital stay and being so poorly at the time.

The waiting room is not something I’d entertain with Stan, it’s far too small a space with unknown dogs after his attacks, and non negotiable if there was an intact male dog there.

He’d get excited to see the receptionists to get fuss and treats, but even this would be counter productive as excitement will still fill his bucket, and subsequently put him at a disadvantage if he then needs to cope with other dogs in the space, and all this before even being examined.

It’s simply not a necessity for him to sit in a waiting room. So I call when we arrive and the vet collects us at the back door, which leads to a separate consultation room.

The clip starts with me calming him down in the car park and disengaging from passing dogs.

I didn’t capture the entrance as I hadn’t asked if it was ok to film, but I’ll do it again. Stan will be vocal for about 30 seconds with an even spaced bark as he walks in, announcing his arrival! I call it his slow clap bark, as that’s the rhythm …. it’s loud 😂

I specifically ask for Alex, as she first started Stan’s pain treatment, she understands him, his quirks and has never made me feel in the slightest bit stressed or pressured to ‘perform’ as a dog trainer during our visits.

Which is great because I’m then able to react as a dog trainer and help Stan as I’m not feeling judged and getting myself in a flap.

Stan absolutely loves her and she predominantly looked after him when he was admitted, which is so reassuring.

It’s important to have a vet that knows your dog, their history and you, especially when you need to see them regularly, so you’re not trying to explain things each visit. I feel like I used to try to justify his barking and explain for him, but Alex just says ‘hi Stan’ walks us in and that’s it he stop a bit later.

So as much as I’m pleased Stan did well I’m also massively thankful to Alex 🙏🏻

08/12/2025

Another example of how to use boxes before recycling them! See the last reel for the benefits of this.

There should have been more footage as I thought I’d recorded a timelapse of me prepping them and the initial destruction, but I hadn’t pressed the record button 🫠

But in brief they had a layered destruction box, of boxes within boxes, paper, egg boxes, toilet roll holders etc.

Sprinkles of treats here and there and some wrapped treats too.

I’ve been saving and acquiring these boxes for a while, so I was pretty pleased with my final creation 😂

It kept them busy for about almost an hour, as they were rechecking they had them all once the initial excitement dampened.

They snoozed after too.

One important thing to note here is that the boys do not resource guard food with one another, so the excitement of this in a multi dog household could bubble over in some case, so use barriers.

The boys have a healthy and totally acceptable habit of only investigating what the other was eating when they walk away and leave it, like a food bowl. They also swap chews too, but all this didn’t happen overnight, I managed them very carefully when Vinnie was young to set them up for success.

Try a layered destruction box I highly recommend it!

22/11/2025

Dr Julie kindly gave me a muzzle for one of my/our customers to try, and I thought it might fit Stan.

It did, so I also took the opportunity to refresh a few of my muzzle training demo videos.

I refer to the stages in this video as levels 1,2,3 and 4:

🔹Interaction - Muzzle is presented from behind the handlers back, if the dog shows interest such as looking at it, sniffing it. We mark with ‘yes’ and throw a treat away. We don’t force interaction and the reward away gives the dog a choice to return to the muzzle to ‘play again’.

🔹Duration - We build duration in the muzzle by increasing the length of time the dog is fed before breaking them away for a treat to the floor.

🔹Building reps - Where the dog is free to exit the muzzle after eating without a break away floor treat, instead they are invited back with a cue (I use boop) and again we can progress this to offer duration with multiple feeds.

🔹Movement - I’ve seen so many dogs that are fine statically in a muzzle, but struggle once asked to move, as it’s never been taught. For this stage and whilst learning, a lickable food is a better. I didn’t have a squeezy tube of anything, so I had peanut butter on my finger. We walk backwards to maintain eye contact with the dog and allow them to push into the muzzle as they walk, to accept the treat.

Squeezy food can be used through the muzzle for all these stages, and accompanied by a hard treat when feeding to the floor. When starting out it can be easier for them to lick than chew. Stan is very experienced at these stages so the hard food is not that much of a ‘level up’ for him.

ALL of these stages are done with an open muzzle.

Only after this is fluid do we start to work on desensitisation of the attachment straps, duration in an attached muzzle and then ‘doing stuff’ whilst wearing a muzzle.

It’s not a rush and it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Would you like to see this in a part 2?

Muzzle is from .muzzle.movement

21/11/2025

Dexter was given this Dinosaur toy by one of my customers, as a thank you for being a stooge dog at one of their 121s (Ted’s mum).

I’ve played with Dexter using the dinosaur many times now, and this is our little game together 🥰

It was born from one of my silly moods, where I made these noises during play, I should also point out that the dinosaur can also moonwalk 😂

When playing last night I realised that with without the sequence/pattern of the movement noise followed by the activation noise, he wouldn’t take the toy!

So ‘ba!’ pretty much means ‘get it’!

So as much as this is a mixture of funny, cute and clever it’s a reminder of how easily or dogs can learn and how fun it can be.

Realistically because of how the game has been interpreted he’s working on impulse control, arousal and focus during play.

16/11/2025

Walk and training session around Baldock High Street today.

Dealing with whatever we passed on the walk, which included several dogs, adults, children, bikes, cars, buses, food establishments, food rubbish on the floor, a dog left outside a shop etc!

Once we start the class section of the session, it’s an opportunity to keep transferring known skills to public places, and to run through drills that practice focus on the handler and disengaging from passing distractions.

There was a mixture of very neutral dogs and also dogs that have previously worked through reactivity in today’s session.

2 small reactions to a passing dog during the session but this was a result of the dog fixing on the handlers hand (with food in it) then suddenly realising a dog was passing. This is common and I’ll do a reel on how to avoid it, but this is why we get out and practice! So with some coaching on timing of marker words, food handling/delivery we were good 👍🏻

They did do well as it was busy and on one section of the walk we were passing other dogs quite closely, with some very interested in them.

Address

Good Choice Dog Training, The Paddock, Offley Hoo Farm
Hitchin
SG53ED

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 7pm
Tuesday 7am - 7pm
Wednesday 7am - 7pm
Thursday 7am - 7pm
Friday 7am - 7pm
Saturday 8am - 1pm

Telephone

+447976732722

Website

https://linktr.ee/goodchoicedogtraining

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