Skyhardt Dog Training

22/03/2025

New blog post: The Easiest Dog Training Hack.

Some elements of force-free dog training are quite technical. But did you know there's one thing you can do that will reliably improve almost any behaviour issue? In technical terms, it's capturing a behaviour, and marking and rewarding it. In simple terms, you're rewarding the behaviours you'd like...

19/03/2025

I'm so proud of my girl today. She braved the field with the other dogs. I started walking the fence line with her, when we heard the thudding sound she hates and she turned for the gate. I got her attention and she managed a small treat scatter, then we carried on following the boys. She sniffed and checked in with me and had a few runs with Fen. Then she set off for the gate. I let her go as she was doing her rocking horse run rather than terrified gallop. When she got there I called her. I used her name rather than her recall word as I wasn't sure it would work, and I didn't want to poison the cue. She absolutely flew back to me! Jackpot treats came out, of course. She bimbled round for the rest of our time, and stood nicely to have her lead on. Amazing work Sky!

08/03/2025

On International Women's Day, I would like to do a more local shout-out to the amazing female dog business owners, bringing force-free and science-led services to dogs in the Nottingham area. We work alongside all these businesses and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. We 💜 you all!

Jenny Barker of Feral Hearts: Dog behaviour and training solutions
Emily Hazelwood of Train & Nourish and Paws & Claws Nottingham
Lisa Binch of East Midlands Clinical Canine Massage & Rehabilitation Therapies
Alex Mazzotti of Dotty Dog training
Rosie Fern of Askan-K9 training
Amy Louise Taylor of Paws Up Dog Training

08/03/2025

I'm lucky to be spending this gorgeous weekend dog-sitting Tony the cockapoo. Tony's humans invested in a short training package with us, and it's paying dividends after just the first lesson! Tony struggled with movement triggers in particular. We showed his family how to use a pattern game to help calm his brain in the presence of his triggers. He's building up a history of calm behaviour on his walks, which are now much more fun for everyone. We are so proud of him! While I'm here, I'm doing some training on walks and seeing where we can help Tony even more. Once you work alongside Skyhardt, whether for dog training, walking or sitting, you have priority access to our other services. We love joined up thinking.

05/03/2025

went on a school trip today! She did brilliantly at the garden centre, with no reactions to other dogs. She even met some guinea pigs through the glass (the guinea pigs were not frightened or I wouldn't have let her near). She's back home now having a chew, after a very exciting day.

05/03/2025

Business planning today with at Guilt Free Pleasures . The Birthday Cake smoothie is fabulous! I got some website updates finalised and published: check them out at the link in bio.

28/02/2025

Arty, stopping to smell the flowers in Titchfield Park in Hucknall. It seems to have been winter forever. Is it spring yet?

26/02/2025

I popped in with Sky to see Lauren at Guilt Free Pleasures today. I can confirm that the Victoria sponge cake is fantastic. Sky ate her whole portion of doggy pancakes with bananas and cream, but only after picking the bowl up and moving it into the correct position. She also had a howly chat with everyone and generally had a great time. I can thoroughly recommend a visit with your dog, if you can get to Hucknall.

Victoria sponge is back

Filled with jam and buttercrean

No refined sugars or gluten and vegan

25/02/2025

This is Sky, my first dog. There are lots of things to know about her, but the basics are that she is seven years old, almost blind with congenital cataracts*, she's incredibly intelligent, and she hates banging noises. Bold though she normally is, if a bang goes off she wants to hide.

At this time of year, there seem to be bangs everywhere. Although the hated fireworks season is over, there are still occasional ones going off in our area. There are bird scarers, industrial noise, farm machinery and many unidentified sounds that frighten her. I think the lack of foliage in winter makes it all worse. Every secure field we rent and every walk I try to do seems to have a problem. I hate this, because it shrinks Sky's world so much.

The first thing we investigated was pain. Sky does have some musculoskeletal issues, and she has daily pain relief for those. It helps, but doesn't solve the problem.

Desensitisation and counter-conditioning is tricky, because there is such a variety of causes. And she doesn't care about recorded noise at all. Having said that:

We went to Southwell Secure Dog Field early this morning. Last time we were here, there were no sounds that bothered Sky at all. Today was different. The first one went off soon after we arrived. There's a particular dull thudding that Sky absolutely hates. I don't know what it is (if anyone does please let me know - it's like a flat football being kicked, to my ears). She ran for the gate and tried to open it, to get in the van. She's clever, but fortunately this one stood up to her efforts. Arty went with her, and very sweetly started making his funny boiling noise vocalisation to make sure I was aware.

I called them, and they both came away from the gate! This is a major victory for huskykind. Obviously they got many chicken chips for that! I work really hard on all their recall, but the distraction of a scary noise is a real challenge.

I managed to get Sky to walk most of the way round the field with us. She raced around with Fen, rolled in the mud, and climbed on all the platforms. Then the noise happened again and she bolted for the gate.

It took me a while to catch up. Instead of immediately giving in and letting Sky in the van, I went to sit on the bench in the field shelter, and got the treats out. Again, she came away and sat on the bench with me. Awesome work Sky! I did some counter-conditioning, marking with a "yes" and giving treats when I heard the noise (and some when I didn't). This gave Arty some time to splash in the muddy puddle, and Fen did some more sniffing, before I decided to call it a day.

We finished with a massive running recall from Fen, who was half way up the field when I decided to leave - I hid behind the gate because I was afraid he was going to flatten me!

While I'm sad that Sky didn't have a stress-free experience today, we made some real progress. I'm so proud of her.

* For many reasons, Sky is not a good candidate for cataract surgery. I will defer to the experts on this, heartbreaking though it is that she will never see clearly.

30/01/2025

Arty and I went for a stupid little walk for our stupid mental health.

25/01/2025

Dee spent some time with BigJuno in Nottingham today. While Kate is helping Juno and his human work on his separation anxiety , Dee provides regular dog sitting. Juno learns to be comfortable with a wider circle of people, while his human gets a break.

25/01/2025

Next up was a visit to . She did very well on her walk, doing some lovely sniffing and lead walking, and she ignored 4 passing dogs! Then it was back home for cuddles and pocket raiding.

25/01/2025

We're working hard with clients this weekend. Kate is with Tony the Cockerpoo, a lovely lad who struggles a bit with other dogs and any fast movement.

We came down to Attenborough and did some scentwork on the rec, using the footballers as distractions. Tony did so well! We could probably have got much closer, but Tony's stress bucket had overflowed on his morning walk, so we decided to keep him well under threshold. He did brilliantly!

31/12/2024

Hold your furry friends close (in whatever way is comfortable for them) today, everyone. It's been a *horrible* month for losses, and not all of them were planned. Remember to keep them safe tonight, there will be fireworks.

Here's a link to download our free Dogs & Fireworks toolkit, in case you would find it helpful.

30/12/2024

One half of the original Skyhardt left us today. Our hearts are forever broken.

Farewell Reinhardt, the goodest of good boys. Please forgive us if we're quiet for a while. We have so many tears to shed.

05/12/2024

Oh, I have missed this little one! Dee has been supporting her with some training walks, but I haven't seen her for ages. So I grabbed the opportunity for a drop-in, and she was so pleased to see me. Juno cuddles are the best! We have a lesson booked in soon, I can't wait.

23/11/2024

I (Kate) am in Kent for the incredible . Today my mind was blown by Michael Shikashio, Daniel Shaw, Helen Howell, Robert Falconer-Taylor and Hannah Malloy. I can't wait for tomorrow, and then to come back and work with our clients with my new knowledge.

I want to say a massive thank you to Deanna McGowan-Fine Midnight for taking over some really tricky dog-sitting work; J who is looking after our dogs; and the amazing friend who bought my ticket, so that I could accept this once in a lifetime opportunity.

This is a really special event, and I believe great things will come of it.