My Best Friend South Cotswolds

23/05/2024

Waffle and Monty ❤️
These two have been dancing together a lot today. ( But not left alone together 😂)
Lovely pups 😊

06/04/2024

Lovely day at the office with these beautiful pups ❤️🐶

01/03/2024

We have been open and caring for your gorgeous dogs for 7 years today! ❤️ Thank you for your wonderful support for our 5 star licensed, trained and insured care. ❤️🐶

24/01/2024

Love this idea to be mindful of our dogs needs ❤️🥰🐶

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year to you and your beautiful dogs. I’m so lucky and love looking after them! ❤️🐶🎄

21/12/2023

12/12/2023

Great training idea! ❤️🐶

🎅🥳 HO HO HO AND MERRY CHRISTMAS... 🎅🥳

🎄Get your first free Lighten Up gift here:

👉👉👉👉👉👉 https://mailchi.mp/lightenupdogtraining/alert-and-alarm-barking-protocol

🐾 Although the festive season is absolutely NOT the best time to start a programme to reduce alert & alarm barking, two weeks of prep NOW will make all the difference to starting in the new year.

🐾 The FIRST thing you need is a really good sound or word paired up with some magical surprise food or toys - literally the right season to pair up that word with amazing bonuses for your dog. That's definitely something you can put into place over Christmas!

🤸 Take nine good treats a day - turkey, cheese, ham - break out the good stuff (but keep it small and yummy and watch out for onions!) and pair them up with the words 'Great job!'

🐶 If you start now, by the time you get to January 1st, your dog will come a-running as fast as their legs will carry them when you say 'Great job!'

And if you practise all the other ten steps in the barking protocol, by the time you get to New Years' Resolutions, you'll be ready to put a stop button on the barking every time you say 'Great job!'

💡Dogs who spend long periods of the day on guard, determined to let you know every time a flea farts five streets over are spending most of the day on high alert. This affects their resting and sleep quality, which in turn affects their arousal level - it's a vicious circle. If your dog struggles with ALL the big feelings out of the house, it can seem counter-intuitive to reduce barking or vigilance IN the house, but the difference it makes is HUGE.

🥳 Trust me. I know! My proudest trainer moment with Heston and all his shepherdy territorial protection ways was stopping his full GSD bark at the bottom of the garden with a 'Great Job!' only to watch him run into the house, pleased as punch the moment I said it. The look on my neighbours' faces said it all. The main thing, though, was that he got to switch off and chill out, meaning he was much more able to cope with life's ups and downs and he wasn't spending all day on edge.

This protocol will:
1️⃣ help your dog feel better about neighbourhood noise so they're less bothered by it
2️⃣ reduce vigilance so they can actually sleep through it
3️⃣ help you generalise to the garden, car or walks if your dog struggles when you ask them to move away

🐕It won't mean your dog never barks again. But it will mean you can reduce a lot of barking for minor disturbances. The day Heston looked at me expectantly rather than barking his head off in response to our two very, very barky neighbours' dogs was the day he realised he didn't have to have the last word in the neighbourhood dispute over who was making the most noise.

🐕And the day Flika stopped barking at passing tractors in the garden, spinning on a dime to get back to the house for her amazing work in protecting the property from being smashed to pieces by reckless tractoring, well that was a pretty ace day too.

😆 After all, if a 14-year-old veteran who'd spent her life on patrol of warehouses keeping the bogeymen from burglary and Santa from depositing his gifts can learn to relax around disturbances, there's hope for all!

👉👉👉👉👉👉 https://mailchi.mp/lightenupdogtraining/alert-and-alarm-barking-protocol

01/12/2023

🐶❤️

Teaching a down can be great start to teaching your dog to settle either on a mat or in their own bed.

This could come in handy later during the Christmas festivities and we will build on this later in the calendar.

Do three training sessions throughout the day using 3 x 5 treats - so do one set of 5 treats/attempts, move to a different place and do another set of 5 treats, move to another new place, and do a set of 5 treats.
Have a little game of tug or play fetch to end the session, then give your dog a break and repeat the sessions twice during the day - always ending with a game.

11/11/2023

06/11/2023

❤️🐶

21/10/2023

🤗

07/07/2023

23/06/2023

❤️🐶🤗

14/06/2023

🥰🐶

04/05/2023

❤️

25/02/2023

Some of the beautiful dogs who we’ve looked after lately 💕🐶 Love the best job ever! ❤️

14/01/2023

We love looking after these gorgeous dogs. Fresh air and warm cuddles…. Just lovely 🥰🐶

25/12/2022

Wishing all our wonderful furry friends and their families a Merry Christmas! 🥰🐶🎄

02/12/2022

Dog advent calendar fun ❤️

18/11/2022

Muddy, happy dogs! ❤️🐶
Happy Birthday Dandy 💕

01/11/2022

We often get asked about the best way to keep a dogs' nails well maintained. Read our blog to find out everything you need to know about your best friends' nail health.
https://mybestfrienddoggrooming.co.uk/how-to-maintain-my-dogs-nails/

27/10/2022

Autumn scent rummaging makes for happy dogs! ❤️🐶

19/08/2022

Good Morning!! 🥰🐶

19/07/2022

Plenty of shade, some water play, fans and doggy ice pop treats today. 💕🐶

09/07/2022

Last weeks Dog adventures 🌿💦❤️🐶

15/06/2022

Gorgeous dogs enjoying a beautiful walk 💕🐶

12/06/2022

Happy pups enjoying a scent trail this week. 💕🐶