Pawcentric dog training

24/02/2025

Teaching our dog’s to be comfortable in a vets is so important. Here Emma from Ems Paw Pals - dog grooming is playing ‘vet’ in preparation for an upcoming vet visit. So many dogs find vet visits stressful and challenging but there’s so much we can do to help prepare them. They are a vital, unfortunately, so the more we prepare, the easier it is when those vet trips come up. 🐶🐾

22/02/2025

Looking after my pal Hugo this evening ❤️.

22/02/2025

It’s a new term starting this week 🙌.

A couple of last minute spaces in my Monday lunchtime Deal-based puppy class starting this coming Monday! If you’d like to grab one of the remaining spaces pop me a message or you can book via https://bookwhen.com/pawcentricdogtraining.

Saturday morning puppy classes at Lydden- Dover is completely full.

Thursday 27th Feb I have my first training walk session held at Betteshanger Park in Deal. Open to dogs of any age that would like to practice skills in a small group setting on a real-life walk. You can book via https://bookwhen.com/pawcentricdogtraining or pop me a message.

I am going to be involved with Pawfest 10th/ 11th May held at Betteshanger Park. I will be advocating for those ‘yellow dogs’ that need extra space or dogs that are getting overwhelmed and need a time out. If anyone would like to get involved and be part of my team please let me know! In return I can get you into the event for free.

Lots of further exciting stuff coming up… keep your eyes peeled 👀.

21/02/2025

One of my most hated words is ‘vicious’. I hear it frequently, caregiver’s anxious that their dog is showing signs of being ‘vicious’ or a dog they bumped into on a walk ‘oh my god, it was vicious, we stayed well clear’. I hear the word far too much! I would never describe any dog as vicious, ever. There’s always a reason.

Defensiveness often occurs when we are terrified of losing something of high value to us. That might be a feeling of safety. It also often occurs when we have had negative past experiences and our nervous system is desperately trying to protect us from it happening again. The best way of doing that… is to create space from whatever is causing that fear. That often comes across as anger, aggression, being ‘vicious’, snapping… in humans and in dogs.

When there is conflict in any relationship we have to look beyond what we we are seeing. When a dog is barking, lunging or showing aggression so often we look at the behaviour on a surface level. I hear it so often ‘I can’t have him growling at me’, ‘he’s never had anything bad happen, why’s he reacting?’, ‘she bit out of nowhere’, ‘it’s almost like she sees red and then nothing gets through’.

If 2 dogs met at a park and had a fight… would we look at those 2 dogs and go ‘what caused that?’ ‘What was the trigger?’ ‘What were they fighting/ arguing over?’

But does it matter? Or should we be looking at both individual dogs and wondering why each dog felt the need to be aggressive? Who started it? Why did the dog feel the need to defend themselves rather than move away?

In humans the best way to resolve conflict is to talk. Pretty much always… through talking those involved in the conflict will often realise that the conflict was based on misunderstanding. On underlying emotions. On projection of past experiences. It is very rarely to do with whatever caused the conflict in the first place… most of the time it is what’s underneath pouring out when we are triggered. Talking is so powerful, we really all should do more of it. And when we talk through what happened and truly understand the underlying reasons… then we grow… and then our relationships grow stronger. If we don’t do that… the relationship will eventually suffer because the real reason for the conflict isn’t being solved. It’ll just sit there until the next time the nervous systems are triggered… and then back to square one. Dogs don’t have that ability… so for them to truly heal from trauma and conflict is insanely hard. So they will go back to the only thing they know works… defensiveness. They have to truly trust that they are safe, and that can take a very long time. Never underestimate how long that can take… it takes long enough for us!

Incy, for example, finds off-lead dogs running up to him too much. He just can’t cope with it. I have put a huge amount of energy into making sure dogs don’t run up to him… which included on this trip legging it full pelt across a road as an off-lead Golden Retriever ran straight for us. It worked, we had a successful walk and Incy still hasn’t had an off-lead dog run up to him in at least 2 years now. Me running full speed like an absolute loonatic across a road… well it worked 🙌🙈. I see how beneficial that is for him everyday with the progress he’s making. But still, if he sees a dog appear out of nowhere or is off-lead I can still see him get stressed. I can’t tell him that he’s okay and it’s not going to hurt him. It’s not the dogs that are the problem, it’s the unpredictability. I know once he knows and feels safe with a dog, he’s fine and has good social skills. But a dog rushing up to him randomly will not give him time to figure that out. So for him, being defensive keeps him safe.

If a dog did run over he would absolutely ‘lose his temper’ in the form of a lot of barking. He would certainly look ‘vicious’.
But it’s not the dog running over’s fault (yes I know they shouldn’t be doing that!) as if the dog ran up to a confident, laid back dog… well there potentially would be no issue. (Unless the owner of the confident, laid back dog had their own trauma possibly from previous reactive dogs… yep that’s been me!) It is Incy and his anxiety as a result of many factors (his individual personality & genetics alongside early experiences) that causes him to react that way. My job is to safeguard him from those negative experiences as best I can and help teach him that he is safe so that he can relax and enjoy all that the world has to offer. I control all of Incy’s exposure and therefore that is fully my responsibility. Off-lead dogs with no recall are a huge problem… but Incy is the wrong dog to run up to. So it’s on me to safeguard that as best I possibly can. So as frustrating as it is to bump into off-lead dogs with no recall and as tempting as it is for me to lose my temper with them… it is in Incy’s best interests and in mine to just get out of there as quick as I can and be careful where I walk him. I can hear so many of you saying ‘but it’s so hard!’ I promise it’s not… in 2 years Incy has not had a single off-lead dog run up to him.

Yes, off-lead dogs with no recall… they are a huge problem. I will never dispute that. But I also know, there’s not much I can do about it other than help my dog who will be the one who suffers most. So that’s what I do.

The more safe he feels, the more his optimism grows, the more resilient he becomes and therefore he is more able to deal with the difficult situations. We are 100% getting there 🥰. Which is why I’ve put him in situations this holiday I would never have done before. And he’s done amazing 🙌.

So… in conclusion. Look beyond the surface. Always. Never take anything for what you see right in front of you.

And I promise it’s worth it… here’s a collection of photos of my ‘reactive’ dog having the best time on holiday in public places in the New Forest. He visited new, different places every single day. And yes, he is off-lead at times too❤️🐾.

20/02/2025

This dog 😂🙈. I genuinely think he’d have done this all day if I’d let him. Yesterday’s job… building a dam across the river. Today’s job… retrieving the lead from the pond. But no matter how hard he tries… that damn lead never stays where he puts it 😂😂😂🙈. Oh Incy! ❤️🐾

20/02/2025

Puppy social groups - limited spaces left! 9.30am group is now full!
Sunday 2nd March - £22 per puppy.

Saturday morning puppy class at Lydden Village Hall is completely FULL!

Spaces in Monday lunchtime group held in Walmer Parish Hall starting this coming Monday.

All available to book via https://bookwhen.com/pawcentricdogtraining 🐶🐾.

19/02/2025

Incy… part Labrador, part seal & part beaver?!?!🦫 😂😂🙈 Nope I haven’t a clue what he’s trying to do here either… but he’s having the absolute best time 🤣🐾.

18/02/2025

I hope we are all enjoying the winter sunshine as much as Winnie on a beach in Poole this evening ❤️.

18/02/2025

Spaces update 🐶

Next puppy courses:
Monday lunchtime 12.30pm - Walmer Parish Hall starting Monday 24th Feb
1 space left

Saturday morning 9am - Lydden Village Hall starting Saturday 1st March
1 space left

Puppy social group walks 2nd March - Walmer
9.30am slot - just 1 space left!
Spaces in 10.30am & 11.30am slots

Reconnect training walk group (dogs of any age) - Betteshanger Park - 27th Feb 9.30am - 3 spaces left

Reconnect training walk group (dogs of any age) - Pegwell Bay country park - Fri 7th March 9.30am - 1 space left

All available to book via https://bookwhen.com/pawcentricdogtraining

Any questions on any of the above please don’t hesitate to get in touch 🐶🐾.

17/02/2025

I dislike the word ‘boundary’. It is talked about so much in the human world as a way of protecting our mental health. But boundaries are so black and white. Sometimes in trying to maintain boundaries we can lose ourselves. Lose sight of what’s important. We can miss huge opportunities!

I prefer the term ‘values’. I have strong values. They make me who I am. Openness and honesty. Kindness. Accountancy for how my actions impact others. Self-awareness. A huge value of mine is making time to travel/ explore. Making time to spend with my children. Making time to train my own dogs. These are technically ‘boundaries’ too… but sometimes things come up. Opportunities. Someone needing my help. How do I prioritise what’s important? I then think about my values. I value kindness and accountancy for how my actions impact others… so although it’s technically a ‘boundary’ in the human psychology world - I will regret not helping that person or not taking up that opportunity far more in the long run. And if something doesn’t work out, then I can hold onto the fact that at least I tried. And I tried by sticking to my sense of self. If I hadn’t tried, then I would have been suppressing and that would impact my mental health far more further down the line. I can still make time for all the other stuff - tomorrow is a new day! Tomorrow that opportunity might not be there.

I write this as I think about my sense of self. What makes me - me. Like many of us I’ve spent many years suppressing parts of me. I’ve spent many years trying to be what I thought others wanted/ expected of me. I’m sure so many of us can relate to this. It’s easy to lose ourselves and our sense of self. When we lose that, inner frustration is screaming out constantly and that has a huge impact on how we handle situations, how we treat others and our general wellbeing.

I’ve been told many times to stick to my boundaries. For me, it’s never sat right with me. It’s too restrictive! Life is for living. We never know what tomorrow brings. I would never want to miss something amazing. And I want my children to be the same - that is the example I want to set them. However it’s such a thing ‘stick to your boundaries, your’ll regret it if you don’t’. Will I though? Meanwhile my gut is screaming - but what about this? Or this? Or this? I was fighting my brain, I was being told/ advised by professionals boundaries are such a huge thing and deemed so important - but no matter how hard I tried that black and white thinking just wasn’t working for me.

And that’s what makes me, me!

Some people need strict boundaries. They need that structure. And that’s okay too! We are all different. But if someone tells you something and you feel it ping something within you… listen to it. Trust yourself and your sense of self. Do not always be tempted to listen to everyone else all of the time. Because someone says it, well it must be true? If you feel you are trying to fit into a box you just don’t fit into (my entire life) then stop trying!!

I work with so many dogs that are suppressing. They are trying to fit into our human world but constantly struggling with how to. Going for walks everyday because it’s the ‘norm’ for us humans and they can’t tell us that they don’t want to. Or they are telling us in the only way they know how but they are not being listened to. Feeling frustrated that they can’t chase that squirrel even though they are genetically hardwired to do so. Dogs don’t get to set boundaries. They are constantly trying so hard to fit into our world. We really should give them more credit.

All I want for any dog I work with is for them to be able to fit into our human world whilst their needs are being met and they are truly able to be themselves. They are able to relax and enjoy life. Issues arise with humans and dogs when needs are not being met. Every human and dogs needs are different. Some humans need strict structure. Others do not. I like some structure, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t cope with feeling trapped. There is too much exciting stuff in this world to see & do! I know Buzz is exactly the same and he’s in a constant rush to be involved with absolutely everything all of the time. So I will do my utmost always to meet that need because that’s him and I don’t want him suppressing that… that’s what makes him, him!

As we start this cold February week, think about your sense of self. Think about your boundaries vs values. Then think about your dogs. We are all completely unique, every single dog and human. We should always be celebrating that none of us fit into any box. Question everything. Just because someone says something, doesn’t mean we should follow it. 🐶🐾

16/02/2025

I do love playing left & right games with my dogs ❤️. Teaching our dogs that we are more fun than anything else is the single most valuable thing we can teach them. If dogs see huge value in being with us & engaging with us then recalls, lead-walking & general confidence building becomes much easier. ❤️🐾

15/02/2025

Yesterday morning we held our puppy social group on Walmer seafront. Oh my god… we had SO much fun 🥰. A huge thank you to Sam from Cannons & Collar Dog Services for her help! All the puppies did so well and had a brilliant time! It was really lovely to see. I love holding these sessions in ‘the real world’ as we see so much more! Such as Winnie the Goldie resource guarding… which meant I could go through how we would deal with that and prevent it becoming a bigger problem later on. These are things we often don’t see in a standard puppy class.

We will be holding these again on Sunday 2nd March, 3 time slots throughout the morning. Hopefully it will be just as sunny but maybe a little warmer and less windy would be 👌.

If you’d like to join the fun you can book via https://bookwhen.com/pawcentricdogtraining. Just £22 per puppy.

We will be making these a regular group in different locations so if you are interested in future dates let me know! 🐶🐾

14/02/2025

One of my wonderful clients this week gave me some daffodils… we’d been talking about Spring and brighter days coming. Daffodils are the best reminder of that ❤️.

I’ve had an insanely busy week! So many positive sessions 🙌.

I just want to say a huge huge thank you to everyone for being so understanding and accommodating the past month and a half. I am always fully honest and open with everything I do, that is a huge value of mine. I have been completely honest about the challenges facing the business and the outpouring of love & support that came as a result literally blew me away.

I will be completely open, there have been many moments since the 1st January where I’ve questioned if I can keep going and been on the verge of stopping completely. I doubted myself, my abilities and my inner strength many times over.

In the past week a switch has turned. I will keep going, of that there is no longer any doubt. I am so grateful to do a job I love so much and to have such amazing clients - many of which have become more friends than clients! You’ve all given me the strength to keep going. I’ve also had incredible support from fellow dog trainers & dog professionals who have offered hugely valuable advice in my lowest moments. The dog community is an incredible community that I feel immensely proud and privileged to be a part of.

So thank you to you all. Thank you for your continued support of me and my business. And thank you for being so understanding in turbulent times.

There are lots of exciting new things coming! I’ve set up a group WhatsApp for all my clients and for anyone who’d like to keep up to date with all that’s happening. And to just talk dog with likeminded others 😆. It’s growing really well, if anyone else would like to join please do let me know. Living with a dog with complex behavioural needs can feel incredibly isolating - my ultimate aim is to build a supportive community where we all share similar challenges and can support each other. The single, most powerful thing when we are feeling low or when things all feel too much is not feeling alone. I’m on a mission to make sure none of my clients ever feel alone ❤️.

I am now off for half-term for 1 week - a much needed break. I may be slower to reply to messages, but as always, I will still be available to answer questions/ enquiries.

Brighter & warmer days are coming - Spring is coming! And with it… lots of exciting changes and new offerings. I am immensely excited for the warmer, longer and brighter days that are coming ❤️🐾.

14/02/2025

I trialled something completely new this week with Bobo the Portuguese Water Dog. I’ve known Bobo a long time and we’ve been struggling to get regularity on sessions - life happens right? So we decided to trial an intensive training week. A training session everyday Monday-Friday.

We started on Monday, the first 2 sessions were in a secure field working on introducing him to the ‘stooge’ dogs and helping him work through his triggers. We had 2 very soggy sessions! But successful 🙌.

We then moved to home working on walking near his house. He did amazing with this! With each session he was able to work through the triggers more easily.

And finally today we finished with a quiet, public location - a cemetery! Cemetery’s are fab for quiet locations… although there was still dogs and people for him to observe. Initially he found it challenging… there’s no doubt about it. But unlike in the past, he was able to recover! And by the end he was really relaxed, sniffing, snuffling and exploring. It was wonderful to see ❤️.

This isn’t a ‘quick fix’. But the progress we’ve made in 1 week has been huge. We will do this again, we are planning on doing some monthly top-up sessions - rather than a full 5 days we will just do 3.

I’m so proud, what a brilliant week it’s been and we even ended with sunshine 🙌🐾.

If anyone would be interested in an intensive training week, if you feel progress is slow or you struggle to make time for weekly/ fortnightly sessions please do let me know. We do have to plan it carefully so as not to overload, which is why we used secure fields for the first 2 sessions. But with some careful planning and tailoring each session specifically to Bobo we’ve managed to make huge leaps of progress in a short space of time 🙌❤️🐾.

14/02/2025

We had an AMAZING Reconnect class yesterday! This is my small class focused on allowing dogs to just relax and be around one another with no pressure. We did lots of settle work, introduced the ‘cup game’ to get everyone using their noses, did some lead-walking focus work and then finished with some toy play. Phew! All the dogs did a smashing job 🙌.

Next Reconnect groups are training walking groups. First one is Thursday 27th February held in Deal - 3 spaces left! After that is Friday 7th March in Pegwell - just 1 space left! If you’d like to join you can do so at https://bookwhen.com/pawcentricdogtraining.

I’m making plans for more small group one-off classes and training walks for end of March and beyond… I’ll release details soon 👀.

For anyone wanting to join my next puppy classes spaces are extremely limited with only a couple of spaces left!

As always, any questions please do get in touch 🐶🐾.

13/02/2025

Phew, I’ve had the most crazy day today 😂. Started the day with my reconnect class and then been out on 1:1’s all day - I’ve literally covered most of East Kent 🙈. Everywhere from Thanet all the way to Faversham and then to Dover. What fun!

Lots of positive sessions, I have multiple posts to do on today alone! But I really wanted to share these guys…

This is Lu & Bruce… they are Lagotto Romagnolo’s. This is a breed I have quite a bit of experience with having worked with a few! These boys are so sweet, the session was mainly focused on helping Lu who gets stressed/ anxious easily which results in a lot of shouting just before going for walks. We introduced some initial training and made a plan moving forwards to help him relax. Despite being anxious, Lu came round with me really quickly, particularly when I showed him the fun of snuffling!

Bruce is the one giving me side-eye in the photo. He’s just miffed that I’m introducing settle training with Lu and he was getting left out 🙈. I promise, he was absolutely fine 😂.

I’m so looking forward to hearing how they get on! ❤️🐾

13/02/2025

I am SO excited about this… I am going to be involved with running the swims which will be fab for any of my clients that are interested as the dog’s will already know me. More details will follow soon ❤️🐾.

Exciting times ahead

Deals FIRST fun canine pool

Opening soon

🐾Confidence swims with experienced trainers and behaviourists
🐾Swim with your dogs and make memories that will last a life time
🐾Health checks carried out by our vet
🐾Onsite changing rooms

To be the first to find out more drop us a message on our Libertys Pet Services socials

12/02/2025

Ended today with a really positive initial 1:1 session with Benny the Frenchie focused on loose-lead walking. Benny is a worried boy and what became clear really quickly was that his caregivers have done an amazing job on lead- walking training already 🙌. He walked beautifully… until he became overwhelmed/ anxious. The real problem causing him to pull and struggle to think was his underlying emotions. So we’ve made a plan on helping him relax and feel less overwhelmed on his walks. He’s already got all the skills for beautiful lead-walking, our job now is to help him feel relaxed enough to be able to do it.

I’m so looking forward to hearing how he progresses, I have no doubt he can do this 💪.

As an added bonus… we did an evening session and didn’t lose daylight completely. Brighter days are definitely coming ❤️🐾.