Dogmestix

11/04/2025

Thank you Furbo Pet Camera for replacing my camera after it broke when I asked you for some tips on how I could fix it, especially after having the last one for years! Really great service and I love how Furbo means I can check my dogs are ok when I’m not with them.

06/04/2025

12/03/2025

I’m going to keep saying this until I stop hearing horror stories about puppies being left to cry it out in their new homes

‘All of the rest of the family (2 dogs and 4 humans) are in the sitting room but the puppy has chosen to go in the kitchen (two rooms away) all on her own to sleep on the Big Dog Bed. It shows how secure she feels to not need to be with us all. She feels safe as we’ve never excluded her- never put her in a crate in another room etc or left her alone to get upset at night. She sleeps with me on the bed at night, she has as much cuddles and company (from humans and Sylvi) as she wants all day and the end result is that she feels secure, she feels safe and confident as she’s formed a secure attachment.

There’s no need to ‘start as you mean to go on’ with puppies and leave them to cry or exclude them. Just let them be fully part of your family and give them choices and the time to develop emotionally without stress. Really, all they want is to be fully integrated into your family and to feel safe. When they feel secure they can then cope with their own company, gradually and at their own pace. (Puppy is 8 weeks old in this photo and has been with me in foster and hand reared since she was 6 days old)’

This was 4 years ago today and this puppy has grown up to be the most fiercely independent dog I’ve ever had- we have zero separation issues and she’s not at all ‘clingy’ . She is brave as she had a safe and secure attachment at an early age. Please don’t ever worry that meeting your puppies needs will make them have separation issues as it’s entirely the opposite outcome ❤️

Laura McAuliffe Dog Communication 2025

12/02/2025

If you start your training journey with reward based training you might suck at first, and that's pretty normal for most new skills we learn. It doesn't mean it doesn't work, it just means you suck at it......but with practise you will get better and you may even become a reinforcement based ninja 🥷

Your dog will love you for it. ❤️

If you use positive reinforcement to train your dog you will become skilled at using positive reinforcement and when you come across that dog that it doesn't seem to be working with you don't resort to punishment. You talk to your other reward based trainers and someone will have a solution or you work through finding one yourself and in turn you get better and more skilled at it

It's absolutely not just about treats and harnesses. That's what it appears to be to the untrained eye of those who don't use it or understand it fully.

It goes way beyond operant conditioning because when we are working with a dog with big emotions operant conditioning often doesn't happen.

We use neuroscience, we look at emotions and conditioning. We use intrinsic reinforcement and neurochemistry as reinforcement, we use premack. Our tool box of rewards contains much more than cheese 🧀 and a harness 🦮

My goal in training is to use as little aversives as possible and I absolutely love finding better ways to train dogs with reward based training 🐾🐾

04/02/2025

Introduction As a dog behaviour expert, I’m here to guide you through this critical aspect of canine psychology, explaining what trigger stacking is, its impact on dogs, and how you can effectively manage it to ensure your dog leads a happier, more balanced life. What is Trigger Stacking? Trigger ...

14/12/2024

12/12/2024

Spent the day at the and managed to get a little time with 3 beautiful Cane Corso puppies, this was the only pic I could get in focus 🤣🥰

12/12/2024

Spent the day at the RSPCA Isle of Wight and managed to get a little time with 3 beautiful Cane Corso puppies, this was the only pic I could get in focus 🤣🥰

02/12/2024

❌AT CHRISTMAS YOUR DOG DOESN’T HAVE TO:

🧑‍🎄 Visit Santa at the garden centre

🎄 Be around your visitors

🎅🏽 Go to other peoples houses

🎄 Go to see the Christmas lights switch on

🍺 Go to the busy pub on Christmas Eve

If they are anxious or get worried about people, dogs or busy places or if they just don’t like doing these things. It’s not a fault if they don’t like doing these things, many dogs don’t enjoy ‘human activities’ like this (some do, I have one that loves all of it and two that would be 🫤 ).

✅ Instead they may prefer to:

🚪 Be in their safe space (see upcoming post on this), a quiet room they like being in with a dog gate on the doorway when you have a house full of people who may scare them

🐕 Have an extra trip to a freedom field on Christmas morning and some extra enrichment at home while you go and visit family for a few hours if they’d find it stressful to come with you

🐶 A meet up with a dog or human friend at a place they like rather than a trip to the heaving pub on Christmas Eve

🦴 A trip to a dog enrichment centre or a 121 in an activity they love (scent work, mantrailing etc) rather than an outing to see the Christmas lights switched on

🍖 Some dog safe Christmas biscuits you’ve made them rather than dressing up in a dog Santa outfit

Loads of these Christmas ‘traditions’ that we enjoy are not enjoyed by our dogs, especially if they are anxious or more sensitive. Even the most robust dog may tolerate these activities rather than love them.

Please be mindful of your dogs wants and needs and don’t put them into situations they find stressful just because we want them to be part of Christmas. It’s your Christmas, not your dogs, they really won’t mind not being included in everything you do ❤️

Laura McAuliffe Dog Communication 2024

13/11/2024

My first work this morning was looking at a video from a client of her harness training her dog, who last week was running from the harness out of fear. We introduced a new harness with consent based training and rewarding calm behaviour. I don’t like to ask people to share videos because I don’t want them to feel that pressure of being put on socials when trying to help their dog, so I just have to describe instead! This little dog was loving the training. It took just over a minute to get the harness on and she looked disappointed when the session was over. Her persons handling skills and timing were just amazing, so much work had gone into this. Such a small thing that makes such a big difference and I’m smiling from ear to ear after watching it! 🥰

I love positive reinforcement training so much!

23/10/2024

Hi all, just to let you know that on request, PayPal pay in 3 is now available on all services at Dogmestix as is their pay later service for example if you are claiming on insurance.

07/10/2024