Woodleigh Dog Training

14/02/2025

12/02/2025

With children spending more time at home with their four-legged friends during half term, it's important to be able to recognise the signs of stress in dogs 🚦

Kendal Shepherd's Canine Ladder of Communication is a useful guide, showing the different signals dogs show through their body language to communicate. As a dog gets more upset, their body language may change according to the steps on the ladder ⚠️

The quicker you notice the early signs of stress, the sooner you'll be able to remove your dog from the situation that is causing them stress and avoid them reaching the top of the ladder.

It’s important to note that context is KEY! Think about the situation that your dog is in to try and understand the signs. For example, if they're at home and relaxed as normal, an exposed belly is very different to a stiffened exposed belly in an unfamiliar environment. All dogs are different - not every dog will show every action on the ladder and they might not follow the same order.

Find out more here: https://pdsa.me/n2qx

[Visual description: Infographic showcasing signs of stress in dogs. The image features a ladder with a traffic light system of paw prints coloured green, yellow, orange and red. Red is at the top of the ladder and green is at the bottom. Next to the ladder is a list of actions a dog might present, starting with green (deemed as calm) and eventually reaching red (signalling stress).]

12/02/2025

08/02/2025

Solo walks - £15
I offer in the week afternoon/evening walks. This evening was a lovely street walk (once it’s light in the evens it will be woods and fields) with Nikita, gave her her dinner and left her ready for bed until her mum gets home later tonight 🥰

08/02/2025

Someone has decided I have finished with my morning workout and has taken up her spot 🤣. Oh well, I can’t move her so guess I’m finished 🤣❤️

07/02/2025

06/02/2025

05/02/2025

I am truly in my happy place when I’m training. Never trained Nikita (but I do walk her so some training does go on). My end goal was to ask her to come to my right and not swing her bottom out and want to face me (which is common if you think about it as usually all treats come from the front but I like my dogs to come to my side and close). Just LOVED this and can’t wait to repeat what we did today.

05/02/2025

How good is your recall? You want it to be lightening fast, a head whip…..not a casual after thought after the 5th time of asking!

03/02/2025

I have a YouTube channel that I upload videos to now and then for everyone to view. Because a lot of them have Bean and Buster in I do struggle to look at them and share them (which I would like to do to help out those who train with me ) so this post is to let you know it’s there to see 😊…….if you wish

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

02/02/2025

I’ve mentioned the bark park to a few people recently. Excellent place to get your dog off the lead and having fun.

02/02/2025

QUESTION
I want to start a group training class and was wondering if there would be an interest in Recallers 101 - this could either be done as a workshop or as a regular group class?

01/02/2025

Do you know the 6 retrievers? 🤔

🐾Curly-coated Retriever: Known for their distinctive tight curls, this tall breed is claimed to be one of the oldest amongst retrievers.

🐾Chesapeake Bay Retriever: Unique for their camouflage-coloured coat, they are hardworking, brave, and thrive in icy Atlantic waters.

🐾Flat-coated Retriever: This breed was once known as the Wavy Coated Retriever. Mr. Sewallis Evelyn Shirley, founder and chairman of The Kennel Club (1873-1899), was a great enthusiast and helped stabilize the breed type.

🐾Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever: Originally from Canada, arrived in Britain in 1988 and has steadily progressed. He is an ideal and enthusiastic companion for active households, excelling in agility, flyball, tracking, and obedience.

🐾Golden Retriever: The first Lord Tweedmouth founded the breed by crossing yellow puppies from black Wavy Coated Retrievers with the Tweed Water Spaniel. Recognized by The Kennel Club as "yellow" or "golden" Retriever in 1913, the name changed to Golden Retriever in 1920.

🐾Labrador Retriever: The most popular of all pedigree breeds, its popularity comes from its versatility as a family companion, service dog, guide dog as well as a working gundog. One of the early patrons of the breed, the Earl of Malmesbury gave the breed its name.

Read the full breed standards in our Breed A-Z 👉 thekennelclub.org.uk/breeds-a-z

30/01/2025

⚠️ Do you know the warning signs of Lungworm? ⚠️
Lungworm is a risk to your dog all year round, but especially when it's been rainy and the slugs and snails are more prominent! 🐌

Dogs can get infected by this parasitic worm by eating these insects or licking their slime trails. It might be what your dog deems a tasty treat, but it can be extremely dangerous and even become a chronic infection lasting many years.

If you suspect your dog has lungworm or is showing symptoms, call your vet immediately.

Share this post to spread the word to other dog owners.
Find out more about Lungworm: https://ow.ly/q3OY50UNYRu

30/01/2025

Biggie and Julie

This is a long post but one that I wanted to share with you all.

Biggie is a Neopolitan Mastiff.
Julie reached out to me to say that she had not long got him (had him 7 days), he was 6 months old and she was struggling with him and she needed help 😞.
Biggie had never been out of a kennel environment and had only had his breeder as contact of people.
When she got him home she said that he had stuck to her like glue and she couldn't even go to the toilet on her own (he hated doors being shut and would claw at them) and of course she couldn't leave the house.
He hated noise and would bark quite a bit and she couldn't have her grandchildren over as he wasn't happy with little people running about. And she couldn't walk him on the street, he hated it. A real pickle of a situation you will agree!

When I met Biggie it was clear he was worried and scared of me. After a long chat and allowing Biggie to approach me and check me out it was clear that he was overwhelmed by his new world and he was going to need time to decompress and get use to the new norm (something, sadly he would have been able to experience if Julie had got him as a young pup).

I suggested management in the house, slow but carefully building up some time where he could manage being on his own without Julie. I think walking for a dog is so important so asked them to find somewhere to walk him that was more open and away from the busy streets but to still persevere with the street walks but again, slowly does it and move at his pace, allowing him to see all that goes on and to understand that its not so scary after all.

I get updates from Julie as to how he is doing and i'm so pleased to say that Biggie is relaxing more and more as each day goes passed, she can even go to the toilet on her own now (she has had him 4 weeks)

She said that he still has his bad days but he is slowly accepting his new world and loving being in it (and the grandchildren are coming to visit but just one at a time for now as to not overwhelm him).

He is loving his chilled out walks in an open park that he is taken too and he is also able to do a street walk.

Julie is doing and has done a fantastic job with him (she has had 2 English Mastiffs before Biggie and trained them herself from 12 weeks so she does have a good understanding) and I'm sure that has time goes on he will get better and better.

Biggie, I believe was rescued by Julie. He is such a sweet boy and loves his person. She could have given up on him and quite frankly, she did well not too as her expression to me was "I'm a prisoner in my own home" . I said it was going to be a long road ahead with him and she has committed her love and time to him. Could not be prouder of Julie and Biggie