Loose Lead Club

04/07/2024

Fancy coming to work for me and Reggie?

I am looking for a full time trainer to deliver private dog training sessions.

The Loose Lead Club delivers private face to face dog training services to clients in London and the South East of England.

The Loose Lead Club is looking for a trainer to join the company to help expand the work and remit of the services that we can offer to clients.

If you wish to apply please click the link in the bio!!

I look forward to seeing your application.

Closing date is 26/07/24

21/06/2024

Brilliant photographer, brilliant service and absolutely lovely person. I couldn't recommend enough.

08/01/2024

24/12/2023

Until a year ago, I was a trainer with a very force free approach. I didn’t believe there was a place for aversives in dog training. I didn’t have a dog that required them. Lucky me!

Until I got this chap. My very much adored kelpie, Evo. Bred to move HUGE flocks and herds of livestock out in rural Australia. A hard-headed dog, with a mega independent streak.

I worked hard with him. I’m a trainer. I laid my foundations, as I have done successfully with my other 4 dogs before him. They worked, to a point. And then, they didn’t.

I was fully prepared to give him a breed-appropriate outlet. Alongside the other work I give my dogs, I have my own sheep, meaning I can work my own dogs regularly on stock. However, my small flock of flighty sheep was far too jumpy for him to work, and he was becoming dangerous out and about in any sort of proximity to sheep.

So, you may say, just keep him on a lead! Problem solved. Well, not really.

Management can and does fail. I have heard it from countless clients. I have had it fail myself.

I also live, with sheep on my property, and surrounding it on 3 sides. Everywhere we turn, there are sheep. There’s no avoiding them.

Keep him on a lead in the garden? We have a large garden and keeping him on the lead would be unfair. He’s an incredibly active, working bred dog, who would end up spending his entire life on a lead.

We also encountered prey drive issues out and about, particularly around deer. His recall was fantastic, but once we moved, our walks were either full of deer, or sheep and he could rip a long line out of your hands to chase something particularly tempting.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and e-collar train. Controversial, particularly online.

But, the absolute best thing I ever did.

The alternative solutions I had suggested were:

Keep him on the lead - I buy good quality leads, but they have failed on me before
Move house - we’ve moved to a dream house, not an option
Avoid places with sheep etc - hard when they’re in the garden
Long line - he could still pull a long line out of reach
Train him - he was trained to a very high level and we had reached the limits via force free methods.

Management fails.

I went through the process of conditioning him properly to the e-collar. I spent ages ensuring I got it right, he understood what was expected and that he knew how to switch it off. I invested in a pricey bit of kit, and I went about it by the book.

It’s transformed his life.

He can romp around the garden, he can walk through my sheep without batting an eyelid, he can walk off lead on the hills and he can enjoy walking in the forest even when deer run out in front of us.

For him, that wasn’t ever going to be an option without it.

Nothing was more reinforcing than chasing.

And it was going to get him killed. He’d have been shot, or hit by a car, or lost. All because I wouldn’t open my mind to using different tools.

Am I suggesting every dog requires one? Absolutely not. But there are MANY cases where they save lives. It’s both saved and enriched his.

He’s happy, he lives his best life. He hikes everywhere with us, he’s well mannered and fully reliable off the lead. He knows the rules, and that’s the key.

He’s not suppressed. He can still go off and be a dog. He tears around the garden with our other dogs, he sniffs and does dog things. But he’s safe when doing it all.

I see a lot of judgement towards these tools from people owning dogs who would never require these tools. That’s great. And that’s also not a problem. But it is completely unfair to demonise the use of a tool which you haven’t taken the time to fully understand. I was 100%, without a doubt, against them before I took the time to understand how they worked and how they were used.

It’s imperative that they’re used with a trainer well versed in using them. It’s also crucial that the equipment used is good quality and not something cheap from Amazon or eBay. It’s an investment, but one that is so necessary for a lot more dogs than you might realise.

Take the time to understand others’ points of view. There is truly not a one-size-fits-all approach in dog training and my change of opinion has opened up a whole new world for all of my dogs ❤

Photo by Saffy Leyfield Photography

22/11/2023

5 mins of your time please

Find and participate in consultations run by the Cabinet Office of the Isle of Man Government

12/10/2023

Avoidance training works to stop a dog whose owner is present or not from killing another animal. It's that simple.

06/10/2023

Chris Packham and wonderful advert for not quite understanding how hypocrisy works....

25/09/2023

Unleashed - Danny Wells Dog Training with more common sense...

25/09/2023

This is what the 'authoritative' body on dog behaviour is suggesting to help you when a dog attacks someone. Scatter food 🫠😬

14/07/2023

The old argument of my dog never needed it....

20/05/2023

What are we about to do...

Just watch this. If you oppose this, please step forward and offer a genuine alternative. Rishi Sunak

12/05/2023

I can't even begin to describe the absolute madness of the potential ecollar ban. For the record I've ecollar trained 6 dogs. All NEEDED the tool. Any questions please ask. But you take this tool away that would be probably 6 dogs rehomed or dead. No if buts or maybes.

13/02/2023

If anyone has any interest in the 'science' of dog training watch this...

09/12/2022

Standard leads, prong quick release clip and e collar bungee for

11/11/2022

A little before and after ☺️

04/11/2022

Balanced dog training. Not what you've probably been told 👀.

31/10/2022

Stress often gets this bad reputation.

In fact, with the right exposure, the right amount of stress you can produce fantastic results.

31/10/2022

A walk with your dog is the perfect opportunity to train them.

For the long term goal of this beautiful off lead a perfect recalling dog.

Put the work in now to reap the rewards much later on.

24/10/2022

If you really want your dog to focus on you, try this.

No need to command them to do it, just make it really rewarding.

19/10/2022

The 3D's.

Duration, distance and distractions.

To proof any behaviour you need to increase, either the duration the dog can hold the behaviour, the distance the dog can hold that behaviour for or you can get from it. Then, you need to really proof it with lots of distractions.

18/10/2022

Jingle the flat coat retriever 3 day transformation.

14/10/2022

The dog that has been the biggest teacher for me.

Terriers get the label of 'stubborn'. They ain't. They just take more motivation than other breeds to follow through with stuff.

You don't want your terrier half way through clearing a farm full of rats to run back to you to ask what to do. They are bred to be independent thinkers. Do a job without direction.

To overcome this you need to always be a step ahead, be hugely motivating and be ready to fulfill a very clever dog.

14/10/2022

Hold your dog to account.

Asking your dog to do a behaviour, rewarding them and then letting them walk off. Doesn't keep them accountable when it really matters. Normally recall.

12/10/2022

Keep your rewards random.

Keep your dog guessing and they are much more likely to stay in a behaviour.

12/10/2022

Don't ask the dog to wait.

Just ask the dog to sit or down or any other behaviour until asked to do something else.

10/10/2022

Client review.

What to expect if you work with me 🙂

06/10/2022

If you can't reinforce a behaviour, there's almost no point in asking for it.

If you're working with a puppy or a dog that can't fully follow through with what you're asking of it. Then a lead needs to be attached as part of the learning process.

It may not be glamorous, or what you imagined your dog to be looking like in your house trailing the lead around indoors but it will make in the long run your life easier and the dogs learning much quicker.

05/10/2022

I often get comments that I'm lucky to have Reggie so well-behaved.

I assure you there's nothing lucky about it.

Hundreds if not thousands of repetitions have got us to where we are with Reggie.

If you want a really well trained dog or dog that you can just rely on, be prepared to put in many many reps.

03/10/2022

Lead Pulling doesn't have to be something that because it is a certain breed. It's just what they do.

So many clients I've seen have been doing the, stop and go technique, or just pulling back which often results in the dog wanting to just go forward more.

Effective use of the right tool with the right training can yield effective and lasting results.