Positively Dogs

18/03/2026

FARMILY FUN DAY & DOG SHOW. Save the Date! 🐕🌿

We are absolutely THRILLED to invite you to one of the most exciting events in the Stop Lime Down calendar, the Farmily Fun Day & Dog Show!

📅 Saturday 18th April 2026 ⏰ 12pm – 4pm
📍 The Park, Grittleton (what3words: homelands.dizzy.reassured)

This is a brilliant family day out in the heart of the Wiltshire countryside and every penny raised goes directly towards funding the expert legal, ecological, landscape and heritage teams fighting to stop the Lime Down industrial solar project.

Here's what's in store on the day:

🐄 Meet the animals

🎪 Classic country games

🐕 Fun Dog Show — open to all breeds, shapes and sizes!

🍖 BBQ

☕ Teas and cakes

🎟️ Entrance: £5 | Children FREE

This is a day for the whole family, humans AND four-legged friends very welcome! Come along, soak up the spring sunshine, meet your neighbours, and show your support for the campaign in the most enjoyable way possible.

We'd love to see as many of you there as possible. Please share this post far and wide. The more people who come, the more funds we raise, and the stronger our fight becomes. 💚

👉 Visit Farmily Day

24/10/2023

New Service Available - Budget Friendly Advice Call

The current cost of living crisis is affecting us all in different ways, this could make prioritising a full behavioural consultation a challenge.

Alongside this, I am receiving a huge increase in vet referrals looking for immediate help and advice. In an effort to tackle both and help alleviate owner stress, I have introduced a new low cost ‘triage’ call service.

Whilst this is not a full assessment or diagnosis, many behavioural issues can be improved with a change of management, approach or understanding and this is always the first step to resolving many of the issues I work with.

If you are in need of help or advice or find yourself just ‘living’ with a routine that simply isn’t working and would like to discuss where improvements can be made, schedule a call today.

https://positivelydogs.co.uk/triage-advice-call

27/09/2023

Why not visit our new shop, we're offering some amazing savings on products for your furry family members.

Click Below

Behavioural Consultations across North Wiltshire & South Gloucestershire

12/07/2023

I spend so much time working with people and their reactive or aggressive dogs, learning how to help them and work with them, but I also try to show people with NON reactive dogs learn how they can help them too. I truly believe if we work together as a collaborative society of dog lovers we can help every dog live their best life. Here are some things I try to teach every human and dog team, and I’ve actually found these are good preventative tools too.

1. Stop letting your dog have on leash greetings with other dogs. Even if they are friendly. Teach your dog when they are on leash you are the best thing they can focus on! This will minimize their conditioned excitement every time they see another dog and help them not pull, lunge or move towards a reactive dog who doesn’t want an interaction. Also, the more you do let your dog meet dogs on leash, the more frustrated and aroused your dog can get when they see them and then reactivity can develop. NO leash greetings all around is a much healthier way to teach your dog(s) that the world out there is great but you’re even better to focus on!

2. Silence your dogs tags. I started doing this a few years ago when we started camping. I realized that the jingling of my dogs tags walking was a huge trigger for many of the dogs in their campsite, and as a result, they would bark and scream profanity at my dogs walking. This made their walk stressful too. By minimizing the noise, I’ve greatly improved my dogs walks and I know I’ve also helped a lot of reactive dogs not get triggered for the umpteenth time that day.

3. Work on a bombproof recall. And then work on it some more. And then some more.

4. Only let your dog off leash in places that are allowed. Even if you think no one is there. Even if it’s just for a second. Just. Don’t. Do it. It’s not fair and it sets so many dogs and humans up to fail. Want a place to let your dog run? Look at Sniffspot.com

5. Respect muzzles, give me space vests, and people saying “no” It is super hard to take a reactive dog out in public and have confidence. The more we give space and respect the better these teams will do! Don’t make judgements or stare or insist on saying hello because you hope to be the exception. Just tell them they are doing a great job and keep going.

6. Don’t let your dog stare. This is a BIG one we work on in all our classes. We teach humans how to position their dogs so they don’t stare at other dogs. I work hard on teaching my dogs to not stare at other dogs on leash and you can too. This is more subtle than not leash greeting but it can be just as helpful. Teach your dog to acknowledge there’s a dog there, but then move on, or turn around and not face them. For many reactive dogs there is nothing more triggering than a goofy adolescent dog staring at them across the road. I swear they scream back “WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!”

7. Confine and safely manage your dog in the car. Dogs hanging out of windows, barking and lunging in the backseat, or moving back and forth in the car are problematic because 1. It’s not safe and 2. It’s teaching THEM terrible behavior and 3. It’s very stressful for reactive dogs trying to walk down the road. My dogs are crated in the car; or tethered or use a calming cap to reduce their own stress and the stress of dogs that may walk past.

8. Offer to help. Ask the person what you can do to make it easier or help them? More space? Or moving back and forth? Or just continuing on your way. Some people struggle to find others with NON reactive dogs to practice with, so having help makes a big difference. Speak up if you see someone putting them down. Warn someone with an off leash dog that there’s a dog there that needs space. Help them the same at YOU would like it if it was you and your dog.

Reactive dogs are not broken: and they aren’t abnormal either. Reactivity honestly is now becoming more normal than NON reactive dogs, so we have to all work through this together. And it boils down to respect, understanding, courtesy and lots of reward based training.

We can do it gang.

-Helen St. Pierre

21/06/2023

06/05/2023

We are excited to let you know that our Junior training classes are back! We are offering a 3 week course, every other Friday morning at Didmarton Playing field with Becky.
The first block of 3 starts on May 12th - see here for further details https://positivelydogs.co.uk/junior-classes the class is aimed at adolescents and teaching general lifeskills with a regular emphasis on re-call and lead work.

Adolescent dogs typically lack self-control, reliability and an ability to contain their excitement. This class aims to help re-enforce basic skills by teaching reliable ‘acceptable’ behaviours instead of inappropriate ones in order to earn rewards. 

16/01/2023

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/equine-and-canine-behaviour-an-insight-into-your-companions-minds-tickets-505329794017?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete

28/12/2022

11/08/2022

I see so many owners get this backwards. Shooting for “happy” as the primary goal, rather than “good”. Nothing wrong with happy, of course, but it’s a terrible place to start when working with dogs.

If a happy dog is your overriding, all-consuming priority from the start, you’re going to have a lot of problems.

Fearful, bratty, entitled, possessive, disrespectful, dog or human aggressive, or just plain disobedient dogs need different initial priorities.

You don’t solve problem behaviors by making dogs happy or loving them better, you solve them by addressing them. And that addressing might create a period of discomfort, uncertainty, adjustment, overwhelm...even being bummed out. (Having to toe the line when you’ve danced all around the line can be a bummer at first.)

Dogs who are transitioning from one space to another might not look perfect, they might not be ecstatic. But the important word here is transitioning. They’re changing. Change isn’t always easy, and doesn’t always create happiness out of the gate. In fact, it rarely does.

Yet I continue to see countless owners and trainers viewing happy dogs as the all-consuming priority. As if somehow happy dogs magically equaled good dogs. (Just view a dog park full of happy dogs bullying and brawling, or happy dogs jumping on guests, or happy dogs happily running away from their owners to chase squirrels or other dogs at the park.)

Happiness will come, but it needs to be put in its proper place priority wise. Get the good dog - a well-behaved, polite, obedient, safe dog - first, then the joy and freedom and comfort will naturally come.

If you only focus on having a happy dog, you’ll likely never have a good one.