Heaton Zoomies Dog Walking

01/08/2024

Amazing opportunity, I don't know many dogs that couldn't do with a bit of extra work on recall 😉 & as I know many of you are ex CB clients, here we are 🥰

29/04/2024

I'm sad to say that HZ is no more, I stopped working in January due to chronic ill health. I miss all your doggos!! ❤️

20/02/2024

I'd massively recommend this; Zaynab is an excellent local trainer & scentwork has huge wide ranging benefits for 99% of dogs!

01/02/2024

Hey lovelies! Just wanted to share a very special opportunity from a lovely local fellow dog professional, Project: Happy Dog

JUST ONE WEEK TO GO!
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/795161839467

Next Wednesday will be the first Project: Happy Dog Workshop of 2024. Our DIY Snuffle Mat and Enrichment Deep Dive is a dog-less/ human only workshop created to bring owners together and share invaluable insight into dog care.

DID YOU KNOW? There are seven different areas of canine enrichment – stretching across every domain in their life! It’s not all egg boxes and rolled tea towels.

DID YOU KNOW? That owners who understand enrichment, and how to implement it in all areas, raise more successful dogs, and see significantly less common behavioural struggles!

DID YOU KNOW? That access to natural outlets, behaviour and communication is one of the Five Freedom of Animal Welfare. It’s considered, by all studies of ecology, as playing a central role to the quality of life.

Join us for crafting fun, friendly dog chat and really practical advice and understanding that could transform life for your dog. From how they eat, the bonds they have, the experiences they have – we’ll help you make the very most of daily life. Make your very own snuffle mat or tray to take home on the night – we know your dog will love it!
Find out more about the team and our passion for dogs…
www.projecthappydog.co.uk

30/10/2023

The last few days! This week is looking swampy, towels at the ready 😂

28/09/2023

Jess and her best disco moves, she just needs a glitter leotard 😍

20/09/2023

More summer love!

19/09/2023

Seeing as it's now I thought I'd flood (haha yep) my page this week with my favourite summer moments this year 😁

19/09/2023

22/07/2023

Love this longboi & love prey drive games!

19/07/2023

Living with Ginny just now & Apollo before this, both gorgeous fox red labs, both total cuddle monsters, but massively different personalities in so many ways! Apollo comes alive outside, Ginny is her true self inside mostly loving squishing my face by standing right into me and over me, and doing her best waggles 🥰🥰

06/07/2023

Jess greeted me back at work with our favourite game 🥰 she's got so much better at this! And at waiting while I set up 😉 .. she knows it's worth the wait!

03/07/2023

I'm on holiday & I'm missing my doggos!! So here's some lovely pics 😊

03/07/2023

Puppies are not clean slates !
You often hear people say 'get a puppy they are a clean slate'

As a behaviourist and breeder I can confidently tell you this is not true. Both nature and nurture has a huge impact.
A puppy will inherit genes from its parents and these genes will impact the puppies genetic potential to behave in a particular way.
Such as :
Using aggression as a strategy to deal with difficult situations
Sociability towards people and dogs
Fearful responses
Strong instinctive behaviour to hunt, chase, grab and hold.
Trainability including the ability to learn self control as humans desire it
When people breed dogs they sometimes select for specific traits and sometimes not. If someone is breeding for a particular look or just money then these traits can become altered becoming stronger or weaker or unbalanced.

Then the puppy is born and the first 8 weeks learning with the breeder will have an huge impact on the development of all these genetic traits.

My six puppies have all come from the same parents and been reared in the same environment. They have very individual personalities. The training and socialisation they receive in their new homes will only influence the genes and first learning, it won't change their personalities.

So if you are looking for a puppy
Firstly learn about breed traits and instincts and make sure you pick a puppy that will suit your lifestyle. For example there no point getting a breed that is 'aloof with strangers' if you have 3 young children and lots of friends visiting.

Secondly meet the parents or (genes), see what they are like. Make sure you are meeting the actual parents, some people buy in puppy farmed litters and then 'hire' an adult of the same breed to pretend the puppies were bred there!!

Thirdly make sure the puppy has had plenty of early neurological stimulation and learning before it leaves the litter. Ask these questions.
1) What have the puppies seen?
2) Who and what have they met?
2) What have they learnt?
3) How have they learned to play?
4) What do they do if they get frustrated?
5) What do they do if they get bored?

A professional trainer can help support and guide you on the process of looking for a puppy. Don't wait till afterwards for help.

Prevention IS better than Cure. This goes for training and socialisation too, get a professional to help and guide you.

Puppies are building neural pathways with every experience, every day, make sure they're building ones you like.

First Learning is the strongest, make sure you get it right first time.


Written by Jane Ardern BSc (Hons) Dip.CABT
WaggaWuffins Canine College
Bury Lancashire

*Permission to share this post. No cutting and pasting please.

01/04/2023

Arlo's crowdfunder is doing well but they still really need more help, if you can, dig deep ###

Weʼre raising money to Cover medical costs for our beloved Arlo. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

01/04/2023

As cliché as it may sound, your dog's behaviours are only the tip of the iceberg.

Often, the road to addressing "what you see" is by addressing "what may be going on". For this, we need to better understand the physiology of stress (that is, what happens in your dog's body when in stress), what accounts for stress, what is the best way to address stress, and what are their species-specific needs.

If you're struggling to identify the underlying reasons with any behaviour situation with your dog, then reach out to me for behaviour consultations and let's work on this together and help you and your dog 🐶💕

22/03/2023

👌❤️

WHY TRAINING MAY BE A WASTE OF TIME (if they don’t feel safe)

I went to a cafe this morning with one of my dogs. There was another dog in there and they clearly had a really committed family- they had yellow dog stuff on and the people were using loads of treats to try and ‘train’ the dog around other dogs in the cafe. The dog was barely under threshold most of the time I was there and was well over many times- barking and lunging at dogs in the cafe and sounding very stressed. I totally get why people think this sort of environment might be a good thing to take a reactive dog too- all dogs are onlead and you can practise your training while you sit with your lovely breakfast. But, it’s probably doing your dog much more harm than good if they aren’t coping well in that environment: if your dog doesn’t feel SAFE then what are they learning?

It’s really important to remember that when you are working with anxious and reactive dogs it’s not about training them, it’s about changing their emotions. We aren’t trying to teach them not to bark we are trying to change how they feel from anxious around other dogs to comfortable. We want them to change from being pessimistic and expecting that other dogs are bad news to feeling optimistic and that other dogs are a good thing to be around.

If you are training your dog to look at other dogs, to do a ‘watch me’, to lay down etc in a environment they find too difficult and too stressful then they aren’t learning anything good. Training them to do these things isn’t going to fix them. If they don’t feel safe inside and don’t feel relaxed then their learning is likely to be really slow or you risk them even making worse associations and becoming MORE worried around other dogs.

To change emotions your dog needs to feel safe and comfortable and you want to be seeing signs that they are properly relaxed- are they eating treats gently, are they choosing to settle and lie down, are they breathing in a relaxed way? If they are panting, stressy snatching treats and hyper vigilant (looking around everywhere for threats) then you are likely doing more harm than good.

Key to helping anxious and reactive dogs is gradually building up their exposure to the things they find scary but at a rate they can cope with. Of course, even with the best will in the world things will go wrong and dogs will come too close on a walk etc and we manage that situation and move on but we don’t want to ever set them up to fail. Making them ‘face their fears’ just results in flooding and a dog who is worse after the experience rather than better.

I have 3 dogs and only 2 would cope in a cafe, the one that wouldn’t- I just don’t take her, she wouldn’t enjoy it and she’d find it stressful and I wouldn’t be happy knowing that she wasn’t coping well. I regularly take a puppachino home for my dog that doesn’t like cafes so she doesn’t miss out ❤️ (top tip- don’t forget you have a puppachino in your coat pocket and sit down)

It’s crucial when we are living with and helping anxious dogs that we try and think about the things we do with them- is this helping build their confidence and resilience or is it making them more stressed?

If you do need to visit a cafe (as you are on holiday and can’t leave dogs etc) with an anxious dog then sitting outside rather than inside is normally less stressful, give yourself as much space as possible, don’t sit by the entrance so everyone has to walk past you etc and keep it brief so that it’s a successful exercise for your dog rather than a stressful one and most importantly listen to your dog and what they are trying to tell you. I’d rather get take out than expose a dog to something they can’t cope with right now.

Laura McAuliffe, 2023 Dog Communication.

21/03/2023

Arlo is one of my very loved doggos, this is absolutely devastating! Please if you're able to contribute anything at all, even small, please do. The family are super lovely & work hard & have two small children too & they absolutely deserve your support (only if you're able). Thanks xx

Weʼre raising money to Cover medical costs for our beloved Arlo. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

05/03/2023

Darcy being utterly joyful was such a pleasure to see! This gorgeous girl struggles so much & to see her able to throw the weight of the world off her shoulders was just incredible. Times like this my job is such a true privilege. Her brother Carter is of course lovely too ❤️

05/03/2023

Such a lovely pair, Squire & Red. They bring out the best in each other & happily coexist without feeling pressured to interact 🥰 Both completely mental though 🤣🤣

05/03/2023

Squire & Red having quite the adventure 🥰

22/02/2023

I ❤️ this boy

09/02/2023

07/02/2023

Free, expert webinars for dog owners! Grisha Stewart is the real deal, hugely experienced in using the most up the date, evidence based methods to work kindly with dogs of all shapes, sizes & personalities.

Free Event coming up:

Dogs are our beloved companions and friends. We want them to have happy, healthy and fulfilled lives and to take part in family activities, adventures and more.

There’s no getting away from the fact though, that bringing up a dog can feel hard sometimes. Whether this is your first dog, or you’ve had dogs for 20 years, we all face challenges in training, or come up against tricky behaviors that we don’t always know what to do with.

The good news is that no matter how old your dog is, when you brought them home, or whatever challenges you might be facing, there are so, so many kind, effective and force-free solutions that can help….not just your dog, but you too!

Holly Tett is a behaviorist and human clinical psychologist too. She helps dogs and their humans to build a trusting, rock solid connection in a way that feels fun and not like a battle.

Holly's hosting a free, 14-day virtual event starting Monday February 20th. I’m featured as one of the guest expert speakers for: “Kindness Is Essential, Not Optional”: The Dog Behaviour Conference, and there are over 25 other world-class speakers sharing their knowledge and expertise for free.

Here's a link to learn more about KIENO or register free: https://conference.kindnessisessentialnotoptionaldogconference.com/grisha

30/01/2023

Last week I had a lovely sit with the little Luna who I may have started calling 'little lunatic', in a very fond of way ❤️.. Squire & Red had round 2 and were superbly good, I actually think they're a wonderful match for each other. They don't really play together but they very loosely run around together and it's beautiful adult companionship with neither getting overexcited! Jess is also doing super well & I'm able to have her off lead a fair bit now, as long as it's quiet & I'm aware of the environment. Superstar bunch, I tell you!

28/01/2023

Local doggo needs you to look out for her please!