The Dog Salon

14/11/2024

Good morning due to a cancellation we have availability Thursday 21st November

11/11/2024

DIY Grooming

04/11/2024

We hope you are all well.

We wish to advise you that, due to increasing family commitments, we have regrettably decided to close The Dog Salon at the end of the year.

Our last intended day of work is Friday 21st December - please note that we are already fully booked up for the rest of this year. Any bookings provisionally made for the New Year will unfortunately need to be cancelled.

We would like to this this opportunity to thank all of our customers for their custom and who have trusted us with their four-legged friends, who we've had the pleasure of grooming over our last 8 years.

For those who have a booking arranged, we look forward to seeing you and your dog for one more groom over the coming weeks.

Best Wishes
Melanie and Sarah

21/10/2024

15/09/2024

10/07/2024

😂😂

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas and a happy new year

01/12/2023

Christmas trees are now on sale at the marina Needingworth

01/12/2023

Good morning. What a lovely view we have this morning

29/10/2023

Did you know we can trim your dogs nails. During November every Thursday and Friday between 9am and 2pm you can just pop in, no appointment needed. 🐶

18/08/2023

15/08/2023

15/08/2023

Discover the 3 must have tips to train your puppy!

07/08/2023

05/08/2023

PSA: Please, PLEASE teach your dog to be okay when alone.
Every day we work with many online dog training students for a variety of different reasons. Reactivity, leash pulling, puppy training … and one big, overarching theme is that for many dogs this work does not actually start with the reactivity/leash/puppy/etc. training.
It starts with the fact that one or more dogs of the household cannot stay alone.
It is so tempting to feed into a dog that can never be by himself.
Maybe you are retired or work from home and the dog never “has to” to be alone.
Or maybe you have two dogs that have been together a long time (littermates, anyone?) and they have become so bonded to each other that one leaving is a huge issue for the other.
From a human perspective, this can seem really flattering.
“My dog loves me so much she cannot be without me” or
“My two dogs love each other so much they only stay together”
But from a behavior-perspective, this is really not healthy or beneficial at all.
There will be a day at which your dog needs to be separated from you/your other dog. I guarantee it will come.
Perhaps for a vet visit, or a family emergency, or “just” for training.
Quite a few of the online students that come to us to work on e.g. reactivity cannot start out with counterconditioning sessions at all.
They need to first figure out the seemingly impossible task of having one dog stay behind while they train the other (and then switch it up). If dogs have truly never left each other, this will be a lot of hard work before ever starting the actual reactivity training.
Attachment to the point of not functioning without someone else is NOT healthy. It is NOT cute and it is NOT a sign of amazing love.
It is a problem that will become bigger and bigger the longer it goes on.
I promise you:
If you teach your dog to stay calm when separated from you/your other dog, he will love you just as much.
He will still be just as good of a friend and just as loyal.
You will only add to his happiness and the relationship if the dog does not feel intense anxiety when separated.
Of course this does not mean that if you e.g. work from home, your dog needs to be in a crate in a different room for 8 hours.
Even 30min, twice a day with you (or the other dog) not in view is a great start. Practice these separations before you NEED them.
Helping your dog feel comfortable alone should be a life skill that you teach them *from day 1*.
Treat it as important as going potty outside.
Your dog WILL be happier … and you as well 🙂