Tiny Paws Outdoors

20/11/2025

DISTANCE ASSISTANCE

It’s not easy having a reactive dog. As much as we may feel frustrated, restricted, angry or even ashamed or embarrassed, our reactive dogs are also experiencing a range of negative emotions when they react to something that triggers them.
Reactive dogs have a nervous system issue not a training issue.

This nervous system reaction is usually caused by anxiety, fear, feeling threatened, frustrated or may even be pain related.

These emotions cause high levels of stress and stress prevents both us and our dogs from being able to process information, think clearly or learn a different, more acceptable way of reacting to whatever triggers us.

This is why creating enough distance is so important.

I’m really scared of snakes and even struggle to look at them. The only thing I want to do is run and create as much distance as possible.

If someone was restraining me, forcing me to sit and look at the snake while trying to feed me my favourite chocolate, telling me there was nothing to worry about or trying to educate me about the reptile, it would do nothing to alleviate my fear and would only increase my stress levels.

Doing this at a sufficient distance, where I felt safe would be far more effective and my stress levels would be much lower. In time, with patience and practice, I may even be able to get much closer to the snake without having a negative reaction.

The same principle applies to reactive dogs. Creating sufficient distance where they can see the trigger but still feel safe and don’t react is the best way of helping them to cope with their feelings.

Some dogs, or people, may never be able to decrease that distance and that’s also okay.

We need to accept our dogs for the unique individual they are, keep working on the things we can improve and change and accept the things we can’t.

18/11/2025

🎄✨ WIN a Festive Fido Box! ✨🎄

What is your pup getting for Christmas? 🐾 One lucky doggo in Herefordshire or Worcestershire will get a FREE box full of festive goodies to open under the tree!

To Enter:
1️⃣ Like our page 👍
2️⃣ Tag a dog-owning friend 🐶

Simple!

Who Can Enter:
• 18+
• Local delivery or pick-up only

Deadline: Tuesday, 26th Nov
Winner announced: Wednesday, 27th Nov 🎁

Let’s make some tails wag this Christmas! 🎅🐾 ⬇️

13/11/2025

12/11/2025

Cartridge lanyards are now available for Christmas pre order 🎄
Buy one get one half price
Hundreds of colours to choose from
Cut off for gaurenteed Christmas delivery - 7th December

12/11/2025

COPYCAT DOGS

It really does matter who we hang out with or spend time with because our social circle or who we live with, influences our behaviour, emotional state and habits. This can have either a positive or negative influence.

The same can be said for all social animals, our dogs included.

When behaviour is contagious and copied by social animals, the scientific word for this is “Allelomimetic” and although it’s a bit of a tongue-twister to pronounce it simply means copying what others are doing.

In the wild, animals depend on allelomimetic behaviour for survival. An example is if a member of a group spots a threat and starts running, the group will immediately follow, without too much conscious thought – it’s an automatic response, making it harder to be attacked.

This innate behaviour in dogs can present in both positive and negative ways.

Bringing a new dog into a home where the resident dog has unwanted behaviours, is never a good idea. There’s a risk of ending up with 2 dogs with issues instead of 1.

It’s always best to address unwanted behaviour before adding another dog, but calmness, contentment, regulation, self-confidence and other wanted behaviours are also contagious.

It’s far easier said than done and every situation is different, but if our dogs are going to copy behaviours, we need to be mindful in exposing them to what we want them to copy.

10/11/2025

06/11/2025

SOLD

Training collar for sale.
Discounted to £7

Handle can be added for £2 extra
Posted tracked 48hrs

02/11/2025

We have a nice new indoor venue for our Friday Tricks classes, they will now be held at the Wootton and Bashley social club, for more information pm 🐾

30/10/2025

.secret.dog.walker

29/10/2025

SECONDS COUNT
This post is not advocating that dogs meet every other dog, but rather about how to go about it in a safer way, if and when it does happen.

The 3 second rule for dogs meeting each other is used as a guideline to help foster positive introductions, prevent either dog from feeling overwhelmed or trapped and prevent any potential reactivity and stress.

A short 3 second introduction is enough time to provide important information to both dogs.

Enough time and information for dogs to decide – “are you a threat?”, “do I like you?”, “do I want to learn more about you?”, “do I really dislike you?”, “do I want you to go away?” etc. Both dogs may not feel the same way – one may not be happy to engage while the other may want to.

All interactions should ideally happen like this, not just initially. Just like us, dogs can have off days – things like pain, trigger stacking, lack of sleep or a host of other reasons can influence a dog’s emotional state and whether a dog wants to interact or not.

There are countless times I have witnessed meetings or introductions between dogs that have gone on just a few seconds too long and have not ended well.

This can have long lasting effects on future behaviour when meeting other dogs.

Understanding body language is critically important. If we are going to share our lives with another species, protect them, advocate for them and help them feel safe, then we need to understand and respect their language.

The examples in this post of red and green flags are just a few general ones to look out for – there are many more and these will differ depending on the individual dog, context and circumstances.

Here are some resources that provide more detailed information about body language –

The Veterinary Behaviour Centre
https://bit.ly/4hwC8k1

On Talking Terms With Dogs - Calming Signals, 2nd Edition by Turid Rugaas
https://bit.ly/4oftWqW

Make sure those first 3 seconds count – they can make all the difference.