The Dog's Choice - Dog Training and Walking

The Dog's Choice - Dog Training and Walking 👩🏻‍🏫 Professional Dog Trainer
🐕 Anxiety & Reactivity Specialist
🐶 Puppy Training

🐾 Puppy Training Classes Starting Soon! 🐾Got a new puppy and looking for classes? 🐶 Join us at The Dog’s Choice for our ...
03/07/2024

🐾 Puppy Training Classes Starting Soon! 🐾

Got a new puppy and looking for classes? 🐶 Join us at The Dog’s Choice for our upcoming puppy training classes!

📅 When: Starting Monday, 8th July, 2024
⏰ Time: 6.00 PM
📍 Where: Place Farm, Kirtling, Newmarket, CB8 9PA
🐾 For Puppies: Up to 5 months old

💡 What to Expect:
• Building confidence
• Socialisation with other puppies
• Learning basic life skills

✨ Why Join?
• Build a strong bond with your puppy
• Help your puppy develop good behaviour early on
• Meet other puppy parents and share experiences

🎉 Limited Spots Available! We only have a few spots left, so make sure to secure your puppy’s place today!

📞 To Enrol: Visit https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/courses/puppy-classes

Let’s make training a fun and rewarding experience for you and your puppy! 🐾❤️

What a fantastic morning we all had in a fabulous location.The weather was lovely and everyone did amazing!We had a supe...
18/10/2023

What a fantastic morning we all had in a fabulous location.

The weather was lovely and everyone did amazing!

We had a super fun puppy introduction for team Merlin who is following in his big brothers (team Indie) footsteps.

Team Otto, team Percy and team Yogi, all new to Mantrailing did amazing in their introductions and team Indie did super well after having a few months off from Mantrailing.

It was a super fun morning with a fab bunch of dogs and humans. Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you WildTracks Activity Park for a perfect venue. I can’t wait to return next month!

Mantrailing is finally coming to Newmarket!I'm so excited to let everyone know that I will be holding regular Mantrailin...
09/10/2023

Mantrailing is finally coming to Newmarket!

I'm so excited to let everyone know that I will be holding regular Mantrailing sessions in and around Newmarket and along the Suffolk /Essex / Cambs boarder.

Mantrailing is an amazing activity that really taps into your dogs natural instincts, using their noses to locate a specific person.

It's suitable for all dogs regardless of age, size or breed and it's done at the walk so suitable for all people as well including wheelchair users.

I have some amazing venues lined up and can't wait to introduce you to Mantrailing.

To find out more click the link or drop me a message.

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/courses/mantrailing

Due to the hot weather that is forecast for Sunday, all classes are postponed for a week. They will now start on Sunday ...
09/09/2023

Due to the hot weather that is forecast for Sunday, all classes are postponed for a week. They will now start on Sunday 17th September. The welfare and safety of the dogs and their owners is my main priority.

There are still a couple of spaces available so if fancy trying something different with your dog it’s not to late to join us! drop me a message or click the link to find out more.

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/dogtrainingclasses/

So the rumours are true! I'm starting classes again and in an amazing new venue that's super quiet and peaceful with loa...
17/08/2023

So the rumours are true! I'm starting classes again and in an amazing new venue that's super quiet and peaceful with loads of space and fully enclosed!

⭐And it all starts on Sunday 10th September! ⭐

🐶 Puppies!
Our puppy school takes you and your puppy on a journey, giving you both the skills you need to develop great habits, brilliant behaviour, and have an awful lot of fun together.

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/courses/puppy-classes

🐕Tricks!
I LOVE TRICK TRAINING! And so do my clients. It’s a fun way to fall in love with training your dog while doing something together that has no big pressure around it.

Does it matter if your dog doesn’t instantly nail a high five or a play dead? Nope….

But teaching it will improve your dog’s focus, confidence, and ramp up your bond and make training the serious stuff WAY EASIER.

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/courses/trick-training-classes

🐩Hoopers!
Yes, Hoopers is coming to Newmarket! Like agility but low impact and low pressure! Using hoops, barrels and tunnels, Hoopers is suitable for all (both dogs and humans!)

Hoopers is all about fun. It’s open to all breeds, ages, and training levels. So if your dog can’t walk nicely on a lead or recall back to you, don’t sweat it!

Come and have some fun with us and boost your dog’s focus on you while giving them plenty of physical and mental stimulation.

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/courses/hoopers-classes

Before I go I’d love to ask you a question, when you got your dog were walks together one of the things you were looking forward to the most, but now?! Pffff - the constant pulling, straining and lunging ahead are not what you pictured your walkies to be like.

It can be embarrassing, stressful, and a total joy zapper.

But it is fixable! I currently have a FREE ebook, ‘Stress Free Dog Walks’ available. Hit the link below and download your copy now and start your journey to happier dog walks!

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/f/stress-free-dog-walks

So proud to now be a certified Mantrailing Global Instructor 🏆
14/07/2023

So proud to now be a certified Mantrailing Global Instructor 🏆

11/05/2023

Easy tip to super charge your recall cue 🐶😊

Whatever the reason for your dogs anxiety, kind and effective management can make a huge difference.Management comes in ...
05/05/2023

Whatever the reason for your dogs anxiety, kind and effective management can make a huge difference.

Management comes in many forms but they all share the same purpose..... to prevent your dog practicing undesirable or unsafe behaviours while they learn to do something else.

Sometimes management will be all you need to create a long term solution to your dogs behaviour. Where it is easy to implement, reliable and prevents your dog feeling stressed, you may choose to continue using management indefinitely.

However if you are only managing behaviour, you are not directly addressing the root cause of your dogs anxiety so the best solutions will often include using management alongside training. This way you can prevent your dog feeling anxious and rehearsing undesirable behaviours but also teach them new skills to help them feel more comfortable.

I have included some examples of management in the images.

When dogs are anxious or fearful they will use body language to communicate this. By getting in to the habit of looking ...
04/05/2023

When dogs are anxious or fearful they will use body language to communicate this.

By getting in to the habit of looking for these signs in your dog will give you so much information about how they are feeling.

Some of the signs are quite obvious while others are very subtle.

Look for cowering, yawning, tongue flicks or them carrying their tail very low as signs of anxiety.

I have included lots more signs to look for in the images.

Let me know in the comments below if you have noticed any of these signs with your dog.

As I mentioned yesterday research in the UK showed that only 36% of dog owners were able to spot the signs of anxiety wh...
03/05/2023

As I mentioned yesterday research in the UK showed that only 36% of dog owners were able to spot the signs of anxiety while 24% admitted that they didn't even realise that dogs could suffer from anxiety.

Lets look at some of the behaviours your dog may show if they are suffering from anxiety or stress.

Destructive behaviours such as chewing your favourite shoes, excessive barking, lunging at passersby or cars, hiding, bolting or trying to escape, unable to settle, eliminating in the house or even chasing their own tails are all signs of anxiety, stress or fear.

Pain is a huge source of anxiety and all the above could also be caused by underlying medical conditions so a vet check should also be carried out.

Drop in the comments if your dog does any of the above or any other behaviours that may be due to anxiety.

Dogs experience anxiety for a number of reasons, here are a few of the most common causes: fear of strange or loud noise...
02/05/2023

Dogs experience anxiety for a number of reasons, here are a few of the most common causes: fear of strange or loud noises, anxiety if left alone, fear of traveling in vehicles, going to the vets or meeting new people or dogs.

Some reasons are not so obvious, some are things that dogs sense, such as smells or atmospheric changes. Pain can also be a huge source of anxiety.

In the research carried out by the UK Guide Dog Association only 36% of dog owners were able to spot the signs of anxiety while 24% admitted that they didn't even realise that dogs could suffer from anxiety.

What causes anxiety in your dog? Drop it in the comments below.

Dog Anxiety Awareness Week is held the first full week of May each year. The aim of the week is to share information and...
01/05/2023

Dog Anxiety Awareness Week is held the first full week of May each year. The aim of the week is to share information and create awareness about the prevalence of anxiety in dogs.

UK Guide Dog research that was published in March 2022 revealed that 74% of the Nations dogs showed signs of anxiety..... that's roughly 9.62 million dogs! (Statista Apr 22) While in the USA a study conducted by Kantar Group & Associates on behalf of CEVA Animal Health revealed more than 50% of their study group suffered from anxiety, fear or stress..... that equates to approximately 50 million dogs in the USA!

Anxiety can be caused by a number of different things so during this coming week I'm going to bring you some information and hints and tips that I hope you find useful.

14/04/2023

Lexi has had a break from agility training so we are revisiting some basics before progressing. Strong foundations are so so important 👌

16/12/2021
Does your dog go deaf when you call them?Yes? Then I have a BLACK FRIDAY SURPRISE just for you!From now until Midnight o...
26/11/2021

Does your dog go deaf when you call them?

Yes? Then I have a BLACK FRIDAY SURPRISE just for you!

From now until Midnight on Monday there is a whopping 60% off my REALLY RELIABLE RECALLS course 😀

Discover the secrets to off lead freedom, to having a dog who wants to hang out with you rather than chase the local wildlife and having a recall cue so powerful your dog wants to bounce back to you every time they hear it.

To take advantage of this limited time offer simply click the link and enter BLACKFRIDAYRECALLS at the checkout.

https://www.thedogschoice.co.uk/courses/recall

You will receive lifetime access and automatically get any update, access to a Facebook group for support. Plus access to priority booking on future Recall Workshops and Classes 😉

See you soon!

Really Reliable Recalls. The secret to off lead freedom.

Does your dog go deaf when you call them? Or are you fed up with them pulling your arms out on walks?If your thinking "Y...
26/10/2021

Does your dog go deaf when you call them? Or are you fed up with them pulling your arms out on walks?

If your thinking "Yes-that's me!" then I am here to support you.

My name is Samantha and I work with dog owner's just like you every single day to help you have the well mannered dog you and your family are aiming for.

Here are just a few of the thing's I can help with - I teach you and your dog:

- How to: Master loose leash walking everywhere, meaning we take your training on the road into real life scenario's.

- How to: Master relaxation so that when your guest's come over your not having to apologies for your dog's behaviour.

- How to: Master easy to implement, fun and interactive training sessions that mean the whole family is on board.

I pride myself in being supportive, engaging and understanding of you and your families unique household needs.

I am excited to share that I'm holding classes in Cheveley and our last course of 2021 starts soon and there are just 3 places remaining for this year!

Classes are small and places are limited so that we can cover all of the skills that will be a game changer for you and your family.

To secure your space all you need to do is message me directly here on Facebook.

If you have ANY question's at all or if you want to know more then reach out and I would be happy to help.

If you’re local & see me around give me a wave, I’d love to say hello!!

Samantha

An interesting study (link in the post) on neutering and the effect it can have on behaviour. A topic close to my heart ...
12/10/2021

An interesting study (link in the post) on neutering and the effect it can have on behaviour.

A topic close to my heart and one that I am committed to continuing to educate myself about so that I can make informed decisions about the dog in front of me and not be swayed by popular culture.

Matty was neutered at 7 months old. I had him done because I was told 'he is starting to take you on', 'you are going to be in trouble if you don't get him done soon' etc so I gave in to pressure from those I believed to know best. Soon after he started to show reactive and anxious behaviours. Now, I'm not saying it was the only cause but I personally believe it played a huge part in it.

Educate yourselves folks and do what's right for your dog.

For the record this post is purely on behaviour, it has nothing to do with responsible breeding or health although I believe a lot of behaviour can link to health but that's a whole different topic!

To Castrate or Not To Castrate!

For decades castration has been recommended routinely for young dogs as a cure for:
🐶 Barking, lunging and reactivity at dogs or people
🐶 Dog-dog interaction challenges
🐶 Hu***ng, inappropriate toileting
🐶 Adolescence (as if it needs curing like it’s a disease 😂)

⚠️WARNING!⚠️ What I’m about to discuss relates to castration and health and behaviour. This does NOT relate to overpopulation management. However, of note, in some countries, castration is considered a mutilation and these countries have less of an overpopulation issue than countries where it is routinely recommended, highlighting how intrinsic overpopulation is to societal beliefs around and respect for dogs.

👉 What actually happens when we castrate a dog?

Well, to put it bluntly, the testicles get chopped off. What does this lead to?
It completely removes the dog’s ability to reproduce.
It removes a major source of testosterone; the Leydig cells that produce testosterone reside within the testicles and so experience a extracorporeal relocation too! Important to note here that I say a major source as the adrenal glands in both sexes as well as the ovaries in the bitch produce small quantities also.

👉 What consequence does this have?

Importantly, testosterone is valuable as a hormone from a behaviour perspective. In multiple species, it has been demonstrated to be closely associated with confidence. Why is this protective against behaviour struggles? Well, behaviour struggles are often driven by lack of confidence, anxiety, fear and situational pessimism and certainly never the result of positive emotional states that testosterone would promote.

“There is absolutely no benefit to reducing an animal’s confidence when working on their behaviour. Confidence is never a bad thing!”

👉 What the SCIENCE Says!

In 2018, McGreevy et al published a study in Plos One (It’s open access so you can check it how here if you are feeling geeky: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5931473/), assessing how the length of time a dog maintained their go**ds for influenced the risk of behaviour struggles.

👉 What did they find?

The shorter the time they keep their go**ds and, in turn, the sooner they lose most of their testosterone, the less likely the dogs’ owners were to report two behaviour struggles - howling when left alone and indoor urine marking.

Oh! Easy! Question Answered! To theatre we go….

Wait for it.

The findings didn’t end there. The longer the dogs in the study (sample size of 6235) kept their go**ds attached and, in turn, their testosterone, the less likely their owners were to report 26 (Yes, TWENTY SIX!) mostly unwelcome behaviour struggles!!

AND

7 (yes, SEVEN!) of these behaviour struggles that were much less likely the longer a dog remained entire would be labelled as “aggressive” (including “aggression” directed towards people and other dogs).

So let’s dive into the reasons why castration is often wrongly considered and wrongly recommended…

😱Barking, lunging and reactivity! This behaviour struggle is often driven by an underlying pessimism, dogs perceiving novelty in the environment (whether that be a human, another dog, a cat or a kangaroo!) to be something to worry about. Pessimism and lack of confidence are closely linked and so it is no surprise that castration doesn’t help this situation and often makes it worse as the McGreevy findings suggest!

😱Dog-Dog interaction challenges! This refers to unpredictability in a dog’s interaction with another dog. It might be that your dog unpredictably snaps when having a nose-nose interaction. It might be that your dog stands over another dog and raises their hackles. It might be that your dog charges and barks at other dogs upon the approach. The thing is, a successful interaction can only occur with three skills: 1. Optimism, 2. Disengagement (seeing value in moving away from the interaction), 3. Calmness. Any weakness in these will lead to unpredictable (or very predictable!!) breaks in the chain. I’m sure we can all relate to a time in our lives where we’ve had a fail in one of these departments and had a bad interaction with someone (maybe a partner….) - it didn’t come from overconfidence, it came from all the rubbish that went on at the office that day and your sore back!

Now I have a saying when it comes to dog behaviour and that is -

“If you want more of something, BUILD IT! Don’t attempt to squash something else to make it seem bigger!”

Success in’t about trying to correct, inhibit or STOP a behaviour. This is about growing the skills needed to behave effectively and go through the world feeling great! So again, castration has absolutely no place here and again often makes things worse!

😱 Hu***ng and Inappropriate Toileting! These behaviours were long hailed as the ultimate in dogs disrespecting us and, therefore, by some twisted logic, if an animal is disrespecting you, you must chop off a body part, reduce their confidence, show them who is boss. Crazy right?! 😂 Of course not - in fact, these behaviours (just like the ones above) are just a couple of behaviours a dog might select from when feeling worried, anxious, scared or a little bit like “I don’t know what to do here.”

Have you ever had an interaction with another human where you were nervous for whatever reason and you said something crazy or did something completely weird instead of just shaking their hand? Meet the canine equivalent: hu***ng!

Again this is driven by LACK of confidence, not overconfidence and so castration won’t make it better and might again make it worse! Inappropriate toileting and marking behaviours can be much the same, and so while research shows that castration might improve marking in the house in some instances, it can equally make it worse based on this and so, importantly, we should never do something irreversible when reversible (non-body-part-chopping) options exist.

😱 Adolescence! Adolescence is not a disease! In fact, none of this is a disease!

“These are not BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS! They’re DOG BEHAVIOUR!”

Adolescence is a period of development! It’s associated with structural brain, cognitive and hormonal changes. It’s a period that actively promotes conflict between the animal (human or canine) and their carer as an evolutionarily beneficial temperature check on the relationship (more on that another time maybe). What all the research agrees on in relation to human and canine adolescence is that confidence and relationship are key! The Asher et al 2020 study on canine adolescence found that conflict (in the form of ignoring a sit cue) was much reduced with increasing relationship between dog and owner. What do we take from this?
Chopping off body parts will not help.
Spend the time and money you were going to spend on castrating your dog and invest it in your relationship bank account instead - invest in positive interactions, games, play, whatever you and your dog love!

🩺👨🏼‍⚕️ Health Benefits of Castration

Castration has also been recommended from a health standpoint, reducing the risk of a variety of diseases. However, the health benefits castration brings (such as prevention (and resolution of) benign prostatic hyperplasia) are only of significance after the age of 5 in most dogs when they become at increased risk of such. Equally, there’s early evidence to show that castration before one year of age could increase the risk of joint disease, cancer risk and allergic skin disease, further reinforcing the idea that early castration (if even at all) is not nor should not be a procedure that comes with a blanket recommendation for all young dogs.

Reversible Options!

Finally, we must consider if it is appropriate to give a blanket recommendation on anything that is irreversible and not completely benign when reversible options are available. Short-term implants have the same whole body effects as surgical removal of the testicles while still being reversible! These can act like a test drive of the new hormonal system where castration is being strongly considered without the fallout of an irreversible procedure.

👉 The Future!

So, that’s the wrap on castration with a focus on behaviour and training! Whenever I talk about this, it often causes of a wave of remorse and grieving for the now lost testicles of your dog’s youth. BUT I work with people on a daily basis whose dogs have had their go**ds inappropriately removed at some point and yet they are achieving amazing results and living the lives that they dreamt of when they got a dog in the first place.

The first step they took was ditching the labels, the limiting beliefs and the story of how they arrived where they did. The second step they took is they took their dog-owning dream off the back burner and they made it a MUST.

The reality is that castrated or not, you can unlock real-life results and amazing transformations with your dog with the right plan, the right tools, the right games and strategies!

This is an opportunity to spread the word, save some go**ds along the way and change the blanket advice for the better, so if you know someone who this might benefit, please share it far and wide 🙂

Does your dog go deaf when you call them? Or are you fed up with them pulling your arms out on walks?If your thinking "Y...
02/10/2021

Does your dog go deaf when you call them? Or are you fed up with them pulling your arms out on walks?

If your thinking "Yes-that's me!" then I am here to support you.

My name is Samantha and I work with dog owner's just like you every single day to help you have the well mannered dog you and your family are aiming for.

Here are just a few of the thing's I can help with - I teach you and your dog:

- How to: Master loose leash walking everywhere, meaning we take your training on the road into real life scenario's.

- How to: Master relaxation so that when your guest's come over your not having to apologies for your dog's behaviour.

- How to: Master easy to implement, fun and interactive training sessions that mean the whole family is on board.

I pride myself in being supportive, engaging and understanding of you and your families unique household needs.

I am excited to share that I'm holding classes in Cheveley and we start this week!.

Classes are small and places are limited so that we can cover all of the skills that will be a game changer for you and your family.

To secure your space all you need to do is message me directly here on Facebook.

If you have ANY question's at all or if you want to know more then reach out and I would be happy to help.

If you’re local & see me around give me a wave, I’d love to say hello!!
Samantha

Address

Cheveley
Newmarket

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