Pawsitive Pals

Dougie's Progress - Part 1 - Sept 2024 - Feb 2025

This is Dougie, a very nervous and easily stressed little pooch. 😫😰 I've been working with Dougie since September of last year and I am incredibly proud of his progress so far!🥳💙🐕 When we started Dougie's training journey, Dougie would march from the moment he left the front door, to the moment he came back through it. Returning home, he would have a big drink and immediately lay flat on the cool floor. He had worked up such a thirst and used all of his mental and physical energy to 'get through' the walk; not to enjoy it. 😔 Dougie would pull constantly. He wouldn't sniff. He wouldn't stop to take a break. He wanted to get home as fast as possible. 😰 So, through both mine and Dougie owner's efforts, we have helped Dougie not only to relax more on walks (which is still a work in progress, but he'll get there!) but to listen for our cues, follow our guidance, feel comfortable with our supportive praise and activies, as well as to stop and sniff the roses. 🌹🪻🌷 Though this has been a long road to recovery for Dougie, this is his journey and we have, and will continue to go, at his pace. Keeping him below threshold, supported and comforted. 🥰🩵🐕 Now, the difference in Dougie is night and day! He still struggles with dogs up close but he can enjoy his quiet walks and his time at the park without stressing! He is able to focus enough (without feeling the need to constantly look over his shoulder) to recall, play games and focus on us! After a calm walk, Dougie comes home with enough physical and mental energy to enjoy the rest of his day. 😁🥳🐕 His progress and his owner's efforts, make me so happy and so proud! We still have small goals to achieve and some fears to face but we are all a lot more confident in Dougie's ability to achieve these goals very soon! 😁🥰🥳 Be sure to be on the look out for an update on Dougie's progress!🩵🐕 #dogtraıner #positivereinforcement #dogtrainingisfun #dogbusiness #smallbus

😰Foxtails! 😰 Be careful out there everyone, keep a close eye on your pup and make sure these seeds don't get into their skin!😭💙🐕 #dogtrainers #bugbrooke #positivereinforcement #puppytraining #dogtrainingtip #hunsburyhill #dogbusiness #dogtrainingisfun #smallbusiness #dogtrainingtips #positivereinforcementtraining #uptonpark #northamptonshire #dogtraining #duston #dogtraineruk #northampton #upton

All set up at Moulton Library and Community Centre! Complete with leaflets, handouts, business cards, sign up sheets and some freebie treats for your fluffy friends!🐶💙 As well as my training helpers, Purdy (Dalmatian) and Maggie (Jack Russell). At first glance, they look realistic, but they are good as gold!🌟 Feel free to ask any questions and I'd love to hear all about your fun doggo stories! I'm happy to offer tips and tricks that may help your doggo!🐶💙 The doggy day starts at 1pm till 3pm. See you soon!💙 #dogtrainersuk #dogadvice #dogtrainingbusiness #doglife #northamptonshire #northampton #moultonlibrary #positivereinforcementworks #positivereinforcementtraining #uptonpark #upton #duston #dustonvillage #pinehamvillage

This is a really interesting video that I've been working on for a little while. 😅 Since Luna was attacked by a small dog a couple of months ago, she has been more cautious and observant of other dogs; particularly small dogs that are running off lead. (Don't worry, the attack did not result in any puncture wounds, we were very lucky!)💙 As Luna was very confident and comfortable before the attack (and the attack wasn't too severe), Luna is still in a good place emotionally and hasn't lost all of her confidence. I could see 1 small dog on lead, across the park, looking like a similar breed to the one who attacked her. There was also another dog off lead chasing a ball, running like lightning!⚡️🐕🥎 By understanding the context, it gives a new perspective to the video. It also emphasises the need to understand canine body language. By understanding what all these signals mean, in this context and in this environment, we can recognise that Luna isn't too happy and give her the support she needs to feel more comfortable.🥰💙 By understanding not only your dog's body language but the body language of other dogs on walks, we can avoid so much stress, discomfort and even conflicts! 🥳💙 I hope this video helps to raise awareness of canine body language and how loud and quick those signals can be. If there's high demand for body language videos, I can reupload this video at a slower speed and talk through each and every signal. There are definitely more than 33 signals in this video, but those 33 are the easiest to spot at this speed. Let's take a moment to learn and listen to our loyal companions.🐕💙 Thank you.💙 (P.s. Don't worry, all doggos in the video were okay, no conflict occured and all were safe and sound! After the video ended, we walked back home with plenty of praise and relaxing sniffs.) #positivereinforcement #hunsburyhill #bugbrooke #dogtrainingtip #dogbusiness #dogtrainingisfun #smallbusiness #positivereinforcementtrai

After sharing a post about the cue 'Touch', explaining how easy, fun and useful it can be, someone left a great comment saying they also 'Touch' not only using their hands but also their noses!😍 I had never thought of it before and I instantly fell in love with the idea! So the next day I tried it out with Luna, safe to say she had as much fun as I did!😁 Truth be told, I'm rusty when it comes to teaching fun tricks, as the majority of my knowledge is used for teaching life skills and confidence boosting activities. So teaching something fun for the fun of it was a lovely break. I wasn't too confident to start with but luckily Luna and I know each other very well and Luna is very intelligent, she figured it out quite quickly.🥳 It was a good reminder that training isn't entirely about life skills, being vitally important to reduce risk or overcoming anxiety, but it is also about having fun together! I am always recommending to my clients to continue training, even if it isn't important cues. Any training is beneficial towards listening skills, communication and trust (just to mention a few!) and most importantly - if you're having fun, they're having fun too!🥰🐕💙 Hopefully this gives other owners a little nudge to have some fun training with their pooch, even if it's just one owner, then it'll be worth all the editing haha!😂 Be daft. Be funny. Be positive. 💙 #positivereinforcement #puppytraining #hunsburyhill #dogbusiness #dogtrainingisfun #smallbusiness #dogtrainingtips #positivereinforcementtraining #uptonpark #northamptonshire #dogtraining #duston #dogtraineruk #northampton #upton #bugbrooke

Meet Betty! 🐶💙 These videos are a little old, so I decided to put some of the best together to show off Betty's training journey! At the time of recording, Betty was just 1 year old. Curious, excitable and super energtic! 🐶🤩 As her training journey progresses, you can see Betty listening more, checking in more and beginning to ignore distractions - like squirrels!🐿 Betty is a motivated dog, she is so eager to work and to people please, which made training much quicker and smoother! We just had to balance letting her explore, sniff and learn whilst asking her to follow some cues when she could focus. Each week I could see a huge improvement with her training! It's not all down to my efforts though, her owner provided her with consistent practice between our sessions. 👍💙 We also practiced recall training, I will be sharing her recall journey soon!😊 #puppytraining #dogtrainingtip #hunsburyhill #dogbusiness #dogtrainingisfun #uptonpark #northamptonshire #dogtraining #duston #dogtraineruk #northampton #upton #positivereinforcement #positivereinforcementworks #positivereinforcementtrainer #positivereinforcementtraining

See Maggie ace another training session!🐶🥳 Maggie loves this field (hence the curious sniffing) but it's also a great place to train! Using my decoy dog, Maggie can practice seeing other dogs in the distance and listening out for her owner's cues or simply sitting patiently - rather than letting her emotions get the better of her.🤯 She did amazingly with my decoy dog, in the video you can see her notice the dog, pulling with all her body weight at her front. 🐕 To help her stay calm, we need to stop her at a distance, giving her a chance to think. As we stopped walking, Maggie instantly sat nice and calmly; her body posture is calm, her facial expression is relaxed! Perfect!👍 With the rustle of the treats, she came back. Ideally, it's best to use a cue, such as recall or 'This Way'. But that's okay, just a very small mistake in an otherwise great session! Treat packets are far too tempting to ignore!😍 With more trials, Maggie became more relaxed, sitting more frequently and listening out for more cues from her owner. She's making great progress with each session!🥳 #dogbusiness #dogtrainingisfun #positivereinforcementtraining #uptonpark #northamptonshire #dogtraining #Duston #dogtraineruk #northampton #upton

Maggie Update!🐶💙 Maggie is starting to listen out for cues now, which is a huge improvement from when we started helping her💙 Now Maggie is starting to listen out and focus a bit more, we can start to engage with her a bit more! We've mastered recall, wait, sit, and Touch (which she loves!😍) So now it's time to focus a bit more on us whilst we're moving together. Straight lines can be boring for a lot of dogs so I wondered how Maggie would do with adding some turns! She is already acing at turning when her name is called (coming back from the end of the lead and walking in the opposite direction.) So I wondered how she would do by utilising the gorgeous trees around us and using them as a super simple obstacle course!🌳 It's amazing to see her level of focus with both me and her owner! Those happy broad tail wags, loose facial expressions, eyes focused and ready to follow us😍 Amazing progress!😍🥳 (Sadly Facebook won't allow me to post 2 videos at once, the second video can be found on my Instagram page! Thank you!💙) #positivereinforcementworks #positivereinforcementtraining #dogtrainersuk #dogtrainer #dogbusiness #smallbusiness #northamptonshire #northampton #overstone

Meet Maggie!💙🐶 Maggie is a rescue Golden Retriever who is struggling with listening and focusing on her owners! She becomes very tunnel visioned on smells, especially at grassy fields like this one🌿🌼 Maggie and her owner have been practicing 'Touch', to help motivate Maggie to come back whilst improving her listening skills. It has worked wonders!😍 Now Maggie can focus just that bit more and we can start to focus on teaching her cues!🤯 You can hear both my and Maggie's owner's gasps when Maggie stays focused and sits straight away. This is such a big step for her!💙🐶 #dogtraineruk #positivereinforcementworks #positivereinforcementtraining #dogbusiness #smallbusinessuk #dogtrainingismypassion #northamptonshire #northampton #uptonpark #upton #dustonvillage #hunsburyhill

Koda Update!🐶💙 Koda has aced all of his training and had his final training session over the weekend💙 Koda now knows 'Close', coming back to his owner when asked to, walking beside him and giving his full attention to his owner when asked. Koda also does regular check-ins with his owner when on his extended lead. Coming back spontaneously to check in with his owner before roaming off in front for a bit, before coming back again💙 Koda's biggest challenge was meeting other dogs. On our consultation before training began, Koda would bolt to the end of his lead, bouncing on his hind legs so incredibly excited to meet a new friend!🤯 Now, he can focus on his owner when asked to and can ignore a lot more dogs. He still struggles slightly when another dog is a bit too close or a bit too excited, but I am happy that Koda and his owner are on the right track for success in the future!🥳🐶 With each session I could see Koda becoming calmer and calmer, with his owner's timing for cues and rewards becoming sharper and more precise. It's lovely to see Koda and his owner enjoying their walks together and being able to relax more, without being pulled around and getting frustrated. Smiles all round!🥳💙🐶 #dogtrainer #dogtrainersuk #northamptonshire #northampton #uptonpark #hunsburyhill #dustonvillage #positivereinforcementworks #positivereinforcementtraining #dogtrainingisfun

Meet Koda💙🐕 Koda is a very handsome Husky who gets a bit too excited when he meets other dogs. He's still young but his size makes walks a bit stressful when he's bouncing and zooming around😄🐕 Koda's owner and I have been working on rewarding Koda's attention, ignoring other dogs in the distance, as well as teaching him some new walking cues to clear up any miscommunication 💙 This is only his second training session and his progress is very impressive!🥳 We have mainly focused on ignoring other dogs but today we worked on introducing 'Close' and 'This Way'.🚶‍♀️ By the time we made this video, Koda was getting a bit tired, so his focus wasn't as good as it was earlier in the session (though he is still showing great progress and making the right choices!💙) I'm very happy to see how quick Koda is learning and it's always nice to end a session on a high note with plenty of smiles all round😊💙 #northamptonshire #northampton #uptonpark #upton #duston #dustonvillage #dogtrainer #dogtrainersuk #dogtraining #dogtrainingisfun #positivereinforcementworks #positivereinforcementtraining #smallbusinessuk #dogbusiness