K9 of Mine

I offer dog walking services.

I work with dog owners to help solve problems (lead pulling / poor recall, reactivity, puppy biting, separation anxiety among many others) & lead better lives with their canine companions of all breeds & ages.

26/12/2024

Happy Holidays 🎄🖤🤎🤶🏻

22/11/2024

Not all hope is lost. ☺️

A man with two on-lead cokapoos asked me if Coal were friendly and whether his dogs could play with him in the field we were in.

I said no as he gets donut zoomies which can hurt his hips, and he can be OTT with some dogs (which he’s proving me wrong more and more often).

The man said “fair enough” to which I replied “thanks for asking”, we wished each other a great day and he walked off.

The cockapoos were barking and pulling but hey, can’t have it all 😉

There are some nice people out there, I promise ☺️

21/11/2024

This has been on my mind a lot lately. 🤔

Why are we overcomplicating dog training? 🤷🏻‍♀️

When dogs do good things, positive consequences follow. 👍

When dogs do bad things, negative consequences follow. 👎

Your job is to tell / teach them which behaviours are “good” and which behaviours are “bad”. 👩🏻‍🏫

Sure, there are nuances and there is no one-size-fits all-approach. 🙅🏻‍♀️

But come on.

Tired of being confused, overwhelmed, and disheartened by your dog’s bad behaviours and what to do about them? 😩

Comment below or DM me to get that sorted, and I’ll send you some info on how I can help you. I’m looking for 3 more people this November who are serious and are ready and willing and able to commit to getting their dream dog. 📬

19/11/2024

Should you get a dog trainer? 🤔🤨

A lot of people try to fix things solo - not just with their dogs, but business, and health too. And I cannot fault them for trying. I would actually actively encourage everyone to at least try and give it their best go! 📣

Because if you don’t try and give it your best, how do you know what worked and what didn’t? 🧐

The truth is, if you could do it alone, you’d already have. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s why I have a business mentor. That’s why I have a PT. There’s no shortcuts but there’s direction, clarity, and accountability. I need help. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Stop grinding, guessing, second-guessing, overthinking, worrying, and winging it.😩

I’ve helped hundreds of dog owners change their dog’s behaviour and finally have an enjoyable life together. 🐕‍🦺

Don’t wait for your puppy to “grow out of it”. Don’t wait for your dog to just “stop”. The truth is, it ain’t happening. Comment below or DM me if you need help. Let’s get you back on track. 📬

03/07/2024

Too much freedom for our dogs can actually hurt our dogs.

I’m not talking about them free-roaming the parks and streets and potentially chasing other animals into traffic, getting lost, or any other mischief you can think of.

I believe this is because when our dogs are presented with too many decisions, they can get overwhelmed. Dogs are animals and some are quite intelligent (and almost seem to have more common sense than some humans…) but they are dogs. They do not have the same cognitive capabilities compared to us, humans. Don’t get me wrong, some overwhelm and stress are good for our dogs (and that’s a post for another day), but too much of it can do some damage to our dogs.

So for some dogs (especially those who are anxious) making a decision with so many options available is simply too much as it creates uncertainty. Hence where some undesirable behaviours such as excessive barking in the house or reactivity to strangers / dogs outside can come from.

When we combat that uncertainty with certainty (revolutionary, I know!) it all falls into place for our dogs. The certainty for our dogs comes from rehearsing and repeating the same commands such as heel, sit, place, over and over in many different environments. The dog understands what they need to do and what they get at the end (usually a reward).

That; 's why foundational obedience is so important. Tricks and all are fun and a cool way to build your bond with your dog and keep them fulfilled and stimulated; however, get the basics right. The basics may seem boring at first but are super useful! The basics I would focus on are place, crate, and heel. Let us know if you need any help mastering them.

02/07/2024

If your dog displays any undesirable behaviours (lead pulling, excessive barking, reactivity), I want you to answer these three questions before you reach out to your local dog trainer.

1. Is your dog healthy?

Here I am not just talking about any long-standing and serious issues (e.g. hip dysplasia, arthritis) but also tiny little niggles that they may have such as ear infections, muscle soreness and tightness, allergies and intolerances.

When you go to your gym / for a run (other exercise options are available) and overdo it a lil bit, you can get sore and snappy. Same with dogs. Before you take your dog to a behaviourist / trainer, make sure they are healthy.

Serious undesirable behaviours that have appeared out of nowhere with no clearly identifiable triggers (such as aggression) could be a sign for you to take your dog to the vet for a check-up / blood test.

2. What does your dog eat?

We can be here all day talking about what we should and shouldn’t feed our dog. Just like with training methods it is becoming a right minefield when it comes to choosing the right diet for your dog.

Not all kibble is bad kibble. Not all raw is great. Not all wet is amazing. You’ve got to look at the ingredients list. Again, I am no canine dietitian but make sure that starchy components like rice, peas, SOME (not all!) grains, and fats are not the first couple of ingredients on your dog’s food’s packaging. Let me know if you want some resources to find out more but I would look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk website for the ingredient lists.

When we eat rubbish, we feel rubbish. Same thing with dogs. From my experience dogs who are on a chunky (or extra chunkylishious) side can be more anxious! And also let’s try not to shave off any years of our dog’s life expectancy. Resist the puppy eyes and don’t overtreat your dog!

3. How much does your dog sleep?

I’m not talking about that sleep when they wake up every time you move. I’m talking about good quality, restful sleep.

Imagine if you can only sleep 4-5 hours a night. After a week you would be exhausted and shattered. Imagine operating like that for weeks, months, years?! Just like us, our dogs of all ages, puppies in particular, need plenty of restful sleep. I would aim for anywhere between 14-18 hours a day.

Most of the time you can find that fixing any of these (or all of these) can help you see a positive change in your dog’s behaviour.

If you feel your dog is eating good quality food, they get plenty of good quality sleep, and they are healthy BUT still misbehave, just reach out! Let’s get to the bottom of it!

22/06/2024

Two absolute legends from today.

for one for completing his first ever triathlon at 02:06:09 🥵👏🏻🔥

And Coal. He was absolutely superb.

Dog training and fitness training are very much alike. The more time and effort you put in, the clearer your training is, the more consistent you are, the more frequently you review your progress, the better results you get.

Wasn’t bothered about any “well-behaved” dogs who were lunging and pulling towards him. Ignored the people who were crowing him at viewing points. Wasn’t bothered about the noise levels, bikes going top speed or runners. Cheered on dog dad at all checkpoints. Top lad.

I work with my own dog and my clients dogs so they can be a part of the family and everyone would enjoy their lives together. It takes time and hard work. If it were easy; everyone would have impeccably behaved dogs.

It ain’t.

Happy weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

19/06/2024

Here are a few practical recommendations for you to implement if you want to improve your dog's recall under distractions.

1. Recall them often during the walk, not just during the "training" or at the end of the walk when you want to put them on a lead / in a car and go home.

Recalling your dog often during the walk and releasing them back to sniffing will turn recall into "a thing that we just do" with our dogs, like sit.

If you only call your dog back at the end of the walk, your dog will quickly clock that recall = fun time's over (i.e. the dog will be put on a lead and walked home).

If you call your dog back multiple times during the walk and let them go back to sniffing after they come back to you, that is enough for them to go: "Do you know what, if I come back to them, they will reward me with food / play / scratch behind the ears AND I will get back to sniffing, that's not so bad!"

2. Always guarantee success. This could mean keeping your dog on a lead when they are out in the garden as this is where I see owners poison their recall cue most often. They can shout "come" or "here" whilst their dog is starting to chew on the plants or digging holes, and the dog, 99.9% of the time will ignore them. In those situations you teach your dog it is absolutely ok for them to ignore you. If you asked them to come back, use the long line and reel them in if they don't listen to you. Come means come!

If you don't want to keep your dog on the lead in the garden - fine by me. BUT do NOT, and I canont emphasise that enough, do not use your recall cue if you cannot guarantee success. Just let them be, and if your dog is up to mischief, that's on you I'm afraid!

3. Don't always train recall in "training situations" that you have set up. For example, when the dog is in a sit, on a place bed, or in a down.

Start practicing recall in more real-world scenarios. For example, your dog is sniffing the ground, ask them to come back to you.

Or there are dogs playing in a distance - don't get too close to them to begin with, and recall your dog.

Again, long line or a good quality flexi lead are gonna be your best friends for that.

Here's a lil bonus tip: randomise the rewards that your dog will get when they come back to you. That anticipation can make them more excited to come back to you!

Start doing more of those things with your dog only when your dog understands what recall cue means in low distraction environments.

Have fun and don't rush this!

17/06/2024

"My dog has really good recall UNLESS there are other dogs around."

Sounds familiar? Many owners struggle with their dogs not having a solid, reliable recall in high-distraction environments.

And unsurprisingly so!

Here are the most common reasons why your dog does not come back to you when you call them. It's really important to understand (and be honest about!) the reasons why your dog's recall is not where you want it to be.

1. Our dogs do not understand the recall command.

You say "come" and your dog just either looks at you confused or just completely disregards you.

Can you hand on hart say that you've spent enough time (and I mean rep after rep after rep) teaching your dog what recall is?

Have you done this just in the back garden and in the house?

Most of the time dogs don't understand what that recall cue means. So it's on us to teach them!

2. We have poisoned the recall cue.

This means that the dogs can pick and choose when they come back to us and when they don't because we have not reinforced the recall cue 99.99% of the time.

This usually looks like this:

Your dog is out in the garden either having a blast with a ball, digging, zooming, or just having a lil old wee-wee.

You call them back (usually) using their recall cue. They don't come back. You keep calling and calling and calling. They keep ignoring you.

Every time you call them and your dog doesn't come back, you poison your recall cue even more.

3. We cannot compete (yet) with some things out there that dogs find valuable.

For example, dogs can find other dogs more motivating and fun than us.

Or it could be squirrels, pheasants, sheep, or other people...

When our dogs are faced with a choice whether to come back to us or do the thing that they value the most, and the two options are not aligned, the recall will fail.

Some of these things we can fix with a little bit of time, consistency, and patience. Stay tuned for the next post on some practical tips you can do with your dog to help them teach better recall :)

09/03/2024

I’ve actually lost count..

… of how many houses we walked past today in which a dog barked at me and two dogs I had with me whilst walking outside. 🙈 some of them definitely looked like that 👆🏻

There’s such a simple fix to that problem (ordinarily). Before we get to that, it’s important to understand why your dog is barking and what’s driving the dog’s behaviour.

❓fear
❓frustration
❓lack of understanding of what is expected of the dog

along with many more other things.

“How can I stop my dog barking at the window then”, you might ask, “once I understand what’s going on”.

1. Teach your dog a place command. It’s not a punishment, it’s more of a “please go over there and wait patiently” thing. Easy to do, takes some time to master but can be done so in a super fun and positive way.

2. Use your lead inside and interrupt the barking. As groundbreaking as it is, so many clients get bamboozled when you show them what can be achieved with a lead on their dog INDOORS. Like training wheels on a bike, that lead will come off at some point when you’re confident in your dog’s behaviour.

Some bonus things to work on:

🦴work on tour dog’s impulse control (you can do that through play)
🦴teach your dog manners. Thresholds, sofas. Anything
🦴crate training - help your dog switch off!
🦴practice what you want to achieve - set the scenario up instead of waiting for someone to walk past your house. By setting it up you’re proactive and not reactive in the situation, and, chances are, you won’t let the dog rehearse the unwanted behaviours.

Need some help? Just drops me DM!

06/03/2024

I can’t fix your dog. I really truly can’t wave a magic wand and “fix” your dog 😐🪄

Well what can I do then? How can I then help you with your dog’s bad behaviours?

🧩 I can teach you how to communicate to your dog effectively.
🧩 I can teach you how to teach your dog certain behaviours.
🧩 I can teach you how to interrupt your dog’s “bad” behaviours.
🧩 I can teach you how to navigate challenging situations and make them less challenging and scary and overwhelming.
🧩 I can teach you how to fulfil your dog, how to exercise them mentally and physically.
🧩 I can help you teach your dog how to be a well-balanced, calm dog.
🧩 I can show you what your dog is capable of. And you too!
🧩 I can support you and your dog on your journey.
🧩 I can be your number 1 cheerleader.

I can’t want it more than you do. I can help you in so many ways, but YOU’ve got to be open and willing to be helped.

Deal? 😎

18/02/2024

I've decided to take on a new challenge and now training Coal to be an Assistance Dog.

We got featured in the Telegraph as we are now going through the Unconditional Canines programme at the WA Canine Centre.

Coal has had a great impact on me already and I am really excited to push ourselves even more with our training and journey of working together. He is more than a quick and capable study and loves working with me and helping other people.

Super excited about what lies ahead :)

Full article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/09/shortage-assistance-dogs-people-train-pets/ #:~:text=Shortage%20of%20assistance%20dogs%20leading%20people%20to%20train%20their%20own%20pets,-'Canine%20behaviourists'%20offer&text=People%20are%20having%20their%20own,careful%20rearing%2C%20socialising%20and%20training.

Address

Northwich
CW84BG

Website

https://www.k9ofmine.co.uk/

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You don’t have to take your dog for a walk… …to exercise them. Got to be honest, energy been off for a couple of weeks. Not sure if it’s a bug or something but I’ve not been top of my game.😷 So walks at the moment are a big chore. 😩 Got to exercise the dog though. So we got creative. Backchaining (putting a few commands together) orbit and finishing two paws on the touch pad (old scaffold board cut off). 5 mins freeshaping /luring into two on. 5 mins refreshing orbit (different distances). 5 mins putting it together. Already 15 mins 💪🏻 5 mins gundog retrieval work. 10 mins play with a tug and running around and being silly.🤪 30 mins in front of the drive without leaving my street. I had a blast so did the dog. 😎 You exercising your dog doesn’t have to be the walk that you’re used to. Quality of the exercise trumps quality every time. Get creative. If you’re stuck, drop me a DM and we can brainstorm together🙏🏻 How do you exercise your dog when life gets in the way? 🤔 #dogtraining #labrador #blacklab #tricktraining