Roxanne Fontanarosa Dog Behaviour Consultant

20/12/2024

I’m now officially on my Christmas break and will return on Monday 6th January. I’ll be putting my feet up and spending time with my family 🥰

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year 🥳 🎄🥂

19/12/2024

Please consider donating to Pennine Pen Animal Rescue to support all of the animals in need this Christmas.

Pennine Pen are an excellent charity that look after their animals so well and really do care for them. They need your support to continue to do so. 🎄

19/12/2024

121s today:

Buddy the Frenchie. We headed out for a walk and did more training for his reactivity. He responded really well 🌟

Then I saw Bella the boxer and we also went out for a walk to work on her reactivity towards people and dogs (sadly I didn’t get a photo of her today!) however, she responded really well to her training! 🤩💖

18/12/2024

The adorable Emmy 💖

She has been struggling with anxiety and noise sensitivity. But has now started the journey to changing how she feels so she can start to live life more peacefully.

17/12/2024

Trevor acing his settle training today 💪🏻

16/12/2024

Keeping Your Dog Safe and Stress-Free This Christmas 🎄

The festive season can be a whirlwind of activity—visitors arriving, decorations going up, and busy schedules all around. While this is exciting for us, it can be overwhelming for our dogs.

Here are a few tips to help your dog stay safe, stress-free, and happy this Christmas:

Create a Quiet Space

Designate a calm, quiet area in your home where your dog can retreat if things get too busy. This could be their crate, a quiet room, or a cozy corner with their bed and favorite toys. Dogs need breaks from noise, excitement, and unfamiliar people to reset and relax.

Stick to Their Routine

With all the holiday chaos, it’s easy to stray from your dog’s usual feeding, walking, and sleeping schedule. Try to keep their routine as normal as possible—it gives them a sense of stability and calm in an otherwise unpredictable environment.

Watch for Signs of Stress

Learn to recognize when your dog feels overwhelmed. Signs can include pacing, excessive yawning, licking lips, or trying to hide. If you see these, gently guide your dog to their quiet space to decompress.

Limit Exposure to Stressors

Not all dogs enjoy the extra guests, loud music, or the smell of rich Christmas food. Give your dog permission to “sit out” if they’d rather relax. If you have visitors, let them know your dog might need some space and discourage over-enthusiastic interactions, especially from children.

Safe Spaces for Food and Gifts

Holiday treats like chocolate, mince pies, and certain decorations can be harmful to dogs. Keep all food and small items well out of reach, and encourage guests to do the same.

Decompression Walks

Regular, calm walks away from the chaos can do wonders for your dog. Time outside allows them to sniff, explore, and decompress. A relaxed, sniffy walk gives your dog both mental and physical stimulation and helps them reset.

One-on-One Time

Don’t forget to give your dog some individual attention, whether it’s a quiet cuddle, a training session, or a game of fetch. Your presence reassures them and strengthens your bond during the busy season.

Christmas should be a joyful time for everyone, including your dog. By allowing them opportunities to decompress and respecting their need for space, you can ensure they stay relaxed, happy, and safe throughout the festivities.

Do you have any go-to strategies for helping your dog stay calm during the holidays? Share below—I’d love to hear what works for you! 🌟

15/12/2024

Many people ask about neutering their dog if they present with over-reactivity or fear aggression. Heal the Dog makes an interesting point here about research that suggests nervous or fearful dogs would probably benefit from staying in tact for longer as testosterone, oestrogen and progesterone may increase emotional and cognitive resilience.

07/12/2024

Buddy and his human practising their training. Buddy had a breakthrough this week in our session and showed some real progress in his training exercises for reactivity 🥰

07/12/2024

This week I met beautiful Bella and Barney for their initial consultation. Bella is reactive towards other dogs on walks, and then Barney tends to join in.

We will be working on:

⭐️ management on walks and what to avoid
⭐️ managing arousal levels
⭐️ teaching self control behaviours
⭐️ teaching focus
⭐️ helping both dogs to decompress

19/11/2024

Tongue out Tuesday!

Show me your dog’s with their tongues out 👅 🐶

Credit:

13/11/2024

Do you see the little black dog in the background? This is Toby a Romanian rescue and he struggles to remain relaxed around other dogs, and was really reactive on walks.

He would pull his owner and could not eat food for training as he was too busy scanning the environment, and barking. This was of course really difficult for his owner to deal with and walks were stressful.

We’ve been working hard on helping Toby to change how he feels about dogs, and to offer alternative behaviours to barking and lunging. We also had to teach him to feel able to focus and feel able to eat food outdoors! He has still has lots of learning to do, which is normal for reactivity.

But look at him with my Fig (behind a fence for safety/ to err on the side of caution)!! He was able to take food, listen to his owner’s voice, and offer alternative behaviours to barking etc 👏👏👏

What a fantastic achievement 🌟

13/11/2024

Teddy’s family came to me for help with teaching Teddy to come back when called, and to stop him from jumping up at visitors ✋

Firstly we worked on:

🌟the marker word and how it can help with motivation for training
🌟 focus and attention as this is required before any other training can be done

Then we practised:

🌟 Teddy keeping all paws on the floor even when someone walks through the front door and says ‘hi’ 👋🏻
🌟 coming back when called consistently
🌟 building confidence so he’s ready for walks and happy to have his lead attached

He did amazingly!! Super impressed 🤩

13/11/2024

A nice trip out to the pet shop with Fig today. She chose her own Christmas present 🎁 🐻

12/11/2024

Did you know that I offer 30 minute telephone appointments? 📞

I will give behavioural management advice to prevent escalation of behaviour such as anxiety and aggression to enable instant improvements for you and your dog.

The journey to change behaviour and help you and your dog feel happier starts here…

Book now 👉🏻 https://dogtrainingandbehaviourconsultant.as.me/?appointmentType=65515540

12/11/2024

Pennine Pen’s Christmas Fair is on Sunday 24th November.

Please come along and support this amazing animal charity, they need all the support they can get 🐾 🐱 🐶

It's not long now until our Christmas Fair Spectacular!! Come and join us on Sunday 24th November 12-3pm and get some early Xmas bargains. Get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy hearty traditional food & drink 🐾🐾❤

11/11/2024

Thinking of all those people and animals that gave their lives for us ❤️

🌹

10/11/2024

Fig being trained by Kat. Fig was learning to move away from the Kong piece and while remaining focused on it. The next step is to build duration in being still and focused without trying to sn**ch the Kong.

As a dog professional, it’s important for me to practise new training skills with other professional trainers that are skilled in their field.

Photo of Kat from K9 Behaviour Consultancy

06/11/2024

Henry had another puppy package session with me today to work on his confidence outdoors, getting used to wearing a lead, and self control around objects that he has been stealing.

It’s important for puppies to learn skills from an early age so that good habits are formed going forward.