Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer

Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer Action 4 Dogs Dog Training founded by Max Muir is based in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Maxwell covers all of Scotland by appointment. Puppy Training.

Dog Training focusing on pet gun dogs and sporting breeds. Personal 121 private Training Sessions in the following Skill sets:

Effective Dog Handling Skills & Proper Use of Equipment. Adolescent Dog Training-Coping With Your Teenager. Behaviour Training Solutions. Online Zoom Sessions, Telephone consultations & Private Discreet Service. Private lessons and home visits are designed to suit a clien

t’s needs and they can be arranged in the home or a location of your choosing. Private one to one training service also caters for puppy training, basic obedience training, and the teaching of handling skills. Training topics include:

Handling skills with the lead. Recall- Training Levels to your recall. Retriever Training. Gun Dog foundation Training. Training good manners, obedience, and greeting behaviours. Teaching dog’s to develop self control. Effective stimulation & enrichment to deal with those dogs with excess energy. Maxwell has hosted regular seminars, lectures and workshops and been guest speakers at many canine events. Maxwell is also available for you to host for presentations and workshops and virtual keynotes and presentations on a wide variety of dog related subjects. He is also open to appearing on podcasts. Visit www.action4dogs.co.uk

Steady until release.It’s a beautiful thing and not only for gundogs. Training a dog to be emotionally steady has huge b...
13/10/2025

Steady until release.

It’s a beautiful thing and not only for gundogs. Training a dog to be emotionally steady has huge benefits in daily life.

It’s not so much that you are controlling your dog, but that your dog learns self-control. This contributes to any and every exercise you can do and teach your dog.

There’s such a thing as a dog being socially steady, where those difficult areas you have in daily life due to over excitement and arousal are markedly better once self control is worked established.

It also helps with obsessive behaviours relating to play where a dog learns to temper its emotions and keep its focus on the task until it is released.

Steadiness cures:
Jumping up
Over excitement
Lack of Attentiveness
Pulling on walks
Recalls

It’s an integral ingredient to any success. If you have a steady dog you have behaviours you can rely on!

An early shot of Degas’s early retrieving instincts before we did any type of gun dog or retrieve work. When we lived on...
11/10/2025

An early shot of Degas’s early retrieving instincts before we did any type of gun dog or retrieve work.

When we lived on the farm he used to collect sheep skulls, or anything else like that he could find.

If you excuse the expression, he was like a dog with a bone when he found these things, totally elated and running over the moors wild and free and in his element.

I got him at 7 months and he’s been crated for most of the day. From the day I picked him up he has never seen a crate again. He has been off lead from day 1 and in all sort of environments. He found a life full of purpose with me.

We bonded, I cared for his needs and instincts, we trained, and we established the relationship in how we live together.

We both enjoy the best life making sure the important and simplest things were cared for and in place.

That’s what important and what makes any ‘training’ you do effective. The relationship IS the key!

Training does not take care of what is missing in a relationship. That is something closer between owner and dog, it is about how you live together and teach those things.

Take care of that snd your training will go well and you will have a willing canine partner.

Once that is achieved…

It’s a dog’s life, and an immensely enjoyable one for the human partner.

10/10/2025

My boy Lewis up to the sound of the geese!

10/10/2025

Degas perks up to the sound of the geese!

Fond memories of this dog I had bonded with on one of my annual block training weekends at Dingwall in the Scottish High...
08/10/2025

Fond memories of this dog I had bonded with on one of my annual block training weekends at Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands.

What I am perceptive to after 20 plus years working with dogs of all breeds and walks of life is how they assess us humans on first meet.

Of course there is a wide range of reactions from interested to completely aloof. However, as the clock ticks away and you spend some time in the company of a strange dog sooner or later they’ll look you over, suss out your intentions, mood, and your nature, including your smell.

On that basis they’ll decide if they want to or are cautious about interacting with you. If you understand them and give them respect as to their space, movement, and not be too keen to touch those that are naturally cautious, they are more likely warm to you gradually and in their own time.

That is why it’s good we are not in a hurry to dish out treats, pull toys out of the bag, and have our hands all over them. Let a dog suss you in its own way and give it the time and space to do it.

It’s sets up any work you may be doing with them on the right track. I met this boy Basil several times and he is one of the many dogs I developed a keen fondness for on my highland visits.

Likewise I have many clients down my neck of the woods who’s dogs I am fond of and I can see that mutuality in the dog’s eyes when we meet, even if weeks or months pass before I see them again.

Training aside, that is one of the real core rewards that I get in working with my clients and their dogs.

07/10/2025

Taking a look back at some my boy's training over the last couple of few years.

It is a good thing to do when you reflect where some things took time to train and where other parts of your training went quickly, and also how well you both learned to communicate and work together.

It also lets you know how far you have come and gives a great insight into the dog's own individual journey with you. Picking those quiet locations and places to work together are very important. It is what really makes the difference in progress through the earlier stages of your training.

One of my own takeaways on reflection was not to be a stickler for too much control, which can dampen a dog's enthusiasm, a few standards here and there is fine but keeping the dog's head in the game rather than persevering with what looks good is what is important.

He came on really well.

A recall isn’t just a recall!Here is a great point to start your recall training. I often ask my clients, ‘Can you go to...
04/10/2025

A recall isn’t just a recall!

Here is a great point to start your recall training.

I often ask my clients, ‘Can you go to any given area and unclip the leash from your dog and have it stay steady beside you until you release it? ’

If not, or you are unsure, then that is a great place and exercise to begin your training. If you cannot control your dog within one step from you, you will not be successful when the dog is at distance from you. 

I usually work with varying durations of this exercise and up to a minute before giving the release.

It is an exercise that can be proofed and tested in a variety of environments that maintain the behaviour and keep it sharp . That initial connection is essential if we are to create a reliable recall command..

A stunning pair of Golden Retriever siblings at 5 months old to work with. Recalls are the primary exercise to establish...
29/09/2025

A stunning pair of Golden Retriever siblings at 5 months old to work with.

Recalls are the primary exercise to establish in our dogs, and at 5 months of age that journey is just beginning. It progresses through puppyhood, adolescence, and on into maturity.

Maintenance after the puppy stage is key considering all the instinctive and social pulls the environment has.

I always say, ‘choose your ground and work at it, nurture it, and test it. Then move on and widen out as your dog develops mentally and physically and as those hunting instincts start to kick in.

Training and bonding are more important than walks, or covering any amount of distance when going out with your dog. Choose 2-3 locations and exercise the mind, connect, and work together to lay a solid foundation which will cope well under challenge.

It’s more than food, toys, or play. It’s relationship training and part of growing up for a dog and with your dog.

A fine Saturday morning for training sessions.2 Golden Retrievers and 2 sporting Labradors to work with.Recall trainingR...
27/09/2025

A fine Saturday morning for training sessions.

2 Golden Retrievers and 2 sporting Labradors to work with.

Recall training
Retrieve training
Lead work and handling skills
Obedience and communication

It’s looks like a beautiful morning is beckoning.

Training the check inThe check-in is a close quarter recall, which I usually define within 15 paces or feet away from yo...
24/09/2025

Training the check in

The check-in is a close quarter recall, which I usually define within 15 paces or feet away from you.

It’s particularly useful for testing how sharp your dog’s response is and how quickly it can respond to you when something enticing is approaching.

I ordered a sharp sound, such as a click with the mouth, followed by a hand signal to direct the dog into position by your side.

As with recalls it takes practise but it’s worth it as it’s a very useful tool to have. No whistle, or loud commands needed, just a prompt for attention and a signal to move.

It is an important and a great complimentary exercise to your recall training.

If you can control 5 yards, or fifteen feet around you, you are doing well.

Handling skills involve how you use the lead, your hands and arms, body movement, and even how and when you use verbal f...
19/09/2025

Handling skills involve how you use the lead, your hands and arms, body movement, and even how and when you use verbal feedback or sound in communicating with your dog.

Really effective lead work is fluent, smooth, and involves just the right application and release of pressure at the right time. This is dictated by how we move, speed up and slow down, and how we give directional signals and guidance to the dog.

It may seem a lot to deal with when you just want to walk your dog on a nice and relaxed loose lead, or have it at heel walking by your side.

It does take practise, particularly if your dog has learned to walk you without those foundations being taught.

At first, just as in learning anything, you will be mechanical as you try to think, act, and use timing all at once.

But, you will find your flow and your dog will flow with you with practise. Many people can become disheartened by mixed results during the mechanical stage of learning but take heart, it is a natural part of the learning process.

It is a skill…

Every strength was once a weakness…

Therefore, practise and work at finding your flow.

It will come…

And it will be worth it when it does.

That’s what training is, although fig training is not often looked on as a skill, just a method or technique that is used to solve things…

If you treat as a skill that you are in the process of learning you will appreciate your efforts and your progress as you head towards getting better, handling things better, and becoming fluent with your new skills.

Consistently is often mentioned as the key to progress, but I like to encourage my clients to be persistent, which is allowing enough time to learn and for something to work.

Happy training folks!

Dog Training and Play time!Most dogs are up for a play. By and large they are playful beings and that is part of how the...
13/09/2025

Dog Training and Play time!

Most dogs are up for a play. By and large they are playful beings and that is part of how they naturally retain juvenile characteristics and traits throughout most of their lives.

Many things can be resolved or trained through play and from the dog’s perspective it is, in my opinion, the very best way for them to learn. A play session with yourself in general, or with yourself with an added object or toy brought into the frey generates pleasurable emotions and makes learning and the mental effort much easier for the dog.

Humans can have issues with playing. What I mean with that is not truly letting themselves go, especially if it is in front of others, whereas dogs have no such inhibition.

I say…find the BIG kid inside of you and play your heart out. It’s there, deep down within you…

Your dog will fully respond to you and recognise when your head is truly in the playing game.

And it will make all the difference. It doesn’t have to be verbal, in fact needs no sound from you at all, no cues, no commands, no hassle…just play.

In doing so you can still teach a pause, a take, a leave, reciprocal movements, chase, you can take it up and down a level as required, and you can slip in all sorts of stuff with handle signal and body language alone which resembles any obedience type stuff you have been trying to train otherwise.

Your dog will have no issue picking it up. It is mistake free learning, only fun…but memorable.

Once you learn to work with different tempos you can teach any valuable behaviour you can use in everyday life…and your dog’s focus on you will improve tenfold.

But to that, to achieve that…find that BIG kid on you.

It’s there just waiting to be let out!

Address

Penicuik
EH260NB

Telephone

+447999866989

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer:

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Our Story

Action 4 Dogs Dog Training founded by me, Max Muir. I am based in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

I am proud to be Labrador Retriever Rescue Scotland Scio Behaviour Consultant & Trainer for the past 17 years.

I cover all of Scotland and the north of England by appointment.

Personal Training Sessions Empowering You With Amazing Skills Effective Handling Skills & Use of Equipment Puppy Training & The Ultimate Start-Up Guide Adolescent Training-Coping With Your Teenager Behaviour Modification & Problem Solving Solutions Online / Telephone consultations Private & Discreet Service Mentoring-Supervision & Guidance to bring the best trainer out in you! Private lessons and home visits are designed to suit your individual needs and they can be arranged in your home or a location of your choosing. Private coaching training service also caters for puppy training, basic obedience and response training, and the teaching of handling skills. Training topics include: Recall Training Specialist Obedience Training Training Impulse Control / Steadiness, and Self Control Daily Stimulation & Enrichment Canine Handling Skills and Use of Equipment I hosts regular seminars and workshops with guest speakers which are held throughout the year. A am also available for you to host for presentations and workshops on a wide variety of dog related subjects. Give me a call or please visit my website www.action4dogs.co.uk