16/10/2025
DID YOU KNOW?
WCF stores are great for practicing socialisation with your dog! In a busy world with more and more businesses being dog friendly, socialising your dog is crucial for developing a confident, well-adjusted dog with fewer behavioral concerns. The process helps them be comfortable and happy around new people, animals, and experiences by building a foundation of positive associations.
Wednesday’s “Lock in Dog Training “ event saw 11 dog and owner partnerships put through a rigorous test, designed to take them out of their comfort zones in a safe yet challenging environment.
The partnerships practised meet and greets with
our delighted staff and then dispersed around the store for the next stage of the training event designed by jencartmel of Clever Dogs Dog Training.
Our broad spacious aisles allowed for the teams to practice on and off lead heel work plus recalls in a variety of scenarios. With so many yummy dog treats and tempting toys on display and so many dogs and handlers in store it was amazing to see how calmly the teams handled a busy situation.
Next up was a scentwork exercise where articles were hidden around the store with dogs’ noses having to work overtime to find their articles. The duck and venison meaty sticks were a real distraction 🦆 🦌 Finds were celebrated with many a wagging tail and happy face!
The night was packed with exercises really testing these dogs out and culminated in a Supermarket Sweep where partnerships had to locate certain products in store!
Margaret Lee fromministry_of_fur_grooming was available to help owners check microchips and to give valuable grooming advice and then after 90 minutes of testing activities we had a lock in shopping session and dogs were provided with a goody bag for their superb efforts!
We have never seen so many smiling faces from our customers and their dogs and the time really seemed to fly by.
Big thanks to all of the handlers and their 4-legged wonder dogs, the time, commitment and care put into training, aided by the wonderful Jen Cartmel was so evident.
Thanks also to Kate and Fi who provided practical and photographic support on the evening.
The pictures give a snapshot of what went on in a really busy night!