Ruff Pooch

31/12/2025

Restoration is such an important part of our lives. This is what makes us keep going.

Without it, live gets just a little bit too much.

Without it, we get overtired, overstimulated, burned out.

Being able to relax, to let things go for a moment and maybe have a good night of deep sleep helps our bodies function.

It's the same with dogs.

So the next time your dog can't settle, they're amped-up ask yourself:

- do I ever reward the calm behaviours?
- do they get good quality sleep?
- can they rest in the home environment?
- do they feel safe?

It is not possible to be relaxed all the time and to feel safe 24/7.

It's not about that, removing stress is not key to success.

Making their bodies resilient, so that they can handle stress, excitement and them go back to the rest and digest state where their body can restore - this is what our dogs (and we!) need so much.

- Rewarding calm behaviours
- Creating some routines so that their live has some predictability
- Giving them sense of safety

All that will help the parasympathetic nervous system take over when it's needed, which will help your dog learn the pattern of going back to being calm.

27/12/2025

Little Christmas scentwork ideas for you and your pooch ☺️🐾

Scentwork is an amazing activity for dogs. It channels their basic need to sniff, on top of that they are searching and finding some amazing things. In Alf's case it's food, but we can teach them to work with a specific scent too.

The best thing about scentwork:
🐾 it has a calming effect on dogs
🐾 helps to bring back their focus
🐾 and can even help with self confidence 💪🐾

⚠️ Always make sure to help your dog if they need it. Make sure they find whatever you've hidden for them.

The mistake many of us make when playing scent games is making it too hard too soon. Your dog needs to train this, as anything else. Start easy and go with the dog's pace.

You can see I am helping Alf get to the treat hidden under the tennis balls. He hasn't mastered it yet, so I made sure that "find" was nice and big = strong scent, and I helped him by holding the tray.

In the third video Alf finds a treat wrapped in a napkin, hidden in a closed, thick cardboard box. That was pretty hard 😱 But he did that all by himself.

🧠 Always observe your dog - help when it's needed, and give them space to work their magic when they're confident ☺️

Want to learn how the scent works and give your dog an amazing challenge? Well, look at that - I offer nosework sessions 😁 Get in touch (link in the bio, you can also comment here or drop me a message)

25/12/2025

Wishing you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you all for being such amazing parents to your wonderful doggos and for letting me be a small part of your life this year 😊

I hope you and your pooch can relax as fully and completely by your Christmas tree as Alf is in this picture 🐾💚🎄

18/12/2025

Loose lead walking and how to make a walk a good experience for your dog and yourself:

In my last post I talk about:
Engagement
Exploring
Rewarding
Keeping distance
Playing

In the three viedos you can see how few of those merge into one.

Alf was getting nervous, because the park got busy.
He asked to stop and sit.

I didn't insist we keep going

Instead - I listed.

We went to the side, sat down and started observing.
You can see he is a bit stressed, those ears, that nose, eyes - all constantly scanning. He is licking his lips, ywans.
But he is also seeking my help. He feels safe when I massage his chest or when he can keep his paw on my hand.

After about 10 minutes of this, he got up, basically saying - all right mum, I'm ready to carry on.

He had time to take in everything that was happening. He wasn't pressured to deal with all those stimuli.

The third video was taken right after we started walking again. It shows how he is walking beautifully, sniffing the grass, you can clearly see a very loose lead.

If I kept going one of two things would happen:

1. He would slow waaay down, feel totally overwhelmed and his stress levels would keep rising.

2. He would start pulling, which is what many dogs do, when everything becomes too much.

So often dogs pull, because they are overstimulated. Ever had a dog pull you back home, so much that you were glad your arm stayed in the socket?

That is overstimulation. That is your dog saying - this was way too much then what I can handle.

Next time, really watch your pup.
🐾 Do they need a break?
🐾 Stop and watch the world go by.
🐾 Make your walks shorter. Too long walks are often the reason of dogs pulling back home, or getting zoomies right after coming back home.

Dogs are always talking. All we need to do - is listen.

15/12/2025

07/12/2025

Loose Lead Walking

Very underestimated thing when trying to teach a dog walking nicely on the lead is your set up.

Where is my dog
Where do I keep treats
Are they easily accesible, so I can reach them in time to reward the right position?
How am I holding the lead.

If your dog is:
Jumping up for treats
Walking in front if you
Walking around you

There's a pretty good chance your treats are on the opposite side to where your pup is.

Keep your treats and drop them on the side, you want your dog to stay on
Drop the treats slightly behind you, so they don't learn they have to be in front to get the reward
Hold the lead across your body

Reward delivery and your body language is so important. When this is done well and very clear, your dog won't be confused with what you want them to do. This means, they are more likely to make the right choice.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Stay tuned for more lead walking tips 🐾

Want to learn how to teach your dog how to walk nicely - get in touch 😊

01/11/2025

Hope you had good Halloween 😊🐾

We've been doing a lot of Halloween scentwork last week, and it turned out to be a real treat 😁
You can even see Winston's unconventional way of collecting his finds 😅

31/10/2025

🐾 Happy Halloween! 🐾

Alf and I celebrated with a treat in a form of a yummy pup cup this morning. You can see he is very pleased with himself. Also showing off his lates fashion choice from - pawsome bandana 😊

We've also been doing scentwork scearches with some Halloween props - thank you
for this inspiration!