The Dog Nose

03/01/2024

My email has gone down and will likely be down for the next 24 hours. You can message via here or phone if needed 🙁

01/01/2024

The 2024 proclamations of Princess Poppet Rocket 1st

1. There will be no new additions to the royal household unless they are of a suitable lineage and of good bearing. Quite frankly the last successful candidate has proved to be a shocking indictment of the current system as he possesses neither the appropriate respect or humility due towards Her Royal Fuzziness. In light of this a more stringent testing process will be implemented

2. Tributes continue to occur below acceptable levels. Roast meats have become an infrequent sight. This must be rectified or there may need to be ‘encouragement’.

3. Visits to the royal estates have been enjoyed and it is well that they have increased in frequency. These visits will be improved by leaving the insolent princeling elsewhere. Perhaps an alternative destination for him could be found. Her Royal Pokey Paws would suggest…
A skip
The forest
Abu Dhabi

4. Events in the human world continue to focus on unimportant matters. Her Most Esteemed Huntress would like to gently remind you all that squabbling about these small details is pointless as you are all subject to Her will any way and resource guarding is only engaged in by the insecure. So get a grip

5. The sky hose and oven are frequently faulty this has led to The Royal Poodle having more baths than would be desired. Surely a more forward thinking solution could be found.

6. The Exalted Poodle wished it to be known that outlawing any subject based on their appearance is a dick move. How one behaves should be the only criteria for judgement. She wishes it to be known that she has many lovely fat headed friends and is deeply wounded that they should be persecuted in this way

7. The Predatory Princess wonders why this should be still be necessary to say but hurting, scaring, and shocking her canine subjects is unacceptable. If you can’t teach without using those methods you need to be a student until you can.

6. Her Esteemed Furriness wishes all her faithful and valued subjects a healthy, happy and industrious year, your continued success is a reflection of her benevolent majesty so shine bright

30/12/2023

Genius!!

Management is something every trainer I know talks about - it’s one of the first conversations I have with clients. Baby gates, x-pens, leash tethers, the list goes on…

I’ve always thought I was good at finding adaptive solutions but today I walked into a lesson and was blown away by the genius of my client! Their dog is a big boy who loves to counter surf, but also struggles with being confined.

Look at this beautiful AND creative solution they came up with! This is a portable ping pong net 🤯 I am so in love with this and was so impressed with their ingenious idea.

You can find them on Amazon - get one while you can because I think this is gonna be a new trend 😂

26/12/2023

The Feral supervising the wrapping. Every year we wrap 20 or so prezzies for the dogs. I save egg boxes, shoe boxes and cereal boxes filled with scrunched up scrap paper and cardboard tubes. The contents are a mixture of second hand teddies (this year we got a bag of soft happy meal toys from a local freecycle group which are the perfect size for the poodles to carry around when people arrive). Small to medium chews (fish sticks/small pizzles/ostrich tendons) and a scatter of pure meat jerky sticks/dried liver. The contents for all of the boxes this year cost under £10. Rather than opening everything on Christmas Day, we dole them out all over the Christmas break. Having a ready made activity is useful to help them deal with the change to the usual routine and the comings and goings of the festive period. Vid of happy ripping dogs in comments 😁

24/12/2023

Thankyou to everyone who has spent time with us over the last year. Your continued support and friendship has kept us going through some challenging times and I am so happy to welcome you to our new permanent home at the workshops. Have a wonderful break with your canine family and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year

21/12/2023

Our perception, the way we see and understand the world around us, is the brains assimilation of the information the senses can gather. What we think we ‘know’ is only a tiny proportion of the information that’s out there. Our dogs have this incredibly vast ability to gather and process scent information which is a whole world of knowledge we can only get a tiny blurry outline of. Take a moment today when you are out with your dog to just watch them being in the world and know they are educated to a level we can’t even begin to grasp ❤️

19/12/2023

Dogs are opportunistic scavengers. Over Christmas we may have unusual visitors who are not used to dogs, extra alcohol consumption and many distractions alongside food and treats that can be fatally toxic. It’s important we use management to keep our dogs safe so the emergency vet can stay at home and enjoy their Christmas too! Over the years I have had tales from many clients about having to spend one of the Christmas days at the vets. Examples include an entire 1kg fruitcake, a box of mini chocs (in that case the dog had actually managed to unwrap them) and about a third of the Christmas turkey.
Have a safe area for the dog to be in if you are not able to ensure that dangerous tempty stuff can be put out of their way

18/12/2023

My little Poppet Rocket. Christmas themed challenge ☺️

17/12/2023

life with The Feral 🤣👹

14/12/2023

13/12/2023

SOLD OUT- Collect by arrangement from Lower Bassett Down Workshops or free local delivery on Friday. While stocks last

13/12/2023

11/12/2023

Platter of dooooooom (if you know, you know 🤣)

09/12/2023

‘Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters’

06/12/2023

This is such an important distinction. Often the word socialisation will be used as a blanket term for any exposure or interaction a puppy has. Gradual non threatening exposure to sounds, sights and events in the world is habituation, not socialisation. Meeting random strangers and experiencing their reactions is more often than not, not socialisation. Puppies who are the single dog in a household need the opportunity to spend regular and predictable time with adult dogs. This is not always easy to provide as our solo pup, having been removed from the familial situation is often frantic for dog-dog contact and won’t necessarily receive the softening benefits of the ‘puppy licence’ when getting access to new adult dogs on walks and similar. It would be fantastic for trainers who organise puppy classes to build in social opportunities from older dogs to the new babies, helping their guardians to understand the importance of this process and how to facilitate it in a safe way

05/12/2023

SOLD OUT- Collect from Lower Bassett Downs Workshops or local delivery on Thursday

02/12/2023

Tinder V Reality
Whats your dog’s version 🤣

01/12/2023

Easy cheap Christmas prezzie ideas for the dogs, only the snuffle balls were new, the rest of the toys I had removed from the bottom of the toy box and kept hidden so the dogs hadn’t seen them for a while. Wrap up in brown paper or non foil Christmas paper and it makes for a nice Christmas morning activity. We actually do several of these which we use all over the Christmas period.

29/11/2023

£10 goodie bags available while stock lasts.
3 Pizzle,
5 ostrich crispies
10 ostrich tendon

26/11/2023

😏 SELF-VALIDATION OR THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT EVIDENCE OF COMPETENCY.

I recently submitted an article for a veterinary journal and this article has to work through the peer review process in order to be published. Peer review is where suitably qualified persons (far more qualified than myself) read your work and decide whether it is adequate enough.

I've had two pieces of work be published after successfully working through this process. Despite already being a peer reviewed author, I have had my article returned for 'RADICAL REVISION'. Amidst the overall constructive feedback, some words used that hit me hard and caused my stomach to knot were 'UNACCEPTABLE' and 'POOR'.

Ouch.

😩

I recall similar feelings while getting feedback on my assignments during my Masters Degree. There were times where my initial response to feedback was 'f**k it, why do I bother?'.

But then I'm left with the choice of throwing away all of that time and effort I've put in because I cannot handle criticism ...

OR

I accept the fact that I am learning and that learning sometimes involves failing.

Of course, it would be lovely if the feedback didn’t feel so brutal! But, would I try as hard on round two if the reviewer was focused on not hurting my feelings and not used those particular words to help me understand how much work I needed to do?

I am responsible for how I perceive and respond to this feedback. I have to remind myself quickly that it is not a personal attack on me. It's there to help me be better!

While applying for my accreditation(s), which includes assessment on my practical training skills, I felt those familiar feelings of vulnerability.

On one practical exam, I had to keep my cool and stay sharp coaching a client and their dog for up to an hour, with two very highly qualified and experienced examiners sitting within 2 metres of me. Not easy!

“What if I fail?”

The easiest option would be to not open myself up for that potential outcome by not applying in the first place and to carry on telling myself I am up to standard. Perhaps using reasons like ....

⏰ Time
💰 Cost
🤔 Not aligning with all aspects of that particular organisation.
🤷‍♀️ Feeling like industry regulation is never going to happen, so why bother?
🧍‍♀️ 🧍‍♂️ My clients, recommendations and reputation are already evidence of how good I am.

BUT! By NOT doing ANY examination or assessment with an organisation run by highly qualified and experienced peers, you are potentially missing out on a valuable self-improvement process.

It's potentially going to hurt your ego, but if you push through it and are successful, you'll come out the other side feeling accomplished!
You now have UNBIAS validation from peers.
This is VERY different to validation from loved ones, friends clients or followers.

Whether it's a dog training competition, an academic course, a practical training exam, being assessed for accreditation with an organisation or submitting written work for acaedmic journals....subjecting yourself to external review from peers is an important UNBIAS way of learning about our ability as dog trainers and/or behaviourists.

BIAS VALIDATION means NOTHING! Being externally assessed by peers on our knowledge AND skills is important.

But do note…..Great practical training skills don’t equal adequate knowledge on behaviour, nor does adequate knowledge on behaviour equate to adequate practical training skills.

DOG OWNERS: When choosing a professional to help you work with your dog, please take these things into consideration. If they have only recently (or ever) assessed themselves, how do we know whether they are truly good enough?

👀 Look for qualificatons that you recognise (the use of word 'qualified' alone doesn't guarantee you anything!).
👀 Look for oragnisation acronyms and then go and look at that organisations code of conduct/ethos and see if it aligns with you.

ASPIRING DOG PROFESSIONALS: Want to learn how to be a dog trainer or behaviourist? Make sure you are learning from someone who has pushed through failure to improve their knowledge and skill.

If there is no evidence of education or assessment then how the heck do we know if this individual/company's education is adequate?

It's just insanity that in this industry we see unqualified and unaccredited ‘experts’ offering courses on how to become a professional dog trainer, having never been assessed by anyone!

In some instances, they even have the nerve to call it a University!

We cannot take people's word for it that their internal self- validation process is unbias enough and therefore, adequate.

A suprising number of people struggle with saying "I got it wrong" or "I can do better".

Learn from people who open themselves up to feedback and who demonstrate they are prepared to take criticism on the chin.
Please be aware that that followers on social media are not evidence of this process.

The same goes for when we are training dogs. Whilst errorless learning is desirable, errors are feedback to us as trainers and can make us do better. The dog (or learner) is never wrong, for their behaviour is a mirror of their environment, and you are likely a significant part of that.

So, I'm going to be piecing together my damaged ego and start working on my article. Historically, they've always passed on the second submission and I'm hopeful this one will too.
If it doesn't, I'm sure I'll learn a lot from the feedback provided- because I always do.

If you aren't sure which organisation to go to here in the UK for a dog training professional, head over to The Animal Behaviour and Training Council (The ABTC).

25/11/2023

Oh it is good to be back. Check out Maja enjoying a lovely calm explore while the humans chat ❤️

Watch, follow, and discover more trending content.

24/11/2023

SILVER-Two hides, set to encourage clearing of the area, which should be 'real life' and offer a fair challenge. 5 minutes. All entries will be entered in the ScentOps Champions League unless selected otherwise on the entry form. By entering you agree to compete under the ScentOps Trial rules which....

19/11/2023

Lost dog tracking level 1 is this Friday/Saturday/Sunday
Handler spots sold out in the first week but there are a few spectator spots available.
You get all the theory and can watch all the dogs work and ask questions, you can also join the fb group for ongoing training. Only 2 spaces left

https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=18885963&appointmentType=52790534

18/11/2023

This does not feel like 6 years ago! I was introduced to Lesley’s training centre after a course with Anne Lil Kvam started what has become my obsessional fascination with scent detection. Her system is one of the most well thought out and systematic that are available. It also is the reason behind Poppets wonderful indication!

17/11/2023

Taking the dog for a walk?

Make sure your dog is under proper control and in sight at all times.

Make sure you follow dog walking etiquette and don’t cause a nuisance to others

• Keep your dog on a lead in built up areas and around other animals and children
• If you see a dog being walked on a lead put yours on a lead as well, not all dogs or people want to be approached by unknown dogs
• Be considerate of all wildlife and livestock – if caught harming or chasing these you could face prosecution
• Bag It and Bin It – pick up after your dogs, failing to have the means to clear up or not seeing your dog is no excuse
• If your dog is attacked by another make sure you exchange details with the other dog owner and check your dog thoroughly for any wounds, continuing to walk your dog could cause small wounds to tear open – to report an attack call us on 0300 456 0107 or email [email protected]
• If a person is bitten or put in fear by a dog report this to Wiltshire Police by calling 101
🐩🐶

16/11/2023

I absolutely love that I get to do Scentwork with so many non traditional breeds and types. Former free roaming dogs, sight hounds, mastiffs, livestock guarders. Tonight’s beautiful lurchers really brought this home to me, how much joy we get when these independent, free thinking dogs choose to play a game with us! As usual I enjoyed the session so much that I completely forgot to take any pictures so here’s a pic of one of my other darling girls! 🙈

15/11/2023

Our online Scentwork group has space for anyone who wants to work through a beginners program at their own pace. This could be for dogs who wouldn’t cope with a group or class environment, for people who just want ideas or the accountability of a regular group. If your work/lifestyle or location mean you can’t get to classes easily. The weekly online class is recorded for anyone who can’t make it and posted to the private facebook group. You do not need to ‘train live’ on the class, all submissions can be done by private video. Friday evenings class has become one of my favourite parts of the week as we have such a lovely group. To join in

Schedule your appointment online The Dog Nose

13/11/2023

Renewing my Understand Animals Aggression in dogs for professionals course ☺️ I did this course in 2017 and it was one of the most life/work/mind changing pieces of education have ever done. I don’t think a month has gone past since then when I haven’t recommended it to someone else! I owe a substantial amount of my path since then to all of the fantastic content in it. I am so excited to be catching up with all the new research thats been added over the years. Thanks to my lovely family who gifted it to me as my Christmas present 🎁

12/11/2023

Todays fab private search venue. Weather not so great though 🤣

31/10/2023

Happy Halloween 🤣🤣