Sarahs Dog Training & Behaviour

28/11/2025

A huge thanks for this lovely review from Darryl who had Laura out to help him and Mitzie with 121 puppy foundations. ❤️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Laura was absolutely brilliant with my puppy training she was very calming and very good at her job. I would absolutely recommend this fantastic service.”

Nice one! ❤️

121 puppy sessions are available to book with Laura on the website:
www.sarahsdogtraining.co.uk

28/11/2025

Tommy, Lizzy & Ted 💙💜💚

28/11/2025

Lifeskills Snapshots ❤️☀️

28/11/2025

5 month old Sky the Dobie and 8 month old Xena the Boxer. It takes a special kind of person to bring up two adolescent dogs at once. 😏

Sky needs some help on the basics as she tends to tune out 👂and do her own thing. Walking together they try to compete by pulling ahead. With another two dogs at home, there is an obvious overstimulation risk so separate training and rest is a must, especially for these two. 🥰

26/11/2025

This one is for the dog trainers (unfortunately)…..

Obedience vs Behavior Modification

It isn’t owners turning to obedience; it’s trainers who sell obedience as a fix for behavior they don’t understand.

The truth is, a lot of dog trainers don’t actually understand behavior yet they take on behavior cases anyway. They don’t know how to regulate a nervous system, rebuild emotional stability, or address the root of reactivity, so they fall back on the only thing they do know: obedience. Commands, tools, and control. They package heel, place, stay, come, & and nicking reactivity, resource guarding, etc. with an e-collar as “behavior modification” and hand the dog back looking “fixed,” when in reality the dog is either shut down, suppressed into silence, or a ticking time bomb. And in many cases, the dog’s symptoms come back even worse because nothing inside the dog was actually healed, just hidden.
When a dog is reactive, aggressive, etc. obedience becomes a band-aid; a way to suppress symptoms instead of addressing the root.
That’s why you see trainers stacking commands over behavior issues:
• “Sit when you see a dog.”
• pop on the prong for even looking at a trigger
Etc.
But the dog isn’t learning how to feel safe.
Real behavior modification starts below the command level:
• Nervous system regulation
• Threshold management
• Environmental structure
• Biological fulfillment
• Emotional recovery
• Controlled exposure
• Confidence building
And tons more.
Once the dog’s nervous system is stable, obedience finally makes sense — because the brain is calm enough to actually learn.
Commands, reps, and tools can make chaos look orderly — but they can’t create healing.
Regulation, confidence, and a dog capable of real happiness will always outweigh obedience used to conceal deeper issues. And dog trainers need to know and respect when NOT to take the case.

26/11/2025

Sometimes you gotta eat cake to really proof impulse control. Yknow. You’ve got to take one for the team.

I’m happy to make that sacrifice.

26/11/2025

Great first training session with Sean & Rosie the Springer working on the foundation engagement needed to build lead walking, recall and general trust.

23/11/2025

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

We’re glad it worked out for you, we really are. But, it doesn’t change the fact that it is seldom a good idea to put a high drive working breed in an environment with an inexperienced, new dog owner. We’re glad it worked out for you, but that is the case only a small percentage of the time.

22/11/2025

👑King Regally Anxious, 👑Queen Manipulative Teddy Bear and 🤡Prince Goober the Great.

21/11/2025

Bunch all of my favourite people into one class and you’ve got Lead & Learn! Supreme chatters, dog enthusiasts and as easy to keep together as herding cats, these guys keep me going! 🥰

21/11/2025

Sarah, Jules, Rosie, Ali & Enzo out on the town! 🤪

21/11/2025

Productive training session with Poppy today, offering up close exposure and the opportunity to greet another dog, as well as distance work with reward/play paired.