Parker and Pooch - Dog Training & Solo Walks

28/10/2025

Maybe it's the map geek in me, but is there anything better than finding a footpath sign that you don't know where it goes, and then going and finding out? 🤷‍♀️ Love a new walk… when I first started dog walking I found new routes all the time, but these days it’s a more of a rarity

After sitting in a ridiculously long traffic queue yesterday to pick up Tyra, and then having to cancel on poor Tess afterwards cos the 50 minute delay meant I didn’t have time after all that 😭 I feel like I deserved a cracking walk today, and that’s what me and Annie got 🤩

⭐️ Bonus points if you know where we were ⭐️

⭐️ Extra bonus points if you can guess which one of us spent most of our time sniffing all the sniffs coming in on the very breezy breeze, and which one of us ended up with a muddy arse after a not very graceful slide down some wet grass 🤣

22/10/2025

Things People Say That Really Get My Goat #8

"You need to show them who's boss"

I really don't think you do.

I have a theory. Now full disclosure - I do have a dog behaviour diploma, but I’m not a scientist. I do have a scientific theory though:

On the scale of domestication, dogs are somewhere between a child and a lion. Not a little human. Not a wild animal. Somewhere in between.

(Bare with me, I am making this up as I go along 🤔🤣)

I’d like to think we've moved beyond thinking we have to show children who’s boss - we don’t hit them anymore when they do something naughty. We know that children thrive and develop best when they feel they're in a safe supportive environment.

Another disclosure: I'm also not a zoo keeper. But I do know there's several good reasons why modern methods of handling wild animals are based on giving them choice and control. And I’m fairly sure that if you tried to show a lion who was boss, you’d realise very quickly why that was a terrible idea.

So… if we don't think that “showing them who's boss” is necessary or sensible for either children or wild animals - why on earth does anyone still think it makes sense for dogs?

Don't get me wrong, dogs need to learn that there are rules.

Everyone has different rules... off the top of my head, my key ones probably are:

🟠 Don’t p*e or poo inside, unless you can’t possibly help it

🟠 You can wake me up by bobbing your nose against mine (cos it's one of the cutest things you do) but you can't wake me up by jumping on my head

🟠 You can't have your tea til we've had our lunch

But we need to take the time to learn their rules too.

Alice's are many, but definitely include:

🟠 Don't stroke my tail

🟠 Don’t put the dishwasher on when I’m in the house

🟠 When I stand at the bottom of the stairs, it means I want you to carry me up to bed

If everyone understands and respects each other's rules, we're all good ❤️

But “Showing them who’s boss”? For the love of god please can we leave that one in the dark ages where it belongs 😭

17/10/2025

Last week I mentioned that I've recently made a change to the way I work with training clients.

And I thought I'd tell you about it - because even though I talk lots on here about dog training and the ethos of what I do, I never really talk about what I actually do and the way I work.

So…

In the past, I used to do pay-as-you-go training sessions and short packages - but having trialled some different options over the last few months - the only thing I’m offering now is a three month programme.

And what that gets you is all the stuff that’s listed below in the first pic.

But what it also gets you is this:

✅️ the space and time (and support and guidance) to make real and lasting change for you and your dog

✅️ the chance to learn about your dog - what’s really going on for them and what makes them tick - and the opportunity to practise and develop your skills, all at a pace that works for you

✅️ someone to check in with along the way, troubleshoot any niggles in between sessions, celebrate the teeny tiny wins (that by the way, aren’t tiny at all) and commiserate with the not-so-great days too

And then, not that long from now, you’ll be able to:

⭐️ walk your dog where you want, when you want… not tied to the same old familiar quiet routes at odd times of day when most other people won’t be out

⭐️ feel confident when you do see another dog (or any other sort of trigger) – because your dog probably won’t react, and even if they do, you’ve got simple strategies up your sleeve to respond with

⭐️ to know that your dog is living their best life again, and you’re finally living yours 🥰

So whether your dog is stressing you out with their constant pulling, their barking at other dogs, lunging at traffic, chasing cats and squirrels, all of the above, or anything else that’s making you dread walk times… if the programme sounds right for you and you'd like to know more - head to my website https://parkerandpooch.co.uk or drop me a message and let's chat 🤩

And if it doesn't sound right for you… stick around anyway for the dog training tips, the random rambly sometimes ranty thoughts that spill out of my head, and the pics of gorgeous doggos like this one ❤️ (who’s birthday it happens to be today, so happy birthday Tess my lovely 🥳)

09/10/2025

This video wouldn't look like much of anything to most people - just a dog mooching about on the moor…

But for Willow, and her awesome human, and me - it's flipping amazing 🤩

I started walking Willow two and a half years ago. From a pup she had struggled with hyper sensitivity and was easily overwhelmed by the smallest things. I remember that first walk together - I took her up to Sourhall as I knew we wouldn’t see a soul, and we could get to know each other in peace. But the big wide open space and all the smells were WAY too much for her. I learned my lesson quickly, and we stuck to more familiar routes closer to home.

But with Deb’s gentle perseverance, Willow’s confidence and resilience continued to grow, and bit by bit we made her world bigger. Then she got attacked by another dog, and we had to shrink her world once more. But gradually, she spread her wings again, and lately she’s made some massive steps in progress.

To the point that this week - I thought we’d try something bonkers. The road was closed where I planned to walk her on Tuesday, so on a whim, I thought we’d carry on up Bacup road to the wind farm. If she hated it, we’d come back down and find somewhere else to finish our walk.

Well she only went and nailed it 🥳

Huge wide open space, crackling pylons, gusts of wind, so many sniffs, noisy wind turbines appearing out of the mist… and none of it phased her at all. She was like a different dog from the one I first met a couple of years ago.

And this is why I love working the way I do - whether it’s training dogs or walking dogs - working with clients long term and building relationships... I don’t do adhoc dog walks, and recently I’ve made a change to the way I work with training clients too. I’ll tell you more about that next time… but for now, this video is a beautiful reminder - as if I needed one - of why I do what I do ❤️

Edit: I’ll put the video in the comments (as facebook has decided in its wisdom that you can only post videos as reels now) otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to read these words very easily 🙈

30/09/2025

Car swap and tunnel ticket finally sorted for Thursday 🥳

We do have our suspicions this whole thing has been orchestrated by the fluffy one… she was sporting a suspiciously dirty muzzle shortly after we discovered the leaking brake line - we didn’t check it for teeth marks, but maybe we should have 🤔

Having thoroughly completed her logistics research, she quickly identified the following (unforeseen to us) consequences:

✅️ Not being allowed on ferries if her humans were vehicle-less resolved her newly discovered issue of not liking ferries

✅️ She had to go to the pet shop to get a replacement seatbelt restraint as we left the other one in the van by mistake… a pet shop where she happened to find bones from I-don’t-even-know-what animal that were twice the size of her head

✅️ And then she booked the cutest little gite with a secure garden to laze in the sun offlead for her last few days in France, rather than slumming it being tethered to a van on a campsite

This saga would have been much simpler without a dog 🐾 But then where would we be without her? ❤️

24/09/2025

I'm a natural born worrier, and I worried about lots of things before this trip:

🙄 Whether Alice would get overwhelmed or stressed by being in new places all the time

🙄 Whether there would be too many dogs for her, especially at campsites where we couldn't just up and leave

🙄 Whether we'd end up accidentally walking her too much and making her arthritis worse

🙄 Or whether we'd not be able to walk very far and be restricted in what we could do

🙄 And whether it would be too hot to leave her behind in the van sometimes

Turns out van life suits her perfectly 💕

She's loved spending so much time outdoors, and she's settled so well at every single campsite, even the busier ones.

She's been grumpy with a few dogs, but just ignored most of them, even ones kicking off at her. (When the other dog starts it, she tends to look at them disdainfully like - “Moi? I would never lower myself to bark at other dogs 🤷‍♀️”) And she's actually had some lovely little sniffy hellos with a very select few 🥰

And finally - at the age of 12 (or 13, who knows) - she's become a dog that chills in bars and cafes 🥳 Often because she's been too tired to care, but I'll take that.
One thing I didn't worry about before we came away… the possibility of the van brakes failing mid-trip, and the repair job being estimated to take at least two weeks 🙈

I also didn't worry about discovering that you can't take a replacement hire car out of France, but neither can you take a dog on the Roscoff-Plymouth ferry as foot passengers 🙈

In fact you can't take a dog as foot passengers on any cross channel ferry (except Dieppe-Newhaven, which doesn't have dog-friendly cabins). Nor can you take a dog on Eurostar, or be a foot passenger on the tunnel 🙈

So the latest plan is to re-route via Calais instead, and see if we can either swap hire cars there (the AA say we can, I remain sceptical) or else get a pet taxi through the tunnel.

Anyhow, it's all part of the adventure 🌏

And there are lots of things to be grateful for:

⭐️ European breakdown cover for a start, otherwise this would have turned out to be a very expensive trip 😬

⭐️ Claire Kirkpatrick / Trio of Tails genius recommendation for a sling big enough for the fluffy one… especially a lifesaver yesterday when we had to walk nearly an hour to find a shop big enough to sell USB chargers so we had enough battery to keep ringing the AA call centre (because why would you think to bring a plug converter to France when you're going to be staying in a UK van 🤷‍♀️)

⭐️ And whether it's in a van or a B&B, I am very grateful that we've been able to spend all this time making memories with our little monster ❤️
[Pics of saying bye bye to the broken van two days ago, and then us having a snoozy cuddle this morning in Quillan while we waited for Chris to get a taxi all the way to Carcassone to pick up our hire car and then come back for us… dogs weren't allowed in taxis, dogs weren't allowed on buses, dogs are allowed on trains but they stopped running ten years ago 🤣]

19/09/2025

Would it be so hard to just look at me both at the same time 🤷‍♀️

15/09/2025

Things we've learnt on our French road trip so far:

⚓️ Alice isn't a big fan of ferry travel (we haven't broken it to her yet that it’s a return trip 😭)

🧀 There’s no such thing as too much cheese

🍷 Staying overnight for free at a vineyard can be a false economy depending on how much wine you buy

🏞🏰 France is beautiful… they do a strong line in medieval villages with big castles on top of cliffs, plus hilly hills and views that go on forever

And as predicted, our most used french phrase is not related to asking for campsite pitches or ordering coffee and cake, but: “Je ne sais pas, elle a perdu sa jambe avant de venir vivre chez nous” 🐕

03/09/2025

This photo was taken nine years ago to the very day, on our first ever van trip with the fluffy one, a couple of months after we'd started fostering her 😍

Fun fact: she growled at us when we got into bed that first night, cos she'd had the bed all to herself on the drive up to the Lakes, and wrongly assumed there wouldn't be any need for sharing 🙈

Nearly a decade later, the three of us are off to France for four weeks to make some more memories, hopefully with less growls and more pain au chocolat 🤣

So there might be some random ramblings on here about life in a van with a dog, or life in France with a dog. There’ll probably be some gratuitous shots of mountains, beaches and/or some terrible selfies featuring our smiley faces and glasses of wine. Or it might just be radio silence for the next month, who knows 🤷‍♀️

What I do know is that we'll be eating our own body weight in bread and cheese, while we attempt to make it to the Pyrenees and back in one piece, massacring the French language as we go. On that note… au revoir et à bientôt 🇫🇷

02/09/2025

You know you want to....

🐾 Mantrailing: The Ultimate Canine Adventure! 🐾
…and there’s just ONE space left on our last Introduction to Mantrailing workshop of the year! 🚨🎉

When it comes to scent work, it doesn’t get more thrilling than this. Mantrailing is the doggy equivalent of a thriller movie – full of excitement, challenge, and nose-led action. Your dog gets to track down a missing person using nothing but their incredible sense of smell. 🔍👃

💥 Why dogs LOVE it (and humans do too):
✅ All breeds, all ages – from teeny pups to golden oldies
✅ Reactive or shy? No problem – dogs work one at a time
✅ Mental & physical workout = the best kind of tired
✅ Confidence skyrockets after just one trail
✅ No training needed – just a harness, line, and snacks
✅ Sociable for humans (even if your dog isn’t!)

🌟 As voted by our four-legged participants: Mantrailing is the most exciting scent sport of all!
(Tail wags don’t lie.)

✨ This is your LAST chance this year to get started. Once this final space is gone – it’s really gone.

🔥 Past intros have sold out fast and the dogs are already sniffing at the door!
🌱 Once you're in, you’ll unlock access to exclusive progression trails – where skills sharpen, confidence grows, and your bond with your dog reaches next-level.
💬 "I can’t believe how much my dog loved it!" – said by literally every new trailer ever.

🎟️ Snag the final spot before someone else does: https://www.itsallaboutthedog.co.uk/mantrailing
(We guarantee your dog will thank you.)

27/08/2025

It's been the season for dog shows and sunny beer gardens hasn't it

And that can be bittersweet for those of us who share our lives with dogs that struggle in those sorts of situations… maybe you had a previous dog who was bombproof - you could take them anywhere, do anything. Or maybe this is your first dog, and you imagined taking them with you on cafe visits, lazy afternoons in the pub, or a dog show or two.

But the reality is - you don’t take your dog with you to the dog show, or the pub. Or anywhere else there'll be other dogs.

And you feel guilty for leaving them at home, when it feels like literally every man and his dog is out and about, enjoying the sunshine without a care in the world.

(We took Alice to a dog show once. She won Best Rescue. Of course she did, she was a rescue, and she's the best 😍‌ In hindsight, she didn't enjoy it much at all though. Loads of dogs and loads of people... who knew that would be a terrible idea 🤷‍♀️‌)

Can I let you into a little secret? One that you can spot for yourself if you spend some time watching the dogs in the cafes and the beer gardens. An awful lot of the dogs I see aren’t enjoying themselves much at all either.

We went for a drink on bank holiday Monday afternoon. Okay two drinks.

The first place was crowded and busy and loud, and there were at least five dogs there. There was a LOT of barking. None of them were remotely relaxed or settled. I saw one dog air snap at another when he got too close. The only dog who looked comfortable was the one who was off-lead and free to move around, which included wandering around harassing the other dogs and wandering outside next to the main road. So you can pass your own judgement on that. We did 🙈

The second place was much quieter, lots of people sat outside but lots of space between the tables. There was just one dog there, a chilled out spaniel, laid on his side, asleep. He got up every so often, checked that his humans were still there, and then because the lead was long enough without him being in the way of anyone, he found a new spot to doze in for the next five minutes. And repeat.

I still bet he’d rather have been at home though.

And of course, I know - there are dogs that struggle to be left alone, and for them, being in a pub, busy or otherwise, might be the lesser of two evils.

But for those of you that leave them at home? Ditch the guilt... your dogs are the lucky ones 💕 The ones whose humans are fully aware of what their doggos need and what they don’t.

[one of my favourite pics of Alice in her happy place - which isn’t a crowded beer garden or a cafe ❤️]

20/08/2025

It turns out you CAN teach an old dog new(ish) tricks…

We went mantrailing last weekend with the wonderful Jo at It's All About The Dog

For those of you who don't know, mantrailing is a dog sport - tapping into our dogs’ superdooper noses and their amazing sense of smell to teach them to find people, by following the person’s unique scent trail. Kind of like search and rescue for pet dogs - but way more fun than that sounds 🤩

Me and Alice did a few sessions about three years ago, but hadn't done anything since - so not entirely new tricks, but definitely very dusty ones 🤣

And other than getting a little bit distracted hunting in the long grass a few times, and needing a couple of reminders that she was meant to be searching for a missing person, not furry critters 🙈 she mostly nailed it 🥳

I recommend mantrailing to lots of my training clients. It's a brilliant activity for pretty much every dog regardless of breed, age, ability etc. As an example, at our session on Sunday we had: an english bulldog, a cocker spaniel, a labrador, as well as our fluffy little Heinz 57, with ages ranging from 10 months to 12 years, and of course varying numbers of legs 🥰

The reason I recommend mantrailing to so many clients is that it’s great for so many reasons:

⭐️ Excitable dogs… it harnesses some of that pent up energy as a force for good not evil 🤣

⭐️ Nervous, anxious, or fearful dogs… a brilliant confidence builder

⭐️ Frustrated dogs… gradually building up the trail difficulty supports them to increase their ability to cope with manageable doses of frustration as they’re searching for the scent, which translates to being better equipped to deal with frustration in other situations too

⭐️ Dogs that can get barky and lungy with other dogs for any reason… while it’s a group session, the dogs are worked individually while the other dogs wait in cars, so the perfect activity for dogs that struggle to be around other dogs, while their owners still get the chance to be sociable for a change

⭐️ Dogs that are worried by strangers… you can start off using a friend or family member as the missing person, then progress to people who aren’t in their inner circle. I know of so many dogs who are classed as “people-reactive” who have absolutely thrived doing mantrailing, some of them to the extent that their reactivity has massively improved overall, not just in the context of mantrailing

⭐️ Dogs with mobility issues… trails can be tailored to the individual dog, and individual person - so trail length and terrain can be adapted to whatever suits you and your dog

⭐️ And if you’re struggling with your dog in any way shape or form… taking some time out away from the issues, and just enjoying a zero-pressure activity with your dog in the great outdoors? Well it's just good for the soul ❤️ Especially an activity where you get to watch them aceing something (because every dog will pick it up, I can guarantee that - if Madam Couldn't Give A Crap About Training can do it - any dog can 🥰)

If you’re local to Tod, I can highly recommend Jo and Helen at It's All About The Dog and Wainwright’s Canine Academy On the off chance you're anywhere near Bedford, a shout out to the lovely Di at Paws 4 Trails Mantrailing And for anyone else, I will pop a link in the comments to the Mantrailing Global website so you can find your nearest instructor

If you haven’t tried it, or even heard of it - go check it out. And if you have tried it and you love it - tell me why you love it so much 😍