Dog Smarts

24/01/2025

Gaaaah. This makes me so 😤
There is so much misinformation out there for dog guardians.

Using a high pitched sound to stop your dog’s barking is not on. It is suppressing a natural behaviour, not changing it.

Imagine hearing a piercing sound every time you tried to speak/communicate??

Invest in a qualified dog trainer who uses positive reinforcement methods.
Take the time to get to know what dog really needs 🙏🏼

And if you don’t like barking maybe have a cat instead? 🙄

21/10/2024

What a good boy, putting his incredible nose to such worthwhile work :) And the googles are hilarious 😂

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g019y97ygo

Woody the dog switches his detection skills from ferrets to rats in a bid to save Rathlin's birds.

28/09/2024

"There is no love like a dog's love" Hampstead Hounds

Incredibly true

23/08/2024

What a shame that someone with such a large reach online/on air used it to say something that could inspire other puppy parents not to bother either?

There are many simple things that could have been done to prevent this. And why the puppy got the blame and sent back is beyond my comprehension.

I will follow up with a blog on how to ensure your new puppy doesn't wreak havoc around your home in the first few days.

Lily Allen

Lily also revealed that, officially, she still has her ex-husband’s last name — despite marrying Stranger Things star David Harbour in 2020.

15/06/2024

A funny story. I was with young Mendel in a newsagents queue and he was being very patient (hard for a young dog). I praised him and said “What a good boy” 😇 Imagine my surprise when the man behind the counter replied with “Thank you, it’s only my 3rd shift” 🤣 Dogs and people both respond well to positive reinforcement!

24/05/2024

First training walk with little Keystone, who is named after a place in Colorado 🇺🇸 He loved touch training and worked hard with me on polite greetings. As with most confident puppies he just wants to jump around and be a little crazy 🤪 A great finish to the week, happy Friday 😀🐾

17/05/2024

Welcome to Wendy 😀 This young lady is sweet but incredibly strong and walks are proving difficult for her family. She’s also new to the UK/LDN and is not used to seeing lots of dogs, people and traffic. Lunging at cars is a current concern. Plenty to work on together and I am looking forward to our intensive ‘Stay & Train’ week coming up soon 🐶🐾

01/05/2024

Pugs do make some amazing noises, and now one is featured on a new Halo game 🤩

27/04/2024

Chrissie from Dogsmarts here with 🐶 I always tell dog owners/guardians/parents to advocate for their dog. Unfortunately I have had to spend the last few weeks doing that to an extreme level, whilst some twisted people tried to persuade the Police that my dog is “bad and aggressive”. It’s a unique situation but a very good example as to why real life training for you and your dog is so important ⭐️ We had to deploy all of our skills and team work whilst these people were lurking about and trying to frame us. You couldn’t make it up 🙈 I am delighted to report that Police found us to be “commendable in keeping ourselves and others safe” ⭐️ Don’t leave it to chance, make sure that you are your dog are all set to be successful on the mean streets of London 🐾

09/04/2024

12 year old Molly enjoying a ‘Find the treat’ game 😀 Senior dogs benefit from regular brain games, it really does seem to put a spring in their step ❤️

05/04/2024

The names Seven, 007. Whippets are said to have “the fastest idle-to-running acceleration of any dog”. From 11 weeks old we worked on recall against his biggest distraction, squirrels 🐿️ Seven is now able to enjoy squirrel watching, but will always come back on his recall cue. It’s a win-win 🥳

30/03/2024

I can’t believe it sometimes, March 2024 marks my 10 year anniversary of working with dogs 🤩 The short story is - I was on a sabbatical from my corporate life and I watched the film “In Her Shoes”. In the film Toni Colette leaves her work and starts walking dogs 🐕 I enquired at LDNs busiest dog walking company and soon I was out all day every day in Regents Park. The look on my Mothers face when I said I wasn’t planning to return to an office 🙈🤣 Instead I started then and finally 🐾 10 years of learning, sacrificing, coaching (thank you ) hard graft, studying. Thank you to each and every dog that taught me something important along the way ❤️

22/03/2024

I love that so much more scientific studying of our precious canines is being carried out :) It really is a fast growing field, and worth catching up on.

My dog seems to understand a few different words - home, Aunty, my little pumpkin and pub 🙈😂

Try repeating a word, in a certain context, several times over a few weeks. To see what your dog can pick up in our language.

Happy weekend!

Canine Cognition: Dogs Match Words with Objects

Dogs' brains show signs of understanding when words match objects.

Researchers from Eötvös Loránd University, using non-invasive EEG, discovered that dogs mentally represent objects upon hearing their names, indicating an understanding beyond simple behavior response or associative learning.

This finding suggests that dogs, like humans, can understand words in a referential way.

The study involved 18 dogs whose owners would announce a toy by name, either presenting the matching or a different toy, with brain activity differing between correct and incorrect matches.

This ability appears to be widespread among dogs, unrelated to the size of their known vocabulary, potentially reshaping views on the uniqueness of human language understanding and its evolution.

https://neurosciencenews.com/dog-labnguage-object-25797/

19/03/2024

Is it ok to give my dog some of my food?

Yes it absolutely is. As long as it isn't effecting their digestive health (some dogs are more sensitive than others) and take careful note of the foods that are toxic for dogs. These include raisins, chocolate, onions, garlic and mushrooms.

Happy sharing 😍

06/03/2024

Wow how quickly they grow 😍 when I first met Nacho in Jan he wouldn’t even go near the car. After working through a training plan he lounges around in it like he’s paying for the petrol 🤣 🙌🏼

14/02/2024

Create a career that you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. So the saying goes. Happy Valentines Day to all the dog lovers out there 🙌🏼 The love of a dog compares to no other 💕

01/02/2024

A hilarious reminder that each dog is an individual