Pawprints Dog Training & Pet Care Services & Puppy School

06/08/2024

✨️✨️ 121 Success Story ✨️✨️

Lottie is a gorgeous springer spaniel who loves life, and loves exploring!

However, she was loving it so much, she would switch off her listening ears and ignore recalls, especially where there was the option of running off after people, dogs, or rummaging through discarded food or rubbish left in the park! 😲 (Please tidy up after yourselves humans!!)!

So we made some changes!

✅️ We taught Lottie some fun engagement games to bring her focus and attention back to her family.

✅️ We played some impulse control games, teaching Lottie calmness and patience.

✅️ We introduced a muzzle to restrict the opportunity for her to pick up and eat gross stuff whilst she was in training.

✅️ We taught a 'Stop' cue to ask Lottie to stop where she was instead of trotting off in her own little world when distracted

As you can see, Lottie's family really did their homework, and we were soon able to progress to the busy park where Lottie had previously struggled to maintain any focus!

And here she is, with wonderful attention on her family, ignoring other people and dogs, and beautiful responses to her family's cues!

✨️ Remember, putting the fun into your training will always make a positive difference! ✨️

23/07/2024

😃 Today's random thing that got me excited was a shiny new dog poo bin!! 😃

No longer will I have to carry bags of smelly poo from our walks at Hornecourt Hill, in the van all the way down the road to the next nearest bin! The smell always seems stronger in an enclosed space... but No More!!!

Oh the absolute delight to see and use that bin!! 💩😃

19/07/2024

🌞🥵 Extreme Weather! 🥵🌞

Today will be another insanely hot day with air temperatures expected to reach 30°, and of course surface temperatures are likely to be much higher if in prolonged sunshine.

Temperatures over 23° can be very uncomfortable for young puppies, older dogs, flat-faced breeds and overweight dogs, and even for fit and healthy dogs it can be dangerous over 24°. So anyone out walking their dogs in todays much hotter daytime temperatures are rather irresponsible and silly. (Carefully understated there!! 🤬🤬🤬).

So if you've already missed the early morning walk opportunity, simply don't go out!

And if you have a daft dog like my little old westie Indi, who would happily lie in the direct sunshine panting heavily, but doesnt have the sense to think 'perhaps its a bit warm here, lets move', dont let them outside to the garden unsupervised!! Adorable dumbo would absolutely give himself heatstroke otherwise 🙄

There's loads of things you can do indoors to mentally stimulate your dog, and these brain games can often be far more tiring then going out for a run.

Things you can do:

🐾 Play hide and seek around the house - how quickly can your dog find you? Reward well when they do!

🐾 Scentwork - hide small bits of food (kibble/treats) around the room, in things, under things, behind things, and encourage your dog to go find them

🐾 Roll some kibble or treats inside a towel, and teach your dog to unroll it to access the goodies

🐾 Trick Training - teach a Spin, Roll over, Go Around an object - there are so many options! Start with a food lure, encouraging your dog to follow it, then when they are understanding the movement, switch the food lure to a hand signal and reward afterwards. From this you can then begin to introduce a voice cue.

Have fun, be sensible and stay safe!!

15/07/2024

🌟 Congratulations to Maggie for graduating Puppy School! 🌟🎓

Here are some of her Puppy School Highlights!

Very well done to all of you! 😊👏

15/07/2024

🎓🌟 Congratulations to George for graduating Puppy School! 🌟🎓

Here are some of his Puppy School Highlights!

Very well done to all of you! 😊👏

15/07/2024

🌟 Congratulations to Riley for graduating Puppy School! 🌟🎓

Here are some of his Puppy School Highlights!

Very well done to all of you! 😊👏

13/07/2024

Looking forward to having a stall tomorrow at the Turners Hill Village Fete and Dog Show !

I will have a selection of dog toys, Lickimats, treats and chews, as well as some lovely handmade dog-themed keyrings from Jessie's Pink Toe

Hope to see you there! 😀🐾

02/07/2024

I can't believe it's been a whole week since the Puppy School conference! What an amazing weekend!

Here's a little summary of all the wonderful things we got up to!

22/06/2024

🐾 I'm excited to be here in the beautiful Forest of Dean with the Floof, ready for an action packed weekend of learning and adventure at the Puppy School Conference 2024! 🐾

🎵🐦🎶 🐦‍⬛ And for once I am camping, and didn't sleep through the dawn chorus, which I absolutely love hearing. There's just something magical about being tucked up all cosy in a tent, listening to the world waking up! 🎵🐦‍⬛🎶🐦

20/06/2024

🐾 Welcome to Puppy School!! 🐾

A huge 'Welcome!' to our little big puppies, Bauer, Bertie, Felix and Teddi!

I am very much looking forward to sharing in your growth over the 6 weeks, both in learning new life skills and in your physical size! 😃

13/06/2024

It seems we are well and truly into tick season!

These nasty little arachnids like to hang out in long grass and woodland vegetation, waiting for unsuspecting hosts to brush past, sweeping them off onto themselves.

There, the tiny tick burrows through the fur and attaches itself through the skin to enjoy a nice blood feast, it's tiny body swelling to the size of a large raisin as it absorbs the blood.

Yuk

It is important to thoroughly check your dog after every walk, especially if they've been running in fields or woodland.

Any ticks that are roaming through fur can be simply picked off, however, if they have attached themselves and started feeding, never just pull them off! You can inadvertently decapitate the tick, pulling off its body leaving the head embedded in your dog's skin, potentially causing infection.

Additionally, smothering or burning the tick may cause it to regurgitate its stomach contents back into your dog, again potentially causing infection or spread of disease.

Instead you should use a proper tick removal tool to hook under the body and carefully twist until it releases itself in one piece.

If you are not comfortable doing this yourself, please seek veterinary guidance.

You can also speak to your vet to make sure that the flea and worming treatment you use for your dog also protects them from ticks too.

Stay safe out there!

08/06/2024

✨️🎓 Puppy Graduation - Part 3 🎓✨️

And finally, here are the graduation photos!

It's been wonderful seeing the progress every Puppy has made, the relationships blossoming and lifelong skills being learned.

🐾 Well done Plum, Rio, Kenzo and Jasmine! 🐾

08/06/2024

✨️🎓 Puppy Graduation - Part 2 🎓✨️

As part of our Week 6 Puppy School class, we always ask families to show off a trick they have taught their puppy at home.

We have some amazing tricks to share, and the video is so long it has to be shared in two posts!

Here's the second part, with a lovely 'Paw' and 'Spin' from Kenzo, a 'Touch' and "Spin' from Plum, and a 'Paws Up' and 'Hide' from Rio!

Some brilliant tricks, very well done!

08/06/2024

✨️🎓 Puppy Graduation - Part 1 🎓✨️

As part of our Week 6 Puppy School class, we always ask families to show off a trick they have taught their puppy at home.

We have some amazing tricks to share, and the video is so long it has to be shared in two posts!

Here's the first part, with a fabulous 'Leave It' from Jasmine, leaving a whole load of tempting toys, and also some very tempting food!

A brilliant life skill, very well done!

07/06/2024

🐾 Investigating Weird Stuff!! 🐾

In case you haven't noticed, us humans are pretty weird...

The things we wear, ride around on play with, and create are all quite strange really... 🤔

In this little video we have puppies investigating an elizabethan collar, a ball pit, rattley hula hoops and a long fabric tunnel. We also had a skeleton mask, a fake beard, hi-viz jacket, an umbrella, a big plastic table cloth and a few other random bits and bobs.

Its helpful to allow your puppy to explore different things they may encounter in life, in a calm, gentle and fun way.

Always watch for the unsure body language, such as that displayed by Jasmine when she first saw the hula hoop. Her ears were held slightly back, her tail low, there was a close of her mouth (was it a tiny lip lick?), and she stepped backwards away from the hoop and sat at a distance.
She had a little break, and the hoop was then placed on the ground instead, and Jasmine felt more comfortable to go and check it out. Her body is much less tense, her ears forward, tail held higher and with a bit of a wag, and she is happier to step over and around the hoop, rewarded with some tasty treats of course!

Well done Jasmine Rio, Kenzo and Plum!

🐾 Don't rush, take it slow and steady, take breaks as needed, and always watch what your puppy is communicating through their body language 🐾

06/06/2024

🐾 Reward those check-ins! 🐾

When out with your dog, make a point of rewarding when they look at you or come closer - a check-in.

You can reward with a treat, a toy, by prancing about like a lunatic with your dog, or simply by fussing and praising them. Whatever your dog enjoys and finds rewarding!

The more you do it, the more your dog will keep voluntarily checking in, the better your relationship will be, and the quicker the recalls and general responsiveness.

🐾 Above all, have fun with your dog! 🐾

05/06/2024

🐾 Some lovely loose lead walking practice from Plum, Rio, Jasmine and Kenzo! 🐾

Loose lead walking is probably one of the hardest things for a young puppy to learn as they absolutely love zig-zagging here, there and everywhere catching all the interesting scents and exploring this wonderful world we live in, and generally at a considerably faster speed than the average human will walk.

In comparison, we are pretty boring walking in our straight lines, completely ignoring all those fantastic smells because our noses are absolute rubbish compared to our pup's so we are oblivious to a fascinating chunk of the environment around us.

Much like how birds and many other creatures, can see in ultraviolet so things which may appear plain black to us humans, are actually a proper rainbow of colours! Fascinating stuff! We humans miss out on so much of the world around us simply due to our biology. How we became the dominant species on this planet when we are so oblivious to so much of it amazes me!

Anyway...

We've been practicing lead walking skills, learning how to manage those moments when pups get distracted by exciting things and want to go and investigate. By rewarding well when pups choose to move away from a distraction and continue walking with us, that excellent choice will be made again and again, because we make it very worthwhile!

Once the skills have been learned, the frequency and type of reward can be tweaked according to the individual puppy's progress. It doesn't always have to be food rewards, it can also be the opportunity to go sniff a thing, or to be allowed off lead for a run around, or have a game with a favourite toy.

05/06/2024

The weather has been warm and humid lately, so as Dog First Aid - Sussex have said, it's important to be aware of how the combined humidity and temperature can affect your dog.

Always remember, young puppies, older dogs, overweight dogs and flat faced dogs will be more sensitive.

A useful reminder that dogs are affected by humidity levels as well as heat. Please take a look at this helpful guide. 👇

04/06/2024

🐾 Here's a little video of a few of our puppies learning the positions sit, stand and lay down. 🐾

At this point they now understand what the hand signals mean, and we are now introducing the voice cue, which can be like learning a whole new language! It won't take them long at all to progress to just the voice cue!

By rewarding when they get it right, puppies learn quickly what to do, and begin to make good choices.

Learning how to teach your puppy these positions is a very valuable life skill for the human end of the lead too. The same methods can be applied to all sorts of other training scenarios with good timing and placing of the rewards.

For example, how would I teach my puppy to go to their bed when the doorbell rings? I can use the same methods used for teaching those positions, starting with a food lure, then turning that into a body language/ hand signal and then adding the audible cue, always rewarding really well when puppy is on their bed.

🐾 Well done Jasmine, Rio and Kenzo! 🐾
(Sorry Plum my phone cut off recording as it ran out of space! 🙄)

21/05/2024

🐶 Puppy School Week 6 Tricks Challenge! 🐶

As part of the Puppy School course, a challenge is set for all the families to teach their puppy a trick to show off in the last class. This enables families to really think about the way they have been shown to teach their puppies new skills through the Puppy School course, and how they can use those techniques to teach their puppy something different.

Those training techniques really are an invaluable skill for us humans to learn and be able to apply to different situations.

Trick Training is something which we can do with our pups anywhere, and it can really get their brains working, and also massively help with building a strong relationship between you and your dog.

Check out my Pawprints Trick Training classes on Tuesday evenings at Tilgate Community Centre https://www.pawprintsdogtraining.co.uk/pawprints-trick-training

🐶✨️ Mira's families taught their pup a whole range of brilliant tricks! Well done to you all! 👏 ✨️🐶

20/05/2024

🎓✨️ More Graduation Congratulations!!! ✨️🎓

Our latest Horsham Puppy School class graduated at the weekend - mix of first-time dog owners and some more experienced.

Everyone put in a lot of effort with their practicing the skills taught between classes and they all showed massive improvement every week. Very impressed! 👏

Congratulations also go out to Maple, Ozzy and Teddy who were sadly unable to make the last class.

20/05/2024

🎓✨️ Graduation Congratulations!! ✨️🎓

Another 6 week Puppy School course completed, and another lovely group of puppies and their humans showing a good improvement in their foundation training skills! Well done to you all 👏

10/05/2024

🌞 Isn't it lovely that we've finally got some sunshine! The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and everything seems good!

🥵 We do have to be careful of course as this sudden heat can be very uncomfortable, especially for young puppies, older dogs and brachycephalic (flat faced) dogs.

🌡Keep an eye on the temperatures, and when over 20° take precautions with more vulnerable dogs. Even fit and healthy dogs can struggle when it gets to over 24°. Ideally wait for a cooler time of day, and do gentle relaxed sniffy walks in shady woodland, and always bring water with you.

🐽 Remember that time spent sniffing is very mentally stimulating and tiring for dogs, they don't need to be running top speed for an hour to get tired out!

🌸🪻☘️ Enjoy some pics from recent walks with a just some of my furry besties! 💜🐾

18/04/2024

🐶 Have you recently got, or are you thinking about getting a puppy to join your family? Do you want to give them a great start, learning skills that will last a lifetime, using kind ethical training methods?

Puppy School can help you do this! Classes starting in Tilgate on 30th April, and Warnham on 26th May

🐶 Do you have a young dog in need of further training to refine skills and turn the adolescent chaos into calm and focused?

Then the SuperPups course is for you!

🐶 Or do you want to strengthen your relationship with your dog by working those canine brains learning endless fun and practical new skills together?

Why not give Pawprints Trick Training classes a go?!

🐶 Individual 121 training sessions also available for any age - ask me!!

Kind, ethical and effective reward based training methods used. Please do get in touch!

www.pawprintsdogtraining.co.uk

Karen Hobbs - ABTC ATI
Puppy School Crawley & Horsham
Pawprints Dog Training & Pet Care Services

16/04/2024

🐾 Gorgeous little Maisie recently completed her Puppy School course as a 121 with me.😃

Her lovely human Mum has been working very hard putting into practice all the different things we've been working on, and Maisie has come along leaps and bounds (quite literally with our recall practice on the fields!😆) and is making wonderful progress with learning to walk nicely on the lead!🐕‍🦺

Very well done, and keep up the good work! 🤩🥰👏

16/04/2024

🐾121 Success Story! 🐾

🖥 This lovely girl Mabel had developed a rather annoying habit of giving her own barky running commentary on the dramas unfolding on the TV whenever an animal appeared, even drowning out the best wildlife narrator in the world, the wonderful Sir David Attenborough! 🦬🦓🦧🦁

And let's face it, he has such a lovely calming voice to listen to, even whilst telling us all about the violence, blood and guts that is often the reality of the wild! I personally could listen to him for hours, and I love to learn all about the natural world! 🥰

Unfortunately, Mabel's family couldn't hear what Sir David had to say about the encounter between the hyenas and buffalo, or any of the other fascinating creatures on his show 'Mammals', due to Mabel's less than informative, constant barking at the screen!They had to give up and turn Sir David off! 😒

So they called me in to help, and with a bit of work with some very carefully timed high value tasty rewards, Mabel's family were able to make a very good start on helping Mabel change her response to the animals appearing on TV. Because whenever she noticed there was an animal on tv, her family gave her something delicious! Mabel quickly worked out the pattern, and we progressed quickly through the next stages of training. 😃

This video is after just an hour, and instead of her earlier antics of lunging and barking, Mabel has now chosen to lay down with her back to the tv, and is beginning to relax whilst the cackling, shrieking hyenas behind her continue their deadly attack on the buffalo. Spoiler alert - I don't think the buffalo made it...

A fantastic start to breaking the habit, and I am very confident that Mabel will soon be able to totally ignore the tv without needing lots of high value rewards to do so! 😃

Hooray!! 🦇🦏🐆🐻‍❄️🖥

06/04/2024

🌈 Forest truly is the gold at the end of the rainbow! 🌈

I've fallen behind again on sharing what we've been up to at Pawprints HQ! It's been a super busy time doing what I love, with lots of Puppy School, SuperPups and Tricks classes, as well as lots of 121 training and wonderful adventures with my regular walking buddies!

We're just back from a much needed lovely break in beautiful Cornwall, with nearly all the available weather types putting in a show! (☀️🌦☁️🌩🌨❄️🌪).

We were lucky to get a bit of glorious sunshine, moments after the hail and sleet that accompanied us on our drive to the beach, making us question our sanity as we drove along! 🤪🤣

I hope you've all had a great Easter, and are enjoying the rebirth of all the life that comes along with the beautiful Springtime 🌱🌷🐣