Hound About Town

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from Hound About Town!

Wishing you and your dogs a day full of peace and joy. 🎄

15/12/2024

Happy 8th Birthday to Hound About Town!🐶

What a fabuous 8 years it's been, transforming both canine and human lives. From teaching sits and hand touches to solving tricky behavioural puzzles every step of this job has been driven by my love of dogs and commitment to helping them thrive with their humans.

Over the years, I've:

- Worked with hundreds of wonderful dogs and their families.
- Expanded my knowledge to provide the most effective, compassionate training.
- Built a small community of dog lovers who share a passion for positive reinforcement.
- Witnessed countless moments of growth and trust between dogs and their humans.

Here’s to many more years of creating harmony between dogs and their humans, and to all clients, supporters and pups I've met along the way thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing Hound About Town to help.

03/10/2024

I'm off on holiday now from 3rd-9th of October so I will respond to any emails or messages as soon as I am back!

01/10/2024

Today is National Black Dog day! Here's a pic of mine 🥰

National Black Dog Day was actually created to bring awareness to the fact that often black dogs are overlooked when being rehomed, the same thing also happens with black cats!

Show me your lovely black dogs!

30/09/2024

Last week I had a session with lovely Tilly who I have been working with since she was rehomed to her new humans.

Over the course of a couple of months we've covered things like not jumping up, not stealing from the table, recall, lead walking, and not dashing out the front door.

It can be a real adjustment for a dog when they are rehomed, and can take a while for them to settle but Tilly's humans have given her lots of time to adjust and really gone at her pace and it's been absolutely lovely to see her flourish.

Well done Tilly! 🐶

16/09/2024

This is becoming a welfare issue!

Im tired of hearing “the vet says there is no pain” by a guardian after they have taken their dog to the vet. It leaves me deflated and frustrated and feeling so sorry for the dog.

Myth Bust:

PAIN CANNOT BE RULED OUT IN ANY ANIMAL (dog, cat, horse or hamster), by anyone!

* A quick palpation - CANNOT RULE OUT PAIN

WHY?

The dog may shut down due to environmental factors or dislike of a strange human touching them, they keep still to get it over with ASAP!

The dog may be over aroused or overwhelmed by the clinical environment (excited/scared etc) to the point that adrenaline is so high it blocks pain!

* Blood Tests - CANNOT RULE OUT PAIN

There is currently NO blood test that can detect pain.

* Diagnostic imaging - CANNOT RULE OUT PAIN

Yes they can pick up a variety of conditions, but even the GOLD standard MRI doesn’t pick up everything, but NONE of them can detect PAIN.

Just because a source cannot be found doesn’t mean there is no pain.

PAIN is subjective, it is whatever that being (human or animal) perceives it to be!

Pain can come in many different forms, it is extremely complex, and can effect the individual in many different ways. A dog may get injured, the injury may have healed, but the pain remains … this is known as maladaptive pain.

Behaviour can be a HUGE indicator for PAIN:

* There could be a change of behaviour that has been directly caused by PAIN.

* There could be a worsening of behaviour due to an increase or new presence of PAIN.

* There could be a lack of “normal” behaviour due to PAIN.

* There could be behaviours that are present but that the guardian/owner don’t deem to be problematic that are indicators of PAIN.

* The dog may have ALWAYS displayed behaviours that are indicators of PAIN, but they have been ignored and put down to “just the way they are”.

* There may be NO problematic behaviours at all …. And the dog might still be in PAIN!

* The dog might be energetic, always on the go … and still be in PAIN.

* The dog might be lazy … and still be in PAIN.

* The dog may zoom up and down stairs … and still be in PAIN.

Diagnosing PAIN is not simple and can be difficult to get on top of.

A PAIN relief trail can be great! But often only one type of analgesic is tried and sometimes this doesn’t get results leading to the ASSUMPTION that there is no PAIN!

Here’s why:

* The drug was only trialed for 2 weeks - when living with chronic pain it can take longer to relieve. 2 weeks is not enough.

* The drug used wasn’t targeted to the type of pain the animal is feeling; soft tissue, bone, nerve or a combination of all.

It might take a number of different medications or a combination OVER TIME to see a difference.

ALWAYS keep in mind, NO ONE can rule out another being’s PAIN.

NO ONE. Not me. Not you. Not a Doctor. Not a Vet.

13/09/2024

I worked with Lulu a few years ago as a fresh puppy and she recently came back to see me for some help with her recall.

We built up her response to her name, reintroduced a solid recall cue, and attached a long line for her humans peace of mind. We also removed the overstimulating ball throwing, and replaced it with sniffing games and ball searching.

Lulu is hanging around with her human more, and is much more responsive to their voice and walks are improving for everyone involved.

Big well done to Lulu 👍❤️

12/09/2024

Last week I was working with lovely Leo who needed some help learning that although he is lovely, not everyone wanted to meet him.

We kept things simple, introducing a little interruption noise when Leo had locked eyes with his new future friends, and then rewarding when he refocused on his human.

He picked this up really quickly, and soon we were trotting merrily past people and not leaping all over them meaning walks were easier for everyone involved.

Great job Leo 👍

11/09/2024

Ahh it's been such a long time since I updated here!

It's been a busy Summer for Hound About Town but I'm definitely going to start posting more on social media as the colder weather sets in.

Me and Inca are enjoying the cooler mornings for sure!
How did your Summer go with your dog?

27/07/2024

😍😍😍
Flipping GORGEOUS picture of Inca by H&H Photography. Zoom on over and book a session!

26/07/2024

Popped over to Bessingby park to visit H&H Photography and get some gorgeous snaps of Inca 😍 pop down and say hi!!

24/07/2024

Today I met Teddington 😍he's an absolute cutie!

His humans wanted some advice around night time settling, teething and biting, and toilet training.

They're doing a fabulous job with him, and we taught him a hand touch to keep his mind busy too!

24/07/2024

Really looking forward to this! Bring your pups along ❤️

Join us for some Pawtraits!

29/06/2024

Puppies are not clean slates !
You often hear people say 'get a puppy they are a clean slate'

As a behaviourist and breeder I can confidently tell you this is not true. Both nature and nurture has a huge impact.
A puppy will inherit genes from its parents and these genes will impact the puppies genetic potential to behave in a particular way.
Such as :
Using aggression as a strategy to deal with difficult situations
Sociability towards people and dogs
Fearful responses
Sound sensitivity
Strong instinctive behaviour to hunt, chase, grab, hold and guard.
Trainability which includes the ability to learn self control as humans desire it.

When people breed dogs they sometimes select for specific traits and sometimes not. If someone is breeding for a particular look, colour or just money then these traits can become altered becoming stronger or weaker or unbalanced. This can make a dog dangerous for example breeding a dog with gameness and reducing human sociability.

Then the puppy is born and the first 8 weeks learning with the breeder will have an huge impact on the development of all these genetic traits.

My five puppies have all come from the same parents and been reared in the same environment. They have very individual personalities. The training and socialisation they receive in their new homes will only influence the genes and first learning, it won't change their personalities.

So if you are looking for a puppy
Firstly learn about breed traits and instincts and make sure you pick a puppy that will suit your lifestyle. For example there no point getting a breed that is 'aloof with strangers' if you have 3 young children and lots of friends visiting.

Secondly meet the parents or (genes), see what they are like. Make sure you are meeting the actual parents, some people buy in puppy farmed litters and then 'hire' an adult of the same breed to pretend the puppies were bred there!!

Thirdly make sure the puppy has had plenty of early neurological stimulation and learning before it leaves the litter. Ask these questions.
1) What have the puppies seen?
2) Who and what have they met?
2) What have they learnt?
3) How have they learned to play?
4) What do they do if they get frustrated?
5) What do they do if they get bored?

A professional trainer can help support and guide you on the process of looking for a puppy. Don't wait till afterwards for help.

Prevention IS better than Cure. This goes for training and socialisation too, get a professional to help and guide you.

Puppies are building neural pathways with every experience, every day, make sure they're building ones you like.

First Learning is the strongest, make sure you get it right first time.

Written by Jane Ardern BSc (Hons) KCAI (WG)
WaggaWuffins Canine College
Bury Lancashire

*Permission to share this post from this source. No cutting and pasting please and pretending you wrote it yourself 🙄

22/06/2024

Today I met handsome Cooper who is finding it hard to manage his emotions around other male dogs 🐕

We started building a stronger connection between him and his human and taught a few different ways of managing encounters, as well as some new things to put in place to keep his stress levels low.

He was such a super boy, he picked everything up so quickly ❤️ Well done Cooper! 🐶

18/05/2024

Second session with Dexter today to work on his reactivity towards other dogs and see how he's been getting on since our first session.

We've pinpointed certain areas of the park where Dexter feels less confident so today we worked on some fun games to play to help him feel at ease, as well as putting some things in place to help his humans feel more confident when out and about with him.

He's made beautiful progress since his first session, big well done to Dexter!

17/05/2024

Last week I got to hang out with Disco 🥰 she's always such a treasure!

18/04/2024

Yesterday I got to meet gorgeous little Marley 🥰

His human has been working super hard with him, building their bond, helping him feel safe, and has done so much in the 3 weeks he's been home!

We worked on building on his sit, increasing distance and turning it into a stay. We also taught him a hand touch, and talked about toilet training and walkies.

Really looking forward to the next few sessions with Marley and seeing him grow!