Pause 4 Paws

21/10/2025

Bear foraging for Hawthorn berries. Good for the heart apparently. Sticky weed is another favourite of our pups. What does your pup search out?

14/10/2025

If you missed Saturday night's webinar and are curious about the work of the wolf and dog development centre click on the link below to watch the recording.

If training hasn’t worked, or it’s worked but something still feels off, you’re not doing it wrong.You’re just being handed a model that never built relationship in the first place.

18/09/2025

Today I had an 8am appointment at the Vets for Bella's acupuncture. I had a 9am walk back in Stanton. They decided to do some overhead cable work on the 143 during morning rush hour so there was traffic lights and a queue of traffic waiting, I thought I was going to be late despite the fact I had left early. I was also with Bella who struggles in the vets and is hyper mobile and vocal when she struggles. She draws you in to that energy if your not paying attention. So I was rushing and Bella was encouraging this, I was actually on time. Then I had to get back to a client walk so I was still rushing. I was back in plenty of time to drop Bella home and get out but I kept up the pace to make sure I was on time. (the client was aware of my vets appointment and was not worried when I arrived but in my head I don't like to be "late") As we set off on our walk, a neighbour stopped to say Hi who knew the client dog I was with and had a cuddle and commented he is such a lovely big softy, I replied I know he is so gorgeous as I was walking away fast, on with the walk. As I got to the corner of the road, I checked in with myself ... why was I rushing there was no need now (and it could be argued there was no need in the first place ) I had a short chat with myself, its ok you made it, it is fine to stop and I used my breath. I dropped my pace, calmed my heart rate. We had a good sniff and a chat and I was present enjoying the morning air with him.
How often do we need to rush , pop the dog out before I get to work or get dinner on or the million other time critical jobs we have already started to think about in our heads.
When we check in with ourselves we realise we are still rushing when there is no need. What does this signal to our dogs? That its not safe, that we need to keep moving. They don't know its not the environment driving us, just our minds. They presume there is something wrong with the now. We aren't available to connect because we are still in our heads rushing from the vets. Next time your out with your dog stop and think where am I. Am I here present and connected or am I at my last or next task.

If you would like to join a guided walk or take a 6 month journey to build your relationship and feel connected with your dog visit my website www.pause4paws.co.uk or contact me on 07379 329321

14/09/2025

A baby bear sleeping on my lap, aww cute. But it's more than cute - it's Bear being vulnerable. Due to his past life experiences this made him feel unsafe. He would not rest on humans or show his vulnerable tummy area. If he tried he would have to resort to his coping strategy which involves biting. Snoozing on my lap was more than cute it was a huge step for him.

03/09/2025

Canine mums is today's topic. When a dogs biological mum is anxious/stressed this can have an effect on the puppies right from womb to birth and the initial raising. Mums should be tolerant, loving, gentle and nurturing.
I often see that dog mums are praised online for raising their young with harsh corrections and hard boundaries. This is not how a mum should be, this is a mum who has disruptions to her development and didn't get unconditional care from her mum/humans and the cycle is repeating.
We should also offer this unconditional phase with our dogs, making our environment a yes rather than a no helps us to achieve this. When my son was a toddler I would not take him to the fine China section of John Lewis and tell him not to touch while he wildly ran down the aisle. I would have avoided or put him in a pushchair so he didn't have to constantly keep being told off, fracturing our relationship with an expectation beyond his developmental capabilities. If the pup constantly eats our shoes then putting them out of reach or in a storage box is better than constantly telling them off.
A good mum keeps the pups safe and warm, when they venture too far or fall off her feeding she brings them back in to her warmth and co-regulates them, as we would hold a crying baby and sooth them. This helps the pups grow to be resilient dogs who look for help from their care givers.

If this didn't happen then we call this a disrupted stage of development and its important we go back and repair this.
If this development stage has gaps, then we often see the dog has issues with sound or movement as it grows bigger in the form of chasing cars, cyclists or joggers, fear of fireworks or the hoover among other things. It can have a blocked seeking system that means it tries to deal with the world the best way it can alone rather than asking for us to help.

If you would like to know more follow and like my page or join me on a new guided walk package and ask me questions while I help you have more enjoyable walk with your dog.

29/08/2025

If you are looking to build a deeper relationship with your dog and alter the ways they currently cope in the world, whether that is by lunging, barking or never settling, you can enrol on our 6 month dog development program. You will understand the why behind the behaviour and help change their coping strategies by repairing their trauma.
Contact us today to book your place.

27/08/2025

Do you enjoy your walks with your dog? Do you wonder why you see them behaving in certain ways out and about ? Why they spend their time sniffing one day and pull like a train others? Join us for a guide walk and gain some valuable insights to your daily routine.

25/08/2025

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about the sit. A sit can be difficult for our dogs, especially out in the wider world away from home. Why is that? A lower bottom/tail can communicate a lot to other dogs, for instance a high tail position can indicate that they are making decisions and certain characters would want to portray that. By requiring a sit in busy environment we can mess up their communication and often, in an attempt to comply with our request and get their reward, they offer up a neutral communication position such as the down and we get frustrated. Its important to remember that often a "won't" is really a "can't" and look at the why behind a behaviour. But also look at why we feel the need to ask them, may be our dogs don't need to sit when they cross a road. I have never felt the need to make my human son sit before he crosses the road, he just has to hold hands and wait till I say its safe to do so.

15/08/2025

Did you know that there is a reason your dog rolls in or eats horse or fox poo. It isn't just to keep the pet shop financially afloat in shampoo sales. It helps them adjust who they are showing themselves to be in the world. Eating or rolling also have different reasons. Join us on our 6 month program where we learn how to help our dogs navigate the unnatural human world we expose them to everyday.

13/08/2025

Continuing our recent series looking at the natural social characters our dogs are born with and how they influence our dogs behaviour, today we look at the prosocial. They love to have fun, building up all those lovely feel good chemicals like dopamine in everyone around them. It can very very hard for them to slow down the party and they struggle to find their off switch. We can help to show them how to regulate themselves and find peace. If you want to find out more follow and like my page for more insights or sign up for one of our packages.