Pause 4 Paws

31/12/2025

I would just like to wish all my clients a happy new year from my family to yours, it's been a privilege to watch over your animals and help them in 2025. I can't wait to see them all in 2026 for snuggles, kisses and fluffy tail wags. Thank you for trusting me with your family. xx

25/12/2025

Merry christmas to all my brilliant current clients and future clients I'm yet to meet. I am looking forward to seeing you all in 2026. ###

20/12/2025

https://www.wolfanddogdevelopment.org/a/2148215506/qH8AwGo2

If you missed last week's brilliant webinar on social characters, click on the link and you can watch the replay xx

In this live session, we unpacked what really shapes your dog’s behaviour — and why breed alone will never explain what’s actually going on.

06/12/2025

https://www.wolfanddogdevelopment.org/a/2148209868/qH8AwGo2

Anyone interested in joining my mentors for a free webinar delving into the characters our dogs were born with and a key part of how they see the world - click on the link and sign up for next Saturday. It was such a light bulb moment for me.
Xx

21/10/2025

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

17/10/2025

Todays blog is all about rescue vs puppy raising.

https://pause4paws.co.uk/rescue-repair-vs-puppy-raising

Have a look and let me know your experiences of rescue dogs with trauma.
If you feel you need help with your dog's repair, drop me a message on whatsapp.

Holly Pause4paws
07379 329321

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.

01/10/2025

I always hear dog trainers who advise to never take a dog out who is reactive and to avoid everything and then the other camp who criticise dog trainers who give that advise saying that dogs become fearful and get much worse without going out and a dog needs to face these things to become resilient.

I thought I would talk today about this subject and how I see it. I would mainly say it depends. If your dog is reactive and is very stressed every time you walk it, it will not be able to learn and you are strengthening those neural pathways. By putting your dog through this stress, its nervous system is constantly being overwhelmed.

However never walking them wont fix this either. Unless its done to take a break from the stress and for us to build our relationship in the safety of the house/garden with connection. We need to be there for them during this break and then once we have a relationship where they look to us for help, guidance and safety we can tackle the things they are scared off in a connected way with an adult they look for to guide them.

Its important that we go to places that we can keep them safe once this relationship is there, if as soon as we take them out again we go to an off lead park and they get attacked or they are around dogs who don't have great social skills, we didn't prove we can keep them safe.
If we find dogs that we know have good social skills and can help our dog with patience and tolerance for the mistakes they will make while its learning, we prove we can keep them safe . By choosing to walk in quieter spaces where we can either move closer to or further away from unknown dogs, we prove we can make decisions that keep them safe.

Once they have a secure relationship to a caregiver and they feel safe we can use busier environments to strengthen our bond as long as we feel safe being there. We can not offer safety if we don't feel safe.
If we go to a regular space and our dog is relaxed, their pace is slow and they are sniffing with relaxed body language then we know we are in the right place to support staying out their survival system . Its good to then use more challenging environments on occasion but when your both ready and the human is available for support.

If you would like some guidance on your current walks contact me to book a guided walk package.

Holly

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.