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Top Dog International Top Dog International offers dog training with focus on understanding dogs through body language, us That is where I grew up. Christine Lang
(11)

About me
Imagine a small, idyllic town in Switzerland, with lots of farms and fields where children play in the hay and you can hear the church bells chiming. My parents are originally from Vienna, Austria, where we spent all our summers during our childhood. We were a pack of five: my parents, my sister, Taski, and myself. Taski was our Golden Retriever and undoubtedly my first ‘true love’. I gre

w up around dogs, going to puppy courses, organising playtimes and walking some of the dogs in the neighbourhood. I could never imagine my live without dogs, but it is only now, after some years of moving around and about, that I’ve turned my passion into my work as a dog professional. In the past, I called many different places my home, even Mexico and Miami, but since three years my boyfriend and I have been living in Stavanger, Norway. I enjoy exploring new cultures and learning new languages, only then do I really feel connected to people. I have a degree in Hotel Management and for many years I worked in hotels worldwide. But I have grown out of the hotel industry and am laying my focus on the canine world. My boyfriend and I usually spend some time each year in Lima, Peru, which is where his roots are, and where we volunteer at a dog shelter for street dogs, hoping to make their life a tiny bit better. What I like most about working as a canine professional is to see the relationship grow between the dogs and their owners, as well as how trust develops and owner and pet become best friends. And of course I LOVE the hair and paw prints on all my clothes!

25/09/2020

Prepping for the PDTE Online Summit!
I can’t wait to hear brilliant keynote speakers, facilitate and participate in workshops and simply keep learning all things dog! 🐕🐾
www.pdte.eu

24/08/2020

Smiling Leash

[THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD HARNESS FIT]

Following up on our post about harnesses we want to expand on what does a good harness fit look like and a few guidelines to help you achieve it. 👍

🇭 and 🇾
The harness part on top on the dog's body looks like an H, and the front of the harness should look like the letter Y.

🔲Neck. The Y should be on the sternum. That is the bone you can feel in the front of the dog's chest. In case the dog pulls or lunges, the harness should press on the sternum bone. That way, there is no discomfort or injury to softer parts. If the harness is fit too high, it might look - and damage the neck - like a collar. Too low, and it will interfere with the dog's natural gait.

🔲Thorax. The H should be sitting on the ribs. Not so low that the strap would cross the soft belly or so high that it would constrict the neck.

🔲You should be able to fit two fingers between the harness and the dog's body. This allows for some room when the dog moves. It is also more comfortable. On the other hand, an overly loose harness may also interfere with the dog's movement.

🔲Safety harnesses. These are the harnesses with an additional strap for deep-chested dogs. Look for one that doesn't have straps over the soft belly part. If you can't find one like that, ensure the lead attaches to the part of the harness that crosses the ribs so that there is no pressure on the belly.

These guidelines apply to all dogs, no matter the size or shape. As they are all different, just like us, try to find an H harness brand that will tick all the boxes. ✅

Thank you to anny•x for allowing us to use their fitting visuals, which we think are spot on. 😉

*The fitting guide is by anny•x, harnesses on photos are by various manufacturers.










31/01/2019

Look what arrived in the mail today! 🤩

Very fond memories of all the Top Dogs of Stavanger... 💜

23/01/2019

Top Dog International's cover photo

19/01/2019

Supporter group meeting at SSPCA today and dog training with lovely Bonnie and her owners!

Bonnie, a 3 year old Lurcher, was rescued from abuse and starvation. She has come a long way but needs some help to become a more relaxed and balanced dog.

10/10/2018

Canine First Aid: always good to practice CPR again! And we had some lovely and patient mannequin pupps ☺️

06/10/2018
PDTE Pet Dog Trainers of Europe

Dogs don‘t lie! 🙏🏼 💜 🐕
PDTE Pet Dog Trainers of Europe

Thanks to the hosts of the PDTE Annual Conference this year in Vienna for this wonderful video. Find out more about the PDTE at www.pdte.eu.

01/10/2018

What an amazing weekend in Vienna! I’m super grateful for being part of it once again. An unforgettable PDTE Conference 2018! 💜

Rome 2019, can‘t wait! ☺️

12/09/2018

Back to school this September 📚

Starting my course in Animal Behaviour with University of Oxford today! So excited!

🐀🐖🦒🐊🐋🦗🦊🦅🐰🐸🐒🦇🐢🦀🐠🐏

22/08/2018

Oscar -Black Lab, 10 weeks- had his first puppy training with Top Dog! 👏🏼

Actually, it’s always the dog owners who are learning the most in training but this time I only took a picture of wee Oscar here and he is clearly getting a diploma for Cuteness! ☺️

19/08/2018

Great things happening in September-Part 1:

A month from now we’ll be in Vienna for the PDTE AGM 2018, where we will also be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of PDTE!

The event is open to all, so YOU can also join a weekend of education, knowledge, networking and fun!

http://www.pdtevienna2018.at/

17/08/2018

Casey in her moment of bliss... 💞

Do more of what makes you happy! TGIF ☺️

14/08/2018

When I first moved to Norway ~5 years ago and started working with dogs I soon heard about Turid Rugaas. At that time I had not personally met her yet but her book about canine body language 'På talefot med hunden' was one of the first books I read in Norwegian (also available in English, FYI) and I have been learning from her ever since.

I am now:
-'listening' by observing, reading canine body language and calming signals.
-using long leashes and well fitted harnesses.
-letting Dogs be Dogs: let them roll, sniff, dig, chew...it's natural dog behaviour, we must grant them this freedom.
-asking questions: WHY does my dog need to sit? WHY does he have to heel? WHY is he not allowed to sniff the ground? It's important to reflect on what we ask of our dogs, instead of simply copying what others are doing.

Let's give a round of applause to Turid Rugaas for doing such great work in the name of all canines. We wish you a wonderful 80th Birthday! Hipp Hipp Hurra! 🍾🎂💐🎉🐾

10/08/2018

As heavenly as puppies are, it’s always amazing to see them grow and develop.

Luno the Mini Australian Shepherd is already going to smeller training and may become a search and rescue dog one day! 👍🏼😃

30/07/2018

We had a picknick by the fjord on Saturday with this little goofball! 🤪 Loki the Corgi 💞

26/07/2018

Shannon the ‘Jack Russel Waterdog’ 😆

21/07/2018
Humans and dogs influence each other

Humans and dogs have been living together since ~35’000 years and are greatly influencing each others lives and wellbeing.
By Dr. Konrad Kotrschal, co-founder of the Wolf Science Center in Austria.

People have lived with animals for thousands of years. Dogs are considered to be our most loyal companions. With the support of the FWF a research group led by behavioural…

16/07/2018

We have been walking these two amazing dogs for more than 1.5 years, 3 times per week and have fallen madly in love with them. They will always be special to me and I will miss their wet kisses and their crazyness to the moon and back... Stor takk for at vi kunne ble kjennt med de to 💞 og lykke til videre!

12/07/2018

Børge, downside up and upside down 😁

10/07/2018

Newsflash: Top Dog will be relocating to Scotland this summer! New adventures await us and we look forward to continue our work in Aberdeen soon.

We will do the round to say good bye to all our regulars once the moment has come to pack our bags. Keep the tissues ready -you know me, I wear my dog heart on my sleeve! 💞😉

09/07/2018
Зоозащитники из Норвегии убедились, что безнадзорных собак и кошек в Нижнем Новгороде не убивают к ЧМ

An update from our travels:
After our visit to the animal shelter (see previous post) we were featured twice in the Russian press -newspaper and TV- where we are called animal rights defenders and cynologists from Norway! 💪🏼🤩

We were thrilled to help draw attention to the dogs and cats there and hopefully more local people will support the shelter and adopt! 💞

Here are the links (all in russian though):

https://koza.press/news/5329

http://vestinn.ru/news/society/96816/

Они посетили приют фонда «Сострадание НН».

29/06/2018

Today we visited an animal shelter in Russia’s 5th biggest city, Nizhny Novgorod. We communicated through Google Translator and the staff was amazing and gratefull for our interest and help. We are really impressed by how the shelter is run and how the animals are looked after by the volunteers.👍🏼💞🐶🐱https://m.facebook.com/sostradanienn/

16/06/2018

Getting ready for the Football World Championship by supporting our home countries🇨🇭SWITZERLAND and 🇵🇪 PERU!🤩

11/06/2018

Lila & Asle, to snille Shiba Inu, 5 og 10 år. Noen hunder er enklere å lufte enn andre!😂

09/06/2018

Our two favourite boys Aldo & Ice are back for some hundelufting this weekend! 🐺🐶🤗

08/06/2018

Fantastisk tur og sosialisering med Børge & Gigi i dag! De to skjønnaser storkoste seg! 🤗

08/06/2018

Summer greetings from lovely Casey! 😍

07/06/2018

You gotta love Hafrsfjord!
Sweet Bobbin enjoying a swim.

04/06/2018

Puppy sitting Luno!
Very active little guy, but after play time he falls asleep in the palm of your hand... 😍

31/05/2018

Since temperatures are flying high make sure to keep your dogs cool in the heat!

Tengo, enjoying beach time... 😅🏝

30/05/2018

Børge is checking out the new dog breed! 🤣

I‘m walking some confused dogs lately because of all these lawn mower robots! 🤖

26/05/2018

Shannon and dog sitter going for a swim 🏝
Too hot for regular walks, needed to cool off!

25/05/2018

A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E 😍
Er det ikke beste jobben i hele verden?🙏🏼

23/05/2018

Welcome to the neighborhood Luno!! 😍
Mini Australian Shepherd, 10 uker

22/05/2018

Took Nero to the beach for a morning walk, not sure who had more fun, the hound or the human! 😁🏖️

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Videos

'Hound versus Frisbee'
'Hound versus Frisbee'

Hundepass er moro! Watch 'Nero the Hound versus the Frisbee' ;)

Top Dog Stavanger
Top Dog Stavanger

Siddis, look at this fancy video presenting: Top Dog Stavanger - thanks to Chispa who did a superb job. Enjoy!

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Our Story

Imagine a small, idyllic town in Switzerland, with lots of farms and fields where children play in the hay and you can hear the church bells chiming. That is where I grew up. My parents are originally from Vienna, Austria, where we spent all our summers during our childhood. We were a pack of five: my parents, my sister, Taski, and myself. Taski was our Golden Retriever and undoubtedly my first ‘true love’. I grew up around dogs, going to puppy courses, organising playtimes and walking some of the dogs in the neighbourhood. I could never imagine my live without dogs, but only after some years of moving around and about, I’ve included this passion into my daily life. In the past, I called many different places my home, like Mexico, Miami Beach and Norway. And now, just a few months ago we have relocated to Scotland! I enjoy exploring new cultures and learning new languages, only then do I really feel connected to people. I have a degree in Hotel Management and for many years I worked in the tourism industry worldwide. However, while living in Norway, my partner and I decided to start up our own business to professionally work with dogs. That’s where Top Dog International was born. We usually spend some time each year in Lima, Peru, which is where my partners roots are, and where we volunteer at a dog shelter for street dogs, hoping to make their life a tiny bit better. Furthermore, since moving to Scotland I have started to volunteer for the Scottish SPCA. What I like most about working as a canine professional is to see the relationship grow between the dogs and their owners, as well as how trust develops and owner and pet become best friends. And of course I LOVE the hair and paw prints on all my clothes! Yours truly, Christine :)