Aimee Gardiner MSc - Pawfectly Behaved

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Aimee Gardiner MSc - Pawfectly Behaved

Animal Behaviourist and Trainer in the South Birmingham area

Specialising in Assistance Dog Training and Neurodivergent Friendly Dog Training!

Assistance Dog and Disability Advocacy

Dog and Cat Behaviour Consultations

28/11/2025

Just something to think about if you are training your own assistance dogs.

Often general and public access training starts first. Then people get to a certain point with their public access training and their dog is doing well. They are able to go into public access and act like an assistance dog.

That is only part of the training

In order for a dog to be an assistance dog, they have to help their disabled handler access services. This is normally achieved through trained tasks.

If your dog is not trained to assist you with a disability, you are not covered by the law to access services with them.

Task work is an important part of assistance dog training. Here is Mango working on her shopping!

[A black retriever picks up a tube of pringles from the bottom shelf of the supermarket and hands it to her handler.]

23/11/2025

My life!

[A black retriever goes from standing to lying down smoothly. A liver and white spaniel goes from lying down to sitting but jumps in the air every time]

17/11/2025

Practicing deep pressure therapy

She's not quite in the right position here but she will get there.

[A golden retriever lies across a person's lap while they sit on the floor with their legs outstretched]

15/11/2025

I wasn't going to share this.

Mainly because the audio is terrible and so is my breathing (no prizes for guessing what I was in hospital for)

But it's sweet and training sessions aren't always perfect so here's Bucky and me (and Maeve for her own reasons) practicing recall

Some pointers about recall

✅ Don't nag your dog. Calling your dog every two seconds bores them senseless

✅ Reward check ins - capture that attention so you get more of it

✅ When you first start, wait until your dog isn't busy exploring or sniffing

✅ Use secure fields to get confident

✅ Use high value rewards

✅ Call them and let them go back to doing what they were doing. Don't just call them to end the walk. Recalls should add to the walk experience not end them

Enjoy this mildly chaotic training session teaching recall.

(I cannot stress enough I'm looking after a friend's dog. I don't do board and train. I do take your dogs out and train them for you but this is not a boarding service)

[Two black retrievers run around a field playing with each other and practicing recall]

08/11/2025

Social media and random commenters on community Facebook groups are wrong.

Your dogs fear of fireworks is probably NOT your fault.

Noise sensitivity is more complicated than you just didn't try hard enough to desensitise them to sounds.

I have three dogs. Two are fine. Lyra isn't fine. I'm currently pumping 90's hits at her which I'm not sure are much better but she seems to be sleeping right now.

What's different about Lyra. Is it because I just didn't try hard enough to desensitise her specifically but put my heart and soul into desensitising the others?

No, that's ludicrous.

They had all the same training. Leah and Maeve just don't have confounding factors.

Literally anything could happen to make them sensitive again. Pain, illness and bad experiences are just a few things that could be affecting how well your dog copes. Even after you treat the pain, medical conditions, trauma etc.. the sensitivity may never go away fully.

So shout out for everyone who's also sat inside with the curtains drawn with 90's hits blaring being blasted with Adaptil/pet remedy. This is for you.

It's probably not your fault.

[Fireworks and a beagle head are against a black background that says this is your friendly reminder, your dogs fear of fireworks is probably not your fault]

07/11/2025

Elsie did an amazing medical alert today in a cafe!

To top it all off she also did an amazing settle too

Like this post to show your appreciation of the wonderful Elsie ❤️

[A black Labrador with a red collar sits looking at the camera in a cafe]

28/10/2025

At this time of year the longer nights, bad weather and ceaseless fireworks may affect your dogs behaviour.

Particularly if you are working through a training or behaviour plan, you may find yourselves going backwards.

Rest assured this can be normal and it doesn't necessarily mean you are failing or your training isn't working. Behaviour is affected by many things and the autumn certainly brings its own challenges.

It is a good idea to check in with your trainer if you are concerned though!

As always, if you are struggling with your dogs behaviour send a DM and get booked in

[A black retriever drinks from a stream surrounded by autumn leaves. The text reads 'something to think about']

27/10/2025

Greeting people is a tough skill to learn, especially when you are a friendly flatcoat.

Here Bracken is learning to be released to say hello, to sit in front of the person instead of jumping and then is cued to disengage from the person and return to his handler.

It's the very first stages of him learning so he's doing well.

Muted because of conversations

Like to applaud Brackens hard work

[A black flatcoat comes and sits in front of the camera then disengages and returns to his handler]

21/10/2025

I love when the dogs I train graduate to training in Birmingham and all the skills we have been learning come together ❤️.

The city is such a different environment and they need to step into their roles a bit more. Knowing when they are ready can be tricky but we got it spot on with Max. He smashed it!

Max is amazing. Like this post for Max appreciation.

[A person using a wheelchair and a golden retriever head down a shopping centre corridor, passing construction work behind a shop board and various people]

14/10/2025

This is not a well thought out post. I'm just posting from the heart.

But I just wanted to come and give you complete, full, unequivocal permission to love your dogs

You loving your dogs too much will not cause behaviour problems

You can buy them things

You can fuss and stroke them

They can sleep on your bed

You can greet them when you come home

You can absolutely love them with every fibre of your being

This thought that loving your dogs too much causes them to get problem behaviours is absolutely ridiculous.

My dogs are spoiled beyond recognition. I love them so much. This is absolutely ok. It's why I brought them home.

Any content you see to the contrary, anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who makes you feel bad for loving your dog is simply wrong.

You brought them home to shower them with love. That's what they are for. Never feel like you can't.

[A liver and white spaniel is walking in the woods]

06/10/2025

One question you should ask a trainer before working with them.

What happens when a dog gets something wrong when training...

In our case, Nothing!

Well not nothing, we reset and try again

Maybe we change the exercise slightly

Maybe we help the dog understand with our reinforcement

Maybe we make the exercise easier to understand.

It's ok if training goes a bit wrong sometimes.

Just reset and try again.

Like this to support this young handler who is amazing at training her dog!

[A young girl puts her small, white dog in a stay and runs off. The dog breaks the stay and the girl fusses her and says she's naughty in a happy tone before bringing the dog back to the start]

Address

Opening Hours

Monday	10:00 - 18:00
Tuesday	10:00 - 18:00
Wednesday	10:00 - 18:00
Thursday	10:00 - 18:00
Friday	10:00 - 18:00

Website

https://aimeegardinerdogtrainer.co.uk/

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