Catherine Tomlinson Canine Behaviour and Puppy school.

10/08/2024

🐕 Looking for professional accreditation in animal training? Is it a goal of yours to become an accredited Animal Training Instructor (ATI) with the ABTC?

The Animal Behaviour and Training Council is the industry leader in providing accreditation for welfare-led animal training across the UK. Puppy School is proud to be an ABTC Practitioner Organisation, which means that we are able to teach and prepare our Puppy School Tutors to learn puppy training to a high enough standard to take the ABTC ATI assessment.

We offer comprehensive tutor training, taught by a range of experienced tutors, including Clinical Animal Behaviourists Gwen Bailey and Catherine Tomlinson.

Once you’ve qualified with Puppy School, you’ll receive free access to behaviour courses given by Nicole Harris BA(Hons) PGDip CABC CCAB (Puppy Tales - Puppy Training Specialists). Nicole is a Clinical Animal Behaviourist and ATI with ABTC, committee member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC), and a Certified member of the Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians (FABC).

📢 We are recruiting NOW for the autumn 2024 course, starting 31st August. This will be the final chance to join the Puppy School family until autumn 2025, so don’t miss out! For more details and to apply, see: https://www.puppyschool.co.uk/join-us

23/07/2024

Congratulations to the beautiful puppies that have graduated from our Junior Puppy class at Middlezoy. their tutor thoroughly enjoyed her time working with the guardians of the puppies that attended. If you have a puppy over 20 weeks that would like to learn more skills or enhance existing ones then try out the 6 week Puppy Power courses in Middlezoy. Next course starts Wednesday 24th July at 6pm. www.catherinetomlinson.com for more details about Puppy Power and other services

08/07/2024

Feeling grateful knowing I've helped and made a difference. I will never take these moments for granted.

29/06/2024

The summer is nearly here for Puppies! Book your puppy on Puppy School. We have three venues to choose from on different nights. Use this link to book Puppy School or visit my website www.catherinetomlinson.com for junior classes
https://client.puppyschool.co.uk/booking/PS/DEEC44B8-F711-459A-A0B5-0584B4DA14D4

14/06/2024

A rare day off, enjoying my birthday with some of my favourites 🥳

12/06/2024

📣 Calling all vet professionals! 📣🩺🐕

Puppy School has been working behind the scenes on some exciting new resources for you, and we have three things we would love to tell you about...

1. Got wriggly puppies who you struggle to get on and keep still on the weigh scales? Watch our FREE 5 min micro-tutorial and you will have them calm, confident and relaxed in no time. No more struggle, just effortless getting on, waiting, and getting off – make weigh-in’s a breeze for life! Watch it here:
https://puppyschool.thinkific.com/products/digital_downloads/weigh-scales

2. Our very own Gwen Bailey, Director and Founder of Puppy School, will be giving the puppy behaviour presentation “Puppy Greetings, the new Puppy Play” at the BVNA Congress on Sunday 13th October 2024 - we look forward to seeing you there.

3. Finally, we want to know what you want from us! Would you like to be part of a package of resources for veterinary professionals to help set young puppies off on the right paw? We need YOU to tell us about any puppy training/behaviour challenges you face at work so we can offer more helpful resources. Fill in our very short survey with a chance to win exclusive free early access to our new CPD courses: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G9676BY

Looking forward to working with you to create more Puppy-Friendly Practices 😊🐾🩷

06/06/2024

Chilling with Mr Chilled before work. A good dose of seretonin.

20/05/2024

Getting ready for some summer fun. Our doors are open to all of those gorgeous pups and their families. Come and join me, for Puppy School and our junior course for those older puppies. To book see www.catherinetomlinson.com

19/05/2024

BLISS ❤️

17/05/2024

Barney at last night's Junior puppy classes in Taunton. A compliment about our classes? Super chilled pup 😍 we love you Barney

02/05/2024

29/04/2024

What a lovely review from Percy's family following his 6 week experience with myself and . Thankyou for giving me the opportunity to just be me ❤️

29/04/2024

Congratulations to Ned who came, achieved and conquered at Puppy School in Taunton Ned was a little nervous on week 1 but soon found mates to say hello to and learnt a whole bunch of new skills. Well done Ned and family, much love to you all ❤️

29/04/2024

A huge congratulations to Percy and his lovely family that have smashed the Puppy School course . Myself and could not be prouder of this little man and his family. The young person that Percy brought along with him, helped so much in classes, not just with his own puppy but also the other little pups that were a little worried about children. I am so grateful that our classes over the last 6 weeks had many amazing opportunities for positive socialisation and that these pups have had the best start to life ❤️

29/04/2024

Another lovely review but this time for my lovely associate who runs the Puppy School classes at Middlezoy village Hall.

10/04/2024

I was worried about Becky Howes donkey at one point. But luckily she turned it around at the last minute. Great evening at The Picture and Piano Taunton Painting donkeys.

01/04/2024

One of my lovely Puppy School attendees, having his first trip out on Exmoor today. Socialising in the sun in Somerset was good for Percy puppy, his sister Pudding and their human companions.Goats, prams, dogs, children, stunning views, great friends and fish and chips on the beach were just a few of the positive experiences for the pupsters and their human friends.

08/01/2024

!!!!1 PUPPY SCHOOL PLACE LEFT!!!! Due to a last minute cancellation we have a place available on a Puppy School Course starting Tuesday 9th January at 7.30pm in Bridgwater. Only for puppies under 20 weeks of age at the start of the course. Use this link to book directly https://client.puppyschool.co.uk/booking/PS/DEEC44B8-F711-459A-A0B5-0584B4DA14D4 or contact [email protected]

23/10/2023

The beautiful Hazel graduating from Puppy School at Ash Priors in Taunton . Well done Hazel and family x

28/08/2023

Shelby flying solo today without his big brother STEWIE (not his kinda thing being an older boy and happy with the quiet life). Met some of his trusty friends (Tink Durman) at the Quantock Show and made new ones. He wooed Minnie and Kipper with a doggy ice cream (we won't tell them it was very much sloppy seconds). Minnie liked it but Kipper wasn't impressed until Shelby showed him his best sexy face them it was a serious doggy bromance. In between the socialising and ice cream snacks Shelby paused to watch the world around him whilst mummy admired the pretty horses. A nice afternoon had by all x

08/08/2023

Being part of the Somerset, Avon and Wiltshire Puppy School team is not only about working with people and their scrummy puppies but we also spend time together learning new skills, updating our knowledge and having lots of fun. Our team trip out this time was to the Axe Shack in Bridgwater where we learnt to throw Axes at targets. I knew the Puppy School ladies were talented but they smashed Axe throwing with Cheryl Holden from Big Dog Little Dog: Puppy and Dog training getting an exceptional score of 27 and landing her name on the leader board for the 27 club! All ladies came away in one piece but more proficient in throwing Axes with smiles on their faces. Thankyou Axe Shack for a great time and the ladies of the Somerset,Wiltshire and Avon Puppy School team for an excellent time....I cant wait for the rematch! x

02/06/2023

An amazing article written by the wonderful Nicole Emery, an experienced Clinical Animal behaviourist registered with the ABTC and Puppy School tutor.

The veterinary team is perfectly placed to give advice to new puppy owners regarding appropriate socialisation solutions pre-vaccination

21/04/2023

Another amazing article by Roz The Mutty Professor .

👅 WHAT DOES THE TONGUE TELL US? 👅

Sometimes overlooked in body language, the tongue can tell us a lot about what is going on inside of the dog (their physiology) and how that may affect their behaviour.

Note, when a dog is hot- their tongue will get bigger and their arousal will increase. But their physiology will be different to when they are hot due to high intensity exercise. This blog focuses on the latter cause for changes in tongue shape- although you may see some similar affects on behaviour when over heating is mostly due to environment conditions.

TONGUE SIZE & SHAPE
As panting is a dog's primary strategy to thermoregulate when over heating (in addition to seeking cool locations if given the opportunity), the size of the tongue increases as arousal elevates and the body temperature subsequently increases.

As blood is pumped more around the body (including into the tongue) as respiration and heart rate increases, the end of the tongue becomes spatula shaped as a way of increasing the surface area and further assist heat loss.

BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
From a behaviour and training perspective, if I see a larger tongue that's hanging out the dog's mouth (often to the side, but not always) I will adapt what I ask of a dog, how much I ask of a dog and be mindful that more reactive and intense behaviour in response to the environment is more likely.

In a heightened state of arousal, cognitive processing is impaired as the body is primed for survival focused tasks. Looking for danger and moving (towards or away) from that danger.

The emotional 'centre' of the brain is over riding the problem solving part of the brain - fast and heightened emotional responses to environmental change, such as dogs, people or wildlife appearing may be likely for many dogs.

Thus, when you see a larger tongue, you may observe increased vigilance in a dog and difficulty in them staying still. For some dogs, if they feel confident in their surroundings- you might not get vigilance per se and they may lie down to slow down their heart rate. But you'll often see the eyes scanning/flicking left to right (even if they are slitted) until arousal lowers.

PICK YOUR MOMENTS
If you see a large, spatula tongue.....

🤔 Is this the time to ask a dog to focus on you and stay still?
🤔Is this the time to get closer to 'triggers'?
🤔Is this the time to raise your criteria in your other training?

Well, that depends on the dog and their existing skill set.....

If I'm out and about with a dog and see a large tongue, I tend to do the following:

1️⃣Find a quiet spot away from activity in the environment.

2️⃣Give them time to slow themselves down, rather than cue a stationary behaviour. Remember, this is because the body is primed to move and the muscles are being pumped full of blood.

3️⃣Give them opportunity to self-regulate, whether that be a little bit of pacing around, moving to shade, sniffing, drinking etc.
You may not see sniffing behaviour in high arousal states because the mouth has to close (partially or full) to promote sniffing. Treat searchs are therefor often NOT easy for dogs in a high arousal states- because they need to keep their mouth open to cool down.

4️⃣ Don't yet offer them food, as it's rarely palatable in this state of arousal (and the mouth can get quite dry when the tongue is this size).

5️⃣Allow them time to look around and ask little of them.

I wait for the tongue to decrease in size, becoming less spatula shaped and being pulled more into the mouth. I am also looking for the eyes become less slitted and for behaviours associated with vigilance (alert stance) to decrease.

Only then will I assist arousal decrease by cuing a static behaviour such as a down or sit. More often than not, when the foundation behaviours are trained, you'll then see focus returning to you without verbal cues being necessery.

Your dog is now 'back in the room' and you can now proceed with what you want to do next, which for a reactive dog would sensibly be returning to base camp.....or for a dog you're training, other tasks should perhaps be a more established 'easy' behaviour.

This is because the effects of arousal in the body (and brain) last beyond the observable changes we see. Dogs can very easily return to high arousal states (often referred to as ‘trigger-stacking).

With careful management and training, we can increase resilience in our dogs, assisting arousal recovery and promoting the stability of post-arousal states.

Despite this, I think we should always remember that such excessive levels of arousal are incredibly taxing on the body. For that reason, if I see a spatula tongue once on a walk/session- I'll do my best to not see it a second time that day.

There's far more the tongue can tell us.....such as whether a dog is goofing around or being serious. I'll write about that another day 🙂

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🔗There is a link to my body language webinar in the comments.

05/04/2023

Calling all puppies. Due to popularity we have added an additional Puppy School course starting Thursday 20th April Pavilion in Bridgwater
🐾 Puppy School Course 7.10pm (for pups under 20 weeks of age at the start of the course). To book https://client.puppyschool.co.uk/.../DEEC44B8-F711-459A...

20/03/2023

Calling all puppies. We have just a few spaces left on our Puppy Training courses starting Wednesday 29th March Village Hall
🐾 Puppy School Course 7.10pm (for pups under 20 weeks of age at the start of the course) . To book https://client.puppyschool.co.uk/booking/PS/DEEC44B8-F711-459A-A0B5-0584B4DA14D4

🐾 Puppy Power Course 6pm (for pups that have graduated from Puppy School and /or are over 20 weeks of age . To book https://bookwhen.com/catherinepetbehaviour

17/03/2023

This is Reggie! He's put a big smile on my face today as I know that he is a happy boy with the current behaviour plan put in place. He is worried about so many aspects of the outside world and so his owner and I have had to rethink how we can cater for his physical, cognitive, emotional and social needs to ensure he is happy and we can look forward to helping him move forward for a healthy and fulfilled life. , buy

16/03/2023

🌟Sleep Awareness Week : 12th-18th March🌟

🐾At Puppy School, we know how important it is for your puppy to rest and how hard it can be to help them settle.
🐾Sleep is vitally important for your puppy's growth and development. Young puppy's aged 8 weeks old need around 18 hours sleep in a 24 hour period.
🐾For optimum sleep - It is best to provide a quiet, safe place for your puppy to settle, a comfy bed and ensure it is located somewhere free from distractions / disturbances.

🐾Visit our YouTube channel for lots of tips on how to help your puppy get the down time that they need, along with lots of other tips and advice. 👉https://www.youtube.com/c/PuppySchool

👉We would love to see photo's of your dogs having a rest....please add them to the comments and make our day!