Big Congratulations 🥳 to this top team for graduating from their 4 week Home School program. We are so looking forward to welcoming to our follow on courses starting next week 😀. Puppy cuddles, training puppies, lovely clients and flowers 🌸 what a lucky trainer I am and count my blessings every day!
It’s my Birthday 🎂
Hey it is my Birthday :0) Also a work day.
Guess what? I really do not mind as I totally love my job.
Today was spent with lots of puppies, this little girl was on her week 3 Home School package and totally loving her training.
This then followed other puppies, with owners struggling with issues like jumping up, puppy biting, toilet training and seperation .problems.
Then closely followed by a wonderful couple of hours out walking my boys.
A perfect Birthday and total win win kind of day 😀
How do you like celebrating your Birthday??
Super Sunday Social Walk
It was great to catch up with everyone again on our FREE social walk last Sunday.
And lovely to welcome a fellow dog trainers puppy who joined us too.
I set up these social walks, gosh must be at least 9 years ago now, simply so owners can come together to feel part of a community and be safe to know their puppy was socialising appropriately around other dogs I had already vetted and knew.
There is never any judgement in our group and although in formal, we do abide by the countryside code and make sure all good habits are maintained to keep others happy as well as our group.
I’m so passionate about giving puppies the very best start and beyond to life that of course I will always offer top tips and advice where I feel appropriate out of a class situation ❤️🐶
Lots of clients come even when their puppies are adults, making for a nice wide variety of ages for the younger ones to enjoy and learn from as well.
If your a puppy owner and want to train with us and join these walks then please do send us over an email.
For my personal 1-1’s and home visits please email me:-
[email protected]
Tel:- 07775906143
For group classes please head over to my other company Confident Happy Canines to book a place 😃
www.confidenthappycanines.co.uk
Adopt don’t shop 😀
Norfolk beaches are always amazing.
Big spaces, lots of birds and seals 🦭
My boys had a blast, very apt for national rescue dog day, which both my dogs are ❤️🐾❤️
What a glorious Sunday we are all blessed with, the sun is out perfect for our social walk this morning.
We welcomed a new recruit today, who was amazing for his first time out with us. Very inquisitive of the other dogs and took everything in his stride.
We are so lucky to have a mixed group of well socialised dogs to help teach the younger ones and mix and mingle appropriately.
We also saw lots of other dogs, just enough without flooding our new recruit.
The venue is so big it’s also easy to create space away from groups of dogs so we can teach ours to calmly look and give them time to take all the sites and smells in.
All these puppies and now older dogs have come through our classes and a credit to their owners.
We missed you Milly and Chester hope to see you on the next one.
Don’t forget these are free walks for any puppies that our training with us .
If you are interested do email me [email protected]
Congratulations 🥳
BIG CONGRATULATIONS 🥳 to this gorgeous, cheeky and clever Cockapoo puppy, for completing his 4 week Home School program.
Its been so wonderful in such a short time to see him grow in confidence, settle into routines and loving his training sessions every week.
He was very laid back 😂 as you can see after his last session with me this week 😀.
His family have worked super hard, building his routines and relationships at a steady pace.
Top teams you should be super proud of your accomplishments so far.
We are really looking forward to seeing you in our follow on classes soon and on your first social walk this Sunday 😃🐾⭐️❤️🐶
#puppylove #cockapoolove #rewardbasedtraining #puppyspecialist #teamworkmakesthedreamwork
Congratulations 🥳
BIG CONGRATULATIONS 🥳 to this gorgeous Cavelier puppy and his family who completed their 4 week Home School program with me this week.
We have had so much fun together it’s been such a pleasure.
Really well done team for all you have accomplished so far with your boy.
I’m really looking forward to supporting you again in our follow on classes soon.
In the meantime enjoy lots of adventures together and happy training 😀🌟🐾❤️
#puppyspecialist #cavalierkingcharlesspaniel. #teamworkmakesthedreamwork. #puppylove #rewardbaseddogtraining
Sunday Social Walk
Friends reunited ❤️
Charlie and Milly had lots of fun this morning on their walk together, the rain didn’t dampen their enthusiasm.
Milly has come through our puppy classes and up the levels of training we offer, and I can wholeheartedly say she is a total joy to be around.
Well done Colin and Petra for putting in the hours of training, so Milly can live her best life.
We always have such a giggle on these walks, it is nice to be able to hang out together.
Don’t forget these FREE OF CHARGE walks are for any puppy training with us and beyond.
If you are interested please email me:-
[email protected]
We had a wonderful if windy 😎social walk this morning. ( We missed you Buddy and Ollie, hope you enjoy your hols )
This group are great friends now, lots of play, sniffing and of course some flirting 😂.
I am so proud of these owners ❤️, your dogs are a total credit to you all💯 their training is coming together fantastically.
They are still young and maturing lovely.
Training we needed to use this morning :-
Recall from play, and around new dogs .
“Wait “
Popping our dogs on lead when we saw another dog on lead.
Gave space to groups of dogs we felt may not mix with the personalities and histories of ours. ( remember always advocate for your dog )
Introduced our dogs to other dogs not in our group appropriately, short and sweet then moved on, unless they were matching we stayed for a bit longer.
Treats I used for rewarding my dogs today that they love, were small meaty biscuits from https://www.finerbynature.co.uk/
Back now for a coffee and chilled afternoon with nicely sleeping dogs 😊
See you all again soon x
The other week, I saw this gorgeous boy. Here he is as a puppy watching the birds, and obviously showing interest, as puppies do.
Now he is an adolescent, for his owners life has become more challenging, and because he is a big breed everything is super sized behaviour wise, be that his emotional out bursts strength with pulling on the lead, jumping up at people, the way he deals with frustration and so on. All very normal as adolescents surf this phase in their development, its at this time they need much more emotional support and to be taught how to make good choices.
Without going into full details of this case, as there were others things in his life that needed to be changed, briefly what we covered was:-
On walks.
▪️Giving him longer periods of rest, and watching when out.
▪️Quiet enviroments for exercise.
▪️Work his brain when out, more so over exuberent bouts of running around to a point his listning ears switched off.
▪️Different ways to reinforce behaviour with food to keep up his motivation.
▪️Other activies to do on a walk, to keep him in more close proximity to his owners.
▪️Shortening the length of his walks, so that he did not reach a point of being over tired, which can lead to his inability to regulate his emotions.
▪️At home short bursts of toy play, to help with his need to release energy.
▪️More scent work, especially in the mornings instead of a walk which helps him chill, and be calmer before his actual walk later in the day. (He has lots of homework from being in our Confident Happy Canines, scentwork courses)
Genenerally using his brain more, so again he feels calmer when going out and about, and that the walks are not the highlight of his day, where he then puts all his pent up energy into them.
▪️Lots of chewing opportunities, to help combat boredom, ease tension and help with mild anxiety and frustration.
It’s always going to be a work in progress at this age, but they do come out of it, I’
Sunday Social Walk
Great friends reunited this morning on our Social Walk.
All the dogs had a spring in their steps, with a sprinkling of awesome personalities ❤️.
Great recalls, respectful play and hanging out together. They were all so happy 😀
A perfect Sunday morning.
Buddy ❤️
Merryn ❤️
Millie ❤️
Charlie ❤️
Barney ❤️
Thanks everyone for coming and see you again on the next one soon.
Sunday Social Walk.
Thank you Ollie and Buddy for joining my Charlie and Barney this morning on a lovely peaceful walk.
Perfect start to a Sunday.🐶💯
These walks have massively helped our boys over the critical puppy period and through the sensitive adolescent phase.
We have been so lucky to have had lots of wonderful happy puppies and older dogs join us over the years I have been running these. Which makes a big difference as it can be hard to find suitable groups.
We were having such a lovely catch up I forgot take pictures 🤦♀️ so here is my 20 month old Charlie after a warm bath and brush up 😂.
Now for some Sunday family chilling time ❤️
HAPPY CHRISTMAS 🎄
Last day of work before our Christmas break has arrived 🎄
We will be closed for the festive season now and back in January.
This year you may of noticed I’ve taken my foot of the gas here at The Little Dog Trainer, to concentrate on my other company Confident Happy Canines which I’m so happy to say is going from strength to strength, we are now teaching between 10-12 classes a week.
I’ve also had personal things that have taken up alot of my time, supporting and nursing my Mother in Law who has now sadly, and recently passed away .
Selling our house 🏡 nurturing my recently adopted Cockapoo this year through his teenage stage, has not been a walk in the park,lots of things to be working on as he was 6 months when we adopted him, seperation issues just a small part. But I wanted that time to enjoy our training together.
Next year however I will be back, taking on more puppy 1-1’s again, so please spread the word. Our puppy social walks will continue to. And we have exciting news coming up as well 😀
So “watch this space” as they say 🤩
Thank you to all of you that have supported me this year, liked my posts and commented , shared and recommended me. I’m very grateful!
To all my clients who I’ve thoroughly enjoyed teaching and supporting, THANK YOU for trusting me with your precious dogs 🐶
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 🥳
( Although the office is closed, do still send me emails, voice messages and I will get back to you as soon as I’m back 😀)
We had a great Sunday social walk this morning on a gorgeous Autumn 🍂 day.
This fab group of 4 are such good friends now, it’s lovely to see.
All had spot on recalls, wonderful social skills together and with other dogs out of their group.
These owners have really put in lots of training with their puppies from an early age, put management in when needed .
I had to manage my adolescent boy today as he was getting a bit to much at points for little Chester, it’s so important to recognise this and help and coach our dogs appropriately to understand when their play is not play but being bossy, for Charlie this was age and hormone led .
Can you spot this in the video? 🐶🐾
These owners have also continued coming to our follow on courses after their puppy one.
By doing this have up skilled themselves as well as their dogs and it really shows with their relationships together, makes a big difference.
You should ALL be super proud!
Those of you who could not make today we missed you x
Big Sunday shout out to this fabulous team.❤️💜🐶🐾
Together they have recently finished a set of 1-‘s with me, setting up all the foundations a Puppy needs.
They then went straight into our follow on course Novice Social Lifeskills with my sister company Confident Happy Canines.
This top team are going from strength to strength you should be very proud .
Now surfing adolescence together, we will be there with you 😊
See you both again in our November classes x
Sunday Social Walk
This morning we enjoyed another lovely puppy Sunday social walk.
Autumn 🍂 has definitely arrived, with a chill in the air, but warm in the sun.
The dogs didn’t mind they were having way to much fun.
These guys have become great friends over the summer and it was wonderful watching them have fun, with some management from us while they continue to learn their play skills and social interactions.
Charlie❤️
Milly ❤️
Chester ❤️
It’s a privilege to watch them grow up and mature nicely.
Those of you who could not make today we missed you and look forward to seeing you again soon x
I saw this gorgeous puppy yesterday 💜 it was their 3rd 1-1 with me .. lots of hard work and dedication is paying off ! Wowzers 🤩well done #rewardbasedtraining #rottweiler #TheLittleBigThings #thelittledogtrainer
Sunday is a perfect day to meet our special doggy friends.💜🐾🐶
This morning’s social walk was just my boys and gorgeous Millie Cockapoo.
Thanks Colin and Petra for joining us, they all had a blast.
It was safe to say that Charlie and Millie had a romance blossoming 😂
They enjoyed great play as well as lots of sniffing and mooching together.
Lots of what we call social learning for Mille today, she was learning to copy my older boy who loves mooching and sniffing more than play at his age, not overly fussed by other dogs and Charlie helped her learn to disengage from a chase, but have equal opportunities to.
We met a wide variety of breeds which was great to see lots of different personalities and play styles.
It was also a good opportunity to teach our dogs that not all want to greet and play and recognise the ones that do, and when it’s enough and to move them on.
What good play looks like, when it’s not play and of course there was plenty of flirting going on .
Such important lessons for all young puppies to learn.
Hope your all having good Sunday walks with your friends today as well. 😊
They say it takes a village to raise a puppy, I’m more than happy to part of that.
Sunday social walk
What a great way to start a glorious Sunday!
Thanks everyone who joined our social walk .
All the puppies and dogs had a blast.
Safe to say Milly’s first dip in water was a hit 😂
My Charlie was trying his hardest to start a bromance with Chester 🙄who is a total delight really social .
It was great to see Wilma gaining more confidence in coming further away from her mum .
Buddy had a blast to, and loved having some more water loving pals to play around.
Paddy our Golden Oldie loved seeing who had the best treats 😋😂
A mix of 6 puppies and older dogs, living their best life,socialising appropriately, it was a perfect group hanging out together.
I’m sure they are nicely chilling this afternoon now 😀
See you all again soon x
Nervous Dogs
BUILDING CONFIDENCE IN YOUR DOGS 🐶
We get so many emails from owners asking for help with their nervous puppies and dogs it is actually becoming a very common occurence.
As many of you know, and if you do not know, the dogs I have at the moment are both adopted, Barney was 4 years of age and Charlie 6 months.
Both came to us lacking confidence for a variety of reasons.
Do you know what one of the best things I taught them both ?
Answer is Parkour 😃👍
Honestly, Barney was very under confident, he had no idea how to push a door open for example. Charlie was very noise and movement sensitive, plus so much more a talk for another day.
Parkour teaches a dog how to use their bodies effectively to go under something, around something, over, 2 paws up and 4 paws up on objects. It may sound simple but "oh boy" it can make such a difference for our dogs and it is great fun to have together.
Here you see me and my boys on a walk, with a common situation where we live, of having to navigate gates and styles of all sorts of designs.
This was something both boys really struggled with when first adopted.
The first video was staged, as I cued Barney to go "Under" the gate. And Charlie to go “over” the fence panel.
In the second video I came through the gate first as the pair were too busy sniffing, so then I allowed them both to work out how to get through, which I find totally fascinating to see how they individually problem solve. Giving them time to work things out themselves unless they get very stressed can be very powerful too.
Of course we have a big celebrations after with lots of praise and treats 🙂 🥳
🔹If this is something you are interested in then we have a Novice Parkour, Agility and Fitness course and a Fun Training Combo course starting in a weeks time, both great for our nervous dogs but also benificial for all dogs.
http://www.confidenthappycanines.co.uk/
