Caithness Dog Training

07/11/2023

Having a lot of questions about neutering your dog so my advise is listen to the following podcast and make an informed decision.

https://www.facebook.com/absolutedogs/videos/559893348510157/?mibextid=zDhOQc

25/09/2023

Another fine example of lack of community engagement concerning Balmore. The CEO and upper management should be utterly ashamed of the suffering this is going to cause.

We hadn’t previously given a statement on the closure of the SSPCA Centre at Balmore as we were trying to arrange a meeting with the CEO to get some answers on how they plan to carry out this new way of working.
Our meeting was cut short so we didn’t get a chance to ask all our questions so we are following this up with a formal email. We learnt that the Centre will now be closing on the 1st of October and not the 31st as they previously stated, the 200 foster homes they claimed to currently have is actually only 100 and they could not tell us if any of these are in the local area. When asked how they plan to get more fosterers when we have been doing this foster based for 13 years they could not give us a proper answer and just referred to their obviously rehearsed spiel regarding their new programme.
They often mentioned working together with us but when questioned how this would work they could not give an answer as to any idea how it would.
We expressed our concerns and made it clear that if they had intentions of closing the centre they should have been having these conversations months ago and not days before they plan to close the only centre in the far North.
We have huge sympathy to all the staff at the Centre and the Inspector & Auxiliaries who do not seem to be getting any support from higher up the chain and can only begin to imagine the stress that they must be under.

We are delighted to see the local community sticking together in such a crucial time so now more than ever we will need your help with finding foster homes.
This year so far we have been requested to take in 74 dogs and 32 of which we have managed to take into foster, sadly we cannot take them all due to being limited on foster homes and many have either been rehomed privately or gone on to the SSPCA or Munlochy Animal Aid who is also working extremely hard to take in the large number of dogs needing rehomed.
As we do not know what dogs will be coming in to us we are looking for flexible/open minded people that would be willing to take a dog into their care, ideally we are looking for someone with an fully enclosed garden, has someone home a lot of time and ideally without an existing dog or cat and children aged 12+. We provide all supplies and pay for all veterinary care.
We are looking to have an open day with Cats Protection Caithness so we can work together and have a chance to meet with you in person to discuss the fostering needs in more detail, more information regarding this will be available soon.

Another way you can continue to help KWK9 Rescue and the dogs in our care is to set up a direct debit or consider leaving us as a beneficiary in your will.
We can assure you that all the money goes towards the dogs in our care and allows us to continue to offer them the help they need.

Thank you for reading this post and we will update you with the open day once we've something in place as well as out future Christmas fundraiser.

Without the support from all of you we wouldn't be able to do what we do and dogs like wee Gus pictured are eternally grateful

29/08/2023

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66639045

It comes after an animal welfare crisis warning, with people struggling to manage the cost of pet care.

29/08/2023

How does the SSPCA deal with a mounting Animal Welfare Crisis? Close 2 of their centres including Balmore - how out of touch can you get!

20/07/2023

Just spent another afternoon at Balmore training. Don't forget to support the local Rescue Centres.

22/12/2022

We regularly help at Balmore with training to help the dogs they rescue. Please remember to support them anyway you can over this festive period be it food or toy donations they always can do with anything you can spare.

28/09/2022

Is your dog reactive? Take the challenge

In just 7 days this challenge will show you how to stop your dog from barking, lunging and reacting at things you just don’t want them to! Whether that’s barking at other dogs, barking at strangers, or barking at what appears to be nothing! This 7 day dog training challenge will help you on your...

02/07/2022

WHAT DO FEMALE HORMONES DO TO YOUR 🐶 DOG'S BEHAVIOUR AND WHAT TO DO TO HELP? 👇

02/07/2022

If you shop Amazon Prime Day deals on 12 & 13 July, Amazon will double donations: Simply shop with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app or at smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/SC049132, and AmazonSmile donates to Caithness Dog Training. A great way to support the charity!

23/06/2022

Struggling with your dog jumping up? Take a look at how we would approach it -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ffClOduJ8

22/06/2022

We are going to be at Rumster Forest on Sunday and will be giving a talk on Training your dog using concepts and games. Will also be demoing some of the games so see you there!

11/05/2022

Today's 1-1 with pessemistic Red Lab. He and his owner now have some games to build his confidence!

06/04/2022

Sending love to Max's family, he has been an amazing ambassador for the breed.

"Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day"

Our beautiful Max fell asleep in Manesty Woods today with Paddy and Harry, his two adoring brothers overseeing his onward journey. The sun shone, the sound of the lake, the birdsong, the breeze in the trees and the scent of his favourite woodland walk comforting him.

This small dog with the waggy tail and hugest of hearts, gave love and hope to thousands of people worldwide. Max's legacy and story will continue to grow and inspire for many years to come. Every day gave us memories and every step with you beside us was a privilege.
When you see the orange glow of a sunrise or a sunset, think of Max and he’ll be there. Our hero, a true legend, the worlds most loved dog.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to the team at Frame, Swift and Partners for going the extra mile, with two staff giving up their free time to help Max on his final journey showing the compassion, love and dignity he rightly deserved. It just was perfect.

05/04/2022

Do you suffer from a dog that pulls like a train? Brilliant mini course for £27 with games and strategies to make life better!

https://game.absolute-dogs.com/stoppulling-pdp?prod=stop-pulling-mini-course&ref=59

Where will you be 12 days from now? Did you know that how your dog walks on a lead influences how they behave off-lead, how they react to distractions like other dogs and their general behaviour on walks? Join our Pulling on Lead Mini Course for £27!

14/03/2022

Well a Gundog winning Crufts and its a Flat Coated Retriever! Brilliant dogs.

09/03/2022

If you are looking for quality supplements for your dogs be it joint or teeth health try A-OK9 and with the CAITHNESSDOGS voucher code get 10% off. See link below.
www.a-ok9.com

Maximise the mental and physical wellness of your dog.

12/02/2022

33.7% of deaths are caused by.........

One in three deaths (for under 3year olds) are due to euthanasia for undesirable behaviour😭That's 21,000 just in the UK.

How heart breaking is that?!

The most common complaint is aggression but reports also suggest poor recall, straying and toileting in the home.

How can we reduce this? How can we help?

Education......

We know better due to science and therefore we should do better: for the love dogs

29/01/2022

Even though not running classes at moment we are still doing 1-1 sessions helping dogs and owners with their struggles. Friday's lovely pair a boisterous pup and a nervous rescue.

19/01/2022

Sad when rescues are so full.

Haven't done one of these "ranting" posts for a while but need to some how try to get people to see how difficult rescue is at present.

This month (bearing in mind its only the 18th) we have had 78 owner surrender requests. That is over 4 dogs a day at one small breed specific rescue. In general the main reason that these dogs are being surrendered is due to bite histories. Not bad ones some of them. A call today about a bite, one bite after the dog was sick. Could she possibly feel a bit rubbish and be trying to tell you something?? No she has bitten so she has to go ! The worst bit is they are mainly young ( a 7 month old cocker yesterday saved at the 11th hour from pts being one of the young ones) Unless things magically fall in to place we have no where to put these dogs. No where. No more experienced fosterers free. No kennel spaces free. So what happens to these dogs we cant take? In brutal terms they die. They are put to sleep as there is no where else for them to go. Oh no a vet will never pts a healthy dog I hear you cry. Don't bet on it , of course they do. What else are they to do ? At the same time as all these young dogs with issues at risk of pts what else do we see daily? Litters being bred all over facebook. My furbaby wants to be a mum. She is so pretty I must have a pup from her. My dog is being put to stud. And on and on it goes. One of our questions on the surrender form is do you have a return to breeder contract. Hardly any of them them do! And the ones that do the owners don't want the dog returned there as it was a horrible place like a puppy farm. Well why did you give them your money then? They are bred, paid for and forgotten as soon as the money is spent. Behaviourists are booked up for weeks into the future trying to deal with issues. The worst thing is that in the right homes, the right experienced homes these are all things that could be avoided.

Its a mess. A horrible upsetting mess. We used to have a pretty good chance of picking up the pieces and took most dogs we were asked to take. But not any more. There is just no room :( Its relentless. It makes us all want to stop but then things would be even worse. I honestly think anyone thinking of breeding should come and answer a rescues phone and answer their emails for a day.

18/01/2022

16/12/2021

Christmas is an exciting time of year for most but for our dogs the changes that come with the celebrations can be unwanted and even dangerous. So we have pulled together our top 12 tips to have a safe and enjoyable festive season with your dog.

Tip 5 – Create a safe space.

New faces and more noise can be scary for your pets and Christmas brings a lot of those to your door.
Make sure your dog has somewhere to go that is just theirs with no risk of disturbance. A covered crate with a lickimat/filled kong can create a lovely calm space for your dog to relax in amongst the hustle and bustle.
If needed tell your visitors that it will be best not to say hello to your dog and make sure that if your dog takes themselves off to their safe space they aren’t disturbed by anyone.

🐾 🐾

15/12/2021

Christmas is an exciting time of year for most but for our dogs the changes that come with the celebrations can be unwanted and even dangerous. So we have pulled together our top 12 tips to have a safe and enjoyable festive season with your dog.

Tip 4 – Gift giving.

Our family and friends may want to treat our pets at Christmas time but unfortunately they may not know our dogs as well as we do!

If your dog receives a gift you don’t think is safe for them, don’t be afraid to say no.
Their safety is the most important thing.

If you want to get ahead of the issue you could share in advance the types of treats or toys your dog does like.

15/12/2021

Christmas is an exciting time of year for most but for our dogs the changes that come with the celebrations can be unwanted and even dangerous. So we have pulled together our top 12 tips to have a safe and enjoyable festive season with your dog.

Tip 3 – Dangerous decorations.

The festive season is a busy one for us and if our dogs feel they are missing out on attention they may choose to occupy themselves with all the new objects around the house.

Whether it’s the temptation of a dangling bauble or the toy like appearance of the snowman ornament many of our Christmas decorations are both tempting and pose a risk to our dogs if chewed or eaten so keep an eye on your pup and offer up dog suitable activities when you are busy.

It may be handy to keep a stock of enrichment toys and fillers around so that when you need to sneak off to do a job you can pop down a good distraction for your pooch to keep them away from the decorations.

15/12/2021

Christmas is an exciting time of year for most, but for our dogs the changes that come with the celebrations can be unwanted and even dangerous.
So we have pulled together our top 12 tips to have a safe and enjoyable festive season with your dog.

Tip 1 – Travel with comfort.

If you are travelling with your dog, remember their bed/bedding, the familiar scents will be comforting for them and help give a sense of normality at friends/families houses.

Give pets the chance to get used to car journeys before making the all-important Christmas trip. Build up slowly and give your dog time to adjust to car rides if they aren’t used to them. You don’t want to find our your pet gets travel sick right at the wrong moment.

Remember it is the law for all dogs to be secured while travelling whether that is with a dog seatbelt and harness or in a crate. They should also be wearing an ID tag too!

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-about-animals-47-to-58

13/12/2021

Good to remember in the festive period

Our advice is to never give your dog any chocolate at all. Nevertheless, on occasion, our determined dogs do sometimes manage to get a hold of some chocolate on their own – particularly at this time of year when we tend to have more chocolate goodies around.

Check out our handy chocolate infographic to find out how much chocolate could be toxic to your dog.

30/10/2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A35DFDv5mfY

In this week’s new AbsoluteDogsTV video, we discuss:Halloween can be a struggle for our dogs. Even if you've listened to our Halloween podcast, this video is...

23/10/2021

As if rescue centres aren't busy enough.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/23/owners-offload-dogs-bought-in-lockdown-by-pretending-they-are-strays

Rescue centres say they are increasingly seeing pets that their owners are now too busy to look after