Friendly & professional puppy & dog training Inc gundog training. Behavioural training. 1-1 & classes
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Full Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers - MAPDT 01512
AODT - a lifetimes passion for Dog Training! Experienced, Practical, Qualified, Passionate, Knowledgeable and Proven. We love what we do, and we could not be more driven about producing well trained, happy dogs, fabulous bonds & understanding. The AODT Story
Alicia was lucky to be born into a dog owning family. As a child she kept
various animals from fish, to guinea pigs, and even a pet duck. Her love of animals, forming a bond with them & inevitably spending a huge amount of time with them shaped her outlook on life, animal care and compassion. At the age of 9 she joined her Father training the family dogs at a local obedience school. She had already been training her pet rats on agility courses (in lieu of being allowed ponies), and the rabbits to come when called - but dog training took her on a whole new journey, & her enthusiasm to a whole new level. Always the child who would question everything she found herself both enthralled and disappointed. There was nothing better than training a dog to get something right and the level of teamwork that was required. But the ways in which she was tutored by dog trainers of the time, and the methods they suggested she use on her ‘friends’ left a sour taste. Like a sponge she soaked up experiences and advice, watched closely & took great delight as a teenager in rebelling against the norm, and introducing play, fun and huge amounts of praise to her training. She was rewarded & encouraged to realise this slightly ‘odd’ approach paid dividends. The dogs she worked with learnt quicker, were more reliable competition dogs and were eager to please. During this time she worked as a Kennel Maid, a stable hand and attended many courses and events. She went on to work with Adults with Learning disabilities and qualify as a Certificated Advocate with a specialism in Learning Disabilities. From her mid twenties she shadowed and was mentored in various training schools while embarking on Instructing qualifications and starting to teach. Fast forward to 2011 & Alicia realised she could no longer instruct under programs dictated by others, and that struggled to keep pace with both scientific evidence and her own ethos and growing determination to change the way people trained their dogs. Alicia’s Obedience Dog Training was born - and going back to her own roots Alicia started with young handler classes, hoping to inspire the next generation, before embarking on companion obedience classes later the same year. Since then Alicia has grown the areas she serves, the services she provides, her own knowledge even further and the team around her. Whilst initially named as a person ‘Going Solo’ AODT is now so much more than that - it’s a family, a format and a growing ambition to change the quality of life for dogs, and their owners. When you entrust AODT with training you and your dog, you benefit from years of experience, backed up by the latest available information & studies, combined with a super supportive structure to help you both succeed.
📍 Belhus woods country park (enclosed paddock)
⏰ 10am
🗓️ This Saturday! (17th August)
We still have a couple of spaces available on our course perfect for pups & beginners
☀️ Families welcome
Message us or comment below for more info 👇🏻
🤔 How to know if a trainer is right for you
Finding the right trainer can save you a whole heap of money and time.
But did you know that dog training is an unregulated industry?
😮 This means anyone can claim to be a trainer, or practise as a trainer.
You want the following as a bare minimum:
✔️ Experienced & Proven; Look for trainers with a proven track record and years of hands-on experience.
✔️ Qualified & knowledgeable; Check for formal qualifications in dog training & accreditation by regulatory organisations that represent today’s modern dog trainers. These set the standards for knowledge & practical skills. Check they’re insured!
✔️ Ethics; Ensure their training methods align with both your expectations and the most up to date evidence & research.
Choose wisely and don’t be influenced only by flashy marketing or Instagram videos - some of us are too busy training dogs & supporting people 😉
Massive thanks to our friends at Paws & Play Gundogs for allowing us to follow their lead with this post 😘
📸 Say Sausages!
One of the workshops we like to offer to the people training with us is a Guided Walk.
✅ These dogs have all worked on a foundation of behaviours that will help them to succeed in the real world prior to joining the workshop.
The guided walk works on both handler & dogs confidence and proofing skills learnt in a class setting, at the same time as giving the opportunity to work through real life scenarios with a Trainer present.
💝 This is our group shot from our most recent walk, calm dogs hanging out in the woods together but as individuals
I think we can safely say that Dylan, Penelope, Xena, Derek & Phoebe make fabulous models 🥰
🥵 It’s gonna be a warm one!
We’ve cancelled all classes today due to the spike in temperature.
😎 Share with us below your favourite ways to keep your dog 🆒
⭐️ Silver Stars
These two teams have come away triumphant after completing their 6 week training course.
🎊 Passing their Silver Kennel Club Good Citizen award in style we congratulate Suzanne & Chester and Beverley & Murph 👏🏻
If you want to get involved in the Kennel Club Good Citizen Scheme drop us a line.
🎓 Our latest Graduates
We ❤️ delivering our Pup & Beginners courses, watching the dogs learning & gaining confidence and their humans trying hard to get things right & enjoying the benefits training.
👏🏻 Congratulations to Olivia, Kate & Lynn with little Nelly - great team effort guys! Deb & Molly, Lucy and April and Denise & Ruby. Very well done to you all 🎊
Our next courses still have limited availability;
Mondays at Bulphan hall 6.30pm from the 12th of August
Saturdays at Belhus Woods 10am from the 17th of August
❓Is this my best side?
We visited sweet little Lilo and her family recently to help unpick some unwanted behaviours, mainly barking.
🧩 All of our behaviour visits are holistic, this means we use all the information available to help us build a picture and work out the answer to our overriding question; Why?
📋 We’ve left her family with information, training & a plan of action.
Dogs bark; FACT but we can help lower what causes the need to bark excessively which is better for everyone 👏🏻
👋 Meet our smallest Gundog
Dylan the Shih Tzu is not letting his size or breed stand in his way. Plus he has all the character and tenacity of a much larger dog anyways 😂
🥰 When we say our Pet Gundog classes are open to all breeds we really mean it.
New courses available from Autumn, 1-1 training always available (pre booking essential)
Meet Darcy the cutest little Doberman pup going!
Darcy’s family are brand new to the world of owning dogs and want to get it right from the off and this is being achieved with team effort and collaboration from a few of us.
Between myself, Alicia, Carley (Carley's Pet Services) and Jo who are already a team with Alicia's Obedience Dog Training we have done training visits and family support visits with little Darcy!
Luckily for us all Darcy is incredibly smart and equally as sweet and we’re all excited to watch her grow up with us.
We all love what we do and working with stunning puppies, brilliant pet owners and alongside friends makes it even better!!!
🐾 Seeking new Mum or Dad
There’s only one reason we’d turn a post Blue, and that’s to support Battersea 💙
📞 They’ve let us know that they are still seeking the perfect home for Diggery, the working cocker - just look at his face! 🫣
ℹ️ At nearly 3 he’s considered an ‘older’ dog and being overlooked 😞 We know we have some spanner fans in our midst, and we know that Diggery will benefit from the type of people who are going to give him plenty of outlets.
You can find out all about him here, please make sure you read his criteria carefully before applying to save disappointment; https://www.battersea.org.uk/dogs/dog-rehoming-gallery/diggery
Please give him a share, contact Battersea direct to apply x
🥰 Rave Review
Thank you so much Anna & Nick, it’s a pleasure working with you guys & lucky little Lofty ❤️
🔔 New Training courses!
Our popular Pup & Beginners courses have new start dates.
🗓️From Mid August;
at Belhus Woods Country Park (nestled between Thurrock & Havering with great access from both. Saturday Mornings
at Bulphan Village Hall (Rm14 3ru) just off the A128 with great access from the A127 and A13
Monday Evenings (and Monday mornings from mid September!)
Jam packed with learning & information these courses are a bargain at £99!
#
🎁 Happy Birthday Jackie!
Just in case you thought dog training with AODT was all work and no play 😉
This morning to celebrate turning 21 again Jackie brought us all cake 🥰
What better way to end class then with some settle and self control training (the humans were shocking, I mean look at those shovel spoons 😂)
🐾 4 sets of paws 🐾
Our latest gang to graduate their Beginners course (we missed you Tilly!)
🥰 A lovely mix of ages the dogs all embraced learning and had lots of fun.
🤩 Congratulations to; Aron & Subagarey with Milo, Ben & Aurora, Gosia & Daisy and Anna & Nick with Lofty 👏🏻
‼️ Update
Our Beginner Gundog course is now FULL
We are now building a waiting list for our next Saturday course Autumn time, if you’d like to be kept informed when the date is set let us know!
The Novice course does still have a couple of spaces available, this course starts next week.
If you are waiting for a Saturday, let us know!
🐶 Pet Gundog Courses - weekday evenings!
💼 Need to give your dog a job? Then the Beginner course could be the perfect introduction. Open to all breeds!
🏅 Completed Beginners and ready for the next challenge? the Novice course is exactly what you’re looking for!
🗓️ Our next courses start on the 24th of July and we still have a couple of places on each remaining. Drop us a message or comment below for more info or to book
♥️ Puppy love
This cute little face is Winston, currently attending Monday evenings at Bulphan.
Papped here while completing his ‘dog on a log’ homework 👏🏻
🥰 So here is your Wednesday Winston fix to keep you going (Nearly Friday!) you’ve got this!
🤗 Sunday Sermon
Let’s talk about consent; giving permission for something to happen.
😔 Far too often we’re seeing dogs put in situations where they find themselves uncomfortable at best, terrified & forced to defend themselves at worst.
This can be caused by some of the most well meaning people, even those that profess to be dog lovers. Only when considering an interaction they haven’t given the dogs feelings or emotions a second thought.
🫶🏻 When we saw sweet puppy Rex, the Black Russian Terrier this week we were disheartened to hear that he’d already had some poor interactions. Within the homework we packed him off with was some for his lovely parents; to advocate for him more.
So on Rex’s behalf let us give you a quick reminder;
❌
Not all dogs want to be touched by you, your children or your dog.
Some dogs only want brief interactions on their terms.
They’d prefer that you didn’t push your hands over their head or lean over them.
Don’t assume, ask!
✅
They would be grateful if you give them time to make a choice.
If they did agree to an interaction you need to check they are still OK with it a few seconds later by stopping and seeing what they do, they’re allowed to change their mind.
Let them approach you in their own time. If they move away, take the hint.
If they are eating, drinking, sleeping, toileting, sniffing, licking - they almost certainly aren’t able to consent to an interaction!
🙌🏻 Remind yourself that looking is listening. Let’s start open & frank discussions with children that help them understand for themselves too. Speak to other people honestly if you see them forget.
♥️ We can all co exist happily while helping one another feel safe.
🐶 Pet Gundog Courses - weekday evenings!
💼 Need to give your dog a job? Then the Beginner course could be the perfect introduction. Open to all breeds!
🏅 Completed Beginners and ready for the next challenge? the Novice course is exactly what you’re looking for!
🗓️ Our next courses start on the 24th of July and we still have a couple of places on each remaining. Drop us a message or comment below for more info or to book
🥉 Bronze Boys
Wednesday evening was the culmination of a 6 week course with Dionne
👏🏻 These 3 boys & their humans successfully achieved their Kennel Club Bronze Good Citizen under the keen eye of KC assessor, Jo Digby.
Congratulations to Dawn & Chester, Alicia & Malcolm and Rachel & Arlo 🥳
🫶🏻 The dogs that were marked ‘not ready’ showed great progress. They will work a little longer and revisit their assessment on another occasion.
😇 The look of innocence
Don’t be fooled! 😂
Benji is 100% 17 month old male, Cocker.
He is lively, cheeky and a little testing.
🏡 Unfortunately he isn’t aiding neighbourly relations, so our first job was to give him alternate outlets in the garden.
🥳 He also has far more energy during the day than his family know what to do with, this has caused destructive and unwanted behaviours. Giving him things to do that promote calm was key.
📚 We’ve left him some homework and will be catching up with him soon.
‼️ Fully Booked - please feel free to register your interest for future workshops and be the first to find out availability
⭐️ Recall Workshop! ⭐️
🗓️ Saturday 13th July
⏰ 10am (55 mins)
📍 Belhus Woods Country Park
💰 £18
This workshop takes place in the enclosed events paddock.
✍️ Drop us a message asap to book, spaces are limited!
🎓 Gleaming Graduates
Our latest Beginners to ace their 6 week course at Belhus.
🤩 Super bunch of dogs & their guardians who worked hard and had fun, our congratulations to;
Risha & Rashma with Milo, Carole & George with Toby, Stephen & Suzanne with Olive, Jane & Maple, Eve, Jen & Steve with Romeo, Aparna & Josh with Hugo and Connie, Kevin & Helen with Mabel 👏🏻
Very well done all 🥳
🐶 Teefs!
This week we had the pleasure of visiting Eric and his family.
📝 With some unwanted behaviours around visitors and him struggling to listen outside the house we’ve left him with plenty of homework.
✅ His family have already sent videos of them putting it into practice 🥰
Frankly, we just think he’s pretty darn cute 😊
🏵️ Bronze & Silver
The Kennel Club Good Citizen Awards set a recognised nationwide standard for good manners & pet dog training
🥉 Bronze sets the bar for a basic standard which can be achieved by all with training.
🥈Silver builds on the skills learned in Bronze, increasing the level of difficulty
We have a 6 week combined Bronze & Silver course starting this Saturday at Belhus woods
This is just £75!
📧 If you want to sign up & grab one of the remaining spaces, or find out more drop us message
🤩 Brilliant Beginners
😎 Our latest 4 paws and their humans to work their way through our 6 week Beginner course.
This course is jam packed with life skills, good manners and appropriate behaviours.
Our congratulations to Izzie & Zayleigh, Kely & Jazz, Katie & Jax, Sylvia & Aster, Samuel & Rex , Julia & max and Wendy, David & Gabriella with Monty 🥰🥳
🗓️ Our next Beginner course starts Monday evening and still has a couple of spaces available if you want to grab one message quick!
🏵️ Gundog Graduates
These teams have all worked super hard throughout our 6 week beginner Gundog course.
🧠 We’ve had to put our heads together and work through retrieve issues, behavioural issues & focus issues - come the graduation working tests you would not have thought it!
👏🏻 Beautiful recalls, fabulous retrieves, happy dogs & humans
🤩We tip our hat and congratulate; Margeret & Nigel with Milo, Angela & Ruby, Ryan & Charlotte with Alice, Evie & Wolfie, Claire & Bossy and Katie & Alex with Chester 🏅
🗓️ Our next set of Beginner & Novice Gundog courses run from late July, weekday evenings . Get in touch for more information or to book your space
🙌🏻 Wednesday Win
Beautiful Luna really made us think outside the box on occasions.
🫨 We’ve had to take into account health issues, weight gain, psychological barriers on top of some very obvious underlying emotions to try and remedy unwanted behaviours.
👍🏻 She’s loved training new behaviours and is quite the smarty pants. She hasn’t been thrilled by our chess moves regarding exercise - but is reaping the benefits nonetheless! She’s benefited from herbal support to help her feel more emotionally comfortable which has helped her be more relaxed & gain confidence.
😎 Maybe most importantly we’ve advocated for her. She doesn’t always want interactions, that’s perfectly ok!
There are some situations which just make her feel uncomfortable and they will be avoided where possible.
🥰 Thanks to the hard work & understanding of her family this beautiful girl is thriving once again and we couldn’t be happier for her.
🚨 Stop Thief!
Darling Freddie has got himself into a spot of bother and it’s imperative for everyone’s sake that he does time, training with AODT.
😔 A rescue dog with a history of stealing things & on occasions ingesting them - this could cause him serious issue.
📝 There are many contributing factors and we are taking them all into account.
First things first we’re laying some strong foundation behaviours and making in roads to change the psychology behind his behaviour.
His new family are committed to helping him reform and already chipping away 🥰
☀️ What July has in store!
🐶 Courses!
▫️Pups & Beginner Obedience
Weekends & Evenings
Indoors & Outdoors
Bulphan & Belhus
▫️Bronze & Silver KC Good Citizen
Saturday Mornings at Belhus
▫️ Beginner & Novice Gundog
Midweek Evenings at Stifford
🐶 Workshops!
▫️Recall
▫️Beginners Tricks
Both held at Belhus Saturday mornings
Church Road
Upminster
RM143RU
| Monday | 10am - 5pm |
| Tuesday | 10am - 5pm |
| Wednesday | 10am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 10am - 5pm |
| Saturday | 10am - 5pm |
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⭐️ Saturdays Stars We have so much fun in our enclosed space at Belhus Woods Country Park Please meet the stars of Saturdays Intermediate & Advanced class 🥰 🍿 🎬
👻 Spooky Stuff Food & Retrieves? It must be Black Magic 🪄
🐶 Is it always our dogs fault? 5 month old GSP Kona is struggling with loose lead walking……. Or is she? 🔴 When we break down the first half of this video we see a tense handler, all a little fingers and thumbs. We see a tense puppy struggling with her environment, unable to focus and on top of that being asked to ‘perform’ 🟢 Instead of piling more demands and pressure on her we took our foot off the accelerator. We rearranged her Mum’s handling, helping to identify the areas where she could add clarity for Kona. We changed Mums body language into ‘relaxed, but confident’ 🚨 Breaking news! We didn’t work on ‘loose lead walking’ once 🥰 We worked on connection, understanding & clarity of purpose. Just what Kona needed to be able to walk beautifully with her Mum 🙌🏻 💁♀️ Yes, the human end of the lead really does matter!
☀️ Fun in the sun It was chilly 🥶 but it was glorious 🌞 💕 The calm that is Week 3 Beginner pups with Dionne and Week 3 Beginner Gundogs with Alicia, in the enclosed events paddock at Belhus
⚠️ Ohh it’s a windy one You know the drill! 📍 Check gates & fences before letting dogs out 📍 If your dog is easily spooked keep them on lead 📍This is your reminder to make sure your chip & Tag details are up to date and in place 📍 Use music, TTouch wraps and food games if they struggle with the noise 📍 If in doubt, stay safe indoors
🥰 We train too! Agnes has been working hard on her hold on delivery. Sounds easy maybe, but she did not naturally enjoy retrieving (apparently she didn’t realise ‘retriever’ was also in her breed title of ‘Flat Coat’ 🤷♀️) We’ve worked hard on building up retrieve and hold through shaping, back-chaining and LOTS of positive reinforcement 💕 🍒 The cherry on the cake has been taking these skills to the local park, with all its distractions and adding in a physical interaction. She is waiting for her ‘Ta’ cue - this means give to Agnes. Until she hears that her job is to keep hold of either the toy (top right) or her dummy. She knocked it out of the park 😉🥰 #cooltobekind #raisethemright #barkuptherighttree #postitivegundogtraining #buildlingpartnerships #shapedwithlove
♥️ Loose lead walking done right! Meet 15 week old Roxy who started with us online as a pre vaccination perfect puppy and now is enjoying her in person follow on sessions. Roxy has been introduced to nothing but positive reinforcement and ethical training from the moment she arrived home, and it shows! 🥰 Just look at her bobbing along next to Mum, full of attentiveness with her tail happily wagging away as she enjoys her training - what’s not to love! Keep up the great work team 🙌🏻
💞 Smarty Pants! Our Friday shout out is to the amazing Emily and her little Frenchie, Missy Who in just a few days nailed their ‘Tidy your toys’ training 🙌🏻 Breaking this exercise down into steps before building it back up, combined with Emily’s super understanding of clicker training has seen this pair smash their homework with huge success 💥 Have you clocked her little tail wagging away the whole time?💕 Check out comments for the other use Missy found for her toy basket 🧺 😆
Experienced, Practical, Qualified, Passionate, Knowledgeable, and Proven.
We love what we do, and we could not be more driven about producing well trained, happy dogs and fabulous bonds & understanding.
We are delivering friendly, professional pet dog obedience classes, 1:1 home & location visits, behavioural consultations, Agility, Scent & Trick Training - across Thurrock & Havering.
The AODT Story;
Alicia was born into a dog owning family. As a child she kept various animals from fish, to guinea pigs, and even a pet duck. Her love of animals, forming a bond with them & inevitably spending a huge amount of time with them shaped her outlook on life, animal care and compassion.
At the age of 9 she joined her Father training the family dogs at a local obedience school. She had already been training her pet rats on agility courses (in lieu of being allowed ponies), and the rabbits to come when called - but dog training took her on a whole new journey, & her enthusiasm to a whole new level. Always the child who would question everything she found herself both enthralled and disappointed. There was nothing better than training a dog to get something right and the level of teamwork that was required. But the ways in which she was tutored by dog trainers of the time, and the methods they suggested she use on her ‘friends’ left a sour taste.
Like a sponge she soaked up experiences and advice, watched closely & took great delight as a teenager in rebelling against the norm, and introducing play, fun and huge amounts of praise to her training. She was rewarded & encouraged to realise this slightly ‘odd’ approach paid dividends. The dogs she worked with learnt quicker, were more reliable competition dogs and were eager to please.
Fast forward to 2011 & Alicia realised she could no longer instruct under programs dictated by others, and that struggled to keep pace with her own ethos and growing determination to change the way people trained their dogs. In 2011 Alicia’s Obedience Dog Training was born - and going back to her roots Alicia started with young handler classes, hoping to inspire the next generation, before embarking on companion obedience classes later the same year.
Since then Alicia has grown the areas she serves, the services she provides, her own knowledge even further and the team around her. Whilst initially named as a person ‘Going Solo’ AODT is now so much more than that - it’s a family, a format and a growing ambition to change the quality of life for dogs, and their owners.
