Black and White Dog training.

24/01/2025

Awww 😢

22/01/2025

13/01/2025

06/01/2025

An incredible and inspirational woman. I have learnt so much from her. RIP Karen 🙏

We are deeply saddened to learn of Karen Pryor's passing. She was a pioneer in animal training and behaviour whose contributions have shaped modern dog training as we know it. Her innovative approach and entrepreneurial spirit transformed the industry, paving the way for countless trainers and animals to benefit from science-based, positive reinforcement methods.

Karen’s work extended far beyond the Karen Pryor Academy, which has educated and inspired trainers worldwide. Her book, Don’t Shoot the Dog, introduced an entire generation of trainers to the principles of clicker training and remains a cornerstone of dog training literature. The annual Clicker Expos she founded became vital opportunities for professional growth, collaboration, and community-building within the field. Her legacy also includes Reaching the Animal Mind, a profound exploration of the science and art of animal training.

Karen’s vision, intelligence, and compassion revolutionised how we communicate with and understand our canine companions. Her contributions have had a lasting impact on the lives of trainers and the dogs they work and live with. She will be greatly missed, but her legacy will continue to inspire and guide the animal training community for generations to come.

Our thoughts are with Karen’s family, friends, and all those whose lives she touched.

https://karenwpryor.com/

04/01/2025

A message from Lorraine Matthews…..

Good afternoon everyone
If you run a rescue or rehomed dog, please consider joining the Dog Agility Rescue League.
We are the only National league specifically dedicated for rescued/rehomed dogs and we like to celebrate the accomplishments of our dogs who have come from less than ideal situations.
We’re a friendly league consisting of a committee of 5 who are spread throughout the country.
For those members who qualify, we hold finals each year which are always well received and celebrated.
We are a not for profit league where all funds raised go to charities as voted for by our members.
Please have a look at our new website below or check us out on our fb page.

Wishing you all the best for the new year.

Lorraine Matthews
Chair
Dog Agility Rescue League

fb: Dog Agility Rescue League (Darl)
website: www.darleague.co.uk
Tel: 07825615988

01/01/2025

🥂 Happy New Year everyone! 🥂

I wish you all a peaceful and happy 2025, with lots of successful training with your dogs!

I enjoy hearing about everyone’s progress! Don’t forget to keep me updated! I love seeing your achievements so much! 🥳☺️💗

24/12/2024

Happy Christmas 🎄 to all my loyal and wonderful clients past and present and to your lovely dogs! 🐶

Thank you also to everyone else that supports me. 🙏💖

It’s been such a pleasure working with you all! I really have the best job in the world! 💝🐶🎄

A special thank you Kelly's K9 Companions for walking my dogs twice a week for me. Happy Christmas Kelly from Shannon and Cloudy Puff. 💝

17/12/2024

Lovely trip into town today with Jeanette and Ben.
We have been training Ben to walk nicely by Jeanette’s chair. It’s challenging but he is progressing really well! Ben was treated to a brand new harness with ‘In Training’ labels on the side! He was such a good boy!

13/12/2024

Wondering what to get a loved one this Christmas?

Maybe you have a family member who has a dog that needs a bit of training? Or would like to learn a few new tricks or agility foundations?

One to one training sessions are currently £60 for an hour or £150 for three sessions.

Gift vouchers bought before December 10th receive a further 10% off. 🐶🎄

Vouchers are available in any amount and can be personalised.

24/11/2024

05/11/2024

Time for a digital detox! Bonfire night isn’t the best time to scroll FB! Stay safe everyone! 🫶🏻

30/10/2024

Force free takes more time and effort. Anything that causes your dog pain or to startle will make your dog’s adrenaline and cortisol levels rise, thus pi***ng them off and making them pull even harder!

The trouble with ‘training tools’

Force free trainers are firmly opposed to using training tools that are aversive in nature, including slip leads, electric collars and prong collars as some of the most widespread that are seen.

Proponents of their use will point to how well they ‘work’ – for example we’ll often see people proclaim that using a prong collar has completely revolutionised their walks with their dogs and they go on to say that ‘used correctly’ it’s an excellent training tool. So let's use that as an example to see what the issue is with these tools.
The problem is that it’s not actually really training the dog.

Look at how positive reinforcement is used to train a cue in dogs. When the dog makes the right choice, does the right thing then they get a reward. They like the reward and so are more likely to do the same thing again in an attempt to get that same reward.

Once the association is firmly made and the dog is able to reliably respond to the cue in the way we’d like, we start to fade out the use of the reward. If using treats, the dog might start getting a reward every second time, third time, then randomly so they are never quite sure when the reward is coming (but it might be the next time they do that thing, so they will keep trying). Eventually we are using the reward very little, but the dog is still responding to the cue in the desired way.

Ok, you might say, how is that different to the prong collar?

The prong works by contact of the prongs on the skin of the dog’s neck (remember that a dog’s skin is 3-5 cells thick compared to the human’s at least 10-15 cells thick). This is uncomfortable. Some people will say they tried it on themselves and it was fine – look at the difference in skin, and also remember that the dog has no way to know when the collar is going to be tightened.

I’ve had people tell me that the dog’s neck is the strongest muscle in their body equivalent to the human thigh. Not only is this physiologically incorrect (to say the very least!) it is also dangerous. Think about the delicate structures in the human throat.

The windpipe.
Oesophagus.
Lymph Nodes.
Carotid artery.
Jugular vein.
Thyroid.

All of these are in the dog’s neck as well and are very vulnerable to injury. The result of pressure on the dog's neck, especially firm and rapid pressure like a 'lead pop' (even from a flat collar) can be potentially catastrophic.

Danger and discomfort aside, the fact is that, while these collars might stop pulling while being worn, they fail as training devices because no actual training takes place. Take that prong collar off of the dog, put a normal flat collar back or a harness back on, and see how long it takes for the dog to realise they are able to pull again without the pain?

What the slip lead, prong collar (or electric collar if used to shock the dog when they pull) does is suppress the behaviour in that moment. It does nothing to show the dog what they should be doing or deal with why the dog is actually pulling - which is generally because they have not been taught properly to and so don't really understand what we want from them. And also dogs often naturally move faster on their four legs than we do on our two, so again they need to be taught how to match themselves to the pace that's needed.

The absolute best way to do that is to reward the dog when they do what they want, when they are in the right place for loose lead walking. Yes, this can take time and so the 'quick fix' can seem appealing, but the danger of using anything that the dog actively seeks to avoid is that it could damage their trust in the people around them and have serious consequences for the relationship between you.

Teaching them what we would like them to do and how we can both be comfortable during the walk is so much more effective than trying to just stop a behaviour, and using positive reinforcement and force free methods build their confidence and trust in us.

And no, I’m not expecting people to immediately take off the tools, but what you can do when you become aware of the problems of relying on aversive measures that cause discomfort, pain and fear, is find a force free trainer who can help you see how to show your dog where to walk nicely and comfortably for you both, or find other tools that are not aversive, for instance a harness with 2 points of attachment so the dog can be walked from the back clip but the front clip allows for steering the front end if needed while training is ongoing.