The Doghouse - Fit Train Fun

26/08/2024

Proper proud of this kid 🫶🏻 13 years old, and getting off technology was the aim of the bank holiday weekend - wish us luck, climbing Glastonbury Tor with the promise of a hot chocolate at the end of it is, todays aim 🤣🤣

Not only has she been pretty awesome this weekend helping me out whilst her Poppa Bear was at work, she’s taken an interest in helping me with the dogs 🥹 (she is naturally bloody good in this department 🫶🏻)

Personally I feel our children should take an interest with our four legged friends that we live with - she supported us when we took the dogs to the woods yesterday, and had to navigate past some reactive dogs with our dogs (she actually does a better job than us adults TBF) , and then she helped me prep Tai’s dinner - chopped the carrots 🥕, sweet potatoes 🍠 mixed all his vege together, brushed Chip, picks the dogs kongs up when we get home and lets them out for a wee/poo break. This 👇🏼 is KG mixing all the vege together - I had to mash the carrots as they were a bit harder with a useless masher 😂

For me, taking an interest in what we feed our dogs is huge, and why we support our dogs needs! Understanding WHY I do what I do for him, means she understands his nutritional needs thus not tempted to feed him anything which may upset his belly. She also came out blackberry picking with me for the dogs and even attempted to try a blackberry 😂 which when beige food is high on your agenda of dietary needs, this was a breakthrough AND apparently it wasn’t that bad 🤣🤣 😮‍💨 😆 as she saw me ploughing through enough blackberries fresh off the bush on our mission 😆 one for me, one for the tub, one for me, one for the tub…….😅

A shout out really to KG 😘 I promise you’ll enjoy the view at the top of Glasto Tor, even if it kills your legs 😅

Happy Monday all 👋

Tag your awesome kids or supportive small humans below 👇🏼 Postive reinforcement goes along way 🫶🏻

24/08/2024

Today was cleaning day at TDU 🧼 and it was time to bring in reinforcements 🤣🤣 Henry the Hoover! Oh and some child labour 😂😂 don’t worry, I dropped a tenner in her bank account for her to blow on whatever she wants!! 💰

She was given the option of scrubbing the toilets 🚽 or hoovering 😂😂 she went with being in full control of Henry - fair choice!! And she did a grand job 👌🏻

Mats/rugs getting a good wash too, so it’ll be lovely and clean for you all next week 🙌🏼🙌🏼🧼

Happy bank holiday weekend everyone 😎

Time to relax and chill 🍻

23/08/2024

You all know I advocate for getting dogs checked out because there’s a risk of pain.

I get soooooo many people tell me “but my dog still wants to run, play etc” 😫

I can tell you now - Tai was having MASSIVE tummy issues, but he still wanted to eat!!! Just because we assume it to be, doesn’t mean it’s the truth.

Check out this great post below 👇🏼 Your dog may still “want” to do those behaviours, it doesn’t mean they’re not in pain.

DOGS IN PAIN STILL RUN AND PLAY

This is Twig my yorkie, as many of you know she was born with deformed back legs. She has patella issues, cruciate issues, malformed hocks and also elbow disease.

Despite all of this, Twig would play all day. She is a young dog and would run non-stop, play with toys, play with my other dogs 24/7 if she could. She always wants to go for a walk- she never wants to turn to go home, she would walk all day if you let her.

She’s never grumpy, never shows any aggression even when she’s in pain. She partially ruptured a cruciate a few months ago and despite not being able to use her leg she was still desperate to go for a walk and kept dropping balls in my coffee (obvs I didn’t let her walk or play!) 😳

She has phases where her legs are really bad and she is in pain. It would be really easy for me to think she’s ‘fine’ and not in pain as she would still play all day if I let her. My only behavioural signs of pain with her are that she wakes in the night and takes a while to settle again and she barks a bit more than normal at outside noises.

I’ve also seen night-waking with my Dalmatian, Lucky, when he was in pain and my first sign of his back issues was that he would wake up and wander around in the middle of the night. He also still wanted to walk and play.

People often think that a dog who is in pain won’t want to go for a walk but dogs in pain are often still keen to go for a walk and they will want to chase a ball etc and play if you let them. Don’t ever assume they aren’t in pain because they want to run and play!

Signs of pain can be subtle and these are some that I commonly see in dogs I work with -

🛌 They may wake in the night or find it hard to settle in the evening, pacing or moving from bed to bed

🐕 They may vocalise more (whine or bark) and be more attention-seeking (nudging your hand to stroke them all the time or following you from room to room)

🛋️ Hesitating or unable to climb on/off the sofa, go up the stairs or get in and out of the car or needing a bigger run up to get in. Being slower to get up from resting.

😔 Being unhappy about being handled (groomed/dried etc) or unhappy about people sitting next to them on the sofa or walking past their bed

🐩 Changes in interactions with other dogs on walks- less keen on interacting or less keen on certain types of play etc

🏀. Lying down on walks or walking at a slower place but also conversely running excessively (‘runners high’ endorphins make them feel good temporarily)

You may also notice physical changes (the way your dog moves or the way their body looks.

💊 Please chat to your vet if you see any changes, dogs don’t suddenly change and start or stop doing things for no reason.

Pain is one of the primary causes of many aggression in dogs. Dogs also often don’t stop running and playing when they are in pain- signs of pain can be subtle and easy to miss so please, please seek advice from your vet if you see changes

Laura McAuliffe, Dog Communication 2024

22/08/2024

Last night for my Dog Detective Part Deux group, it was bag searches 💼

They were all bloody FABULOUS - even Big Al, who over the last few weeks has been a bit worried about “searching” cars, but he was all over bags last night 🤣

Flo, Bailey & Moose are all finding just the scent of cloves - not just cheese any more! And they have transitioned so well 🥹 Big Al, needs to be able to find food - his confidence needs easy finds 🤩

Can’t wait for next week when the proper “suitcases” come out and we’re going to get those noses working hard 👃

Well done everyone 👏🏻

16/08/2024

Last night I christened TDU with pups for these guys last night 🐾

Lulu (working cocker), PJ (Sprocker), Indie (springer) and Piper (springer) - a group of spanners 😂 all joined me for their first class at TDU 🥹

It was so nice to see pups not slipping and sliding across the floor, settled in well and I can’t wait to see them next week ❤️ and watch them progress over the next 5 weeks 🙏🏻

I know this is just going to be a fabulous course 🥹

15/08/2024

Can we change our habits to help our dogs?

We as humans get very stuck on habits - they’re predictable right?! 🧮 Which means predictably brings peace. But what happens if our dogs then find something wrong within that habit? Do we change our habits to help our dogs? Or do we keep battling in *hope* the dog gets over it? 🤔

And why didn’t I take my own advice sooner!! 🙄

So, little Pug Potato Bella, doesn’t cope well with dogs barking! She never has, we’ve worked on it, but she still finds it hard!

At some point last year, a German Shepard on our usual route, started to come flying towards the fence barking - this can be at 6am or evening on an evening stroll. It’s quite scary if you’re not expecting it!!🫣

Neither Tai nor Chip were overly bothered by it, but Bella was. Even if the dog isn’t out, she already starts winding herself up for this potential threat (remember, it only takes one thing, which if fuelled with enough emotion, is enough for them to find it too much) as we approach this point. But the trouble is, Bella was now winding herself up further and further back 😣

I tried pattern games with her, to try and create predictability with her around the fence, but she didn’t really make much progress (Tai did 😂😂 he knew a biscuit was given around here spent his walk past the fence looking at me 🥹 even though he couldn’t really hear the dog barking 😅). I kept trying and trying, until one day I thought to myself “why”!! “Why am I trying to ask her to do something really really hard, and why didn’t I cross the road?!?”
Watch any human when a diversion is in place! We don’t cope 😅 but dogs will divert if something scares/worries them, they’ll find a new way!

So I did - I crossed the road, way back before the fence, walk up far enough to be away from the fence when we crossed back over (as there is more grass for them to enjoy on the side that she struggles with).

Human psychology as to perhaps why I didn’t;

🔸 too early in the morning, brain not thinking properly
🔹 Because when I cross over, it’s closer to the main road than our “normal” side so it’s louder
🔹 There’s less grass on this side of the road
🔸 I’ve always walked that way, it became a habit
🔹 It can be a nightmare at certain times trying to cross the road
🔸 I wanted to try and “train” the behaviour

But as you see, none of my human traits have helped Bella at all, in fact, keeping her stuck on this side, has made the behaviour worse!!
So crossing the road, she actually prefers it, she doesn’t wind herself up, I can work much on the behaviour to help her if I need to, and she’s happier!!

Has it made my life harder? Nope, not one bit 😂 has it made the walk much more enjoyable, yes!! Do I need to train anything - not really if I didn’t need to!

So if your dog struggles to walk past someone’s boundary because they’re worried by it, or going down an alleyway there’s just too many dogs which your dog can’t cope with, they don’t enjoy going a certain why, why not just change the route?! 🤷‍♀️ And you can! You don’t have to walk a “route” - you don’t have to walk A to B to corner C and back home!!

And if it makes your dog happier, more confident on walks, you may find, that they one day DO decide to go that route because it’s been their choice!

You don’t need to train your dog to be ok with everything, and they WONT get over it one day - it can make it worse. Like I say, it wound Bella up so much, that only the sight of a person (and no dog), would cause her to have a melt down, but now she isn’t, because her body isn’t in fight mode! 🥊

Can you change your route? Or even just move to the other side of the road?! Let’s get out of human fixation on “we must go this way” and take a different turn. You may be surprised how much better your walk is!! 😁

Happy Thursday 👋

13/08/2024

I wanted to take a photo, showcasing a lovely trade order - Tai followed me up (actually, everyone did 🙄 like the Pied bloody Piper in this house) and plonked himself, slap bang in the middle of the bed 🤦🏼‍♀️

I felt rubbish if I asked him to get off - it’s a lot of effort these days to get upstairs when you’re old 😅 so instead I worked around him 😆 ……

Here’s a photo of a trade order;

🔹 4 x small Trufflemat’s
🔸 2 x mini Trufflemat’s
🔹 2 x soft Grabbits
🔸 1 pack of Truffle Pouches
🔹 2 x TruffleBalls
🔸 Staffordshire Bull Terrier not included!

You can find all of our products on our Etsy shop -
https://thedoghouseftf.etsy.com

Happy Tuesday everyone 👋

12/08/2024

Another appreciation post 🫶🏻

Firstly a glorious sunrise this morning 🌅 which always makes the day start off right 🙌🏼

Then my first client of the day was with Neil, the Daxi.

This is Neil’s second visit, and today he enjoyed climbing with some snuffling thrown in (he also enjoyed a good lick).

Neil can find relaxing hard, and we know he enjoys moving his body, so by offering some climbing opportunities he was happily busy, but in a calm manner 😌

And then we had this beautiful moment 🥹 he laid down! Actually laid down 🥹!! The first one I disturbed him by trying to reach for my camera slowly😂, then the next one was next to his guardian (just see his head poking up), he then laid down after a little mooch, but was snuffling the floor, but then….. properly pooped, chilled and flopped 🥹🥳🥳🥳🥳 oh it was just amazing to see 🥰🥰

His guardian reported “Neil well and truly pooped still! I managed to just leave him and he went and settled… somewhere.. no whining or complaining. Managed to clean the bathroom and have next door doing some diy and not a p*ep from him! Now we’re chilling in the lounge, which he doesn’t do very often and he went straight for a little lie down!” 💃 just bloody AMAZEBALLS 🪩

It’s these small moments, that we see the power of freework - Neil wasn’t prompted, he didn’t need any harsh methods, he didn’t need loads of food shoved in, just a mooch (and the food was limited, not much food was put down for him to snuffle for) a drink, a rabbits ear to chew and then boom 💥 snoozing 🥳

The rest was a busy day with a new pup called Fendi starting her 1:1s, agility and then last session for Loki & Atlas learning some new lead walking skills to go off and practice before we meet again!

Awesome start to the week 🥰

Book your session here 👉🏼 https://koalendar.com/e/sensory-session

Happy Monday all 👋

10/08/2024

Let’s take a moment to appreciate this picture.

This is Zanne 👇🏼

Zanne is a busy boy, who struggles to slow down.

So we looked at how we can help Zanne, what’s his preference for something which feels meaningful to help him relax and stay stationary for a moment.

He ignored all of the other treats in the snuffle piles/mats, but licking was a big tick ✅ for him.

So we discussed his walks, and perhaps we need to drop them for the moment, as they aren’t benefiting him, but instead, we’re going to give him movement with some licking activities. We also discussed how to use licking to support his frustrations around cats 🐱

Anyway, this happened - he stopped and laid down. None of us wanted to move 😅 he was still conscious at this point, is tail hadn’t quite given up 🤣 but to have a dog relax down when we’ve found what supports them, means the guardians can help their dogs relax at home.

He did get up again and moved, but there was another moment where he went and laid back down, next to his guardians and was drifting off to sleep 🥹

I wish I had also taken a photo of Roo from last nights session, as he also preferred licking, and we had some magical moments where this, also, busy boy, just settled down 🥳

Freework isn’t about training per say. It’s about finding out what our dogs find meaningful. What is helping them “cope”. What do THEY choose as the right reward for them.

I can’t wait to see Zanne next week, to see how he’s getting on 🤩

Book your sensory session here - https://koalendar.com/e/sensory-session

Happy Saturday all 👋

07/08/2024

ESCAPE ROOM - Trapped in a Training Room 🚧

Today I invited Cheryl & Wilbur Big Dog Little Dog: Puppy and Dog training to be my guinea pigs 🐹 for an Escape Room

They escaped, thankfully 😮‍💨 🤣 it was touch and go with the cryptic word search 😆

This was really nice for Wilbur, being an older boy, so nice and gentle on the joints, and not too taxing for him, and for the human 🤣

So how will it work:

- You get allocated 30 minutes to escape.
- You get 3 hints - so use them wisely 🦉
- You will be timed, and the fastest time in the month, will win a toy 🥳 so if you want to be on that leader board, get booked in 🔗

£15 for the half hour session - book here https://koalendar.com/e/Escape to see if you can escape 🏃‍♀️

Happy Hump 🐪 day 👋

06/08/2024

Today I had lovely senior lady Holly, and young stud Bertie 🥰 two opposite ends of the age line, but that’s not to say we can’t offer them both something new and lovely to enjoy. ☺️

Holly is 12 years old - and she looks good right?🤩 so as with any aging process, it’s now how we can support their joints, and offer them other activities, as we know they can’t always do the activities they once could.

Holly had a lovely time, depositing tennis balls all over the floor, and she moved around, but she REALLY loved the snuffle bar - it was the perfect height her and she stayed there the longest. She wasn’t so sure about the green sandpit filled with smaller snuffles (she did get two feet in, but it was too much for her) and she enjoyed the plant snuffles. She said “no thanks” to licking dairyleigh 😂😂 she may be a lab, but that was just wasn’t her thing today!!

Can’t wait to see her back where we can explore new stations for her 🥹🥰

Bertie is just a normal adolescent young boy, who finds giving things up a little harder, and recall has gone a little backwards, but today he told us that chewing rabbits ears and licking cheese (don’t worry Holly, Bertie cleaned up for me 😂) was his preferred choice of reward, so armed with knowledge we practiced some recall AND he did give up a chew for some licking 🥳 which was amazing to see - he needed time to think about it, but he did by choice just come away from the chew and enjoy licking cheese from my spoon 🤩

His guardian has gone away with some new methods to help Bertie through this stage of life. Can’t wait to hear how he’s doing 🤩

These sensory sessions are available to book through this link - https://koalendar.com/e/sensory-session

Happy Tuesday all - is it bad that I’m loving the cooler weather 😬😅 anyone else?! 👋

03/08/2024

Thank you to everyone who came to the shop today 🥹

It was lovely to see you all, and I can only apologise to the lovely ladies at the end for Bella, obviously 💩ing on the floor 🥴🤦🏼‍♀️😫😫 and it was, again, obviously, a rather loose stool 🫠🫣 it couldn’t just be a lovely easy pick up poo!!! 😑🤣🤣🤣 I don’t know why I take her places!! I told you she would bloody do it didn’t I?! 🙄

Anyway, thank you everyone, it really is appreciated 😌

Happy Saturday everyone, time to relax ☺️

03/08/2024

Thursday & Fridays sessions;

On Thursday, Lexi came along to TDU - she enjoyed a good snuffle around first, before we put her to work. Lexi can get a little giddy when she sees other dogs, and she’s not a huge fan of traffic, so observing her whilst she snuffled around, we found that she really enjoyed the plant snuffly mat.

So once we felt she was ready to move outside, we took our time and observed her behaviour - she took a good 10 mins before she was able to snuffle, BUT once she was able to process her environment, we started to just follow her when she was ready to snuffle/move. She headed towards the car park, and mooched around, she then got a little stuck by the gates; now this could’ve been because she felt the big lorry coming before we saw it, BUT she actively chose to distance herself from the lorry 🥹🥳 no lunging, or stiffening, just calmly moved away - but by starting off with getting the brain relaxed, she was able to think rather than react 🙌🏼 lots of things for her guardian to take home and practice 🤩

Friday evening, Merlin was first in.
Merlin struggles to stay close on a lead, typical spaniel 😅 (I know that feeling!!) who wants to be busy. So we looked at a new way to help with lead walking; we offered him movement from side to side (which is what spaniels naturally want to do) but rewarded this from us and not the environment, to help him stay close - we essentially didn’t want him near us 🥴😂 so threw the treat away, and each time he came back in, we threw the treat the opposite side to move him away again!! Giving him more movement (rather than the stop start) was less frustrating for him and his guardian, and just look at him keeping pace with mum 🥹🙌🏼

Last up was gorgeous girlies Clover & Lottie.
Clover (the ginger one) is much more bold, but we saw she enjoyed to climb. Lottie took a little longer to start 🥹 and we found she REALLY enjoyed the plastic snuffle mat, and climbing 🤩
Lottie finds new people hard, and she kept her distance from me, but it was so nice to see her enjoying herself in my presence when she was able to relax ❤️ a lovely way to end a weekday working week 🤩 - FYI I don’t usually don’t do two dogs at once, but I know these two, so this was a rare occasion ❤️

This morning I’ll be meeting Gus at the unit to see how we can help this big boy with his big feelings of people coming into the home and then it’s Milo for his sensory session 🥹

Happy Saturday all, don’t forget the shop will be open from 3-4pm today 🙌🏼 and you get to meet The Crew - I’ll apologise now for any dickie behaviour 🤣🤣🤣 it’s guaranteed and Bella may even take a 💩 for us as she likes to crap in the most inappropriate of places - literally sh*ts & giggles from this girl 🙄🤦🏼‍♀️🤣🤣

02/08/2024

Don’t forget that I’m opening the shop up tomorrow afternoon 3-4pm

Shop till you drop 🛍️

Toys available, as will pate and chews 😁

Cash & card accepted 💵 🛜

The Doghouse Unit is located on Buckland Road, Pen Mill Trading estate, BA21 5HA - opposite AbleBoxes, look out for the “Giant Storage” sign, the car park is to the left (it is a big sign, but it says Giant storage 😂)

❌NO DOGS PLEASE ❌ , as my dogs will be with me, and they unfortunately aren’t the most social bunch out of “work” hours!!

Happy Friday 👋

01/08/2024

Dog Detective Part Deux ✌🏼 🕵️‍♀️

Last night I was my first class at TDU - Flo, Bailey & Alan (Moose’s dad unfortunately had to stay at work 🥲) for their second stage in their Dog Detective Work.

We unfortunately had to say goodbye for the evening to Alan, who hurt his paw 😭 and was finding it a bit of struggle so he’ll be back next week, so it was down to Flo & Bailey to find their contraband 👃 on the start of their car searches 🚗

Well they did MARVELLOUSLY 🤩 and I can’t wait to see everyone back next week as we start to make things a little harder for them 😁

It was a trio of faux pas last night;

Poor Alan, another leak sprung to life from the disused boiler (ffs😒🤦🏼‍♀️) and then at the end I almost knocked myself out by ducking under a branch to get in the car and opening my door into my head at the same time 🥴😣🤣 left a lovely little bump on my head 🤕😂
They do say things come in 3s 😅

Anyway, happy Thursday all, it feels like the heat has become a little less intense 🤞🏼 here’s hoping as I’m kinda over the whole melting 🫠 feeling!!

👋

31/07/2024

I had a memory come up on my personal account yesterday, of my former life as an animal technician 👩‍🔧 for a college where I spent 14 years working with such an awesome range of animals 🥹

It made me feel a little 🥲 , and my mind was taken back to my many years working there. Having a blast with my work wife 😂 being hu**ed by a randy goat; being rammed by a moody sheep & my finger nearly disappearing down a donkeys throat as my thought process of “I wonder if he’ll lick the peanut butter off my finger” didn’t go as planned, and instead clamped down on it 🤣🤣🤣 🤦🏼‍♀️

These little common marmosets, were just ace to watch and work around, except when they p*e’d on your head 😒🤣🤣 not just the fact that they had done it, but the fact it absolutely smelt vile and when wondering around the local supermarket I was usually met with quite displeasing looks (I also smelt of horse & donkey p*e, mixed in with bit of pig and marmoset stench 🤭) - my dogs loved me when I came home 🤣 all those lovely smells!

BUT this is a lovely little video of the marmosets enjoy a snufflemat - Pob is the one who takes a mealworm from my hand, he was the bravest out of all of them 🥹 - not really ground dwellers, but they enjoyed snuffling around for mealworms!

A little Wednesday cuteness for you ❤️ enjoy 👋

30/07/2024

Gosh it’s been a hot one 🥵 thankfully no rescheduling as I’ve been either able to stay in the shade or at TDU ❤️

Today I had gorgeous Charlie, the bull terrier (who is utterly delicious 🥰).

Not the most exciting of photos - but a simple set up, which works perfectly for dogs new to training ✅

She’s coming as she can get over excited at the sight of other dogs. So with help of my new Stooge Dog Black Betty (not photographed as she was outside 🤣) we worked on some new games for her to play and she did so well ❤️

Asking her to move with her guardians and make choices by herself 🥳

Can’t wait to see her again next week.

I hope everyone is staying cool. Happy Tuesday everyone 👋

29/07/2024

Bella made a new friend today 😅 don’t let the face fool you!! She is happy 😒😂

My last session today was with gorgeous Marley 🥹

He finds other dogs a bit too much and walks were becoming it a little harder for his guardians.

So over the last 3 sessions, we worked on building up a new cue to help him bring his focus back.

He has been total legend 💪🏼 and a few weeks back, we had him working in close proximity in TDU with Chip, which he was bloody brilliant, and then today on our fourth and final session we met at a local park with Bella 😌

Well, completely blown away, and he even managed to wiggle/flirt with Bella 🥹🥰 it was a small wiggle and flirt but it was so nice to see 🫶🏻 he felt comfortable with her ❤️

We were also brave and his guardian dropped the lead so we had go at some recall, which Marley totally smashed, although we nearly lost both dogs towards the end to some football practice 😂 Marley with the football ⚽️ Bella wanted to go and say hello to a small person 🧍 🤦🏼‍♀️ apologies to the football practice people on Lysander park 😅 but Marley recalled beautifully 👏🏻

Anyway, no photos as I was too busy enjoying the moment, so here is Bella here tired from her hour at “work” 😮‍💨🤣

Happy Monday all 👋

28/07/2024

My goodness me 😮‍💨 Old MacAllister had to work hard this afternoon in the ☀️, that grass was looooooonnnngg 😩 twice in one weekend, he’s done well ✅

Cut number, I don’t know, I’ve lost count 🤷‍♀️ 🤣🤣

So my week off is coming to and end, but work doesn’t stop when you’re self employed 😅 but it’s been lovely to spend it with the family 😌

Looking forward to getting back into it 😊

Happy Sunday all, I hope you’ve enjoyed some well earned Vit D today 👋

28/07/2024

Shop till you drop 🛍️

I will be opening the shop up next Saturday 3-4pm. Toys available, as will pate and chews 😁

Cash & card accepted 💵 🛜

The Doghouse Unit is located on Buckland Road, Pen Mill Trading estate, BA21 5HA - opposite AbleBoxes, look out for the “Giant Storage” sign, the car park is to the left (it is a big sign, but it says Giant storage 😂)

❌NO DOGS PLEASE ❌ , as my dogs will be with me, and they unfortunately aren’t the most social bunch out of “work” hours!!

Happy Sunday 👋

27/07/2024

Soooooo…… Old MacAllister strikes again 💪🏼 although this one is a lot smaller 😮‍💨🤣

TDU has had a quick spruce, as the brambles were starting to look like they were asking for a fight 🤪!! I forgot to take a “before” so here’s an “after” 😅

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who had bought a toy these last few weeks 🥳 seriously they’ve been coming in thick & fast - I also want to apologise for any delays - we’re out of squeakers and awaiting a delivery, all because I was getting muddled with orders 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣 as there was so many 🥹

Browse the Etsy store here 👉🏼 https://thedoghouseftf.etsy.com and help me stay confused 🤣🤣

Happy Saturday all 👋

24/07/2024

A fab Ikea enrichement actvity for dogs.

This bag storage holder (Variera) was only £2 - using cut up bits of fleece, loosely pushed in (remember you dont need it to be hard for your dogs; too hard, they will walk away from it) your dog gets to snuffle away finding the treats - pulling them out, or like Bella, digging for the treats to fall out.

Cheap and cheerful 👌🏻

Who doesn’t love a trip to Ikea 😂😂

22/07/2024

Pain/discomfort and lead walking 🦮

If your dog is pulling on the lead, this may be a sign of discomfort in your dog - even though you’ve been putting 100% effort in ….

This could be hip issues, spinal issues, knee issues etc (or aversion to equipment which I’ll cover that in another post another time).

So if they have these issues, why would they be pulling? 🤔

Well it’s to offset the pain/discomfort from the back, and put all of their weight through the front - IE, it’s too painful to put weight through the back end 😣 so pulling is a way to ease the discomfort.

I have always felt that Chip has had issues through his back end, especially his back right leg. I can hear that he scuffs his leg when he walks, and he struggles a lot with walking on the lead (and also struggles to be calm when he is off the lead). He can give us short periods of good walking, and then straight back into pulling 😫 which is understandable as walking slower is uncomfortable for him ❤️‍🩹

He’s had x rays which didn’t show anything that’s a cause for concern, so I decided to try Massage, Merishia Massage to be precise. It’s a deep tissue mobilisation approach and is used to release physical and emotional tension which improves performance and aid in rehabilitation - think Swedish massage/sports massage.

Rachael from Whole Dog Massage was bloody brilliant. This was the first time that Chip had hands on him for a long period of time, and from a stranger.

Rachael agreed that he has issues with his back leg - but places which carried high tension was through his neck, his front legs (left was worse), through his lumber spine and on his back right leg. So I’m pleased my concerns were mostly right ☑️

So she started to work through his body - he found some points harder, but with about 20 minutes towards the end, he did actually relax and you could see he enjoyed it 🥰

I was so pleased with Rachael’s approach to Chip, she didn’t push him, she gave him breaks when he needed it, and just a genuinely lovely lady.

I would highly recommended Rachael - we met at the unit, but does do home visits ❤️

We have booked again for the beginning of September and I’ll be doing some physio sessions at home with Chip to help him with his posture. You can find her website here 👉🏼 https://www.wholedogmassage.co.uk

So if your dog is struggling with lead walking, it’s best to get our dogs checked out - remember, we can’t train away pain.

Well done Chip, really proud of how you dealt with it - a delayed birthday present 😂 let’s face it, we all need a pamper session now and again 🧖‍♀️

Also thank you to Dan at Soldex Aqua Solutions for sorting the plumbing out - we now have workable toilets 🚽 and a stop tap which doesn’t leak 🥳