Fluent Dog

19/06/2025

My boy got attacked by an off leash dog yesterday.

He’s okay. Luckily he is all floof and his fur took all the teeth. He recovered beautifully very quickly and wasn’t even phased but, for a different dog this could have been such a different story.

We saw the dog approaching and I noticed the dog was very intense. The dog was staring hard even from 30 meters away. His ears were back, his tail rigid and high, his body stiff and he was very focussed on my boy.

Although Logan is an incredibly neutral dog when it comes to other dogs and is great at de-escalating potential conflict , I had no interest in forcing him into an interaction with (or even getting anywhere near) a dog coming in that intensely, especially one off leash.

So I called Logan to my side and we turned off and moved away to the other side of the field. I watched to make sure and the other owner did the same. They did. Great.

But then as we were at the bin the dog sprinted from across the other side of the field from behind us and went straight for Logan’s neck.

I managed to get myself in between them but the other dog would circle around coming back in to nip at his neck. Repeatedly.

The owner had zero control and took what felt like forever to get his dog. I released Logan so he could try and get away and so I could keep putting myself between the two and use my body to block him. I made this choice knowing that the chances of Logan retaliating were very slim. Not zero, but unlikely. I would probably have made very different choices from start to finish, if I’d been walking Roo.

I didn’t hang around to speak to the owner. I was far too furious and my priority was getting Logan to a safe place to check him over and make sure he was okay.

No visible injuries. He was still silly and bouncy and taking food and went on to have some lovely, mutually polite interactions with other dogs after that.

But if this had been my other dog, or even someone else’s dog, the potential for serious fall out from a situation like this is huge.

Not only could this have been a really serious fight, there was also potential for this to create a fear response towards other dogs. Fear responses can bring a whole host of behaviours including reactivity. An incident like this also has potential to undo/set back any work someone may have done with their dog around other dogs.

Logan is also 10 years old. If he was smaller and not such a big happy floof he could have been really badly hurt.

I would put very good money on this not being the first time that dog has done something like this. Or at the very least had near misses with other dogs before.

So if you do have a dog who has potential to be a bit of a t**t with other dogs please, keep them on leash around dogs. There are some great trainers and resources out there to teach you how to help your dog make better choices or teach you how to meet your dog’s needs while keeping everyone safe.

We all have a responsibility to our own animals to keep them safe but we also have a responsibility to keep the others that share this planet safe too 💙🐾

02/08/2024

Can’t believe Riff hasn’t found his forever family yet. He really is the sweetest boy and is the best movie/morning cuddle buddy

09/07/2024

📣New puppy parents!
Lewis has a few places left on his online puppy course. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from an incredible trainer. You only get those all important, first few weeks once and so many issues can be avoided with access to the right information 🌟
Pop Lewis an email if you have a new pup and would like to know more about this great learn along course 🐶 🐾

**** I NEED 4 MORE PUPPIES TO JOIN MY NEW ONLINE PUPPY PROGRAMME! ****

Have you got a new pup and want the very best for them? Or do you know someone that could with a little help with their new addition to the family? Please let me know and Ill get you signed up!

So many problematic behaviours that dogs develop as they get older can siomply be avoided if you know what you are doing when you first bring a puppy home.

We see too many dogs that develop issues as they age which cause so any problems long term for themselves and their owners.

To prevent this and create a great companion you need to know what you're doing from the start! This programme is going to be very helpful for anyone that has just gotten a new pup.

I have a foster pup that I will be training alongside the participants and so I will be sharing all that I do and know when it comes to raising a puppy.

If you would like more info or to sign up please email me [email protected] and I will get it sorted.

There is a very limited number of puppies I am accepting so let me know sooner rather than later.

Cheers!

21/06/2024

Our next Puppy Pre School course is now enrolling! Classes will be starting 6th July in Silverdale! 🤗

This 5 week course is designed to help you get the best out of these very important early weeks with your puppy

What you will learn:
⭐️ What socialisation really is and how to implement it well
⭐️ How to read your puppy's body language
⭐️ How to build behaviour and teach them 'all the good' stuff
⭐️ How to prevent your puppy learning the 'not so good' stuff
⭐️ How to get the very best out of your puppy and what to expect during their development
⭐️ What good play looks like and how to manage dog to dog interactions in public
⭐️ Basic foundation training for recall / loose leash walking /Sit/ Down

These classes will be kept small so spaces are limited. Email [email protected] now to secure your space 😉

20/05/2024

Very excited to announce our Puppy Pre School will be starting 1st June in Silverdale! 🤗

This 4 week course is designed to help you get the best out of these very important early weeks with your puppy

What you will learn:
⭐️ What socialisation really is and how to implement it well
⭐️ How to read your puppy's body language
⭐️ How to build behaviour and teach them 'all the good' stuff
⭐️ How to prevent your puppy learning the 'no so good' stuff
⭐️ How to get the very best out of your puppy and what to expect during their development
⭐️ What good play looks like and how to manage dog to dog interactions in public
⭐️ Basic foundation training for recall / loose leash walking /Sit/ Down

These classes will be kept small so spaces are limited. Get in touch now to secure your space 😉

Looking forward to meeting you all! 🐾

Certified dog trainer providing training and behaviour modification in person and online

12/02/2024

I went through a period of a few years recently, living with chronic pain.

During this time my behaviour changed. A lot.

I was more sensitive to touch and would react if I thought someone might be about to bump into me or even just touch me on some days.

I lost a lot of confidence and would become hesitant (sometimes fearful) if I needed to do something that might trigger my pain in some way or there was a chance I might fall and cause more damage.

I didn’t always want to do things when people asked me to and my overall ability to cope with stress reduced dramatically.

All these things affected my quality of life and I became a bit of a miserable sod. Sometimes I resorted to coping mechanisms that were not entirely healthy.

I tried so many times to get in shape and modify my behaviour to live a better life and I just couldn’t do it. It’s hard to try and make progress when pain can be such a huge variable from one day to the next.

Pain changes behaviour. Sometimes it might be big dramatic changes that appear to come on very quickly. Sometimes it might be a lot more subtle or a bit of a slow hum that starts to creep up over time.

While I fully appreciate that we are not supposed to anthropomorphise our dogs, sometimes we really need to put ourselves in our dog’s experience of life to have a chance at understanding what they may be going through so we can help them.

Pain isn’t an emotion. It’s an actual and very real sensation felt by all sentient beings at some point and to some degree. Chronic pain has the ability to make us even more sensitive to acute pain.

Possible pain and underlying health issues should always be a priority consideration for any trainer working with you and your dog. Good trainers know how much of an impact these things can have on behaviour.

The hard thing with many dogs is that they can be incredibly stoic. Sometimes the dopamine released by doing something fun in the moment can be a much bigger pay off than the avoidance of doing something that afterwards may make pain worse (or more difficult when that dopamine isn’t around).

To make things even more 🤯 for us as pet guardians, physical examinations can make it very difficult to assess some underlying pain.

Some dogs just find physical exams so stressful that they do whatever they need to, to get it over with. Including being very still and showing very little reaction to the stranger bending their limbs around or prodding and poking them.

My experience with my own pain showed me that sometimes a second opinion is needed. Multiple trips to the GP resulted in me being told there was nothing wrong with me.

It was only after a referral from and incredible physio for an MRI that the cause of my pain and necessity for surgery was detected.

It’s okay if you as an owner wish to get a second (even third or fourth) opinion on whether your dog may be struggling with an underlying health issue or pain also.

If I hadn’t advocated for myself, I would still be living with that pain every day (and I had the ability to communicate verbally with those around me how much my life was being impacted). Our dogs don’t have that luxury…

So it’s up to us to advocate for them and make sure they are as healthy and pain free as possible.

This should always be the first thing we address before we start trying to change our dog’s behaviour to make our own lives easier. Even something we go back and reassess regularly throughout that journey as we get better at watching and reading our dogs 🐾

29/12/2023

Is socialisation what you think it is?

I nipped into my local pet shop today to stock up on some treats for my clients. As I entered I saw a beautiful Kelpie puppy who must have been around 15 weeks old.

The first thing I noticed was what a stunning puppy she was (can’t help myself, it’s the ears!). Then I noticed how ‘wired’ she was.

Her owner was paying at the till and pup was struggling at the very opposite end of the leash, desperately trying to get at the world around her. Neither of them had any clue of what the other was doing.

I instantly knew my proximity to this puppy was not going to set either her or her owner up for success, so I swiped a few feet to the right.

As soon as my movement captured this puppy’s eye, she turned in fast beaming excitement and launched her full body weight at me. Her poor mum being yanked to the side as she struggled to carry her shopping and manage a very over excited young puppy.

I gave them even more room.

To some that may seem strange. Surely it’s important for that puppy to meet as many people as possible during that all important socialisation period?

Well no, it’s not. The quality of what she’s learning from an individual experience is.

If I hadn’t moved and puppy had gained access to me (no matter how nice and friendly I am) I would have made that lovely lady’s job so much more difficult.

Arguably more difficult in that moment but absolutely more difficult longer term.

What would pup have learned? That other people are way more interesting than mum? That I can throw my weight around and it gets me closer to the lady who smells like sausages? And that the pet shop is “THE BEST PARTY EVERR!”?.

If she were to continue being put in situations where it’s too much for her and she’s always trying to get at what she wants and being forcibly stopped by a leash there’s also a chance she might learn leashes and harnesses are yucky because “they stop me getting to the things I want”. That constant frustration in these early experiences could bring with it a whole host of other issues down the line.

Is all socialisation good socialisation?

I really dislike the label “socialisation”. It feeds into this myth that, in those all important first weeks, a pup must go everywhere, see everything and meet every dog, no matter who our puppy is as an individual.

We could talk about how impactful genetics/ early experiences of Mum and Pup are here and yes they are incredibly important to consider as part of the ‘whole dog’ picture. But ultimately socialisation comes down to what that individual baby dog in front of you needs to learn how to navigate the world

There is no one size fits all. It should look slightly different for every puppy.

I see countless puppies happy to be calmly cradled while their owners shop in that pet store. I see other older puppies calmly exploring on a leash in that store. That’s what they need.
But what they need during their critical socialisation period is very different to what the pup I saw today needs. And that might be different again to what your puppy needs. Quality of learning for that individual pup over quantity of experiences wins every time.

Yes pups need to learn to navigate the world and be exposed to crazy things this modern world might expose them to. But if they can’t calmly explore or watch the world around them, or they have no clue you exist in a particular environment then it’s good to reassess early on how you’re doing things.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by knowing what to do to help your pup learn to navigate the world don’t wait to reach out for help from a good, skilled & knowledgeable trainer that has your dog’s welfare at heart. Those first weeks count for a lot 🐾

27/11/2023

This was the moment I thought I was going to have to say goodbye to Roo.

She’d been living with her amazing fosters for a few months and I’d got to know her really well.

We’d just had what would have been our last training & play session.

She was due to be leaving the following day so it was an extra long and silly training session.

As we sat having a rest I was overcome with so much sadness that this was the last time I’d (not only train with her but also) see her.

As the tears started to flow, Roo got all up in my grill and started acting like a plonker and I couldn’t help but laugh. I knew at that moment I needed Roo in my life.

I took a really long time to decide to adopt Roo and I’m really glad I did. To be honest, adopting a dog like Roo should never be an easy decision.

Dogs like her come with A LOT of needs, most of them not conducive to living in a pet/family home.

I knew she would need so much from me and I just didn’t know if I had the skills, knowledge, money & time to do right by her. I was sh****ng myself to put it bluntly!

But in this moment I promised her, I would do everything I could to give her a good life. Even if it meant moving house and screwing it up from time to time as I learnt 😅

She has taught me so much and she has forced me to grow in ways I’ll forever be thankful to her for.

For sure there are still those days where I have to go into another room and count to 10 😅 and times we get a bit out of our groove. But on those days I watch videos like this and remember just how much she’s given me.

Thanks for being you Roody 🐾

22/11/2023

There is so much beautiful communication taking place in this video between Tilly and her Mum 🥹

Tilly doesn’t always like to be touched and historically would escalate her behaviour to prevent/stop people from touching her when she just wanted to be left alone 🦈 🦷

With a few little adjustments to
how Tilly’s family physically interact with her she has now learnt that she has some autonomy over how and when she is patted and that she doesn’t need to use her teeth to say no. The beautiful result of that is this video.

Tilly’s family ask her when she wants to be petted. If she wants some lovin she’ll let them know and if she doesn’t, she now chooses a very different behaviour to say ‘no thank you’ and Tilly’s incredible parents are more than happy to accomodate that choice.

You’ll notice her Mum stops petting every few seconds to check Tilly is still enjoying the interaction and Tilly is using her behaviour beautifully to say ‘more please’.

I’m so proud of this team and how far they have come in a relatively short space of time. They are so in-tune with the subtle behaviours their girl shows and incredibly dedicated to helping her feel happier day to day.

Can you guys adopt me too now please? 😁

17/11/2023

It’s easy to get a bit too focussed on training and ‘obedience’ when it comes to our dogs if we’re struggling with their behaviour.

But most of the time it can be much more beneficial to focus on our relationship with our animals and finding ways to help them feel happier as a priority.

It’s a lot easier to change behaviour when a dog is happy and having all of their needs met 😉

Thanks so much to for giving Willow and I the chance to just have some fun today 🐾

14/11/2023

What do you do when you catch your dog doing something they are not supposed to?

Is it really difficult to interrupt them and get them back with you? Sometimes even stressful?

I get it. Here’s a few things that help with Roo when she’s doing something I’d rather she didn’t (like digging up all the veggies Dad spent ages planting 😬)

The first thing we do is prioritise management A LOT. That means Roo doesn’t just get left to practice those 🙄 things when we’re not around.

We’ve taught her a really solid recall should management fail and to enable us to give her more freedom.

We make a conscious effort to maintain important cues (such as recall) by giving her something she loves when she performs the behaviour associated with that cue. For example if she recalls in from the the garden I’ll grab a little treat from the tub by the door. Easy as.

Because Roo has a really big reinforcement history for these behaviours, it means it’s much more likely that if she’s doing something I don’t want to her to do (but something she enjoys)I stand a better chance at getting her to come away without any stress or big feelings for either of us.

The next thing I do is consider, what that behaviour she did was telling me? If I look at this particular example it’s that she’s probably in need of some extra enrichment today.

So to meet that need I might scatter her breakfast around the garden and in her digging pit to give her an opportunity to forage for food and dig.

Then I might give her a card board box to kill so she can practice some of her natural hunting behaviours such as biting, shaking, and dissecting. I’ll stay with her while she does this though so I can cheer her on and make sure she doesn’t try and ingest any of it (yep she’s one of those 😅). She might get another little scatter of treats after that.

Then we might have a play session where she gets to practice lots of stalking, chasing and biting again. We’ll make it fun but perhaps include some of her cues (like recall and wait). This way I have an opportunity to keep them strong by following it up with Roo’s favourite thing, toys. Doing this also helps Roo get lots of practice at responding to cues when she’s in a more aroused state and maybe not able to think and respond so clearly. Most importantly we both have loads of bloody fun.

Meeting her needs this way means on days like today she knows there’s value in coming to me when I call her. Even if digging Dad’s veggies is another option 😬

Meeting another dogs needs might look different to the above. But if there’s things you’re struggling with in terms of your dogs behaviour it’s wise to ask yourself, ‘are there little things like this I can do to maybe help them feel a bit happier?’. Behaviour improves when needs are met. It’s not the whole part of it but it’s gonna make things a whole lot easier for both of you 🐾