Megan Burnett Dog Behaviour & Training

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Megan Burnett Dog Behaviour & Training

Qualified dog behaviourist providing behavioural support & training in Lincoln and surrounding areas.
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22/02/2024

Thank you so much to Katie for leaving this very kind review on my Google page! 🥰

The imposter syndrome hits hard sometimes so it's nice to get my own little bit of positive reinforcement to keep me going, and your reviews/testimonials or even just recommending me to your friends really means the world to me! ⭐

21/02/2024

It's been another really busy month of problem behaviour consultations! It's work I love to do, but sometimes it's very refreshing to take a break and see a young puppy like Dexter here for some training 😍

Dexter had his first of four training sessions at the weekend and he did very well even with all the excitement!

I offer private puppy sessions in your own home if puppy classes are not convenient or suitable for you and your puppy, or you prefer 1-2-1 support. Please get in touch if you'd like some support with your new puppy.

02/02/2024

Fenrys and Pumpkin are such posers! 😍😂

I went to see Fenrys (right) to help with his anxiety and reactive behaviour towards other dogs, but his sister Pumpkin stole the spotlight. She insisted on joining in with the training (probably because of the treats involved)!

We introduced a plan to first help Fenrys relax outside on walks, as he can find the world quite overwhelming. His owners are working really hard to slow him down and encourage calm behaviour, so he is in a better state of mind when he sees/meets other dogs ⭐️

It's certainly a work in progress but well done team Fenrys for your dedication so far, even on your holiday!

01/02/2024

Why have a bed AND a snuffle mat when you can make your snuffle mat your bed? 🤔

I went to visit Bessie to help her owners with reducing her reaction to the doorbell and introducing her to visitors. Bessie is extremely intelligent but can be sensitive when she meets new people. She's had some inconsistency in her life, so we are working to ensure that she feels safe at home.

Bessie now has a much more structured and consistent routine in place for when she hears the doorbell, which helps her to stay calm. She's already making great progress! ⭐️

30/01/2024

TONGUE OUT TUESDAY! 😝

It's been the usual very busy start to the year for me, with lots of new dogs to go and see!

I'm definitely not complaining, especially when they look as cute and cheeky as Bruce here 😝 One of my many skills seems to be capturing dogs with their tongue out! Although some bribery with chicken does help.

I went to see Bruce and his owners to help them to manage his resource guarding and some aggressive behaviours triggered by movements and sounds. Bruce has been passed around a few times between his previous home and a rescue kennel, so our plan was to introduce lots of consistent interactions for him, to help him feel secure.

Well done to Bruce and his owners for all of their hard work so far!

05/01/2024

Happy New Year to all of my friends, followers, past and present clients, and your lovely dogs! Thank you for all of your support in 2023 🎆 I'm looking forward to seeing what 2024 has in store....

My 2024 diary is already filling up fast for January, so please get in touch soon to avoid the waiting list!

I offer a variety of services to help you reach your goals, including private training sessions, puppy training and behaviour support. You can find more information on my website here, mbdogbehaviour.com/services, or I'm always happy to chat about how I can help!

25/12/2023

ADVENT DAY 25 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Merry Christmas to you all, I hope you and your dogs have a lovely day today! ❄️

Posting every day has certainly been a challenge for me. Thank you so much to everyone who engaged with my posts; I hope you learnt a thing or two this month!

See you in 2024 🎆

24/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 24 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

It's the big day tomorrow, so I thought I would just mention the importance of providing your dog with a safe haven over the festive period.

Behaviourists tend to get a lot of enquiries following Christmas Day, often related to their dogs behaviour towards guests/children and unfortunately these often involved bites.

Christmas can be really overwhelming for some dogs, especially sensitive, anxious or fearful dogs who may not enjoy the change in routine, lots of guests, etc. It may even be too much for a well-rounded dog.

For this reason, I always recommend that your dog has a 'safe haven', a safe space in a separate area of the house that they can retreat to, where they won't be bothered by people to give them a chance to relax and decompress.

You don't have to make your dog feel excluded by shutting them in rooms or crates; using baby/stair gates so your dog still feels involved can really help. The clue is in the name - your dog should feel safe there, so ensure the area is safe and free from anything that might harm your dog, and free from disturbance especially from visiting children and other people.

You can provide your dog with things to do in their safe haven to help them relax, such as a Lickimat, a Kong or a chew.

23/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 23 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Physical exercise is obviously really important for dogs, but mental exercise is something just as important which often gets forgotten. Keeping your dogs brain stimulated and engaged helps to prevent boredom (which might also stop them from looking for trouble!) and is crucial for their mental wellbeing, keeping them happier and lowering stress.

There are so many options and ideas for mentally stimulating activities for your dogs out there, but you don't need to spend lots of money or time on them.

Pop me a message and I'll be more than happy to send you my handout of ideas to keep your dogs entertained! You might even be able to find a use for your left over Christmas wrapping and boxes 😄

22/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 22 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

The idea of a training cue is that you say your cue once and your dog does the behaviour. If you get into the habit of repeating your cue if your dog does not respond immediately, you risk the cue becoming white noise (your dog learns not to respond) or something else entirely, i.e., there's a big difference to your dog between "sit" and "sit...sit...sit...sit".

To avoid poisoning the training cues you have worked hard on, keep your direction and expectations very clear by making sure your dog understands that the reward only comes if the desired behaviour is done. If they don't respond straight away, turn away from your dog and do something else for a few seconds and try again.

If you find that your dog frequently doesn't respond and just looks at you with a puzzled expression, it might be beneficial to take your training a step back and increase rewards or practice with fewer distractions.

21/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 21 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

One training mistake I often see people make when they are trying to teach their dog to walk on a loose lead is using a lead which is too short.

Using a standard short lead increases your dog's chances of failure because there's not much room for error and more opportunity for them to reach the end of the lead and pull - one step out of line and it's over! This makes it very easy for your dog to get it wrong just when you want to be increasing their chances of getting it right and leads to lots of frustration for both owner and dog.

Starting out with a slightly longer lead or even a shortened longline can really help to keep that lead slack for as long as possible, and then you can gradually transfer the skills to your dog's normal lead once they have understood what they need to do.

20/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 20 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

There's a right and a wrong time to recall your dog. The answer, believe it or not, is NOT as soon as your dog spots another dog in the distance!

Especially in the early stages of recall training, patience is the key to success.

If you are too quick to recall your dog, when they have just set their eyes on something or are in the middle of sniffing something, there's going to be less chance that your dog will come back to you because all of that new sensory information is going to 'overshadow' (block out) your recall cue. This can then lead to you then repeating the cue again and again, poisoning your cue and increasing failure rate.

By timing your recall cue when your dog is less focused on competing information, you stand a better chance of them processing and responding to your call.

Give your dog time to process distracting information first before recalling. You might be waiting 30 seconds before they are ready to listen! Your dog might be unlikely to recall if you see any of the following:

👀 Weight distributed forward
👀 Ears pricked forward
👀 Fixed stare on the distraction
👀 Pulling on the lead towards a distraction

Signs your dog is ready to perceive your recall cue:

👂🏻Head turn away from the distraction
👂🏻Weight distribution changing/away from the distraction
👂🏻Ear flick in your direction
👂🏻Taking a deep breath when watching a distraction

Use a longline when you first work around distractions to ensure the best chance of success. Eventually, you can work towards recalling your dog away quicker after they have seen a distraction.

19/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 19 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Want to know why becoming a human slot machine for your dog can benefit your training? 😜

When your dog starts learning something new, it's important to keep rewards high-value and consistent for effective learning and to keep motivation high. But there's a few ways you can vary the rewards you use to keep things interesting for your dog as you progress.

The first way is to switch to using a variable schedule of reinforcement. To start with, you reward your dog on a continuous schedule, every time it does the desired behaviour. Then, you might begin to reward your dog every other time, and then every third time. You could also randomly switch between giving one treat, giving two or three treats, or a small handful (I call these a "jackpot") or sometimes offer a low-value treat, sometimes a high-value treat!

The benefit of varying rewards like this is that it keeps your dog doing the desired behaviour because they know that at some point a reward is coming, and they might just hit the jackpot!

It's the same kind of unpredictability in rewards that often results in continued gambling in us humans.

18/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 18 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Do you struggle to motivate your dog to WANT to come back to you? It might help to think about the type of reward you're using and the sorts of situations you find you need to recall your dog from the most.

By 'need-oriented' rewards, I mean that what you're offering your dog for coming back to you should satisfy what they WANTED to do before you called them back. Recalling your dog away from something really exciting is a big ask and a big challenge so your rewards need to be next level to keep motivation high. If you dog is always coming back to something that isn't as good as what they could have had instead, they might not be so inclined to come back next time.

For example, if you have called your dog back from chasing a rabbit, you can replicate this desire to chase by producing a chaser toy to drag along the floor, encouraging your dog to chase when they get back to you. This satisfies that need your dog had to engage in a chase, but with you by your side. The chances are, a measly treat just won't cut it in this case!

You can also use rewards such as a game with you as a reward for coming away from other dogs, or access to smells in the environment like scattering treats or scented items. Even changing the way you deliver treats, e.g., throwing them for your dog to catch or "bowling" them in the other direction encouraging a chase and search can really increase desire to come back to you.

17/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 17 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

The most common problem people want to address during my puppy training packages is puppy mouthing/biting! They aren't called 'land sharks' for no reason...

There are a few reasons why puppies bite:

🐶 Exploration
🐶 Play
🐶 Teething
🐶 Frustration
🐶 Defensive

During play with each other, puppies learn about bite inhibition, i.e., how hard they can bite down without hurting the other puppy/dog. However, it can hurt us a little more than intended with our more exposed skin and puppies don't understand this at first!

From experience, biting during play is the most common time a puppy may lose control of themselves and start mouthing and biting and this is typically a result of overarousal (too excited) or tiredness.

They key here is to avoid winding the puppy up too much by playing too long or too intensely - it's important to find the perfect balance. There might be body language clues you learn to predict when nice play is starting to tip into land shark mode, and this is when it's time to start redirecting onto another activity. Keep activities such as Kongs, chews and snufflemats on hand nearby so you are easily able to provide a calming alternative.

You might have been told to yelp or squeal when your puppy bites but I often find this just increases excitement or can even scare the pup. I find that getting up, walking away and redirecting the puppy or having a time out is more effective.

Teething is another common reason for mouthing/biting Make sure you have plenty of options of things for your puppy to get their teeth into such as frozen carrots or frozen Kongs to help soothe their sore gums 🦷

If your puppy likes to chew things around the house (because they like to explore with their mouth!), provide them with chews of different materials and textures and make sure these are readily available and easily accessible, e.g., appropriate wood chews, leather toys, safe plastic toys.

I offer supportive 1-2-1 puppy training sessions to help you get off to a good start with your new puppy! More information can be found on my website here https://www.mbdogbehaviour.com/puppytraining 🐾

16/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 16 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Individual dogs are motivated by different things and food isn't always the most highly-valued reward to all dogs; some dogs may prefer toys, attention or praise as rewards. However, when my clients tell me that their dog is completely uninterested in food treats, alarm bells ring in my head!

In dog training, we usually refer to food as a 'primary reinforcer' because it is something that requires no other experience or learning to be reinforcing- eating is an instinctive behaviour which all dogs are motivated to do (because it fulfils a biological need), so food/treats are naturally reinforcing to most dogs. Food is also a really quick and easy reward to use making it an effective reinforcer for training.

So usually one of my first tasks when someone tells me that their dog isn't motivated by treats is to find out why. It's always helpful to have at least some motivation for treats as some training exercises are challenging to reward/reinforce with play, for example.

I find it helpful to try and find out how often the dog gets treats throughout the day. Interestingly, it's usually the people who say they give their dogs a little bit of cheese or cooked meat on their breakfast (very easy to fall into that trap once you've done it once!) each day that come to me with dogs who are uninterested in training for treats!

This isn't that surprising when you think about it - if the dog is regularly getting "treats" as part of their daily meal or throughout the day for doing nothing much at all, why would they suddenly want to work hard and do what we ask for it if they know they will get it anyway?

That's why I recommend that treats only be given as training rewards, because it hugely helps their motivation to work hard to get access to them.

We can also look at experimenting with different types and flavours of food rewards as some dogs have specific preferences, or how you deliver the treats to make them more engaging.

16/12/2023

Last weekend I met cheeky Dave to help him with some tricky teenager behaviours! 😝

He's now on the right tracks with a refresher in recall and learning to listen to mum and dad, who also learnt how to manage his resource guarding behaviour.

Dave's favourite part was all the treats he got and was more than happy to sit and look handsome for a photo at the end! 😍

15/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 15 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

One thing I talk to my clients a lot about is their dog's threshold and why it's important to know where it is and prevent them from going over it, especially when we are working with anxious, fearful or reactive dogs prone to frustration.

Your dog's threshold is the point at which they are able to notice something that triggers them without being upset by it. I sometimes also refer to it as a 'comfort zone'. If the trigger is too much to cope with (either in proximity, duration or other intensity), we say that your dog has tipped over threshold. This is when you start to see a fearful/anxious/frustrated/excited reaction.

Dogs are individuals, so one dog's threshold might be different from the next; some dogs can be quite close to other dogs before they react, whereas others may react as soon as they see a dog across a big field.

When we are training and helping the dog to learn how to feel differently about their triggers, it's important that we help them to stay under their threshold as much as possible, e.g., by staying at a distance from the trigger that the dog is able to comfortably cope with. This is because it's very difficult or even possible for your dog to learn when over threshold and worried or fearful.

There will be signs in your dog's body language when they are under, approaching and tipping over their threshold. Paying attention to these signs can help you to decide which action to take next.

When your dog is under threshold/in their comfort zone, you should see:

🙂 Loose and relaxed body movements
🙂 Mouth is relaxed and not tense/tightly closed
🙂 Easily focusing and listening to you
🙂 Able to disengage from the trigger
🙂 Taking treats and sniffing

When your dog is approaching their threshold, you might see:

😐 Some ability to focus on you but beginning to fixate on trigger
😐 Starting to lunge/pull towards or away from trigger
😐 Taking treats forcefully or spitting them out
😐 Whining
😐 Showing subtle signs of stress (lip licking, yawning, wide eyes, etc.)

When you dog tips over threshold, you might see:

🙁 No longer taking treats or spitting them out
🙁 Unable to focus on you or listen
🙁 Refusing to move or suddenly moving very quickly towards trigger
🙁 Very stiff body posture
🙁 Pacing, whining, howling, barking, growling, snapping etc.

These might vary depending on the dog, but learning your individual dog's expression helps you to manage their behaviour to avoid an escalated reaction.

Finding your dog's sweet spot for training can be tricky but it's important to do because it provides us with a baseline so we know what your dog can currently cope with and how to move forward to help to gradually increase their threshold.

14/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 14 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

One of the things I often say during behaviour consultations which is usually met with a look of shock or confusion is "growling is a good thing!".

A growling dog can seem really scary, and any aggressive behaviour is to be taken seriously. Ideally, we don't want the dog to feel the need to use aggressive behaviour, but a growl is a useful and important part of communication - if you listen to it!

A dog that growls is trying to tell you something and it's usually a warning such as "don't come any closer!". Dogs use aggression to avoid a conflict not cause it, so by giving you fair warning it prevents the need to escalate the behaviour into a snap or bite, keeping you safe. They really really don't want to have to bite you!

However, if a dog growls and they feel this signal hasn't been listened to, i.e., they growl and you come closer, touch them or take something away from them, this may cause them to escalate their behaviour straight into something more serious like a bite next time you come near - it is often more risky and challenging to change the behaviour of these dogs once they start to feel really threatened.

So dogs that growl to warn you show a great deal of control over their behaviour and it's really important to listen to what they're saying and act accordingly so they don't feel the need to skip the warning.

14/12/2023

Some dogs can find Christmas very overwhelming. It's ok not to involve them if it will cause them stress or if they find it difficult to make good choices around visitors, children, lots of food, etc. Making sure your dog has a safe and quiet place to retreat to can make all the difference and can help to prevent a lot of accidents.

13/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 13 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Have you ever found yourself repeatedly telling your dog "no!" for unwanted behaviour, only to have the unwanted behaviours continue?

Telling your dog "no" but not providing them with any redirection or alternative behaviour to engage in can lead to a lot of frustration and confusion for your dog. The energy your dog is using to engage in the unwanted behaviour, e.g., jumping up at your visitor has to go somewhere, so just saying "no" probably tells them "stop what you're doing!", but your dog will continue to engage in these behaviours unless there is another rewarding alternative.

Your dog doesn't understand what else is expected of them unless you show them and redirect them into a more appropriate behaviour, which is why just saying "no" often doesn't work and ends up becoming white noise to your dog!

I see this problem a lot with dogs that keep jumping up at visitors - redirecting them into a "settle" behaviour so they can still be around visitors but in a relaxed manner works wonders!

12/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 12 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

'Proofing' in dog training language means practicing your training in different situations, environments and with different levels of distractions so they are better able to generalise the skills they have learnt.

Dogs don't generalise their learning as well as we do which means they can struggle to transfer their skills to new places, people or in the presence of bigger distractions right away. If you don't proof a behaviour, you might wonder why your dog listens to you at home but not outside on walks - your dog doesn't necessarily understand that your recall cue when there's nothing around means the same thing as your recall cue when they're chasing a squirrel! Recall is the most common behaviour I see this problem with and a lack of proofing is normally where it has gone wrong!

Practicing in different situations/environments helps your dog to understand and sets them up for success, but it's important to introduce variables such as duration, distance and distractions gradually rather than all at once.

11/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 11 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Again, not a training tip per se today, but something important I wanted to share!

With the upcoming XL Bully ban, you might see more dogs wearing muzzles out and about.

There's a lot of unnecessary stigma attached to muzzled dogs when there shouldn't be. Owners of muzzled dogs are some of the most responsible, caring owners I know!

Many people assume a muzzled dog must be aggressive and dangerous; in some cases, the dog may be a risk to other dogs or people, but this is not the only reason a dog might be wearing a muzzle. They could also be wearing a muzzle because:

🐾 They are reactive and training in difficult-to-manage/unpredictable environments where they might be exposed to many stressors

🐾 They are a scavenger and pick up/eat things on walks that might be harmful to them or encourage resource-guarding

🐾 They have recently been adopted and their adopters are unsure about how they may react to dogs/people

🐾 They may be an anxious/fearful/reactive dog experiencing something new

🐾 They may be recovering from an injury, preventing them from reaching the wound or biting their tail, etc.

Wearing a muzzle just helps to keep the dog and others safe for a variety of reasons.

So next time you see a dog wearing a muzzle, try not to judge! ☺️

It's important to introduce your dog to a muzzle gently, to ensure wearing it is a positive experience. Muzzle training is something I offer help with in my private training sessions, so get in touch if it's something you'd be interested in!

10/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 10 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

"Dominance" is still often used as a reason for a dog's unwanted behaviour by some trainers. However, the theory that dogs show aggression to achieve dominance/higher social status over other animals and people is a very outdated and current research shows this is incorrect.

Dominance theory originated from research into interactions between captive wolves which showed the use of aggression to gain resources like food and mates. Dogs are directly descended from wolves, so researchers concluded that they must also fight for 'alpha' status in a social group. People then assumed that their dogs saw them as competition for 'pack leader'. The problem with this study was that it was conducted using unrelated wolves in an unnatural environment, meaning they weren't behaving as they would in the wild! Up-to-date research shows much different behaviour with harmonious, cooperative family groups with little conflict or aggression.

Dominance theory continues to affect dogs today and has unfortunately resulted in people using training techniques that use punishment or physical force to teach the dog who is "boss". You might hear some trainers use words like "show them their place in the pack" and this is the type of trainer to avoid 🚩🚩🚩

Physical discipline can leave a dog feeling fearful, anxious and losing trust in their owner which ultimately damages the relationship.

Positive training methods, using treats for good behaviour, are much more effective. ☺️

09/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 9 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Dogs are learning throughout their entire lives, from every interaction and experience with people, other animals and their environment. This is important to remember for training but also understanding how your dog's behaviour might change over the course of their life.

They are learning even when you are not actively training. Training sessions are important but a perfect training session doesn't matter if you aren't clear and consistent in day-to-day life about what your dog should and shouldn't do. If rules and expectations keep changing, this can lead to frustration and stress.

It's really easy to absentmindedly ask your dog for a certain behaviour when you're busy or in a rush and give them a treat even if they haven't listened, and this can teach them that listening to you is optional.

It's more effective to do little bits consistently all of the time, rather than just during more formal training sessions and not asking for the same level of behaviour all of the time. Using management, e.g., settling your dog in their crate with a chew when you're rushing around and can't respond/reward appropriately, can really help to set them up for success.

08/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 8 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Not really a training tip today but some festive advice!

The festive season can be quite overwhelming for some dogs, with lots of visitors, bright lights and decorations, so it's important to take them into consideration and make sure they stay safe and happy too to avoid stress.

I wrote a blog post with some tips last year and a few people told me they found it helpful so I thought I would post it again this year in case anyone would find it useful. You can read it on my website here:

https://www.mbdogbehaviour.com/post/dog-safe-christmas

Remember, it's ok to not involve your dogs in your plans if this will make them feel anxious or overwhelmed!

07/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 7 🐾🎅🏻🎄🎁

Giving your dog an outlet means providing opportunities for them to satisfy their innate behavioural needs (which might vary depending on the breed), such as chasing, running, herding, hunting, sniffing, digging, destroying, foraging or chewing.

Unmet needs often result in dogs finding alternative, and often inappropriate, outlets for their behaviour. Many behaviour problems I see are at least partly a result of these needs not being met and it is absolutely critical for a dog's mental wellbeing and welfare.

There are so many great options of activities and toys you can use to tap into your dog's natural instincts.

Before you get a dog, it's important to do as much research as you can about the needs of the breed, which will help to keep them happy ☺️

06/12/2023

TRAINING TIP ADVENT DAY 6 🐾🎄🎅🏻🎁

Did you know that adolescent dogs (between the ages of around 6 months to 3 years) are the most likely to be relinquished to rescue, and that 'problematic behaviour' is one of the most common reasons given? 😢 It's also the most common age of dogs that come to me with behaviour challenges!

Adolescence is a long period of development, which usually starts at around 6 months of age (though this can vary between breeds, individuals, etc.) and involves intense neurological and hormonal changes as they mature reproductively and behaviourally, and your dog's brain starts to remodel into their adult brain.

It's sometimes referred to as the 'teenage' phase (because the process is similar to that of human teenagers), and it can come as a real shock to many owners, as they wonder what on Earth happened to their little angel! 😇😈

There's so much going on in the adolescent brain as it tries to reorganise itself, and the regions of the brain especially affected are associated with your dog's emotional regulation, behavioural inhibition and risk/reward judgements. This is why it's very common to see behavioural changes during this time.

Some of the things you might notice:

🧠 Increase in risk-taking behaviour
🧠 Fluctuating attention span
🧠 Increased independence (*recall training flies out the window* 👋🏻)
🧠 Seeking novelty
🧠 Decreased threshold for frustration
🧠 Weaker regulatory control of emotions and behaviour
🧠 Increased sensitivity to stressors (anxiety/fearful behaviours may increase)

That's basically a teenager in a nutshell, right!?

My point is, your adolescent dog has SO much going on in their brain and body and this can make it really challenging for them to make the right choices. Sometimes it will feel like they have forgotten everything you've ever taught them, and those puppy classes will feel like a waste of money! They are not being stubborn or doing it to annoy you. You haven't done anything wrong with training and you haven't got a broken dog. Your dog doesn't have much control over their behaviour, so my biggest piece of advice is to be patient and understanding with them. Keep up with your training but be prepared to have setbacks and do lots of management to set them up for success.

It's easy to get frustrated, but I do find that a little understanding can really help you get through this challenging phase. Please don't give up on them!

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Videos

I hope everyone is enjoying the Bank Holiday! I'm spending some more time in Ireland this week, but I still can't escape the dogs! Here's a fantastic, hard working Border Collie doing what they do best on a farm in the Wicklow mountains. So amazing to see these dogs at work! 🇮🇪☘️🐑

I've been working closely with Chewie and his family over the past few weeks to help with his separation anxiety. Chewie really struggled to even be left alone in a room on his own without following his family around the house, and quickly became distressed if they went out the front door, frantically running around, crying and barking. The family have been working so hard over the past few weeks and we're all very proud that Chewie can now comfortably and confidently be home alone for nearly 3 MINUTES! You may not think that that's much time at all, but for a dog with separation anxiety that previously struggled with mere seconds alone, this is an incredible achievement! ⭐️ The video shows Chewie relaxing on the sofa, even putting his head down, during one of his longest alone time training sessions so far. A massive well done to Chewie and his family for their commitment and perseverance (lots of standing out the front of the house in the cold and rain! 😭) and I'm looking forward to seeing him hit even more milestones!

The stages of learning how to use a puzzle toy last week! 🥰😂 She started off with a lot of chomping and exploring with her mouth as she tried to work out how to get the treats out, she was a little wary of how it looked and the sounds it made, but it didn't take long for her to start using her nose and even her paws to tip the tubes upside down! I am absolutely fascinated by how a dog's mind works and how they learn, and it's really interesting to watch the process. It's easy to make sure we meet all of our dog's needs for physical exercise, but it's sometimes easy to forget that mental stimulation is important too. I would argue that they are equally important needs, especially for breeds that like to be busy! There's lots of benefits of mental stimulation, like decreasing boredom, building confidence and reducing stress and anxiety. You would be surprised how many unwanted behaviours improve just by increasing a dog's mental stimulation and providing more enrichment. It's great for rainy or hot days when you have to spend more time indoors and can really help to tire your dog out! 🧠 Just make sure you show your dog how to use any new puzzle toys first if they look a little confused, to prevent frustration 😊

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