Northern Zen Dogs

05/08/2024

Off until the 15th. Family stuff.🐾

04/08/2024

02/08/2024

Miss Wolfie is coming to stay...🐺🐾🩷

31/07/2024

Did you know: 80% of dog bites in adults and 90% of bites in children occur at home? Thanks to the PDSA for this visual flow of this stress escalation and body language in dogs chart - essential for the whole family to understand and prevent escalation through time out, respect for pets space, crate training, presence without access, sleep, rest, appropriate exercise and games based training and for key times of stress: muzzle training.👍🐾

29/07/2024

Remember your dog becomes what they rehearse each and every day. Training isn't just for puppies - we 'shape' our dog's behaviour throughout their life with management, games, training and employing them to use their nose 🐶

26/07/2024

Have a great weekend! Archie will be practicing his new hobby. Instead of peeing on kiddies sandcastles, he's decided pooping on couples 'sand hearts' or romantic stone cairns is much more fun (for the faint hearted I've covered up most of the offending 💩)
🤣

24/07/2024

The antidote to a dog who is reactive, fearful, anxious or overly excited (hu***ng, nipping, whining, constant action prompting, barking) particularly after a busy time, is not more walks or runs. Active rest with a chew or lick mat, low stimulation games on their boundary/bed and sleep possibly with some short calm on lead walks for 3 days are the key components to lowering their dimmer switch and emptying their emotional overflow bucket. 70% of their day should be rest and sleep (so that's 16-17hrs)....even working dogs who can manage on less sleep require around 14 hrs. Then they can cope and be receptive to listening, can learn and have new behaviours shaped with confidence games to grow the size of their emotional bucket and quicker emptying ability. You can have a large dog with a small bucket and a small dog with a large bucket and how long it takes to empty it can vary with each dog. It can take up to 3 days to empty a bucket after stimulating experience. 🐾

22/07/2024

Where is your dog on the dimmer switch scale?: Imagine a dial - (scale 0 to 10) below 5 being relaxed/chilled out and over 5 to 10 being overly stimulated (either excited, fearful, anxious or reactive). Being above threshold will lead to undesirable behaviours for example, hu***ng, barking, and aggression and not listening to commands. Management on Weds post. 😊⬆️⬇️↔️🐾

19/07/2024

Fear of noise symptoms in your dog? Their Reticular Activating System (in the brain) is too busy noticing EVERYTHING! I can help - desensitisation and counterconditioning with loads of confidence building will incrementally shift your dog's behaviour to an acceptable level of response. Get in touch with Ali: 07949 026374

17/07/2024

We are back! Thrilled with this achievement and what a great announcement to start being back to work with. Northern Zen Dogs is here in Northumberland and is committed to supporting owners and their dogs with the most up to date knowledge and help in Canine Behaviour. 🙏🐾 Studied with the IMDT to University level, year 2 and hundreds of hours practice achieved. 👍

21/06/2024

As I've mentioned previously - we have a month of family commitments coming up so I've decided to block off the diary. I am however fulfilling any phone bookings already made. See you in a month ✔️🐾

19/06/2024

Any trainer who offers a residential week or fortnight or more for a dog away from their owners WILL be using aversives such as Electric Collars.
Often dog owners say their dogs come back with their personality changed. That's fear - instilled by adding a punishment to supposedly 'correct' or removing pain so the dog gets relief and escape from pain only.
You are the owner. Participating in the training/games/management/exercise/rest are part and parcel of being a dog owner. If you're not prepared to do it - then don't have a dog and do not send them to folks who believe that pain in animals is ok.
The law HAS NOT YET banned e-collars. The government drew the legislation together and haven't passed it. We need to do better for our pets rather than uneducated, outdated methods. Choose an ethical trainer every time. 🙏🐾

17/06/2024

We have a run of family commitments coming up so I'll be off from Wednesday 19th June until Wednesday the 17th of July. If you want an appointment - it will be after the 3rd week in July before I can offer your FREE phone call. 🐾

14/06/2024

They are - they just need understanding 😍🐾

12/06/2024

Although there's wet weather about, the temperature is gradually rising. Remember that with Brachycephalic dogs, (Pug, English Bulldog, French Bulldog, American Bulldog, Shar Pei, Dogue de Bordeaux, Shih Tzu, Boston Terrier, Pekingese, Affenpinscher, Lhasa Apso, King Charles Spaniel, Bullmastiff, Rottweiler, Neapolitan Mastiff, Chihuahua, Brussels Griffon, Cane Corso, Japanese Chin), their nasal turbinates are restricted so they cannot cool down. Their windpipe can be distorted by their physiology making it harder to breath especially in hot weather. Walk them earlier and late in the cool, never in full midday sun over 18 degrees and make sure they don't over exert in hot weather even in the garden. They will thank you for it 😍🐾

08/06/2024

Catch some good times this weekend. I'll be back next Wednesday.🐾

07/06/2024

For Lauren Langman on this day of memories - celebrating Tokyo. Run free lad on your Heavenly Birthday ✨️🌈💗

05/06/2024

How much rest and sleep does your dog get in any 24 hr period? Usually they sleep for an average of 70% of 24 hrs. That's 16-17 hours. Some breeds sleep longer (sighthounds) some working dogs less (Springers, Cockers, Collies etc) however they all need to reboot with more than you'd realise. As puppies they need more and through adolescence then senior dogs need plenty and all may sleep more when in pain. Signs of tiredness are masked as aggression, anxiety, fear and over arousal.

03/06/2024

Here's a photo of me with a very special dog 💖🐾. This little fella had a bad experience being groomed in the past, had lost his confidence, was reactive and anxious. Fast forward 12 weeks and he's able to be handled, is enjoying seeking his food and playing games. He's less reactive and a real joy to be around. He has a fantastic family too! 👌 Oh and doesn't he look cute in his hoodie whilst getting used to his shorter trim - so handsome under the floof! 🙌❤️🐾

31/05/2024

❗️This is THE LAST DAY to sign up for a LIFETIME PRICE FREEZE on all Canine Behaviour Consults and courses. The price is fixed at £50 per session. You don't even need to access the session now - however you do need to text Ali to book your FREE half hour phone call to be registered. What are you waiting for? Its a no brainer...your dog would book in if they could! Text or Call 07949 026374 today❗️🐾

29/05/2024

Some experienced trainers advocate the use of e-collars set on vibrate as being acceptable dog training tools. The evidence today is that the neck (cervical nerves No 6 on 1st diagram) in a dog are extremely sensitive and the skin is much thinner on a dog than a human so they will feel pain from a shock AND vibrate, from yanking on a lead and prong collars. One bad experience like this will impact your dog's mental health for life...FACT.
At Northern Zen Dogs we advocate the NON USE of aversives and only introduce and use dog friendly training methods for solution based Canine Behaviour outcomes. Always 🐾

28/05/2024

This is the last 4 days to sign up for a LIFE TIME FREEZE on Canine Behaviour Consults. This can be accessed ANYTIME in the future. All you need to do is text or ring Ali and you'll only ever pay the previous low rate of £50 per session. You will get a huge amount of support for this and your dog will thank you for it!🐶🐾
Call - 07949 026374 today! Local to Amble however all consults and programmes accessible from anywhere!

24/05/2024

Jump into the Bank Holiday Weekend. We will be back on Tuesday 🐾🙌😎

24/05/2024

Whilst doubting your own abilities as a dog owner, someone else is admiring you. 🙌🐾

22/05/2024

You may find people criticise your choice of pet dog saying they are too big, too busy, too feral, too much or mad. Or they tell you stories of their mate who has a pack of perfect dogs. News alert- just as with humans, dogs have bad days. They get tired, anxious, fearful, ill and suffer pain. These issues impact how they behave. You also cannot compare a 4-8kg dog with one who is 27-40kg. Nor can you compare a German Shepherd with a chihuahua or a gun dog. Their needs are different, some predatory motor patterns are overly present. Their impact on the world varies and how they are perceived. Therefore - when choosing behaviour training, choose a professional - yes with with qualifications, hours experience but most of all, choose the one who understands breed specifics, has knowledge of pain, fear, anxiety and who doesn't have a go at you for choosing the dog you love. 🙌🐾

20/05/2024

It's the last 2 weeks of my life time price freeze. Full price from 1st of June. Get supportive canine behaviour 121 input for your dog - half price, for life when needed (you can access whenever you want- just sign up).
Contact Ali - 07949 026374. 😊🐾

17/05/2024

An unexpected visit to Edinburgh this week - the doggos were so pleased to be reunited 😍🐾

15/05/2024

I am aware that many people have been treated with little respect and have been shamed or humiliated in Dog Behaviour Consults; often blamed for their dog's behaviour and are given lofty tombs of info with no practical support.
With my approach at Northern Zen Dogs, I make sure the owners feel comfortable, listened to, confident, happy and always believe they are doing the best they can with the resources or knowledge they have. If gentle challenge is required, it's done in a way which brings people with me, done with respect and is not directed personally. I'll share THE most current ways to get best results and it will be done with understandable every day language with research only as the icing on the cake.
Practical and easy to implement strategies which take as long as it takes to boil a kettle, make a cup of tea and drink it each day. Short, 10 min daily sessions are more useful than weekly 1 hour sessions. No aversives are used. My prices are lifetime frozen until June 1st 2024. A free no obligation phone call - then if happy, at least 1 session which can be done face to face or on Zoom, I see clients from as far away as South Africa. What an opportunity right here in Coastal Northumberland. 🙌🐾

13/05/2024

Dog training doesn't just happen with puppies - it's life long and never linear so for new environments, it's essential to shape the behaviour you want.👌👌🐾 Our dogs are habituated to their routine environments - in a new place such as from rural to urban, its appropriate to use tools to ensure their arousal threshold enables them to think enough to listen to you. A long lead (not retractable) on a harness attachment gives them enough freedom to gain enrichment without escalation. Calm dogs learn quicker.

10/05/2024

Have a good weekend - spring has sprung, and Springers know it 🤩🐾