Trailblazers Activity Dogs

12/07/2025

When it’s too hot to go trailing, or go for a walk, there’s only one thing to do- load some of the dogs up and go to 4 PAWS near Chesterfield for some swimming and splashing fun.

07/07/2025

Saturday evening was spent trailing at the fabulous Elsham Activity Centre, with six teams all working on different challenges, from casting starts, to back trails and unusual finds, the dogs worked with enthusiasm and had a great time.

04/07/2025

Last night we introduced a new dog to mantrailing, had two dogs on their very first session after their intro sessions, and also had two very experienced dogs too.

We’re very pleased to report that the new boy not only understood the game, he was excellent at it! The two very new dogs also made massive progress and came on in leaps and bounds, really making impressive choices at decision points, and generally growing in confidence.

We love introducing new dogs to trailing, seeing them get the game just never gets old. We love progressing them and watching the handler really learn their dog’s body language and both of them really become a team. It’s always exciting seeing the potential that new dogs have, and getting to develop that.

Our two experienced dogs tackled longer trails with trickier bits to work, and they had a brilliant time doing their favourite thing.

Thanks as ever to Elsham Activity Centre for letting us train in their perfect venue.

28/06/2025

We started our trailing session nice and early yesterday to beat the heat, and set the dogs some nice challenges rather than long trails.

Trails back towards the vehicles, backtrails, through gates and through fences, into buildings, and high finds were some of the fun puzzles the dogs had to work out.

27/06/2025

This morning we met a new Super Sniffer who was introduced to Mantrailing.

This adorable little Beagle cross has recently been adopted by one of our regular trailers, and she couldn’t have found herself a better home than with someone who is already engaging her in scent based games.

This little dog was just born to Mantrail, and we’re excited to be able to watch her fulfil her potential as a trailing dog, she’s going to be good 🤩

27/06/2025

We made the most of the cool weather last night and went all in on the trails!

Longer trails, tricky trails with multiple changes of direction, trails back in the direction we’d come from, high finds, and door indications were all absolutely smashed by a very hard working group of dogs.

Well done everyone, and thanks to Elsham Activity Centre for letting us train in the best trailing playground ever!

25/06/2025

After over a week of enforced time off due to the heat, it was soooooo good to get out trailing again last night.

Five fab teams all worked hard on their starts, and completed some great trails through woodland and across open ground, making some brilliant decisions.

Thanks, as ever, to the wonderful team at Elsham Activity Centre for letting us use their beautiful venue.

18/06/2025

Our dogs can really struggle in this heat, and it can affect them behaviourally, not just physically. It’s not just us who can get irritable in the heat! 🥵

Make sure your dogs are allowed to rest and sleep as much as they need to during the heat, and don’t put any pressure on them to exercise or train, or cope with different things.

☀️ Heatwave = Behaviour Wobble? You’re not imagining it ☀️

The current heatwave doesn’t just affect dogs physically – it can have a big impact behaviourally, too. 🐾

You might notice:

• More grumpiness or reactivity
• Less tolerance for people, dogs, or handling
• Dogs may seem more clingy or more distant
• A struggle to settle or an increase in pacing/restlessness
• Training falling apart – because they’re just not coping

Just like us, dogs can feel fatigued, uncomfortable, and overwhelmed in the heat. They may sleep more, avoid eating, or seem a bit “off” – and that’s OK. It’s not always about ‘bad behaviour’ – sometimes it’s a heat-stressed body and brain.

🔥 Behaviour support may look a little different right now. We’re adapting sessions, making the most of shade and cool times of day, and in some cases postponing when it’s just not safe to work outdoors.

🐶 Your dog’s wellbeing comes first – always.
If they’re not quite themselves at the moment, give them some grace. Keep cool, keep it calm, and as always, reach out if you need support.

Enjoy this vision of Ziggi keeping himself cool 😎 He is a goon around water BUT only natural water courses. He scoffs at paddling pools 🙈

Share any observations about your dog or show my photos of them being cool 😎

17/06/2025

We got the camo net out on Sunday evening’s trailing session and treated the dogs to some covered finds, as well as some off piste trails.

Well done to everyone for some excellent handling, and some brilliant hiding! And of course, well done to the dogs who worked so well 🤩🤩

Huge thank you to Elsham Activity Centre for letting us use their fab venue.

13/06/2025

“If in doubt, don’t go out”

Our trailing sessions have been cancelled today even though they were supposed to be in shady woodland, the temperatures and humidity forecast for today are far too high for our dogs to be out training in.

Dogs don’t understand that it’s too hot to be rushing around in, we have to advocate for them and alter their schedule accordingly.

Your dog won’t die from missing a few walks or training sessions, your dog could die on a hot walk.

12/06/2025

We had a last minute change of venue to our favourite Elsham Activity Centre on last last night’s trailing session to make the most of the cool shady woodland and avoid the heat.

Three teams worked very hard on mastering high finds, trails across open ground, covered finds, and walking finds. Great session!

08/06/2025

We’ve had two full days of “Under the Influence” trailing workshops focussing on understanding how we might potentially influence our trailing dogs, what else may influence them and us, and working on special exercises to counteract any inadvertent influence we may have.

We were very impressed with the dogs, who largely ignored our attempts to influence their decisions, and took all of the exercises in their stride, proving that we had already made some pretty resilient and confident dogs, but we’re looking forward to building on these exercises and proofing their trailing even further.