Happy Hounds K9 Academy - The Urban Shepherdess

02/12/2025

For humans, "No" is often understood as "don’t do that," but this doesn't provide clear direction for our pets.

Dogs don’t always understand the reasoning behind "No," and it doesn't guide them toward an alternative behavior.

Instead of simply telling them what not to do, we should focus on teaching them what to do instead.

This approach is key because it helps dogs learn desired behaviors and make good choices independently in the future.

Imagine rewarding good behavior so consistently that your dog begins to choose those behaviors without needing your instruction. Over time, this creates a dog who can make decisions based on positive habits, even when you're not there to guide them!

What’s one undesirable behavior your dog exhibits, and what could you say instead of "No" to redirect it?

Courtesy of Pet Harmony

29/11/2025

🐑💨 What Were Collies Really Bred to Do? Let’s Talk HERDING! 💨🐑

We all know the classic answer: Collies were bred to herd.
But what does that actually mean? And how does that translate to life in a modern pet home?

More and more Collies are living as family pets, which is wonderful!
But many new owners don’t fully realise what herding instinct involves, or how deeply it shapes their behaviour.

Here’s what Collies were truly designed for 👇

🌀 1. To Be Stimulated and Reactive to Movement

A working Collie must notice even the slightest movement in a flock and respond instantly to keep the sheep together.
In the city? Everything moves: cars, people, dogs, kids, bikes.
This can be overwhelming for a Collie who is hard-wired to react.

👂 2. To Have Incredible Hearing

Collies can work hundreds of metres away from their shepherd, responding to whistles carried across fields.
Now picture that same dog hearing traffic, construction, kids, birds, dogs, doors, lawnmowers…
Urban noise can be a sensory overload for a breed used to open, quiet farmland.

🧭 3. To Work Independently

Collies aren’t just obedient. They’re thinkers.
They were bred to problem-solve and control livestock without someone hovering over them.
This independent streak is amazing on a farm ....… but can surprise pet homes!

🎮 4. To CONTROL Movement (Not Chase It)

A true Collie doesn’t want to chase. They want to manipulate movement:
stop it, shape it, and keep it together.
They’re the ultimate little control freaks (in the best possible way!).

Watch your Collie at the park. They’re usually not running behind other dogs; they’re running alongside them, shaping their path.
You’ll often see the same behaviour with balls, kids, bikes, birds ...… anything that moves.

🤝 5. To Be One Half of a Partnership

A Collie and their shepherd work as a seamless team.
Collies bond deeply and passionately with “their” person. It’s in their DNA.

🎯 6. To Focus Completely on the Job

Working Collies will ignore distractions, food, even toileting until the task is done.
In a pet home, this can look like a dog who “won’t listen” because they’ve assigned themselves a job. Often herding people, dogs, or movement around them.

🔄 7. To Move Between LOW and HIGH Stimulation

Farm life naturally provides this balance.
Collies work in bursts of intense stimulation, then decompress quietly in a kennel.
In a busy home, there’s always something happening, making it harder for a Collie to switch off.
Teaching calm is essential for their wellbeing.

Collies are incredible, brilliant, sensitive working dogs.
When we understand what they were bred for, we can support them better and life becomes easier (and more enjoyable!) for both dog and owner.

My mission is to make life better for at least one dog today!

Courtesy of Donna Williams

03/11/2025

Take Time To Connect.
Stepping out into the world with your puppy/dog whether that’s a training class or even just a busy walk can make you feel vulnerable.
You know people are watching. You can almost hear the thoughts, even if no one says a word.
And suddenly, something that should be exciting starts to feel heavy.

But here’s what I’ve learned: judgment only has power if you let it.

The more you focus on what others might think, the further you drift from the only opinion that really matters, your own.
The one that knows how much time you’ve invested, how far you’ve come, and what stage of training you and your dog are truly at.

You don’t have to be ready to win any competition.
You don’t have to impress anyone.
You just need to know your dog, trust your training, and set goals that feel achievable for you.

Small goals aren’t a lack of ambition they’re a foundation for confidence.
Every time you reach one, you prove to yourself that you can handle the next step.

So stop worrying about what others might think.
Keep showing up. Keep learning. Keep growing.
Because that’s how great partnerships are built quietly, consistently, and with courage 🐾❤️🐾

And don’t feel you have to do it all on your own.
I’ll help you set the right goals for where you and your dog are now,
build your confidence step by step,
and guide you towards the results you know you’re capable of achieving.

Courtesy of That’ll Do Academy

04/10/2025

We are seeing a lot of 'successful' dog training videos online at the moment.

Often men and often forcing a dog into being quiet and moving quietly around other dogs or through busy areas.

To the untrained eye this can look impressive, especially if you are desperate for change with a highly aroused dog.

Comments like, "my dog behaves better than ever after being trained by beardy bloke"

"Baldy bloke is the only person who could stop my dog doing this and that"

"Muscly man is the best dog trainer in the world ever"

To the trained eye though, it's not impressive, it's horrible.

Training without considering how the dog feels is dismissive of the dog as a sentient being, of their emotional state and their needs.

Training without empathy is dismissive of a dog's need to feel safe, heard and considered. And we all need that don't we?

It's evidence of a dog being pushed around and not listened to by a stranger.

It's someone fuelling their own ego by bullying a helpless animal.

Being pushed around causes stress, trauma, anxiety and depression, in people it's classed as abuse.

To the trained eye we see a worried and suppressed dog who is being forced into submission by a bully who calls themself a dog trainer.

I can't bear it.

I can't bear this influx of silly, uneducated men calling themselves dog trainers (I'm sure there are women too but all I'm seeing is the men at the moment)

Forcing their will on poor dogs who simply can't escape them.

Dogs who look scared, stressed, cowed and suppressed.

I can see how a dog feels in a split second. That's what education does, it teaches you to see reality. The facts.

I wonder, can these people see what they are doing to dogs they claim to be training?

There are one of two possibilities:

They recognise the looks, the licks, the head dips and carry on anyway because they don't care how the dog feels.

They don't recognise the creeping, the half moon eye, the dropped tail because they don't educate themself because they don't care how the dog feels.

If you don't care about how the dog feels - why do you call yourself a dog trainer?

That's fraud!

Courtesy of Sally Gutteridge

12/09/2025

Dog bites don’t come out of nowhere! There are multiple signs that your dog is “telling” you that they’re not comfortable, particularly when allowing small children around them. Don’t become part of the 77%, teach your children to respect your dog before the bite “comes out of nowhere!”.

Dog bite prevention video for families everywhere. 77% of dog bites come from a friend's dog or the family's very own dog. We want to change that number. Pl...

10/09/2025

This is a Public Service Announcement.

There is no magic farm that wants your neurotic Border Collie.

I have seen one too many posts lately saying ‘I need to rehome my Border Collie because he/she has behavioural issues and I don’t have time or space to fix them’ and honestly? That is fine. I am a big fan of rehoming a dog you can’t commit to or the fit isn’t right for everyone. I don’t think rehoming a dog is an inherently bad thing in many cases.

However I have also seen one too many posts asking if a local farmer wants to take them on.

This may be a little blunt, but your local farmer does not want your undersocialised, car chasing, space guarding, dog reactive, neurotic collie. A collie for a farmer is a tool for the job, and if that tool isn’t functioning well, then it ain’t gonna do the job to a standard that’s needed.

The most problematic thing about this thought process is the notion that there’s a magical farm that the dog you bought, with access to all the information in the world on the internet, with no knowledge or understanding of what these breeds need in order to live happy and functional lives as a pet. The reality is, you bought a cute farm puppy because it’s cheaper than a ‘pedigree’ or designer mixed breed, or because your uncle had one once and he was very obedient, and that hasn’t happened for your dog. You have this whimsical idea that your beloved mistake can go and live happily on a farm and spend his days skipping through fields, herding sheep and being someone else’s loyal sidekick. Absolving you of all guilt in the process.

The hard truth is, the magical farm DOES NOT EXIST. The kind farmer with a sprig of straw in his mouth and rosy cheeks who is just WAITING to take on your problem dog DOES NOT EXIST.

What does exist though is training. Making time for the dog. Realising your commitment and following through on it because the dog didn’t choose to live in a sixth floor flat in a city and it’s your job to make sure his/her needs are met despite not living on a farm. Failing that, it’s rescue through the proper avenues.

If you’ve got a Border Collie with issues, you simply need to step up. It’s a hard truth and one many won’t want to hear. Meet the dog where they are at. They can be truly WONDERFUL pets but they aren’t for the faint hearted. They are beautiful, clever, goofy, driven and easy to train because of how intelligent they are, but that intelligence and drive needs to go somewhere, and you, the owner, need to be the one to direct it in the right way! If you don’t know how to do this, then find yourself a trainer who is experienced with these dogs as a first step.

Courtesy from Kahla at Valleys Dog Behaviour & Training

📸 Emma Bryden (Via the Border Collie who is an absolute gem and living in an agility home that meets all her needs)

18/08/2025

Obedience vs Bonding.
Hiring a professional dog trainer to help you teach your dog appropriate behaviors and then not doing what you’ve been taught is a waste of money and time for both you and the trainer.

Training isn’t about obedience and control. It’s about establishing a true bond with your dog. It’s about creating a relationship and out of this relationship comes understanding. Dogs are a different species and humans have unrealistic expectations of how dogs should fit in to our human dominated world. When we come from this place of obedience and control we are asking for a robot not a loving companion.

Understanding dogs means learning what they need and helping them adapt to our environment which is completely different than what they would need to thrive. So when we come from a place of truly understanding dogs we are better equipped and better prepared for success.

Courtesy of Dog Decoder

07/08/2025

This is for you—the one who trains and practices and shows up with your dog, even though you know you might never set foot in a ring.

Or maybe you’ve tried, and it just… didn’t go the way you hoped.

Maybe your dog shut down.

Maybe they scanned the environment the whole time.

Maybe they barked, or bolted, or flattened into the floor.

Maybe someone said, “They’re not cut out for this.”

Maybe you’ve even wondered that yourself.

But here’s the truth:

You’re still doing the work.

You’re still training.

You’re still showing up for your dog—patiently, creatively, quietly—day after day.

And that counts.

More than you probably realize.

Because you’re not just training for a score sheet or a podium.

You’re training for trust.

For relationship.

For the kind of connection that doesn’t need an audience to feel real.

Your dog may be shy.

They may be sensitive, or vigilant, or easily overwhelmed.

They may struggle in new places, or around other dogs, or when the energy in a space gets too big.

And still—you’re out there, working with them, listening, adapting, loving them exactly as they are.

That kind of commitment? That kind of loyalty?

That’s rare. That’s powerful. That’s something to be proud of.

Because it’s easy to train a dog who thrives in the spotlight.

It’s easy to feel successful when the ribbons come fast.

But what you’re doing? That’s deeper.

You’re walking a path that can feel isolating.

You’re sitting in classes where no one else seems to be having the same struggles.

You’re answering the same questions over and over again—

Why don’t you compete?

Why can’t your dog just relax?

When will they be “ready”?

And sometimes, quietly, you wonder if it’s you who isn’t enough.

But I want you to hear this:

You are more than enough.

You are doing something meaningful.

You are building something beautiful.

Every time you choose understanding over pressure…

Every time you meet your dog where they are instead of pushing them where they “should” be…

Every time you train with joy, even when no one’s watching…

That is success.

That is the work that changes lives.

So if no one has said it lately:

I see you.

I respect you and I’m proud of you.

And I’m so glad your dog has you.

What you’re doing matters.

What you’re doing is the reward.

25/07/2025

Let’s Talk Entitlement: Your Dog Is Not the Centre of the Universe (And Neither Are You)

Right, let’s get a few things straight from the off:
Your dog is not a human. It doesn’t think like a human, speak like a human, or interpret the world in the way we do. And guess what? That’s not a fault, it’s a fact.

There’s a growing trend among some dog owners to treat their dogs like entitled little toddlers, fuelled by this fluffy notion that “they just want to say hi” or “they’re friendly”. That’s lovely… until your “friendly” off-lead dog barrels up to a dog that’s nervous, reactive, working, injured, or just plain wants to be left alone.

Your Dog Is Not Entitled to Say Hello to Everyone

Let’s put it bluntly: your dog doesn’t need to greet every person or dog it sees. You don’t wave and say hello to every stranger in Pick n Pay, do you? (And if you do, people probably cross the aisle to avoid you.)

Dogs are the same. Some are social butterflies, others are more reserved, and some are just trying to keep their heads down and cope with the world. When you let your dog run up to another without permission, you’re not being nice, you’re being selfish. And you’re setting your dog up to get told off, either by the other dog, the handler, or both.

Puppy Classes and the Myth of Mass Socialisation -

Doing puppy classes in group settings where every pup is allowed to run around and say hello to everything that moves? You’re laying the groundwork for a dog that thinks every encounter is a party. That’s not socialisation. That’s overstimulation. You’re teaching them that the presence of another dog or person means “excitement” rather than neutrality or calmness.

Later down the line, when your adolescent dog loses its rag every time it sees another dog, you’ll wonder why. Spoiler: it’s because you taught them to.

Let’s Talk Leads and Recall -

If you don’t have a reliable recall on your dog, don’t let them off the lead. Simple. There’s no grey area here. A dog without recall is a loose cannon. If you can’t call them away from a squirrel, jogger, cyclist, or another dog, then keep them on a lead or long line until you’ve put the work in. Freedom is earned, not assumed.

Having a dog is a responsibility. It’s not a right to do whatever you fancy and assume everyone else will tolerate it. The world doesn’t revolve around you or your dog.

Respect Others. Control Your Dog.

You’ve no idea what that other dog is going through. It might be reactive, fearful, recovering from surgery, or in training. The person handling that dog might be managing trauma, anxiety, or just trying to enjoy a quiet walk. Your dog doesn’t get to invade that space just because you think they’re “friendly”.

If your dog lunges at others, pulls you down the street, barks at every passer-by, or flattens small children with glee, it’s not “cute”. It’s a lack of training. Own it, fix it, and stop making excuses for it!

The Bottom Line -

Your dog is a dog. Not a fur baby. Not a social ambassador. Not a therapy dog in training because you read a Facebook post that said it has a “healing energy”.

Train it. Lead it. Be its advocate. And above all else, be respectful of the space and comfort of others.

Because your dog may be part of your world, but it’s not the centre of everyone else’s.