Paws 1 on 1 Dog Training

10/04/2025

09/04/2025

4 TIPS to Develop Mental Fortitude—
Mental fortitude empowers you to resist distractions, stay focused and control impulses, all of which lead to improved consistency, one of the greatest forces in life.

While mental strength and self-discipline are often associated with competition,
they are perhaps even more critical in your development as a trainer and handler.

For example, a handlers concentration can often vary within a training session.
When you’re focused and consistent, your communication is clear and easily understood. However, when focus wanes, it can lead to confusion or frustration for your dog.
If a command (such as ‘lie down’ or other) is consistently employed, your dog understands the expectation.
But if the handler becomes distracted, we often see the following….
—handler gives ‘lie down’,
dog continues walking, but slows to lovely pace
therefore, the handler doesn’t repeat or enforce the lie down, they decide the pace dog being offered is really what they wanted,
but not what they asked.

From dog’s perspective….
When you give a "lie down” command that sometimes means lie down (when you enforce it), and sometimes means “slow down” (when you let him walk on after giving the command)
the training is not intuitive;
you’re asking for interpretation, instead of understanding.

It teaches your dog, ‘lie down’ doesn’t mean lie down, rather, it is optional, which can be problematic.
For dogs that lack confidence or are sensitive, this method can initially build them up, as they “run through” the command.
They are the decision makers and for a timid dog it can appear and even be, empowering.
It’s when and how you go back to reestablish the lie down, (for additional training such as, sheep running towards something and you need a stop, prevent conflict w/ aggressive sheep, lambing, stop short on an outrun, teach a bend, turnback, and list goes on), that it can be an issue.
Correcting a softer or timid dog for the lie down that you haven’t been consistent with, can be unnecessarily confusing, defeating or both.

For stronger willed or excitable dogs, letting them carry on through the lie down can fuel their independent thinking. Them deciding when they need to comply with the lie down and when they don’t can transfer to them not listening in other aspects of work, making training difficult.

Moreover, handlers can get frustrated when they actually need the lie down and their dog doesn’t comply,
sometimes even admonishing or yelling at their dog,
when it was the handler that taught it was an optional command!
Of course, this isn’t fair.

While this example is about focus and consistency, mental strength is equally important in controlling passion.
The training field is no place for temper—you’re not teaching anything productive when you lose control of your emotions.

Mental strength is a habit that can be honed, strengthened, improved and ultimately transform your partnership.
Here are 4 tips to help build your mental fortitude:

1. View Failure as a Lesson
This mindset is crucial for resilience. Use setbacks as stepping stones for growth. Every mistake teaches a lesson, every loss is an opportunity for change. Successful people don’t fear failure—they use it as a data point in information gathering to fuel progress.

2 Seek Out Discomfort as a Tool for Growth
Resilient people step outside their comfort zones—whether that means, confronting fears, embracing the possibility of embarrassment, letting go of ego, reframing mindset, or other, the more you embrace discomfort, the more you build resilience.

3. Focus on the Present, Not the Past or Future
It’s easy to get stuck in regrets about the past or anxieties about the future.
But true mental strength comes from focusing on what we can control right now.
By shifting your mindset to the here and now, you improve your ability to handle challenges, make better decisions, and fully engage in the moment.

4. Embrace Change
Change is constant. To thrive, it's important to adjust quickly rather than fight against it. "If you get on the wrong train, be sure to get off at the first stop. The longer you stay, the more expensive the return trip is going to be". Whether it’s learning a new skill, facing unexpected challenges, embracing a new method, or other, resilience comes from accepting change as a natural part of growth.

macraeway.com

09/04/2025

We always want to do so much for our dogs, but the best thing we can do is to be present and enjoy every minute. Nothing will ever be better than time spent with their favourite people.

Because the happiest dogs I’ve ever met, have really had nothing at all. But in their eyes, because they had their person, they had everything.

12/03/2025

They do not know the difference between your items and their own

09/03/2025

Join us for a new class Sunday 9 March 2025

28/02/2025

When to castrate male dogs.

There are a huge amount of papers and research available on castration and it’s various
effects including these articles however we must always think of each dog as an individual.
Talk to your veterinary team about the best option for your male dog.

Breed, size, environment and other dogs living closely will affect neutering decisions.

Before we decide to castrate, we need to consider the following

Is the dog skeletally mature?
Can we wait until the dog is 18mths to 2 years?

By waiting this long, we are ensuring the dog is fully mature, growth plates are closed and the dog has hopefully encountered many social experiences of dogs so they aren’t frustrated or excited.

Evidence points towards neutered dogs living a longer and healthier life but this may be flawed due to irresponsible ownership of intact dogs.

Behaviourally we need to consider

Is the dog nervous/anxious?…. In this case we need to build the dogs confidence before castration and the drop in testosterone will likely make any anxious behaviour worse.
Is the dog hu***ng? This is a normal part of development which should be discouraged in a calm way.
Is the dog challenging other dogs? Is it fear or offensive aggression? A behaviourist/trainer can help to decide.
Suprelorin can be used to see if castration would be helpful but it will affect growth plates and a dogs confidence if used too young so read the data sheets.
5. Dogs should not be castrated with big changes going on at home, new baby, building work, moving house etc. The upheaval is too much during a testosterone drop.

6. Castration can improve the behaviour if a dog is excessively scent marking, becoming obsessed and drooling/foaming/licking grass and consequently unable to listen. It will improve recall/pulling on the lead/focus if the scent of a bitch is overpowering. Some dogs are much more highly sexed than others.
7. If the dog barks at other dogs or gets overexcited at times or growls at people occasionally, castration is not the answer, but is often a knee jerk reaction by the owner.

Every male dog should be treated as an individual and considerations of their lifestyle taken into account.
If an owner wants a dog that can go to doggy daycare, then castration is usually expected.
If there are bi***es or other competitive male dogs in the home then castration may be of benefit.

https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=20539&id=8506437&fbclid=IwAR3Pj-8Dp1xaHgtGOeodOWbJGqSAh6ArTv-bRDMacHpQjkbCRdE22wKSHwA

https://nz.virbac.com/files/live/sites/virbac-nz/files/promotions/suprelorin/Suprelorin%20Behavioural%20Consult.pdf

https://www.theveterinarynurse.com/review/article/five-myths-commonly-associated-with-neutering-in-dogs

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273737894_Evaluating_the_benefits_and_risks_of_neutering_dogs_and_cats

https://www.apbc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/APBC-Neutering-Male-Dogs.pdf

23/02/2025

18/02/2025

05/02/2025

I NOSE HOW YOU FEEL
One of the most incredible things about dogs is their ability to recognize and respond to our emotions, but just how do they know how we’re feeling?

They may not understand the emotion we are feeling, but their brains are wired to understand whether that emotion makes them feel safe or not.

From an evolutionary perspective; for their survival, it was and still is, important for dogs to know which humans were safe to be around and which were not.

Dogs recognize the different chemical scents we produce through our skin or breath, our facial expressions or body language and our tone of voice.

Although we’re not aware of it, we emit different scents when experiencing positive emotions compared to when we experience negative emotions. Dogs have an amazing ability to recognize these different scents.

A dog's sense of smell is incredibly powerful and far superior to ours. Dogs have +/- 300 million olfactory receptors in their nose, sometimes more depending on the breed, compared to +/- 5 to 6 million in humans. In addition to this, the part of their brain that processes scent is around 40 times bigger than ours.

Dogs also recognize our facial expressions and body language. Just like we might stay well away from or not want to interact with someone who looks really angry and be more drawn and responsive to a happy, relaxed looking person.

Tone of voice – more info on this in my previous post.

Dogs can be such a comfort to us when we need emotional support or aren’t feeling well, but some of our emotions many have a negative effect on them.

Working with or interacting with a dog when we’re feeling angry, stressed, frustrated or having a bad day is not a good idea. It’s far better to wait until we feel more relaxed and calmer.

Dogs have rich emotional lives – just as we should try to be aware of their emotions, also be aware of how our emotions may affect them.

02/02/2025

"In this life, you're meant to have one great dog," I said.

"One that shifts something deep inside you, in a way you never saw coming. He shows up maybe when you need him most, maybe when you're too lost to see it. And in the smallest, most ordinary moments, he changes you."

I paused thinking of all the nights, I trudged through, feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world alone.
"He's the one who brings you back, makes it bearable when you're tethering on the edge. He doesn't try to explain or preach. He just stays there, showing you a kind of love you didn't think existed."

And that's the thing about that one great dog, he makes you question how you ever got by without him. You look at him, lying there, and realize he's given you more than any person ever has - no big speeches, just a presence, that says I'm here with you. And somehow that's enough to change everything.

~ R. M. Drake from 'Dog People'

~ Art 'Tomorrow Is Another Day' by Sam Toft

22/01/2025

WHOSE WALK IS IT ANYWAY?

Imagine going on a long-anticipated walk, through new scenery and exciting smells after being cooped up in the same place all day, but you have been fitted with a blind fold and are being dragged or yanked along at a fast pace.

I imagine that this is how dogs feel when we don’t allow them time to stop, sniff and explore the environment.

Dogs largely perceive their world through scent and it’s how they collect and process information to help the world make sense.

Taking away an opportunity for sniffing on a walk really isn’t being fair.. As much as physical exercise is important, the mental stimulation that sniffing provides is equally, if not more important.

Allowing dogs to choose when to stop and sniff provides so many benefits – increases self-confidence, promotes calmness, lowers stress and anxiety levels, lowers pulse rates, reduces cognitive decline in older dogs and provides important mental and environmental enrichment.

Make time for a slow sniffing walk when you can, where your dog is allowed to choose which direction to go and allowed time to just investigate, interpret, process the environment and follow wherever their nose leads them.

It may take far more time and patience as we wait for them to finish smelling that particular blade of grass, but the benefits are well worth it – after all, whose walk is it anyway?

10/01/2025

📢 ‼️Please be aware‼️

It is very important that your Dogs Vaccinations are up to date!