My new year’s resolution!
January 2, 2012
Happy new year! To ensure your dog training gets off to a great start come to the training day in January!
My new years resolution
Lucky and happy christmas! (I think)
My dog training wish for the new year is for us all to educate the dog walkers out there, to realise it is not okay, for their completely strange unknown dog to run up to ours and hope they get on!
This means I want all of you to explain to every dog owner you meet, that a new dog is a new pack and dogs take 14 days to establish pecking order, if they are never going to meet again, why would anyone even consider risking a dog getting bitten.
As soon as I hear the word hope in a sentence connected to dog behaviour I get worried, “hope” translated, means “I don’t know, but I hope it will be okay”. Good training is about learning to read dog body language and responding accordingly, the dogs tell us without risk, if we take time and space to let them, making for knowledge rather than hope!
In the latter months of 2011 I heard of more and more dog on dog attacks, in Highlands Park and from clients in Villages around me, these can be made rare occurrences by educating the dog owners out there! If we all resolve to take action this year we can change this human behaviour!! Please help me?
Feel free to copy any part of this blog and forward to other dog lovers!
Thank you!
Thank you to the many who have subscribed to my blog and more thanks to those that have taken time to add their comments! I have put the blog stats up so that you can see who you are! if you hit the subscribe button on the site it does help me to get my word out there even more, as the number of subscriptions and hits does mean higher ranking. So please do so if you haven’t already?
My best wishes for a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year!
Dates for 2012
Training day
A full day devoted to training your dog, whether you are keen to improve your dogs general obedience or are interested in trying some obedience tests this promises to be a fun day out with other dog lovers!
Monday Times: 10am – 4pm
Fee: £75 includes tea/coffee
Venue: Barbary Cottage
Date: January 16th
Avril on BBC Essex
Steve Scruton sound advice phone in on dog training and behaviour
January 20th 2pm – 4pm
Recall Training sessions
These 2 and a half hour sessions focus on lead walking and recall. Foundation training takes place in the safety of the fenced garden at Barbary Cottage, once the building blocks are in place we take the training to the outside world, the paddocks and fields surrounding Barbary! There are a maximum of 5 dogs and handlers in a group.
Fee: includes Tea/coffee £50
Times: 10am – 12.30pm
Wednesday January 25th
Saturday February 4th
Dog behaviour/psychology course(Theory course without dogs)
For those that want to know more about how the dogs mind works and what they are thinking!
Date: Saturday March 24th
Times: 10am to 4pm
Fee: £75
Tricks Workshop
Date coming soon!
Fun Agility x 3
For anyone wanting to enjoy some fun agility with your dog!
April – Dates and time to be confirmed
Fee: £75 (for 3 sessions)
Listen to Avril!
September 12, 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00jwgwy/Steve_Scruton_07_09_2011/
For anyone missing me on Radio last week use the link above to listen! It was a fun show with Mark Punter standing in for Steve Scruton!
A busy week dog training!
June 27, 2011
Nessa learning retrieve!
What a good girl!
Last week was a really busy fun week! Wednesday saw the first of my walks in Highlands Park with a group, we were lucky with the weather, only a shower as we were drinking our coffee in the park café afterwards, in the afternoon there was torrential rain all over Essex for a good 2 hours! Five dogs and handlers came along, Fiona with her deaf Westie, Paddy was particular brave when in the bigger group! Paddy has problems in wide open spaces, I am sure he is overwhelmed and scared as he cannot hear approaching danger, it was interesting to see how being in a pack gave him confidence, it wasn’t until Fiona and I were walking back to the car park (we had managed to park in the wrong car park!) that we saw the very behaviour that Fiona had come to address, Paddy going into panic mode in an open space! It was lucky we had parked in the wrong place as we had time to address the behaviour on the way back to the car, how is he doing now Fiona?
The walk seemed a great success and the handlers and dogs had a great time! It was suggested I run the walks as a regular event so you will get a chance to come along, if you have a great park near you and would like me to run a walk there please let me know and I will do my best!
Friday was BBC Essex with Steve Scruton; if you missed the show you can still catch it on the iplayer on the BBC Essex Radio web site. As usual it was a fun session, with loads of telephone calls, texts and emailed questions!
Saturday was the behaviour course day; I broke with my usual format and had 2 dogs present, both suffering from inappropriate barking at home. I think this is a format I will use again; having dogs present for us to work on gave the day some real focus and a great learning opportunity for all present. So thank you to Debbie for bringing Louis Pomeranian and Fiona with Westie Molly! How are they doing at home now? Debbie had treated her friend Beverley as a birthday present and as a result the day had a festive atmosphere, which must have come from the birthday cake and candles!! George came all the way from Athens, currently working as a counsellor; George is looking to expand his current practice to helping people with dogs, starting off as a dog walker as he studies and gains experience. It was a great mix of dogs and people and I had a really good time! J
News and rosettes!
June 21, 2011
Lucky wearing the rosette he won at class!
Two classes came to the end of sessions last week, to celebrate the improvements by dogs and handlers we had a fun test of all the exercises! Nicola sent me a photo of Lucky proudly wearing his rosette, he was amazing in his stay exercises! I am pleased to say that everyone went home with a rosette and I only judged the stays so no favouritism on my part 
What is your dog thinking? Ever wondered why your dog does that? So much of your success with your dogs is about understanding the dogs mind, so often we interpret their behaviour in a human way and respond in that way, no wonder the dogs become confused and naughty. By learning to interpret dog behaviour in a dog like way, the dog/human bond becomes stronger and living harmoniously with your dog becomes easier. If you would like to learn more I have a theory course (without dogs) this coming Saturday, for those that want some answers, held at Barbary Cottage! Saturday 25th June
Avril on Radio
You can hear me on BBC Radio Essex with Steve Scruton next Friday 24th June, or on the iplayer for the 7 days following! (2pm-4pm)
After my blog about Tracey’s Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen! and the seed problem it was great to hear from a client from a while back Sue Marshal and her GBGV’s, many thanks Sue for the photo’s! What are their names Sue?
Another Grand Basset Griffon Vendeen!
Sue Marshal's GBGV's in the snow!
Listen to Avril on BBC Essex Radio!
October 16, 2010
Friday afternoon was BBC Essex Radio with Steve Scruton, what a busy afternoon we had! Steve had a lot to fit into the show so we decided that if I answered people quickly we would get more questions covered, so I really went for it! I love having to think that quickly, I spend most of my working time making sure I have got the right picture of the dog, checking out the facts and considering my responses to be sure I am on the right track! It may mean that the quality of my answers was not as thorough as I would like, but we got through a lot of calls, emails and texts, more people got some sort of answer and I had great fun ! It would have been even better if Rod Stewart had been in the building for the interview, but he is a super star! Steve confessed to me that he was really nervous when he interviewed the icon, but you would never know it, listening to his interview! Steve is such a professional, so smooth at his job what a thrill for him to get to meet Rod!
Click the link below if you haven’t heard the show yet, though when I looked this morning the Friday show wasn’t available yet, I am sure it will be on the web soon, and will be available for 7 days!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00bh9qq/Steve_Scruton_15_10_2010/
Listen to Avril on BBC Essex radio on the i player
August 12, 2010
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00966b6/Steve_Scruton_10_08_2010/
Here is the link for the radio show, it didn’t show yesterday but it is up there now!
Hear Avril on BBC Essex Radio
June 21, 2010
For those that didn’t have the chance to listen in on Friday 18th June the BBC iPlayer means that you can do so anytime you like before Friday this week!
Mave at reception at BBC Essex Radio
Steve Scruton was away on holiday so this time I was on air with Mark Punter, a really nice guy who put me at ease very quickly! Mark seems very laid back but if you could see all the jobs he has to juggle in the studio it is hard to imagine that he feels laid back We had some great phone calls, the lines were very busy, I know that severeal people failed to get through, flattering for me but disappointing for them.
Do let me know what you think? Go to BBC Essex home page and click listen now, for some reason I do not seem able to insert the link into the post today!
