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)
Avril Munson's Blog 
January 2, 2012 at 3:01 pm
Hear hear! If only more people were responsible and not just assume that because they think their dogs are friendly it give them the right to come over and invade your space so to speak. The whole episode with Nessa has really upset me and doesn’t make me feel any better that she was on the lead and the other dog was the one that got hurt 😦 But if the other dog had been under proper control the incident would never had happened !! simple as that. I have also copied to a couple of dog pages that I am on on FB xx
January 2, 2012 at 4:57 pm
You might have guessed that you inspired me Sue, I was so cross that happened to Nessa and it did happen to Nessa! She has been hurt by other dogs when on the lead so why wouldn’t she strike back? thank you and well done for helping to get the word out there! Lets make this the year that the world hears us and our dogs!
January 3, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Happy New Year Avril. On the same theme a word of warning for anybody who walks on the Flitch Way. First time I have had a problem there but came across two pit bulls on their own at the bit near the traveller camp in Little Dunmow. We just turned around and went back the other way so no problem this time but they looked very threatening.
January 3, 2012 at 1:10 pm
thank you on both counts! and remember if you ever feel threatened by a dog it is always worth a call to the dog warden, they may not be able to do something immediately but if they get enough complaints they have to take action?
January 3, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Happy New Year to you to Avril. I like your new year’s resolution a lot because as you know one of my pet hates is the dog owner who very happily tells me their dog or dogs are “ok” when they are worrying my dog, who is always on a lead and often muzzled. Wouldn’t you think the lead and muzzle would give them a clue? I will certainly continue to try to educate irresponsible dog owners i meet either by explaining the dangers to them or more likely in the way i usually do it………by shouting at them!!!!!
January 4, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Happy New Year Avril!
Over the autumn my dogs have twice had an off leash Staffie roar up to them, and he has then tried to mount them. He stopped short both times when I shouted at him and the owner came up and leashed him. These incidents both happened with my younger dog, thankfully. The older one would have reacted extremely badly and there may well have been a fight.
Luckily a couple of days later I saw the owner when I did not have the dogs with me so I approached him. He said he was sorry but his dog only wanted to play, and was a puppy and would not hurt a fly. I said that the behaviour was unacceptable and that even if his dog would not attempt to bite mine, mine would surely attempt to bite his if he or I could not shout the dog off in time. He then had the nerve to tell me that his dog “only wants to show his dominance”. I told him in no uncertain terms that there was no reason on earth why my dogs should have to tolerate his dog showing his dominance and said that if he did not put his dogs on leash if he saw us in the distance I would have to make an official complaint. He was the type of chap I actually had some misgivings about approaching but he seemed to understand the issue and appears to have changed the time of his walks so we haven’t run into him since.
January 4, 2012 at 7:50 pm
well done Bella on being so brave!!! not easy to do that with some dog owners, what a great example you are to the rest of us!
January 5, 2012 at 11:32 am
Regardless of breed, shape, size,age, friendly or not I think ALL dogs should be on the lead in public places ! x