BBC Essex Radio for a live phone in!
July 23, 2013
I went into see Mark Punter at the Chelmsford studio to record my top dog training tips for his show this week. Mark will play one each afternoon, on Friday I am there for a live phone in! you can listen again on the iplayer if you miss the show on Friday! So no excuse. There is one top tip per day and I chose them this time from my clients suggestions, so your fault if you don’t like them :). I would really appreciate it if you can listen in and if you enjoy the show go on the BBC Essex Facebook page and let them know you like me please? That’s if you do!
As I arrived who should I bump into coming out the front door but Batman! I took a photo, not the best sorry, but wanted you to know I wasn’t making it up!!
You never know who you are going to meet!
Radio, snow and dates!
January 23, 2013
With Steve Scruton leaving BBC Essex I did wonder if I would still get an invite as I would guess the show must be having a complete freshen up, new brooms and all! I did wonder if the sound advice would survive but I am pleased to report it has, though it will be different. Mark Punter the new presented came here this morning to record some top tips, it was really strange to be doing that at home, maybe it was because we were in the living room in front of the fire and not in the work room! (see below for times)
I have had Bonnie staying this week, Jo has been in India, soaking up some sun, though she did say on Facebook that she looked like a red lolly pop as the humidity was so high! We haven’t suffered with that problem this week!
Thanks to Janice for the photo of Riley enjoying the snow, he is so like Bonnie, she has looked just like that most of the week, not wanting to come in from playing with her Mum in the snow!
Here are some training dates, as normal all groups have a maximum of 5 dogs and handlers!
Recall training:
Taking place here at Bury Farm
- Wednesday 30th January recall (beginner to intermediate dogs and handlers)
- Saturday 9th Feb recall (advanced training for the more experienced amongst you, you do know who you are, if in doubt do ask me please?)
Group walk training:
One of these will be in Hylands Park the other to be confirmed according to demand, either Dunmow, Bishop Stortford’s Thorley Park or the Discovery centre on the A130 near Braintree.
- Wednesday 13th February walk
- Saturday 23rd February walk
BBC Essex Radio
You can hear me on Friday 1st February
A new format on BBC Essex Radio, with Steve Scruton off travelling the world and Mark Punter in charge, you can hear a dog training tip from me daily next week, culminating with me live in the studio, answering dog questions from listeners, on Friday between 2.15pm and 3pm, if you miss the show you can always catch up on the iplayer for the following 7 days!
Listen to Avril on BBC Essex
June 25, 2012
My blog has been sadly neglected for a few weeks, but I intend to do better now I am a little more settled after my move!
It was great to see Steve Scruton last week and we had some really interesting phone calls, I really had to think hard as some the questions were more unusual! If you missed the show you have until this Wednesday to catch the show from the link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00t170w/Steve_Scruton_20_06_2012/
Betty came in season almost as soon as I moved house, and you know the saying “new home, new baby”? Well I did find time to take Betty to visit a very handsome young miniature Poodle called Casper! It was love, well lust at first sight! I wait to see if we are having new family towards the end of August!
Blue Cross worth a visit :)
April 15, 2012
Thank you to Corinne for drawing my attention to a very helpful leaflet on dogs and horses! You may remember my blog recently on a problem I have locally with a neighbours dogs when passing with my horse! I have approached them in a friendly manner but sadly they are not ready for help, yet!
The Blue Cross provide a whole host of helpful and free leaflets on all animal care and behaviour, well worth a visit to their
Lara looks out!
website! There is a link below to the leaflet that Corinne told me about:
http://www.bluecross.org.uk/2146-98538/keep-dogs-and-horses-safe-around-each-other.html
You can hear me on Steve Scruton’s show on BBC Essex Radio this coming Wednesday from 2.15pm to 4pm, on a phone in on dog behaviour problems, or catch up on the iplayer for the following 7 days!
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/
