Who knew taking my dog out for dinner could be so fraught!
January 16, 2020
Friday evening and I met a friend for a meal in a dog friendly restaurant and my Papillon puppy Moose came along. At the restaurant my friend and I are happily catching up chatting and eating, Moose on my lap keeping his head down being a good boy, when the dog from the next table decided to join us, a cute Chihuahua, not on a lead. What followed was like a comedy sketch, the dog would not return to his owner, she called him over and over “Alf Alf Alf come here Alf,” broke off her attempts to catch him to chat to us, explaining what a lovely dog Alf is, asking about Moose and explaining to us that Alf was coming over because we had a dog with us, (so now it seems our fault her dog is at our table) we meanwhile are still trying to eat our meal and chat though now also trying to help her get the dog. Moose sitting on my lap watching calmly, at one point the woman was crawling under our table to retrieve her dog, the tables were in booth arrangement we couldn’t move the table or chairs as they were fixed, we did our best to push Alf toward her. Finally she got him and returned to her table! But we weren’t done, three more times Alf returned, at one point the woman asked if Moose was okay with other dogs, as I had kept him on my lap, yes I said he’s fine thank you! I chose to ignore the unstated question that Alf obviously wanted to meet Moose and she wondered why he couldn’t! At no point did the owner put her dog on a lead, he wasn’t even wearing a collar!!
I know that it was me that was actually behaving in an unusual way, my behaviour was not at all English, was it? The woman did not do anything a million other dog owners wouldn’t have done. In fact her behaviour is probably more acceptable to most people than mine! I know that my friends and clients are more likely to see things my way, but most dog owners wouldn’t. Most dog owners would think me unsociable and unfriendly like this lady thought I suspect!
More visitors, Bronte visits Betty and Pie!
September 8, 2017
Happy memories from Betty and Bronte’s puppyhood and a younger Pie!
Betty had a busy week with Smarty her brother visiting one day and the next Bronte, the Border Collie puppy that Annie has waited 6 years for(see Bronte’s story), coming over the next day! I like my puppy to meet up regularly with the dogs and puppy’s that she will be meeting throughout her life, that way they become part of the extended pack, which makes my life easy whenever they meet. These are the dogs she can enjoy a social life with, not the strange ones in the park that we might only meet once! As most of my friends are dog trainers or at least train their dogs properly, I can also use these dogs to train Betty how to behave with other dogs. That means no rough games are allowed and Betty has to recall to me in the middle of the fun, ensuring she learns to…
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Take your time!
July 29, 2013
This morning, as I was putting my horse’s head collar on, I found myself starting to rush, as he turned his head away I went after his head, it was like I was being pulled around just to put on a head collar! I stopped, I would never do that with a dog, any dog! I slowed down and waited for Red to settle down, every time he moved his head I stopped. It took a while, maybe 2 minutes at most to put on his head collar with no fidgeting, not forever, just a little time for me to teach him so that tomorrow the process will be quicker, but if it isn’t I will slow down again!
He doesn’t always do that, he was impatient to get out in the field, he knew what was coming next. Just like a dog knows he is going for a walk and gets impatient and fidgety! Next time your dog fidgets around as you put on the lead or collar, just slow down take your time, take as long as it takes. By bring down the adrenaline in this way your whole walk will improve, it will be worth it, let me know how long it takes you next time you put a collar or lead on your dog!
Red, my nephew Mac and Doyle (son of my Teddy!)
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!
The simplest tips are the best! (well I think so)
April 26, 2013
Can you please send in some silly photo’s for the blog?
Not that I think little Roxy looks silly, I was just looking through my dog photo’s and I have plenty of winter theme photo’s but not so much summer ones, maybe we can jog the weather along if we get summery!!
My tip for today was prompted by 2 of my clients yesterday, in separate lessons, both of whom will remain nameless! If you have a powerful dog on the end of the lead you must always stay aware of where the dog is and how you are holding the lead. I caught both my ladies holding the lead over one finger, yes one finger! Both complain of being dragged and having difficulty holding on their dog, not surprising is it?!
Always think power position when holding the lead, that means keep your feet apart for balance, and both hands, if possible, on the lead, but never less than one hand!
Titbit training and posh pup!
February 7, 2013
Posh puppy!
Toby (Betty baby) after a trip to the grooming parlour! Doesn’t he look gorgeous?! Lee is doing a great job of training Toby too, I can’t say too much or the rest of the litter will be jealous, but isn’t he handsome!?
My new puppy group reminded me to talk about titbit training today, my favourite analogy for titbits and puppy training is imagine you are paying the titbits into a bank account, every time you ask your puppy to do something without a reward you are making a withdrawal, with young puppies it is easy to become bankrupt, that is the puppy starts to ignore you! I always want to have a million on account! 🙂
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!
