How do you stop your dog jumping up at visitors, and keep them calm and relaxed when they arrive…? The main problem here is actually the visitor! The best types of visitor to have around are ones that don’t particularly like dogs but aren’t scared of them, because they will mostly walk in and ignore your dog. Visitors who love dogs will most likely go gooey around your dog and encourage the Read the rest of this entry

If your dog is scared of loud noises the most important thing that they must know is that no-one else is concerned about the same noise. Daisy (pictured) was dog I fostered for a while who had a fear of noises. Her previous owners had shouted at her to be quiet if she barked after being startled by a noise. All Daisy learnt from this was that her owner was upset by the noise too, and it gave her Read the rest of this entry

Not ALL dogs are scared of vets, but not many of them like going there. So why are they scared, and what should you do if your is?

The fact of the matter is that vet surgeries aren’t a very nice place for a dog. Their first sense is smell. A vet will smell to them of a number of different unknown chemicals, it will smell of illness and death. It smells of the fear hormones of other dogs who’ve Read the rest of this entry

If I’ve learnt one thing from watching The Simpsons, it’s that the use of song and rhyming words are very effective for making a point, so when deciding on the best way to describe what dog behaviour training can help with, I thought “why not through verse?!” and so below is my first poem as a Dog Listener…!

I ask the question about having an untrainable dog, because it surprises me how many people I meet in passing who tell me about their dog’s behaviour as though it’s just something that they have to put up with (e.g. “Daisy jumps up at all of our visitors, it’s so embarrassing, we are constantly apologising for her, but that’s just the way she is”). Or tell me about what modifications they’ve Read the rest of this entry

It’s nearly August, and therefore the holiday season is underway! I often get asked by my clients who are planning their holidays which is better; sending their dogs to dog kennels, or finding them a friend to stay with. It’s not that straight forward an answer, because it depends on the quality of care being offered in either case, and the personality of the dog that needs looking after. Ever Read the rest of this entry

When considering getting some help with your beloved dog, how do you know what to look for when it comes to searching for dog trainers? I have had many people book me following an intense search for something which ticked the right boxes for them, whereas others have found me simply through luck of the draw. In a largely unregulated industry, how can you be sure that you are finding dog trainers Read the rest of this entry

Have you got a barking dog? Most dog’s will bark now and again. It can be annoying in some cases, but it is also one of the original reasons for the relationship between dogs and humans. The bark provided us with the early warning signal that we needed before we came under attack from enemy approaching, much further away than we could perceive with our human ears or eyes, so we could prepare and Read the rest of this entry

I’m adding another guest blog today, after being really surprised by the content of this article. Has anyone else heard these claims about testing them on animals, and whether this is done in a cruel way or not? Once again, I am not an expert on pet nutrition, my field is Dog Training or Dog Behaviour, so I would welcome a discussion on this to help educate us all further…

“It would surprise Read the rest of this entry

As a Dog Listener I have regular contact with dog owners who ask me questions regarding their dog’s health. I am not the expert in this subject, my field being dog training and dog behaviour, so I am not always the best person to ask these questions of. So this week I have included a guest blog on my site from the world of pet health care, on some of the symptoms you can look out for and possible Read the rest of this entry