BONE ZONE

19/04/2026

Dog walks - April 15 to June 30.

In France it is forbidden to walk dogs off-lead outside of forest paths during the period from April 15 to June 30.

You can walk your dog on the forest path off lead also in the banned period BUT if the dog stray from the path into the woods and you get caught the fines can be hefty, but more importantly- your dog can cause the death of a young animal, or split it from its mum.

At all times, a dog is considered to be straying if it is no longer under supervision of its owner and is out of its recall.

The law also states:
You must keep your dog on a lead if it poses a danger to people or other pets. You are responsible for any damage your dog may cause to people or other pets.

The mayor can prohibit dogs from entering certain public areas even on leads.

By French law, a dog is also considered stray if it is far from its owner or the person responsible for it by a distance exceeding 100 meters.

31/12/2025

Such a terrible shock to hear of the passing of Sarah Fisher.
I had the honour and pleasure of working with her. She helped me with my own very traumatised rescue dog.
Sarah was a voice for positive, compassionate, supportive training (ACE, animal centred education).
Thoughts are with her family.

18/12/2025

Merry Christmas to everyone. Keep yourselves and your animals safe and warm.

21/11/2025

21/11/2025

Training must be fun for you and your dog. Training needs to be part of everyday life. If it isn’t enjoyable you are not going to succeed and your relationship with your dog will not develop.

One way we can help to teach our dogs is by allowing them rest time in between training sessions. These are vitally important.
There are several arguments as to how or if latent learning is as important as has been previously argued. However, I know over the last forty years I have been training and I have seen dogs arrive to their next training session who have ‘got it’. It is the ‘Eureka effect’ which can suddenly happen or the memory consolidation time which allows the information to move to their long term memory.
Remember, it's never too early or too late to begin training.

Definition:
[Latent learning is] learning that occurs during non-reinforced trials but that remains unused until the introduction of a reinforcer provides an incentive for using it.–Lieberman, David A. Learning: Behavior and Cognition. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1990.

11/07/2025