Top Gunn Canine

10/08/2026

Wish I was free to join in on this course with Cougar.

So, why?

Why did I develop this course? These two are a big reason why.

Murphy, my first dog, would be 32 if he were still alive. He had prey drive in buckets. He would chase anything that moved — and I mean **anything**. He had a particularly big appetite for bicycles!

If he even smelt sheep, he would **SCREAM** and go to any lengths to get to them.

The advice available at the time was limited and almost entirely aversive, it didn't help at all. This meant his life was restricted to safe walks and being on a lead.

Then came Mud.

He was a Patterdale Terrier who lived up to the reputation terriers have. His dad was a well-known hunt dog and his mum was a farm dog. He came with the genetic package to kill things - and to do it very effectively.

I made a promise to Mud that I wouldn't use any coercive, aversive or punishment-based training with him.

To live up to that promise, and to make sure he could have as free a life as possible, I had to learn how to teach dogs not to hunt animals, especially livestock, using only kind methods.

So I did.

And Mud really was proof in the pudding that it is possible.

My dogs since then have all benefited from what I learned with these two. They pushed my limits, but they also proved to me that there is another way to train dogs.

This is a picture of Mud when he must have been just under a year old, and Murphy when he would have been about 11.

https://bookwhen.com/dogsmatter =ev-s51jd-20260912100000

06/08/2026

It’s been a scary couple of days.

On Tuesday Cougar was sick and went off her food. She then had explosive 💩 and was very flat (well, as flat as Cougar can be!!).

I took her into Tarka Vets that afternoon and she seemed to perk up in the evening and ate some dinner.

Wednesday morning she was very poorly again so I took her back to the vets and she stayed in for 24 hours.

I found this really hard having lost Shadow recently as he had similar symptoms. Marina was so understanding and couldn’t have done more to get Cougar back to her usual, slightly crazy self!

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to Marina and everyone else at Tarka Vets for making a very stressful time as easy as it could have been.

As you can see Goose is very pleased to have his best mate home.

06/08/2026

Get in touch with Zara at Tarka Dog Training and Behaviour to find out more.

I’ve completed my online modules for the canicross coach course ready for my practical days later this autumn 🍂 🐕‍🦺〰️🏃🏻‍♀️ we’d love to hear from you if you’re keen to try it out? Or do you already run with your dog? 🐕

03/08/2026

Love these photos from today’s massage workshop with West Country Canine Therapy

03/08/2026

What an incredible day spent learning with Sarah Brick from West Country Canine Therapy 🐾

Today was all about canine massage, and it was packed with practical knowledge. We covered muscles, bones, massage techniques, how to read dogs’ body language, and, of course, plenty of hands-on practice.

The dogs were absolutely amazing. They gave such honest feedback throughout the day, and it was fascinating to see how they responded as we learnt to recognise what they were telling us.

One thing I firmly believe is that the more we understand about dogs, the better trainers we become. Whether it’s learning about behaviour, movement, anatomy or massage, it all helps us see the dog in front of us more clearly.

A huge thank you to Sarah for sharing so much knowledge in such an approachable way. I came away with plenty to think about and lots to practise.

Have you ever had your dog professionally assessed or treated by a canine massage therapist?

31/07/2026

On the surface, Cougar’s indication looks like the problem. She licks, paws and mouths the scent tin.

But if you watch closely, it all happens after I mark.

I made plenty of mistakes in this session. I double-marked, tried to mark earlier, and even used her toy cue. That nearly worked… but actually turned out to be the worst option! 🤦‍♀️

This isn’t an odour problem or an indication problem. It’s a communication problem.

Her response to my marker (“yip”) isn’t quite quick enough in this context, so when I mark she isn’t 100% sure what should happen next. Away from odour, her marker response is solid, but in this situation she clearly needed more clarity.

So I changed the picture. I increased the value of the reinforcement, rewarding with food followed immediately by a game of tug. The final repetition was beginning to look much more like what I was aiming for. 🎉

It’s a good reminder that the problem you can see isn’t always the problem you need to fix.

This is why I video so much of my training. Without watching it back, I’d probably have blamed her indication when the real issue was my communication.

Have you ever watched a training video back and realised the mistake was yours rather than your dog’s? 👀

30/07/2026

Another incredible day spent with fantastic people and their gorgeous dogs. 🐾

One of the things I love most about my Handler’s Choice Workshops is that I never quite know where the day will take us. They aren’t something I can plan down to the minute. They evolve around the dogs and handlers in front of me, and today was a perfect example of that.

We started by building value for odour before moving on to inaccessible hides, working on both high and deep hides. As the conversations developed, we found ourselves talking about body language and just how much information our dogs are giving us if we know where to look. 👀

Rather than everyone watching the same thing, each handler focused on something different. One watched tails, another changes in sniffing, someone else watched body movement, and we even had one person whose job was simply to observe the handlers. The result was a really detailed picture of what each dog was telling us. It was genuinely eye-opening, and the quality of discussion and feedback was brilliant.

One of the dogs was fairly new to scentwork and, by the end of the day, had progressed from searching for a pipe holding the odour to confidently working a true hide. Once he realised this wasn’t gundog training or a retrieve exercise, everything started to click into place. 💡

I couldn’t have asked for a more engaged, observant and curious group. Days like today remind me that we all learn more when we learn together. ❤️

If you’d like a full day dedicated to you and your dog, with the flexibility to work on whatever you need most, my next Handler’s Choice Workshop is at Dogs Matter, Silverton on Thursday 13th August. I’d love to see you there.

29/07/2026

Environmental confidence, problem solving and resilience are the qualities that are top of my list for my scentwork dogs …. I think Pippin ticks all the boxes 🤣

27/07/2026

Spot the odd one out 🤣

25/07/2026

Another brilliant full day Handler’s Choice workshop at Dogs Matter today. ❤️

It was lovely to welcome some new handlers alongside plenty of familiar faces. Every workshop is different because every dog and handler team is different, and that’s exactly what I enjoy most.

One thing I’ve never really talked about is how much I struggle with imposter syndrome. 💭 At the end of days like today, when everyone packs up and heads home, that little voice in my head gets louder. “What makes you qualified to teach all of these people?” It still catches me out, despite all the years I’ve been doing this.

But then I realised that maybe imposter syndrome isn’t always a bad thing.

For me, it keeps me curious. It makes me question my own training, seek different opinions and keep learning. It’s probably the biggest reason I invest so much time and money into CPD. 📚 Every workshop I attend, every book I read and every trainer I learn from adds another piece to the puzzle.

And it’s not just the experts I learn from. I learn from every dog and every handler I work with. Every team brings a different challenge, a different perspective or a question I’ve never considered before.

I don’t think being a good instructor means having all the answers. I think it means caring enough to never stop looking for better ones.

As I forgot to take a single photo today, here’s three members of Team Top Gunn who don’t feature on my social media nearly as much as they deserve. 🐾