Newfound Hounds Dog Behaviour And Training

30/05/2026

Here is one of my lovely clients with her Australian shepherd pup! I put up a photo of her a little while ago as a young pup for our first few sessions…

Now look at her! A model dog 🐕

Both have put in a lot of work for loose lead walking. This is one of the hardest things to master simply due to our ever changing environments. Flora is great doing amazing out on walks, but more practice is needed to remind her to remain calm around ALL distractions.

Amazing work! 🤩

26/05/2026

Making the most of training opportunities!

19/05/2026

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐟?

I often recommend the ‘Find It’ game to my clients to teach their dogs.

It is SO simple, yet so effective.

Why?

✅ The simple act of sniffing is intrinsically reinforcing for all dogs
✅ This provides mental stimulation and can tire a dog out
✅ Sniffing can lower stress/cortisol levels since it releases dopamine. The higher the intensity of the sniffing, the lower their heart rate can go! This is especially great for reactive dogs.
✅ This game can help a dog slow down whilst ‘watching the world go by’
✅ Dogs can pair up things in the environment they are anxious about by giving them a positive job to do such as sniffing!
✅ This can be used inside the house if the weather is bad or in the garden to help promote calmness instead of barking!

… and lots more!

Here is a video of Koda doing exactly this when he first came to me. Listen to the sniffing at the end 🤩 🐕

12/05/2026

Often I recommend secure fields to my clients to allow their reactive dogs a break from the real world and let off some steam…. And of course give the owners a break which is just as important.

Celine has worked so hard on her fields- with two to pick from! This is definitely one worth a visit!

Please take the time to check it out 🙏

Secure fields to exercise your dog in beautiful countryside. Private hire. Arlingham, Gloucestershire

11/05/2026

More socialisation, at the garden centre!

Koda did really well despite wanting to explore everything with his mouth! Ofcourse we had to stop via the dog section and he picked his first pheasant 😂 proudly holding this at the till for the staff to admire him and walking out like a model dog 🐕

Of course he had his moments with all the distractions but learning takes time providing the environment isn’t too chaotic.

Telling a dog what they can and can’t use with their mouth is important and rewarding with a new toy can really help with the learning. 🧸

28/04/2026

“𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐆𝐨 𝐁𝐲”

Simple, but extremely effective.

Quite often the most boring part of training is where the real learning begins.

Whenever I am out with Koda, I will stand or sit and let him absorb his environment rather than walk on by all the time.

We forget just how busy our world really is since we are used to it. Puppies are not and this does not come naturally.

They need the time to adjust to things such as;

✔️ Delivery people (noisy!)
✔️ Shopping trollies
✔️ Prams
✔️ Motorbikes and people in leather/helmets
✔️ Cyclists
✔️ Elderly people with walking sticks
✔️ Lorries/Tractors
✔️ Joggers
✔️ Umbrellas

And that’s without mentioning greeting people and dogs! This is a list of ‘triggers’ that I have personally been to see reactive dogs about and this is often down to not spending the time to slow down, watch and allow dogs to recover from mild stress.

This also helps young dogs to understand that they do not need to greet every dog and person. This limits frustration and helps dogs to settle in all environments.

Happy training 🐕 🤓

18/04/2026

Continuing Koda’s journey shopping (socialising!)…. We visited Health and Hounds where again, he was made to feel very welcome and we practiced calm behaviours around the lovely Diesel, James dog.

Koda was quite keen to show off his ‘sitting’ as you can see from his cute tail wag. Shortly after, he fell asleep! Think I may have over done it with the calmness 😂

Great local shop to visit with plenty to chose from 👌

17/04/2026

Lovely Koda touring the local high street today and of course he particularly loooved Wotton Pet Shop. A brilliant variety of all things dog 🐶 and Koda enjoyed picking out his toy 🥰 Thank you for being so welcoming for his first time 👌

Meet Koda the adorable 12 week old cocker spaniel puppy who popped in today to get a new toy with his owner Laura Leivers from Newfound Hounds Dog Behaviour And Training
Don’t you just love those beautiful puppy eyes ❣️

15/04/2026

𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝.

We all know most dogs don’t like thunder and fireworks. So when we had a storm earlier on, instead of masking out the sound of the thunder, I used this rare opportunity to build up a positive association!

Mild stress is important for puppies and dogs to feel in order to learn how to cope with our strange world. The same applies when I train reactive dogs, there will always be a small amount of stress involved because we cannot avoid the triggers if we want to build up confidence.

But it’s 𝙝𝙤𝙬 we train that is important.

Koda pauses for a second to listen more carefully to the sound of the thunder and then looks up at me for reassurance. He is slightly stressed because this is a new sound. But he copes well and is building up his confidence with food which is a huge motivator for him.

As he became more relaxed, I opened the window for a short while and then moved on to opening the door to expose him further. Each step ensuring he was relaxed enough.

More training will be done to make absolutely sure Koda is comfortable 😃

09/04/2026

𝐏𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐬 & 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫! 💦

Giving Koda the choice to play with water is important. We will likely need to wash him down after walks so it is important we start off positive.

Puppies are often curious about new things, and will turn most things into a game like in the video!

But if your puppy is very unsure then playing with his toys or adding treats around the water can help build up a strong positive association.

Never force your dog since this can sometimes turn an unsure experience to a very negative association…. And you’ll have more work to do!

Do show me your photos if your dog loves the water 💦 🐕