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Nobody teaches us how to be a dog owner. We’re changing that. Linda & Lily🐾

Helping you understand your dog better so you can give them the life they deserve.

13/11/2026

Leaving our dogs with somebody else requires an enormous amount of trust.

A friendly website, beautiful photographs and positive reviews can make a wonderful first impression - but they don’t tell us how dogs are assessed, how many are cared for together, whether they can rest undisturbed or what happens during an emergency.

I have experienced this from both sides: as Lily’s owner and through 6 years running licensed, five-star home boarding, daycare and dog walking.

Caring for around 50 dogs each week taught me that much of responsible care happens quietly behind the scenes. It means choosing suitable companions, noticing changing body language, preventing problems before they develop, providing proper rest and having clear policies for illness, injury, escape or conflict.

In England, commercial daycare, home boarding and kennels require a local-authority licence.
But a licence is only one part of the picture.
Dog owners still need to ask questions and decide whether the care genuinely suits their individual dog.

At A Day in Your Dog’s World, we’ll explore what to look for and what to ask - when choosing walkers, daycare and boarding.

📅 Saturday 21 November · Warley Woods, Birmingham, B67 5ED
🎟️ Small group · Limited places

Book through the link in our

Follow us Linda | The Good Girl Way to understand your dog better so you can give them the life they deserve.

12/11/2026

If your dog suddenly started gagging, pawing at their mouth or struggling to breathe, would you know whether they were coughing - or genuinely choking?

A dog who is coughing can usually still draw breath.
A dog with a severely obstructed airway may be unable to breathe properly and can deteriorate incredibly quickly.

Our instinct might be to immediately reach into their mouth, but a frightened dog may panic and bite - and blindly searching for an object could push it further into the airway.
We need to be able to assess what is happening and respond safely while arranging urgent veterinary help.

I attended another canine first-aid workshop this weekend to refresh and sharpen my practical skills. It reinforced something I feel very strongly about: reading first-aid instructions is not the same as physically practising them.

At A Day in Your Dog’s World workshop you won’t just watch a presentation.
You’ll get hands-on with canine first aid and CPR, so the equipment, movements and decisions feel more familiar before you are ever faced with a real emergency.

Every attendee will also take home their own canine first-aid kit.

📅 Saturday 21 November · Warley Woods, Birmingham, B67 5ED
🎟️ Small group · Limited places

Book through the link in our bio.

Follow us Linda | The Good Girl Way to understand your dog better so you can give them the life they deserve.

11/11/2026

If a dog-food bag says “with chicken,” how much chicken would you expect it to contain? 🐾

Most of us would naturally assume that chicken makes up a substantial part of the food.
Under UK pet-food labelling guidance, however, “with chicken” means that at least 4% of the product comes from chicken.

That doesn’t mean the remaining 96% contains no meat. Other meat and animal ingredients may be present too. The 4% is the guaranteed amount of the particular ingredient being highlighted on the front of the bag.

This became especially important to me because of Lily’s food allergies.
I learned never to assume that the animal pictured on the packing, the marketing claims, tasty images or even the other flavour named on the front - tells me every ingredient inside.

At our workshop A DAY IN YOUR DOGS WORLD we’ll explore what common label language means, what to look for in the composition and how to make more informed choices for the individual dog in front of us.

📅 Saturday 21 November · Warley Woods, Birmingham, B67 5ED
🎟️ Small group · Limited places

Book through the link in our bio.

Follow us Linda | The Good Girl Way to understand your dog better so you can give them the life they deserve.

10/11/2026

Why does my dog listen perfectly at home - but act as though they’ve never heard the word outside?” 🐾

It’s one of the most common frustrations dog owners experience - and it absolutely doesn’t mean that our dogs are stubborn or deliberately ignoring us.

Dogs can’t generalise and often don’t understand that something learned in one situation applies everywhere. “Wait” in a quiet kitchen is not the same challenge as “wait” beside a busy road, at an open gate or when another dog has appeared.

Outside, our dogs are processing movement, smells, sounds, people, dogs and everything else happening around them. Excitement or stress can make accessing previously learned skills even harder.

During my years caring for groups of dogs, I saw how differently the same dog could respond depending on the environment, the distractions and how they were feeling that day.

Good training is not simply teaching a word - but rather helping the dog understand and practise it regularly in the real life.

At A Day in Your Dog’s World workshop, we’ll explore how dogs learn, why everyday training matters and demonstrate how Lily responds in real time.

📅 Saturday 21 November · Warley Woods, Birmingham, B67 5ED
🎟️ Small group · Limited places

Book through the link in our bio.

Follow Linda | The Good Girl Way to understand your dog better so you can give them the life they deserve.

09/11/2026

Our dogs are communicating with us all the time - but much of what they say is so quiet that it can be incredibly easy to miss. 🐾

A head turn, a quick lick of the lips, a yawn, a sudden freeze or an attempt to move away can all tell us something about how a dog is feeling.
But body language is never about taking one movement in isolation - we need to look at the whole dog, what is happening around them and what happened immediately beforehand.

During my 6 years caring for groups of dogs, I learned how important these quieter moments are.
Dogs often communicate discomfort long before they bark, growl or react - but if those early signals go unnoticed, they might end communicating more clearly.

Recognising what a dog is telling us allows us to respond sooner, give them space or support and help prevent situations from becoming overwhelming and escalating.

At A Day in Your Dog’s World workshop , we’ll explore canine body language together - and Lily will help bring that communication to life in real time.

📅 Saturday 21 November · Warley Woods, Birmingham, B67 5ED
🎟️ Small group · Limited places

Book through the link in our bio.

Follow Linda | The Good Girl Way to understand your dog better so you can give them the life they deserve.

08/11/2026

When we brought Lily home as an eight-week-old puppy, I had love, good intentions and everything I thought a puppy needed.

What I didn’t have was an education in how to be her owner.

Nobody taught me how to read the quiet signs that she was uncomfortable, what good socialisation really looked like, how her needs would change throughout her life or what I should do in an emergency.

That knowledge came gradually - through 10 years with Lily, 6 years caring for other people’s dogs, formal education and continually wanting to understand more.

Dog Owner Education Day is what I wish I’d had when Lily first came home.

Nobody is born knowing all of this. Most of us learn one question, one worry and sometimes one frightening experience at a time.

This workshop was created to bring those foundations together in one supportive day - so you are not left searching for an answer when you urgently need them.

What do you wish somebody had taught you when you first became a dog owner?

📅 Saturday 21 November 2026
📍 The Pavilion, Warley Woods
🎟️ Limited places · Book through the link in our bio

07/11/2026

“It’s okay - my dog is friendly!”

Most dog owners have heard it - and many of us have probably said it, I know I have.

But years of walking groups and caring for dogs with completely different personalities taught me that friendly means different things to different dogs.

Some dogs loved energetic play.
Others preferred walking alongside another dog without interacting.
Puppies could overwhelm older dogs.
Large, enthusiastic dogs could frighten or even accidentally hurt smaller ones without intending any harm.
A dog on a lead might feel especially uncomfortable because they couldn’t move away.

A successful interaction is not determined by whether one dog was friendly.
It depended on whether both dogs are comfortable - and whether the owner could call their dog away when needed.

Friendly is a description.
It isn’t permission to approach every dog or person.

Before allowing an interaction, look at both dogs, ask the other owner and make sure your dog can disengage.

If recall isn’t reliable, a lead or long line allows freedom while keeping everyone safer.

Friendly intentions also does not remove our responsibility to keep our dogs under control.

Two weeks today, we’ll explore body language, recall, socialisation and responsible dog ownership at Dog Owner Education Day.

📅 Saturday 21 November 2026
📍 The Pavilion, Warley Woods
🎟️ Limited places · Book through the link in our bio

06/11/2026

One of the most important lessons I learned while caring for so many different dogs was this:

“They’re not quite themselves” is a health information.

Every dog had their own normal.
Some ran to breakfast; others ate slowly.
Some greeted me immediately; others preferred a quiet hello. I learned how they usually walked, rested, ate, drank, toileted and interacted with the dogs around them.

That made small changes easier to notice.

A dog doesn’t have to collapse or cry out before something may be wrong.
Sometimes the first sign is becoming unusually quiet, hesitating before jumping into the car, sleeping somewhere different, refusing a favourite treat or reacting differently to a touch.

First-aid awareness isn’t about trying to diagnose our dogs ourselves but rather noticing changes, recognising when something cannot wait, keeping them safe and giving the vet a clear information.

Collapse, breathing difficulty, choking, pale or blue gums, suspected poisoning, heatstroke, bloat signs, serious trauma or severe bleeding require immediate veterinary help.

If you are unsure, call your vet. Let them decide how urgently your dog needs to be seen.

Two weeks tomorrow, we’ll explore first-aid awareness and emergency response at Dog Owner Education Day.

Every attendee will also receive a dog first-aid kit to take home.

📅 Saturday 21 November 2026
📍 The Pavilion, Warley Woods
🎟️ Limited places · Book through the link in our bio

04/11/2026

Have you ever taken your dog for an extra-long walk to tire them out - only for them to race around the house when you get home?

During six years of caring for dogs, sometimes around 50 across a single week, I saw this regularly.

Some dogs returned from a busy walk ready to curl up and sleep.
Others came home more wired than when they left: pacing, following my every movement, pestering the other dogs or struggling to settle.

A walk isn’t only physical exercise.
Our dogs may also be processing traffic, unfamiliar noises, new smells, other dogs, wildlife, people, toys, chasing and moments of excitement or worry.

What often helped was a quieter walk so the nervous system can relax - more time to sniff, less high-intensity play and a calm environment in which they could decompress afterwards.

xhausted dog.

We explore exercise, enrichment, arousal and rest at Dog Owner Education Day.

📅 Saturday 21 November 2026
📍 The Pavilion, Warley Woods
🎟️ Limited places · Book through the link in our bio

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