AWE Canine - Awe & Wonder Experience for dogs

14/03/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Pu18Tv9mG/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Not posted for a while 😬 (hopeless at social media 🙄) but I couldn’t pass by this without sharing this.

This is very much my heart for our dogs, to educate humans what all dogs need, long after puppyhood too 🐾❤️

I made this fuelled on oxytocin whilst handrearing a Twig 😂 we expect so much of puppies and take them away from everything they know and expect them to fit in our world with minimal fuss. In reality, we should be striving to understand and meet their needs as actually it’s not that difficult if you have the right mindset ❤️

18/12/2024

These are my best days 🥰

Beautiful slow sniffy walk (for the most part 😉🤣) today around Seven Acres 🐾🐾🐾

01/10/2024

🐾❤️‍🩹 had such a great time at the recent Dog First Aid training course and met some lovely people too. Highly recommend the course for everyone who has dogs ❤️‍🩹🐾

https://www.facebook.com/dfacheshire

01/10/2024

🐾❤️‍🩹 Great time learning all things Dog First Aid 🐾❤️‍🩹

https://www.facebook.com/dfacheshire

15/09/2024

💝 Let’s build trust first before all the ‘stuff’ 💝

When I would like someone, especially a member of my family, (be that human or animal), to do something, a task or suchlike, I ‘ask’ …….”could you ……can you……..would you like to……”.

If I need to repeat myself or resort to changing my tone and/or my volume to be ‘authoritative’ and ‘controlling’, then I am no longer asking, I am ‘commanding’ them 😔. They then have no choice. This ruins relationships and doesn’t build confident beings 😔

If I’m needing to ‘command’ and ‘control’ then I’m just not doing it. There are MANY reasons a dog doesn’t do something that we ask, they haven’t fully understood it, they are in pain, they aren’t in the mood, the environment is too tricky….etc

If they don’t want to / can’t do it ‘willingly’ first time, with encouragement and rewards, then I don’t ask a second time. To me, it’s an unfair expectation ☺️ (I will go back to the drawing board and find out what may be going on) 📖 🤔

I’m not fussed for a sit or a down or a wait from my dog, I want them to have fun and trust me that I will advocate for their every need in order that they feel safe and that they have choice. The other stuff will come for sure, but the trust HAS to come first ☺️

I want others to understand how important it is that any species, be that human or animal, should NEVER be controlled, and behaviours suppressed in order that they conform to what we ‘want’. 😔. I don’t want anyone to do anything because I MADE them. My thrill comes in teaching and having a dog enjoy everything I’m doing with them 🐾🥰

One phrase I use regularly in my teaching is “can you…..?” “Can you sit?” “Can you lie down?” It changes HOW we ask, ensuring that it’s a mutual agreement. If the dog ‘can’t’ in that moment, then I change things to help them and go back to where I believe they confidently could and move onwards from there, orrrrr we just move on, I’m not a dictator expecting my dog to do everything I ask, but…….I do get my thinking cap on and work out why they couldn’t do what I asked if I believe it’s something they’ve been confident to do previously 🐾❤️

I want to help families have THE BEST life with their dogs having fun and learning ‘stuff’ with the dog being at the centre of where they are going on that journey and going at their pace 🐾 ❤️

If you are struggling with your dog, please get in touch, I want to help 🐾❤️

If you’d like to understand what your dog is communicating, please get in touch, I’d love to educate you 🐾❤️

Enjoy your dogs, they are the best fun 🐾❤️

04/09/2024

🐾 Meet Jack 🐾

Jack came to me in March as his family had been struggling with some reactivity outdoors to other ‘off lead friendly’ dogs and some sensitivities indoors too ❤️

They needed someone to walk Jack whilst they work, but it needed to be a solo walk as Jack did not like to be near other dogs. ❤️

I agreed I would do some solo training walks with Jack and to help the family understand what was going on for him 🐾🥰

We planned our next few weeks and how I could support them with Jack with some understanding of what he was struggling with. Due to Jack being misunderstood with his communications, because….. who knew that dogs can clearly communicate????!!!! if only we knew what they were saying???!!!! I certainly didn’t know until the last 5 years that dog’s have beautiful body language and can clearly communicate, so my goal is to help families understand their dogs so everyone lives harmoniously. 🥰

There was another incident of sensitivity around the home sadly within the first couple of weeks still and at one point the family weren’t sure if they could meet Jack’s needs and were considering finding another home for Jack where he would feel much happier. ❤️‍🩹

I always support families where I can, in whatever decision they choose to make, and whilst I did this and even offered to find Jack another home without judgement, I also encouraged them that with some further understanding on their part of what Jack was communicating and also continuing the confidence building for Jack, the areas of sensitivity should reduce but would take time and they agreed to give more time 🥰

Having lived with a super sensitive dog myself I have every compassion for families who experience this ❤️‍🩹

Fast forward to September 2024 🥰

Now we see Jack growing in confidence 🐾❤️. Walking more loosely on the lead 🐾❤️ Having ‘mostly’ positive interactions where dogs come up to him and we continue to ‘bank’ those positive ones and work on reducing negative ones 🐾❤️ No incidents in the home following some guidance to support Jack where he needs it 🐾❤️ And a much happier and more relaxed family and Jack gets to stay in the most wonderful home that I think is absolutely perfect for him to live his best life 🥰

27/07/2024

💝 Could not agree more 💝

08/07/2024

The reason all this ‘dog stuff’ started 💝

08/07/2024

Monday musings 🤔💝

Smelling the sweet peas 🌺

No part two ☺️

I returned home and our snug smelled soooooo beautiful of our freshly cut sweet peas, Tara lay in the sunshine, on the bed in her favourite spot, and life is good 💝

Also, wanted to update to say that our latest foster puppy Poppy had a meet and greet on Saturday and they loved her, OF COURSE THEY DID, 💝. Another meet and greet has been arranged. Please pray it's a perfect match. 💝

Daisy also gets a meet a greet this week . And today I get to pick up Dream, the Chihuahua that we rescued last week, and take her to the vets for a check up following a week of decompressing in her beautiful foster home getting the love she should have always had 💖

Huge thank you to those who sent money over for fuel, it was truly appreciated. Today's trip will cost approx £20 if anyone would like to donate for the fuel and anyone wanting to contribute to the vet visit, that would also be gratefully received. 🥰

🌺🌼🌻☀️ Today I would urge you to get outside either on a walk with your dog or on your break and look up and listen to all that today brings. Let your ears hear all of nature surrounding you. Watch those birds and smell those flowers 🌺🌸🌼🌻. Remember, it's the smallest of things that can bring you the greatest joy. Today it's the sweet peas for me 🥰. What is it for you? I'd love to know. 🥰

08/07/2024

Spending the day smelling the sweet peas 🌺

Monday musings to follow 🤔💝

01/07/2024

💝🐾 Monday musings 🤔 - all things dogs - PART TWO 😉🐾💝

01/07/2024

💝🐾 Monday musings - all things dogs 🐾💝

23/06/2024

Musings on a Sunday of all things dogs 💝🐾🤔

I was turning 50 at the end of December 2019 and my plan was to have dogs back in my home after a busy time of work and business and life and I had nearly 10 years with a houseful of cats, we had 9 at one point 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛ 😲, but truly missed having a dog in my home and missed being back out in nature on walks, so I made the decision to have dogs back in my life, and along came Tara and Lola all the way from Romania in December 2019. 💝💝

The plan was for one of the girls to stay and one would go out for adoption, and that I would foster at least 3 dogs each year from thereon in. Lola went off to her new home on the first day of lockdown and so began the crazy times, no fostering going on with the pandemic. However, sadly in August 2020, we woke one day with Tara unable to use her rear legs due a spinal bleed 💔 Our whole world turned upside down and from there was a long recovery for Tara, sensitivity and chronic pain meant this little girl would have an ongoing struggle with anything that caused her upset ❤️‍🩹 And here my learning for all things dogs and their behaviour and communication began 🐾🥰 I have geeked out and studied and made the decision I would formally embark on dog training and behaviour as a new career and I'm truly loving it. 😎🥰

2022 we fostered Lizzy and last year we fostered Maggie. This year we fostered Daisy and Poppy. I have always taken my role of fostering seriously and put my heart and soul into the dog that comes into our home to build confidence and help them learn any basic skills that will help set them up well for future, such as work around impulse control around doorways and vehicles and they always leave having learned lots of new life skills but mostly they know they've been loved during their time with us 🥰 Alongside fostering we’ve also transported many dogs around the country particularly due to the XLBully crisis ❤️‍🩹

Tara struggles to have other dogs in our home, so sadly we can't foster longer than a couple of weeks and made the decision what we would now only do “emergency emergency” fostering to collect any ‘at risk’ dog and keep them for a couple of nights maximum to get them to a safe foster home. I can still transport and do home checks and admin support so still lots of support to offer where needed 🥰

Poppy went on to another foster yesterday and Tara has not let me out of her sight since. So now we can get back to our fun and chilling and learning together for the next season of our lives 💝

I could not do any of the above without my wonderful husband who helps me every step of the way 💘 and also spends time with each animal so they have had love from a male just as much as a female as sooooo many dogs are scared of men sadly 😔

Each dog that comes into foster comes due to no fault of their own 💔. Each one that has come to my home came with hardly any socialisation and any basic life skills that would help to build confidence and to keep them safe 😔

Fostering Poppy gave me lots of time to think of my role within the world of animal rescue and for this season it means we can't bring other animals into our home, but there are many other ways in which I can play my part. I have a long term goal of fostering and rescue, but whilst Tara is with us, this time will be spent building up my knowledge and experience outside of our home ready for the future and see how things go. Plans are great, but I've learned that regardless of any plans we make, we need to adapt where life is turned upside down and inside out as it certainly has this last 6 years for us. ☺️

If you love animals and are saddened by the crisis within our rescue centres, there are many ways you can help: Here are a few suggestions;
❌ Don't let your dog bring any more puppies into the world ‼️❌ Get your females spade ‼️
💖 Adopt dogs from your local rescue shelter instead of going to breeders.
💖 Ask at your local shelter if they need any hands on support, this could be a multitude of things such as admin, cleaning, spending time with the animals, walking any dogs.
💰Financially support the rescue centres to pay for treatments of sick animals, food etc but also to support staff and volunteers to do the incredible work they do.
🥰 Volunteer to foster any animals where you can.
🥰If you know any friends who are fostering, ask them how you can help them.
‼️ TEACH YOUR DOG BASIC SKILLS TO BUILD THEIR CONFIDENCE AND TO HELP KEEP THEM SAFE ‼️. It’s sooooo much easier to teach a behaviour you want than unpick undesirable ones

So for me, I'm continuing with all things dogs and helping their humans understand them better and/or to help them learn new skills to build confidence and live their best lives. 🥰

Enjoy the photos of my BFF Tara, Tara & Lola, Lizzy, Maggie, Daisy & Poppy 💝💝💝💝💝💝

If you need any support with your dog, please get in touch, I'm here to help you. 🐾

21/06/2024

💝 ADOPT DON’T SHOP 💝

❌ SAFETY FIRST ❌

Poppy picking up doorway manners BEAUTIFULLY. We have worked hard to get to to this and Poppy has done AMAZING to get this far in such a short space of time. 🎉💝🏆

21/06/2024

💝 ADOPT DON’T SHOP 💝

Watch this clever girl totally smash her understanding of staying on the bed with distraction of chopping treats!!!! and for a fabulous amount of time 🎉💝

There is no limit to what this girl can learn as her confidence continues to build 💝

If you need any help to learn how to do this with your dog, please get in touch. I’m here to help 🥰

20/06/2024

As Poppy awaits her forever home, the fun learning continues 🥳

When Poppy arrived 2.5 weeks ago, she had zero impulse control, she would be desperate to get out of the crate and management and positive reinforcement was used to help her understand what was needed, and she has worked soooooo hard to get to this in such a short space of time. 🎉💝

Yesterday we practised our learning of impulse control around staying in the crate in the van until it’s time to leave. 💝

(Don’t let my rubbish videoing take the attention away from how AMAZING Poppy is doing with her learning 😉💝). Still some sensitivity, so more practice is needed to get this strong and comfortable for her 💝

All this learning happens with positive reinforcement to help Poppy understand what is needed to help her grow in confidence and KEEP HER SAFE 💝

If you’d like this behaviour from your dog, please get in touch, I’m here to help you 💝

03/06/2024

💝 ADOPT DON'T SHOP 💝

🥰 Help needed from my friends please 🥰

Meet our 2 new young pups 💝💝 that are in foster in our home currently and we need an urgent foster place for one of them to give them the best possible chance for the next stage of their lives with helping them learn to feel safe in the world so their learning can begin 💝💝

We need someone who is experienced with large breeds as these dogs are 6 month old Caucasian Shepherd Dogs x staffie. Both need support with socialisation and help them grow in confidence and need an experienced foster or a new foster that has knowledge and would like to get into foster care. You will have our full support. 🥰

We also need financial support for their food, treats, toys, chew toys and harnesses. 🥰

Also, if anyone has any large bathsheets or fleeces for their beds, they would be very welcomed. 🥰

If you are interested in fostering, please contact Celandine Wood Animal Rescue directly completing their fostering applications 💝💝