Jess' Dog Training, Bournemouth (2026)

Raising a young dog is hard: I make it easier 🌿
Kind, ethical methods ✨
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29/07/2026

Important reminder: your dog being in pain is not a reflection of the care you provide them or the love you have for them 🩷 But we have an epidemic of canine pain on our hands.

I know this can be uncomfortable to hear because nobody wants to think they’ve missed something. But missing pain doesn’t make you a bad guardian. It doesn’t mean you don’t love your dog. Most people simply don’t know what to look for because we’re not taught.

We’ve become so used to seeing certain things that we’ve labelled them as “quirks” instead of asking whether they’re actually normal. The Jack Russell who hops? That’s just what Jack Russells do. The dog who poops up walls? That’s just how they’ve always pooped. The golden with the wiggly walk? That’s just how goldens walk.

No. That’s like saying someone walking with a limp has a “quirky” way of walking and it’s just behavioural.

And question anybody who pushes the narrative that some dogs “need a heavy hand” or that “positive reinforcement doesn’t work for all dogs”. They don’t and it does.

If positive reinforcement isn’t working, we need to ask why. Is the reinforcement actually reinforcing? Does the dog understand what we’re asking? Are our expectations fair? Is the environment too difficult? Could they be in pain?

Pain is one of the most overlooked causes of behaviour change in dogs, yet people are still so quick to reach for punishment instead of asking questions (and I’m talking about a great many dog professionals here). Using aversive methods and tools on a dog who may be in pain is unfathomable to me and any professional recommending aversive tools or methods, especially if they have not encouraged clients to thoroughly investigate pain, should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves imho. Aversive methods, tools and handling showcase nothing other than a lack of skill, education and empathy.

Dogs can’t tell us they’re in pain, they can only show us, and we’d better make darn sure we’re listening!

📚Mills et al. (2020) 📚Merola et al. (2023) 📚Epstein et al. (2015)

27/07/2026

The meme fairy has visited 🧚

If your dog charges up to and pesters every dog they see, then your dog is not “friendly” and people need to stop hiding behind this label. They are out of control, over-aroused and lacking in social-skills.

Dog parks are to be avoided. They tend to be full of overstimulated dogs with limited escape options and are not a suitable environment for teaching calm, low-key interactions. They’re also a cess-pit for disease. Hard pass, cheers and thank you.

All animals respond to positive reinforcement 🧠 if they don’t, it’s because the thing we’ve chosen isn’t reinforcing to them, so it’s about meeting them where they’re at. That takes skill and flexibility on our part 🧚 a dog not taking treats around their triggers doesn’t mean they don’t respond to R+, it means you’re not handling them skilfully.

“Cesar Milan is a really good trainer.” He is not 😶 he has zero understanding of canine behaviour, body language. “Calm, submissve state” means shut down. He’s a fu***ng clown.

Corrections do not build clarity for your dog. Dogs are amoral, they have no inherent sense of right and wrong and don’t recognise good behaviour from bad. It’s all just dog behaviour 🐕 Punishing them for things we happen not to like doesn’t build clarity, it makes you unpredictable, reduces the likelihood they’ll offer new behaviours in future and creates more pessimistic dogs who don’t trust you.

Force-free training is about setting dogs up to succeed and rewarding the choices we like 🌱 building a dog who never offers those undesirable behaviours in the first place. It’s also just a much kinder way of getting there.

References: Beerda et al. (1998); Schilder & van der Borg (2004); Hiby et al. (2004); Rooney & Cowan (2011); Ziv (2017); Casey et al. (2021); Yin (2009); Overall (2013); Miklósi (2015).

22/07/2026

There’s a side of the internet that will have you believe that the best thing you can offer your dog is structure, accountability, clarity, boundaries, corrections, punishment, aversive tools. They need a perfect heel and to show no outward emotions, never respond to the environment. You need to be a strong leader; your dog must never make an independent decision or choice, or express any feeling or autonomy. Every behaviour that inconveniences us is something to fix.

Well I’m here to tell you that’s bu****it.

Dogs don’t owe us obedience. They are sentient beings with their own personalities, wants, needs and fears. Somewhere along the way, we normalised the idea that loving a dog means constantly trying to improve them. But not every behaviour is something to fix. If your dog is safe, you’re safe, and you have management in place that allows you both to live a happy, fulfilling life together, it is okay to love your dog exactly as they are.

The best relationships are never rooted in control. They are rooted in safety and mutual trust. For dogs, this means they are able to express themselves without fear of correction from us (and remember: correction is a euphemism for punishment). It means feeling safe to be goofy, to bark, to get zoomies, to pull on the lead, to interact with another dog or person, to have feelings about the world around them.

I work with dogs because I like dogs. I like them for who they are as sentient beings, not what they can do for my own ego. I do not believe obedience and control are the most important things, and I do not believe that’s the greatest thing dogs can offer us.

Your dog is allowed to have feelings, autonomy and choice. They don’t have to offer you anything in order for you to love them. Never let anyone make you feel bad for loving your dog as they are, warts and all.

Bradshaw, Blackwell & Casey (2009) – dominance myths. Hiby, Rooney & Bradshaw (2004) – reward-based training & welfare. Ziv (2017) – review of aversive training. Vieira de Castro et al. (2020) – welfare impacts of aversive training. Miklósi (2015) – dog cognition and behaviour.

21/07/2026

Got a yourself a shouty dog? Let’s get into it..

A little note before we start… This is my profession. This is my sole source of income. I have invested tens of thousands of pounds and thousands of hours into learning, studying, attending courses, reading research and building my knowledge. My knowledge is my trade. It is the service I provide.

I share a huge amount of information for free because I want dogs and their humans to benefit from it. But there is a difference between asking a quick question and asking for bespoke behaviour advice.

I cannot ethically or safely give individual advice without the whole picture of a dog. I am not a balanced trainer who looks at a single behaviour and tells you how to suppress it. I look at behaviour holistically. I look at health, emotions, environment, routine, enrichment, learning history and the relationship between dogs and their humans before we even get to practical training. That takes time, knowledge, experience and money.

This is also my job. We don’t expect plumbers to diagnose and fix our leaking taps for free because they posted a helpful video online. We don’t expect solicitors, accountants, photographers or any other professional to give away their expertise whenever someone asks. Dog training is no different.

Please ask questions. I do love helping where I can and I know many people don’t realise the difference between a quick tip and a detailed behaviour assessment. But if you ask me a detailed question in my DMs after seeing a post and I explain that your dog needs a proper assessment or that the answer requires more context, please understand that I’m not being difficult by maintaining a professional boundary.

Also, if you want me to create more content answering your questions, the best place to ask is in the comments. Commenting helps the post reach more people, which means I can create more free resources. Sending me a DM doesn’t help the content reach anyone else.

A quick question? Drop it in the comments. A detailed behaviour problem? Book in with me. And if you respond to a professional boundary with hostility, that is a sure-fire way to lose access to my content.

He’d just fallen in the

19/07/2026

Did I miss any? Let me know… 💬

🚩 Deliberately taking a reactive dog to a park full of dogs and then using an e-collar, spray or prong when they inevitably react (correction is a euphemism for punishment). Dogs learn far better when set up for success, and you avoid the fallout of punishment 🧠

🚩 Harnesses don’t cause pulling any more than trainers cause running 💀 they just don’t make it uncomfortable. Slip leads, prongs and choke chains stop pulling because they hurt. Run a mile, they’re about to put an aversive tool on your dog.

🚩Dogs have no morality, no conscience, no inherent sense of right or wrong. This just means punishing a dog for normal behaviour 💀 corrections don’t offer clarity, they just produce a less optimistic dog.

🚩 Elephants, geese and moose are social, not pack animals. Anyone peddling pack theory has not completed a single day of formal education in canine behaviour 🐺 and they will make you punish your dog.

🚩 If a dog is reacting and then fine twenty minutes later, behaviour has been suppressed 👀 the dog has just learned that expressing emotions leads to pain or fear. Changing how a dog feels takes time and does not happen in one session.

🚩 Dog training is unregulated, so anyone can charge you money with no qualifications. Flexing how many dogs they’ve worked with is not the same as being educated 🥀 a good trainer has recognised qualifications and CPD alongside real experience. Not one without the other.

🚩 You’re the one who needs to know how to work with your dog. If you don’t, they’ll fall back into old habits quickly. Board and train is also incredibly open to misuse from aversive trainers 🚪

🚩 Dominance is just bullying with a fancier word. Wolf pack alphas are just the parents, leading through experience and care, not intimidation 🐺 anyone telling you to be dominant will strip your dog’s agency and reach for punitive techniques.

Address

Bournemouth
BH9

Telephone

+447775853332

Website

https://www.jessdogtraining.com/

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