Emily Coombe-Positive Dog Training

07/05/2026

Meet the regal Merlin👑

🐶Merlin is a 9 year old Romanian Rescue.

When he arrived to the UK he was very anxious and shut down, rarely leaving his bed and spending his first 6 weeks in his new home in his crate. He would rarely move around the home, take treats or engage with his family and could struggle around other dogs on walks.

His amazing family have been so dedicated with helping Merlin grow in confidence and we gradually implemented enrichment and free work, created safe spaces for him within the home, introduce predictability into his routine and activities (training, walks, interactions with people and dogs), worked on some noise desensitisation and introduced him to some calm helper dogs (with the help of my colleague Abi). We did all of the above whilst working alongside his veterinarian to make sure he had a fully comprehensive behaviour modification plan, which has included ruling out musculoskeletal pain and finding the right medication to support Merlin’s progress.

Our session today was one of our best! Despite gardeners being present outside of the home (which has previously been scary for Merlin!), Merlin was happy to engage in some training exercises for a long duration and was able to take breaks, re-set and rejoin us unprompted after he was briefly startled by some activity and noises in the home and garden. His motivation to engage with training and interactions and ability to recover from stressors is a big step forwards for Merlin and we are all very proud of him.

He also continues to do really well on his walks- with an increase in exploration, great recall and regular walk’s with his group of dog friends.

We will continue to support Merlin and help him continue to build his overall confidence, but he’s come a long way since I first met him thanks to his family💚

20/04/2026

Tilly has completed her training with vet referral session and 4 follow up sessions. She has made some great progress with recall, loose lead walking and self regulation 🐶👏

This cute pile of hair and set of VERY white Teefs is Tilly!

She’s a young Cairn terrier whose family have been getting support from Emily for recall, lunging at traffic and barking at wildlife in the garden!

She’s now dragging her longline on park walks 🌳 and the whistle has been introduced to help them push to Tilly being completely off lead - in the right environments of course!
Roadside walks and garden time is also now much more peaceful for all!

Top work team Tilly! 💕

04/03/2026

🐦‍⬛Here is Jaspers 3rd training walk focusing on recalling from birds! He is doing really well and we will focus on closing distance over the next couple of sessions.

Only tricky thing about working around crows is that they learn that you are carrying food and start to follow you!😂

02/03/2026

🐻 Bear working in his husbandry training to help him cope with vet visits!

🏥His owners have also started with short carefully managed trips to the veterinary practise to help pair this environment with positive outcomes. The next step will be gradually introducing this training here too!

30/01/2026

🐶Meet the handsome boxer cross Red 🐶

🏠Red’s family adopted him from a rescue centre at 10 months of age. Adopting a dog during adolescence is not always easy, but Red’s family were really proactive in getting some training sessions booked in to make sure they got off to a good start.

🧠Over our 4 sessions we covered recall, attention seeking behaviours (jumping up, mouthing, barking), increasing confidence in the car and around traffic, settle training and setting up positive dog interactions.

🧡Red has made a lot of progress and has settled in really well with his new family. He has really landed on his feet with some great owners!

22/01/2026

Meet the lovely Sadie🧡
Following a full behavioural assessment (via vet referral) we put in place management and training to help with:

- Resource guarding behaviour (of food, toys and space) towards other dogs in enclosed spaces
- Lowering her arousal and strengthening recall on her walks (she has a very high prey drive!)
- Loose lead walking
- Reactivity to sounds made by the dishwasher!

Following her assessment and in depth discussions with her owners and veterinarian, I expected that she may have been experiencing a persistent phantom pregnancy that may have been contributing to her some of her resource guarding behaviours. Her vet opted to prescribe a course of medication to rule this out as a differential and Sadie has made good progress with all areas of her training.

Medications are rarely quick or guaranteed fixes and tend to work best alongside behavioural modification programmes as the dog normally has a learnt history contributing to the maintenance of problem behaviours too- so Sadie’s family still put in lots of effort with her training and continue to do really well with her.

If considering behavioural modification for your dog, make sure you are working with a qualified clinical animal behaviourist (CAB) who works via vet referral. You can find a list a accredited CAB’s on the ABTC and APBC websites 🐶

20/01/2026

Here are two behaviour clients that have both been working on dog reactivity (amongst other behavioural problems). They have been doing really well with their training so myself and Roz set them up on a date as we were confident they would be a good match!

After a gradual introduction they had a lovely hour session together!

Read the post below for more info on the handsome Rocco and lovely girl Yara🧡

13/01/2026

Congratulations to Cooper for completing the 6 week puppy course 🐶🎓He looks very chuffed with himself!🤩❤️

09/01/2026

Another Christmas success story from the lovely Gamba and her owners 🧡

The christmas period and all the changes in environment and routine that coincide with it can be really challenging for dogs, especially those going through behavioural modification. Often, extra management/ strategies have to be put in place to support dogs. Team Gamba smashed it 👏

Gorgeous Gamba the spaniel has been receiving support from team CAB Emily for;

➡️ Dog reactivity to dogs that rush up to her too quickly and when Gamba is on the short lead/ narrow spaces.

➡️ Resource Guarding towards other dogs in the home.

➡️ Predatory behaviour (chase and intense seeking/flushing).

In response to Emily’s post Christmas check in Gamba’s family said:

🗣️Gamba did so well during Christmas between dogs and cat and all the people energy.

We had to keep her totally separated from my brother’s dog as we couldn’t get past their reactivity around each other and wanted to avoid any more negatives (they have a history of both not liking each other from day 1).

However, Gamba had a great time with the other four known family dogs, plus a new young intact male she immediately made friends with, once we managed the initial intro.

Much positive to report on! We're really chuffed with how well she coped with all the dogs, definitely progressing!”

Well done Team Gamba!! 💪

Note: She had a cyst removed last week so is in a post surgery suit.

05/01/2026

Returning to work post Christmas is a little easier when you get some great updates from your clients!

Bliss (Border Collie) is one of my behaviour assessment clients, who I initially saw for dog reactivity (to some dogs including those that bomb over), resource guarding resting space and resources from dogs when in a confined environment, reactivity to a male owners movements (barking, herding, nipping ankles)
And high prey drive on walks.

Pre- Christmas we also discussed some ways to help manage Bliss during the Christmas period when visiting family members with dogs and team Bliss did so well!

Her owners reported that after some initial mangent (e.g. barriers) on day one to help her settle she was initiating play with one Pomeranian’s and was happy and relaxed in the house and on walks with all dogs. They easily managed resources to prevent any guarding behaviour and she quickly learnt she could relax in the living room with the other dogs rather than having to guard her resting space constantly.

“So pleased with how it went! Barely any issues all week! “🧡

The past week we have all been checking in on our ongoing cases to find out if the festive season has been uneventful!

So far so good!

Here’s an update from Bliss the Border Collie’s family who have been supported by team CAB Emily for some over reactive behaviour towards dogs, resource guarding behaviour towards dogs, reactions to male humans moving and predatory behaviour on walks!

🗣️ “Stayed with family and 2 other dogs (she lives with Bernese cross in the pics- Pomeranians are family’s dogs).

Needed most management (barriers and muzzle as precaution) on the first day as she settled. But by the second day she was initiating play with one Pomeranian and was happy and relaxed in the house and on walks with all dogs.

They easily managed resources to prevent any guarding behaviour and she quickly learnt she could relax in the living room rather than defend her resting space.

So pleased with how it went! Barely any issues all week! “

Well done Team Bliss! Really great progress 💪