Cambridge Dogs

23/04/2025

Food treats help to teach new behaviours and build positive associations and relationships.

But it is the interactions which sustain and deepen a relationship, which in turn maintains and strengthens the behaviours we have taught.

21/04/2025

10/04/2025

Is Causal Catastrophe getting in the way?

(or don't let worrying too much about 'future dog' stop you from enjoying 'present dog' right now!)As dog trainers we encourage you to think about building up habits and behaviour that will be helpful over your dog's life. Being consistent with your pup and thinking about the long term consequences,...

09/04/2025

RIP Destiny Tullett, a Shih Tzu in a million. A longstanding and much loved part of the team, Destiny and Vicki participated in classes, training demos, activity workshops and were keen competitors in the Annual Fancy Dress Competitions at the Christmas Party! Vicki and Destiny went on compete in Heelwork to Music and participate in many different activities, taking part in demonstrations at Crufts and inspiring everyone who came into contact with them with the devotion Vicki showed Destiny and the strength of their relationship. Thank you for brightening our lives Destiny, we will miss you and send our heartfelt condolences to her family. x

06/04/2025

06/04/2025

TREATS NOT TARIFFS! Our next Adult Beginners Dog Training course starts on Tuesday April 29th. The course runs for 6 weeks in Arbury, Cambridge. We are pleased to remain totally tariff-free but plenty of treats, as well as praise and lots of fuss for all the Good Boys and Girls in class!

03/04/2025

Fantastic opportunity for artists to showcase their work!

02/04/2025

Our improvers classes are learning the chin rest - a great way to help with cooperative care and husbandry. This is a lovely video showing how to teach this!

Fear Free turns veterinary care from stressful to stress free by using multiple tactics, including teaching the animal cooperative care & consent training. L...

02/04/2025

You may have heard of the "3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months" guidelines for newly adopted rescue dogs. This helps to manage expectations as to how quickly a dog will settle in, but every dog, and every home is different. This paper demonstrates the variability shown in behaviours - from avoidance and inhibition, to clinginess and a desperate need to retain contact with their caregiver. Cambridge Dogs offers 121 training and behaviour advice for new rescue dogs (and puppies!): we specialise in the effects of trauma prior to rehoming and readjustment to a new family, and unruly behaviours typically seen in many older pups and adolescents. All four of our team have adopted dogs from rescue and three of us have worked in rescue organisations and supported dogs at all stages of the rehoming process. I've personally fostered must be over 80 dogs now...so I've experienced that stage first hand many times over with lots of different personalities! If you are welcoming a new friend into the family contact us for a 121, or to enquire about future classes!

A qualitative exploration of owner experiences following dog adoption - Volume 34

01/04/2025

We’re delighted to reveal the results of a study to prove that dogs can detect when their humans are hungry and they are biologically predisposed to take on some of that hunger themselves.

The dogs in the trial, mainly Labradors and Golden Retrievers, showed that at around 7am, 9am, 11am, 12pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm – the times their humans were most likely to feel ready to eat – they too became indescribably hungry, despite having had their own meals plus treats already.

And not only are their noses incredible enough to detect this, but their eyes develop an ability to look extra bereft at these times.

The study shows what we have long suspected – that we are just scratching the surface of understanding how deep the bond between dogs and their humans goes and how powerful their noses are.



https://www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk/

20/03/2025

18/03/2025

Dogs don’t just share a home with their human owners, they share obesity genes too.

13/03/2025

https://youtu.be/hSlk0c9qiXs?si=dyIKZ_RFd46ZXkNa I mentioned this video to a couple of classes this week - a sniffer dog who won't give up his find! (We admire his dedication, but we do want to train a good 'out'!)

Diana visits Heathrow Airport to have a look at the work of the customs officers and their fight against drug smuggling. There is a display of a sniffer dog ...

02/03/2025

Dogs need:

- their doggie and individual needs met
- managing to prevent them being a risk to themselves or others
- consistency and predictability
- fair and consistent boundaries
- a human who they can depend on for these things, and whom they can feel safe with

They do not need:
- a firm hand
- someone to show them who's boss
- putting in their place
- strict and generic rules that don't take account of their and your individuality

I see so many lovely people who come to me with reactive dogs and are worried that they’ve caused their dogs issues as they’ve been told they ‘love their dogs too much’ or they ‘spoil’ them and they are ashamed to admit they let their dog sleep in their bed. NONE of these things cause a dog to become reactive.

Reactive dogs are stressed and anxious dogs and they need to feel safe, they need to feel secure and they need to be loved.

Reactivity issues can be complex and can be due to anxiety, frustration and, in many cases, health issues or pain are a factor too.

Past negative experiences, early life experiences, maternal factors and genetics all play a huge role. It’s often a multitude of factors that have combined to cause reactivity and it’s honestly never as you love them too much or spoil them.

Treating them kindly and making them feel safe will help them to get BETTER and not worse

PS my yorkie sleeps in my bed, often inside my pyjamas, and is treated like some sort of demigod in our house and she has no behavioural issues 😂

Laura McAuliffe, Dog Communication

27/02/2025

Do You Need Help With Your Animal’s Behaviour? You can search through our Full members via our website: https://bit.ly/3BCV6VE

What if I cannot find a member in my area, a remote consult with a Full member is not possible or the wait is too long?

Please email the office at [email protected] and request a list of local Provisional members.

Provisional members have the required knowledge and understanding and are in the process of gaining the necessary experience to fulfil the required performance criteria to apply for Full membership.

22/02/2025

We are offering our clients the opportunity to earn their APDT Good Companion Award with us. Just look at these lovely rosettes!

For Puppy, Foundation and Improvers classes- drop us an email at [email protected] to find out more.
Or check out the APDT website https://www.apdt.co.uk/good-companion-awards