Have a Good Dog

27/08/2025

Congratulations to Alan (who I was determined to call Lexie (his sister's name! 🤦‍♀️), Artemis, Eddie (no pic due to his hols), Moose, and Pip, who have successfully achieved the APDT Good Companion Puppy Award 🐾

12/08/2025

Reposting this...

As summer temperatures rise, dog owners must be aware of heatstroke, a potentially life-threatening condition when a dog’s body temperature becomes dangerously high.

Never leave your dog alone in a parked car. Even on mild days, temperatures inside a car can soar rapidly.

Provide plenty of water: Ensure fresh water is always available for your four-legged friend.

Limit outdoor activity: Walk early in the morning or late in the evening when it's cooler.

Create shaded rest areas: If outside, ensure adequate shade.

Avoid hot pavement: Check the pavement temperature with your hand—if it’s too hot for your hand, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws.

Never leave your dog in the sun for prolonged periods, especiallyy with thick coats or brachycephalic breeds.

Stay cool and take care of your pets this summer ☀️

12/08/2025

Congratulations to Bambi and Loki, who have successfully achieved the APDT Good Companion Intermediate Award 🐾

08/08/2025

Here's something interesting that I stumbled across today.

In a 2024 study, researchers exposed dogs to scents from stressed vs. relaxed humans while testing their optimism levels.

Dogs smelling stress odours became more pessimistic, expecting disappointment rather than rewards.

This only happened with stress scents, not relaxed ones.

This shows us that stress can be airborne.

The saying "stress travels down the lead" is only half true, our dogs actually smell chemical signals when we are stressed.

In the test, stressed human scents made dogs less confident about approaching new situations, potentially impacting their learning.

Therefore self care is dog care.

It would be much better to sit and do a 10 minute self reflection, calming our own nervous system than it would be to push on through the day, when we are disregulated.

Managing our own stress directly helps our dog's emotional state and ability to learn.

When we are relaxed, we're creating a better training environment.

We must consider not only what our dogs can see and hear, but also what they can smell.

Stress is part of life, but now we know that we not only need to take care of ourselves for our own sake, but also for the sake of our beautiful dogs.

I explained this in much more detail in my reader support group, you can join that by purchasing from my bookstore.

06/08/2025

Congratulations to this lovely group - Buster, Daisy, Margo, Monty, and Teddy for achieving the APDT Good Companion Puppy Award 🐶🐾

05/08/2025

I'm currently featured in the APDT UK member spotlight 🙂

Member Spotlight: Vicky Welsh from Have a Good Dog
Based in County Durham
www.haveagooddog.co.uk

Vicky Welsh offers friendly, focused dog training classes from puppies through to adults, with small group sizes (max 5 dogs) to ensure a calm and effective learning environment. She also offers 1:1 private lessons, helping clients work on specific goals like recall or loose lead walking.

Alongside her training services, Vicky is a Clinical Animal Behaviourist, supporting pet owners across the region with behaviour challenges.

She’s also an assessor for Wag & Company North East Friendship Dogs, and a volunteer trainer for Dog A.I.D., helping people with disabilities train their own assistance dogs.

Vicky Welsh offers friendly, focused dog training classes from puppies through to adults, with small group sizes (max 5 dogs) to ensure a calm and effective learning environment. She also offers 1:1 private lessons, helping clients work on specific goals like recall or loose-lead walking.

03/08/2025

Meet the lovely Bear. He couldn't take his exam a couple of weeks ago as he was on holiday, but passed his APDT Good Companion Foundation Award with flying colours today

31/07/2025

*2 PLACES AVAILABLE* Our next Follow On Course with available spaces starts on Sunday 17th August 2025 at 11am at Lanchester Community Centre, Newbiggen Lane, Lanchester, County Durham. Our follow-on five-week training courses are for young dogs aged under a year who have trained with Vicky before or recently completed a puppy training course with us. This course is not suitable for young dogs with behaviour issues.

During the Follow On course, we will teach you to teach your adolescent dog the following:

✅ Teaching them to walk on a loose lead.
✅ Learning about dog body language.
✅ Coping with the adolescent phase and how training may need to be adapted during this time.
✅ How to ensure your dog greets people without jumping up.
✅ Teaching an extended settle.
✅ How appropriate play with you can create a bond that will last a lifetime.
✅ How to focus on you in the presence of distractions.
✅ How to avoid problems over food and objects without using confrontational techniques.
✅ Teaching your dog to enjoy handling to prepare them for groomers and vets.

Your dog can receive the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Good Companion Award - a certificate and rosette at the end of the course.
Cost - £99

To book and pay for the place, PM us here or email: [email protected]
NB. We do not sell merchandise on this page, so ignore spam companies who jump on this thread.

31/07/2025

Alex was a one in a million dog. He was one of the first Dog A.I.D. Assistance in Disability partnerships I worked with. Even with his health struggles in later life, he always greeted you with a waggy tail. He will be a huge miss.

Leonie (Alex's mum) will be raising funds for Dog A.I.D at the North East Dog Festival, on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August 2025, so please come along and say hi and help support this great charity

30/07/2025

Shout out to my newest followers! Excited to have you onboard! Evi Antoniadou, Mark Braban, Ross Herbert

21/07/2025

Congratulations to the latest graduates who have received their APDT Good Companion Awards 😀 Herbie, Holi, Maggie, Oscar, Poppy, R***r, and Tippy