The Dog Lab / Laura Labrador

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The Dog Lab / Laura Labrador

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At The Dog Lab, I help dogs (& their owners!) thrive. Need daycare or boarding? Your dog will enjoy walks, a family home, and plenty of TLC.

From group puppy classes to 1:1 training, I’ll help your young dog grow into a well-rounded family companion.

21/10/2026

THE ART OF DOING NOTHING!

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, not if you’re a working line dog who thinks every dog, person, smell and passing leaf requires your immediate attention!

One of the most valuable things I teach dogs is how to do absolutely nothing.

To sit. To watch. To take it all in. And to realise that they don’t need to be involved in absolutely everything going on around them.

So, I’m running a two-hour group workshop where we’ll be putting this into practice in the real world.

We’ll be working on:

Being calm around other dogs (without having to say hello!)

Walking nicely on the lead

Building confidence in unfamiliar surroundings

Learning to switch off whilst you enjoy a coffee

Understanding how YOUR behaviour influences your dog’s behaviour

This isn’t about having a perfectly obedient dog. It’s about having a dog you can take to the pub, out for coffee or into town without it turning into a complete circus!

THE DETAILS

📍 The Fox, Broadwell

📅 Friday 27th November

⏰ 9.30am–11.30am

💷 £80 per dog

🐕 For working-line dogs aged 6 months and over.

Please note that this workshop is not suitable for dogs who display aggressive behaviour towards people or other dogs.

We’ll meet in the additional parking area at the top of the car park.

Places will be limited so that everyone gets plenty of individual attention.

Because sometimes the best thing you can teach your dog is to do absolutely nothing.

DM me to book your place

08/10/2026

Lovely Labrador. Questionable manners?

You adore them. But you’d quite like to finish a walk with both shoulders intact, welcome visitors without a full rugby tackle and leave something on the kitchen counter without it disappearing.

Sound familiar?

Whether you’ve got a new puppy, a teenager whose ears appear to be painted on, or an older dog with a few habits to tidy up, I’ve got several ways to help.

From my self-paced Liquid Gold Puppy Course to four- and eight-week 1:1 programmes, we work on the foundations that make everyday life together more enjoyable.

And 70% of my clients train with me online. Your home, your garden, your everyday challenges—with me helping you along the way.

Comment PUDDING and I’ll send you the full PDF with the training options, prices and links.

Because lovely Labradors can have lovely manners, too.

05/10/2026

We expect an awful lot from our dogs.

If your dog’s world is mostly your house, the same footpaths, the same fields and the same familiar smells, you can’t suddenly take them into a busy town and expect them to behave perfectly.

Traffic. People. Buses. Beeping pedestrian crossings. Pushchairs. Doors opening. Dogs passing. Strange smells everywhere.

What looks like “bad behaviour” can simply be a dog that’s overwhelmed and doesn’t know what to do with all that information.

This is why I start young.

Before my puppies have had their final vaccinations, I carry them. We go and watch the world.

Traffic. Cafés. Pubs. Shops. People. Children. Different surfaces. Different noises. Different smells.

And we don’t necessarily do anything.

We sit. We watch. We listen. We take it all in.

Those early weeks are incredibly valuable. Puppies are naturally curious and adaptable, and those positive, carefully managed experiences help build the confidence they’ll need later.

Socialisation isn’t playing with other dogs.

It’s teaching your puppy that the big, noisy, slightly bonkers world we live in is nothing to worry about.

I want my dogs to be as comfortable walking through a busy town as they are trotting across a field in the Cotswolds.

Don’t wait until you need your dog to cope with something to introduce them to it.

Practise. Expose them. Let them observe. Set them up to succeed.

Have you exposed your dog to enough to make them bulletproof?

28/09/2026

Not everyone needs my full 8-week programme.

Sometimes you just need someone to look at what’s happening, work out where the gaps are and help you get things back on track.

That’s why I’ve created my 4-Week Foundations Programme.

We’ll focus on the things that are making everyday life with your dog harder than it needs to be — recall, lead walking, over-excitement, listening around distractions, boundaries, calmness or simply getting your dog to engage with you again.

You’ll get 4 private 1:1 sessions, online or in person, plus WhatsApp support for the full four weeks.

Send me videos. Ask me questions. Tell me when it’s gone brilliantly — and tell me when the wheels have completely fallen off.

I’ll help you understand what’s happening, what to change and how to become the owner your dog needs you to be.

4 weeks | £495 | Online or in person

If you know things could be better, but you’re not quite sure how to get there, this is for you.

Link in bio to find out more.

27/09/2026

I’m addicted. There, I said it.

To Labradors. To watching the penny finally drop. To the messages that say, “I actually enjoyed our walk today.” To seeing an owner go from frazzled and frustrated to quietly thinking… we’ve got this.

And yes, I’m probably slightly addicted to a nice line of Labradors sitting beautifully too.

But mostly, I’m addicted to helping people understand their dogs.

I work with Labrador owners all over the world, online and in person here in the Cotswolds. From puppies just starting out to adolescent Labradors who have rather taken over the household.

My 8-week 1:1 Foundations Programme is completely tailored to you and your dog. Real life. Real problems. Proper support. No one-size-fits-all training plan.

Because a well-trained Labrador is lovely.

But an owner who understands their Labrador? That’s the real goal.

If you’d like to work with me, drop me a DM and we can book a 15 min discovery call.

Happy Sunday from me and my rather lovely students. 🤎

21/09/2026

There are two of you on the end of that lead.

We spend so much time watching our dogs — their body language, their reactions, their behaviour — but how often do we stop and notice our own?

The tight grip on the lead.
The held breath.
The shoulders creeping up.
The thought of “oh God, here we go” before anything has even happened.

Daphne’s story was such a powerful reminder of just how sensitive some dogs can be to what is happening around them — including us.

This isn’t about blaming ourselves for our dogs’ behaviour. Far from it.

It’s simply about becoming more aware.

Sometimes before we ask our dog to change something, it’s worth checking what’s happening at our end of the lead first.

Notice more. React less. And give both of you a chance to work it out together.

10/09/2026

Gundog classes aren’t necessarily where you build the foundations.

They’re where you USE them.

Quite a few people came to me over the summer and admitted they’d taken their young dog to gundog classes before they were really ready.

Their dog was disappearing off to see the other dogs. They couldn’t get their attention back. Everyone else seemed to be progressing while they were still trying to get their dog to listen.

They felt awkward. Embarrassed. Deflated.

And that isn’t how it’s supposed to feel.

Because it can really dent your confidence — and your young dog’s confidence too. If you’re standing there stressed and embarrassed, that travels straight down to your dog.

It’s also disruptive for the people in the class who ARE ready and want to progress.

So take your time.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Get the foundations bulletproof first.

A solid recall — and I don’t mean in your kitchen. I mean around distractions and other dogs.

Being able to get your dog’s attention back.

Walking together.

Waiting.

Doing nothing, whilst everyone else is doing something.

And having a dog that understands you’re still relevant when far more exciting things are happening around them.

This is the bit I specialise in. The Foundations.

Everything you need to build a decent, well-behaved dog that you actually enjoy living with and taking out.

Why do you do when you have mastered the foundations?

You can stop there because that’s all you ever wanted. A really nicely behaved dog that’s easy to take anywhere.

Or go on to gundog training, scent work — whatever you fancy — knowing that BOTH of you are ready.

You have the skills.
You have the confidence.
You have the right mindset.

And when it doesn’t go to plan — because at some point it won’t — you have the tools to get it back on track.

Foundations always come first.

Everything else becomes so much easier from there.

Address

Churchill
Chipping Norton
OX7

Telephone

+447778933133

Website

http://www.thedoglab.co.uk/

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