Skipton Dog Training

26/04/2025

13/04/2025

Got a new puppy?
We still have some availability in our next puppy course starting Tuesday 22nd of April.
Please get in touch if you’d like further information or to book. 🐶

03/04/2025

Puppies have completed their puppy course this week. 👏🐶🐾
Please message for next available puppy course.

24/03/2025

Well done Inka, think that might be the stillest we’ve ever seen you! 😆

24/03/2025

Well done Sidney 🥉👏

19/03/2025

Another lovely set of dogs have passed their bronze course this week. Well done 👏

05/03/2025

A muzzle doesn’t tell you a dog’s story. It doesn’t tell you about their joy, their playfulness, or how deeply they’re loved.

It doesn’t tell you if they’re nervous around strangers, still learning about the world, or simply being kept safe from eating something harmful on a walk.

But here’s what a muzzle does tell you 👇

It tells you that their guardian is prioritising safety… safety for their dog and for those around them. It tells you their guardian understands that dogs, just like humans, can have boundaries and big feelings. It tells you their guardian is proactive, thoughtful, and responsible.

Muzzles are a safety measure, not a label.

They can prevent a dog from scavenging something dangerous, reduce stress at the vet, and provide comfort post surgery. For some dogs, muzzles mean they get to explore the world safely and enjoy more freedom… not less.

The stigma around muzzles often stems from fear or misunderstanding. People assume a muzzled dog is ‘dangerous,’ but the truth is, muzzles are no different from seatbelts or helmets… they’re protective, practical, and sometimes essential.

So, next time you see a dog in a muzzle, see beyond the muzzle. See a loved, cared for dog with a guardian doing their absolute best. 💕🫶

02/03/2025

Many don’t know this information! Remember every second matters during a choking incident.
1. Place the dog on their back. Brace the back against the floor. Straddle the dog while adjusting yourself based on the size of the dog. Position the head in “in-line position” with the airway parallel to the floor.
2. Make an open diamond shape with your hands. Place your thumbs on either side of the trachea below the ball or object. Grip the “V” of the jaw using lip/cheek to protect fingers.
3. Push with a J-stroke down and out against the ball until it ejects from the mouth.
Both this method and the Heimlich method has been proven to work in these scenarios so don’t hesitate to save your dog.

20/02/2025

As a first step to end animal testing, we want an immediate ban for dogs. They are commercially bred in what we see as bleak and inhumane factory-like conditions. We believe there is evidence suggesting that dogs are left being unattended for extended periods in a Government-licenced establishment.

20/02/2025

Another puppy course completed ☑️ 🐶🐾
Next puppy course starts 25/02/2025 please get in touch for further information and to secure your place.

12/02/2025

Next Date for puppy training is Tuesday the 25th of February. Please get in touch for further information and to secure your spot.

11/02/2025

🐎Horses and dogs 🐕‍🦺

We often don't think of our lovable companions as predators or prey, but by nature, dogs are predators and horses are prey animals, and unfortunately, sometimes these instincts can take over and result in undesirable behaviours, such as chasing or fleeing. This can be distressing for both animals and handlers, and in the worst-case scenario, can be fatal.

Here is some of our advice for equestrians and dog walkers

Top tips for horse owners
🐴Always slow to a walk pass dogs.
🐴Communicate with the owner if they have not seen you or call out for an owner if a dog is loose or unaccompanied.
🐴If necessary, stop to allow the owner to put their dog on a lead.
🐴Give dogs a wide berth so they do not feel threatened.
🐴Always wear hi vis to enable other route users to see you more easily.
🐴Be nice and say hi.

Top tips for dog owners
🐶Always keep your dog on a lead or in sight.
🐶Be confident your dog will return on command.
🐶Make sure your dog does not stray from the path or area where you have right of access.
🐶Introduce your dog to horses and train them to maintain calm around horses.
🐶Don’t allow your dog to jump up at the horse.
🐶If you’re not sure how your dog will react around horses, keep them on a lead and ask them to sit and stay while the horse passes.
🐶Be nice and say hi.

10/02/2025

Let’s change the conversation around muzzles. 🤐

A muzzled dog doesn’t mean a dangerous dog. ❌

It means a dog with a guardian who prioritises safety and care. ❤️

Even dogs with big feelings aren’t defined by a single moment. Just like us, they have good days and bad days… but that doesn’t make them “dangerous.”

Muzzles aren’t about fear… they’re about love, responsibility, and setting dogs up for success.

Let’s break the stigma. Share this and help shift the narrative! ✌️

31/01/2025

WRITTEN BY A VET - I have been writing this post in my head for nearly 3 years and until today I've never been brave enough to post it. But recently some people doing similar work and facing much the same reality have used social media to speak up about a topic that for so long has not been discussed. Their bravery has given me the courage to finally share my thoughts and experiences about something that I’ve needed to for so long.

Today I euthanased 5 dogs. This is not an uncommon task for a vet to perform and getting into the profession you are well aware of the fact that this is something you will have to do in your chosen career. However, the dogs I put down today were not sick, they were not injured, they were not old and they were not unhealthy in any way. They were not untamed and they were not aggressive. They were perfect, healthy and normal dogs. There was no reason for them to lose their lives today other than that they were failed by humans because of the current overpopulation crisis of domestic animals particularly dogs that so few people are prepared to accept and try to understand.

The euthanasia of healthy animals by animal welfare organisations and shelters across the world is something that we need to start talking about but it is not an easy topic for someone who is in this line of work to discuss. One, because how can you possibly put into words something that is so deeply personal and difficult to come to terms with in your own mind and two, how can you risk the possibility of losing such important funding that keeps welfare organisations and shelters alive by drawing attention to something that the public at large simply know very little about and so few people understand.

The dogs that I put down today were so excited to see me. How lucky they were to have someone in their kennel giving them attention and maybe just maybe they'd even be so lucky as to be taken out for a walk - their tails were wagging and everyone was jumping for joy. One of them was nervous and scared of me. This was a dog that had likely never had much in the way of attention or love from a human being. I have tried everything possible to make the task easier for myself and for those who assist me. I have tried doing it in their kennels, I’ve tried doing it on the grass outside so that the dogs can walk for a bit to experience one last bit of freedom and fresh air. I’ve fed them last meals, I’ve done it in the clinic and nothing makes it easier. The only thing that makes it bearable for me is to sedate them first so that they are sleeping when their lives end and not wagging their tails looking at me – I know this is a luxury that many other people doing this work do not have access to.

Today I chose to put them down in their kennels after I’d sedated them. Letting them leave on a bed and blanket that they have used for comfort for the past few weeks or sometimes even months. I take care to make sure that no other dog or animal is a witness but still the others around them must know. Usually the dogs bark endlessly at any small movement or sound but there is nothing more deafening than the silence of nearly one hundred dogs while ending the life of one of their neighbours or friends. They must know and I so often wonder if they are thinking if they are next or when their time will come.

In their final moments I tell each of them that I am sorry and for those who leave behind friends, puppies or siblings I promise them that I will take care of them and do my very best to find them homes or see that they are cared for properly. These are trivial words compared to what I should be saying to them but it’s hard to give them the apology they so deserve in the short time it takes for the life to leave their little bodies. What I should be saying to them is that I’m sorry you never got the opportunity to experience what it’s like to sleep on a couch and I’m sorry that those who did get to sleep on a couch once have ended up being unwanted and failed by the humans who took them into their homes in the first place. I’m so sorry that they were born into a world that didn’t have space for them and so many others. I’m sorry that they weren’t pretty enough or the right breed to be one of the chosen ones and I’m sorry that for months or for some of them nearly a year countless people walked past their cage and decided not to choose them or to leave and rather choose to buy a puppy somewhere else instead.

I have tried my best to cope with it as I know many others do too - by doing what I believe is everything humanly possible to find unwanted dogs and cats homes. I spend hours of my time holding them while they pose for photos, writing posts for Facebook, advertising them and putting their stories and personalities into words as best I can all in the hopes of someone deciding to choose them. I talk to people and encourage them to adopt but this does not always work. I have spayed until 10pm at night before because if I can just do one more spay it might help. Like so many others in this line of work, I have done hours of work behind the scenes and out of the public eye for no benefit other than hopefully having to euthanase one less healthy animal. I have done my fair share of adopting too having adopted 8 dogs and regularly contemplate whether I could take on another one or two despite my home already being near overrun.

But it is still not enough and the burden of this crisis and war that we are fighting against over population is not to be borne by only a small group of people across the world who are prepared to sacrifice so much because they are not ignorant to the reality of what is going on around them. It is something that everyone who has ever loved an animal has to accept as their fight too. Which is one of the reasons I am writing this post and have been trying to write it for so long.

Everyone has a way in which they can contribute to this fight and many are simple.
- Volunteer - spend time at a local animal shelter or organisation so you have a better understanding of what is happening out there. The animals in shelters love attention and walks even if it is only to make their time there more comfortable until it must come to an end.
- Donate if you can and especially towards sterilisation programs. We must stop these animals at their source – the more puppies and kittens we can prevent, the fewer healthy dogs need to be put down.
- Adopt if you are in a position to get a new pet. There is no reason to go out and buy a dog or cat when there are such perfect ones looking for homes. If everyone who could did choose to adopt, the world would be a much better place for it.

Thank you to those who continue to support me and my work especially through donations towards my sterilisation programs. Every donation that helps me do a spay gives me the strength to face another day and I have a lot of hope that we can change the world one spay at a time. I only wish to create more awareness about the crisis we are facing and I hope that those working in this line of work feel that my words here have done this important topic justice.

I do hope that in my lifetime I could live in a world where no healthy animal is euthanased due to lack of space, lack of homes or lack of resources available. I’m not sure if I will ever get to see that be a reality but I think we all know by now that I will never give up trying!

📷 : Photo by Kate Jackson-Moss

The dog featured here was a dog I euthanased last year. I was very fond of him but sadly had to let him go. I still think of him often and wish things were different for him and so many others.

30/01/2025

Well done to Blu and Mac who passed their Gold test last night 🥇🏆🌟💛