AB Dog Coaching

03/06/2026

Part 1 of my dog's schedule: Mabel

This video is intended to show you that walking dogs is not everything. In the case of a working line dog, it's something that isn't high on my priority list.

Instead, we're focusing on breed specific activities and providing opportunities for natural behaviours.

I am also purposely building rest days into Mabel's schedule. Mabel does a lot (because she needs a lot more than most dogs do and my life allows for it), but this means there are lots of stresses that happen in her life both physically and mentally.

Mabel does do a lot, but she also does more than she probably needs. A lot of the time we spend outdoors is simply being present and enjoying our countryside. It is absolutely not essential and I'm very privileged to be able to spend that extra time with her.

This is not supposed to be something you compare your own dog's life with, it's to give people an idea about mine and Mabel's reality, and to understand my priorities for her (being breed specific work and rest).

02/06/2026

🐾❤️ MEET GRACIE ❤️🐾

This beautiful girl is Gracie, a 6-year-old female Labrador Cross looking for her forever family. 🏡

Sadly, Gracie’s owner passed away, and through no fault of her own she has found herself searching for a new place to call home. 💔

Gracie is an absolute angel. She walks beautifully on a lead, loves people, is friendly with other dogs, and has the sweetest nature. 🐕✨

One of Gracie’s favourite things in the world is a cuddle! If you’re looking for a loyal companion who will happily snuggle up beside you after a nice walk, Gracie could be your perfect match. 🥰

Gracie has been working hard on her weight-loss journey and is doing really well. But this does need continuing at her new home! She is now ready to start looking for the loving forever home she truly deserves. ❤️

Could you be the one to give this lovely girl a second chance?

📍 Home check required
📍 Adoption fee applies
📍 Must be willing to travel to meet/adopt
📍 Please remember that adopting a dog is a lifelong commitment

If you think Gracie could be the missing piece of your family, please get in touch. Even if you can’t adopt, a share could help her find her perfect home. 🙏🐾

01/06/2026

Raven is a dog that I've worked with previously. She will be a fantastic dog for someone with the right home and I'm happy to talk to anyone interested in applying for her. I absolutely love working with her, she is incredibly enthusiastic to learn and work.

Welcome to Raven, a year old puppy Begian Malinois cross looking for a breed experience owner who knows how to deal with reactive dogs.

* Vaccinations and flea & wormer up to date
* Good with children 10+
* Not good with dogs
* Good with cats
* Housetrained
* Crate trained
* Can be left up to 4 hours
* Pulls on the lead and is strong
* Knows basic commands
* Doesn’t love the car
* Very clever and picks things up quickly
* Barks meeting new people
* Food orientated
* Is currently doing desensitisation training
* Loves playing tug and chasing toys
* Loves raw treats and is fed raw

Raven is entire due to age and will be rehomed on a spay contract.

Raven is very wary of the world really. She needs a breed experienced home to help her flourish in life.

If you think you can offer Raven the best home please complete an application form

https://www.cognitoforms.com/WagsToRiches1/AdoptionEnquiry

01/06/2026

That slow, methodical sniffing that your dog is doing is helping to regulate arousal, and we can accidentally interrupt or rush that process.

When we don't give our dogs the opportunity to take in information with their nose, we remove one of the most important ways of understanding and settling in an environment.

Giving opportunities to take in scent through calm sniffing does a couple of things:

1) It removes pressure to constantly move or “perform” a walk, so your dog can process the environment at their own pace
2) Calm, exploratory behaviour is naturally reinforcing, so your dog is more likely to repeat it
3) It reduces uncertainty, because your dog is gathering information in a way that makes the environment feel more predictable

Sniffing isn’t a break from the walk — it’s a fundamental part of how dogs experience it.

30/05/2026

Lots of dogs struggle to settle when they're not at home.

This is why you might struggle taking your dog for a quiet cup of coffee or to your local pub.

The important thing to understand is that settling isn’t a single behaviour, it’s a skill that needs to be practised in different environments.

I like to practise this on my walks as an intermediate step between busier, higher pressure places.

This helps generalise the skill before moving into those real-life settings you actually want to relax in with your dog, like cafés or pubs.

What does calm look like for your dog outdoors?

29/05/2026

When we started fostering Ellie, it was clear that she had a lack of confidence in the world...

So it would have been really easy to focus on the big reactions that she would sometimes have.

But what we focused on were the seemingly less significant feelings she was having, where there was very little actually happening around us.

Ellie was very nervous on walks almost the entire time. I knew this because her tail was tucked almost always, she was hyper vigilant, scanning constantly and the most minor sounds could really spook her.

And this also showed in the garden at home as well for a long time. When we first had she had to be supervised very closely and we were constantly bringing her in when she was finding things overwhelming.

It was very clear that Ellie needed a boost in confidence. But Ccnfidence doesn’t grow from repeatedly feeling overwhelmed. It grows from success, safety and predictability.

This means we almost exclusively avoided other people and dogs as best we could. We picked quiet places where she could be on a long line and just be herself. And guess what? She was successfully enjoying her walks more and more each time.

Did we have setbacks? Of course. The amount of frustrations we'd have because other people couldn't control their dogs, or the amount of times we'd bump into people at corners. But generally, her walks were enjoyable.

So how did this help? Having that inner confidence meant that minor sounds stopped being so significant, scanning became less about watching for triggers and more about taking the sights and smells in. She started actually exploring, sniffing with her nose, tracking scents and digging. Her tail is very rarely tucked on a walk and her engagement with us is so much better.

If you're struggling with a nervous dog, maybe it’s time to stop prioritising exposure and start prioritising successful experiences.

28/05/2026

"A treat isn't more reinforcing than chasing a bird, so it will never work".

This is one of the biggest criticisms I hear about force free training, but it's a complete misunderstanding about how reinforcement history works.

Here Mabel has stopped at the whistle whilst investigating a bird in cover. It's not happened because she's scared or that she doesn't want to hunt the bird, it's happened because we've practiced and proofed the stop whistle so much, that she has a realistic expectation that stopping is worth her while.

But the thing with working breeds, is that building a good reinforcement history by passing her a treat is a very long winded process. So what rewards did I use to build it up reliably without endless drills?

- access to hunt (this could be for food, a dummy or even a scent that an animal has left behind)
- released back to the environment she was investigating (once the animal is gone)
- a retrieve, or a redirection on to a retrieve she's already searching for
- simply being released to freely explore

Mabel is a simple creature. Like most spaniels, hunting is life, but hunting with you is better with you if you show your dog that you know where all the food stuff is. So yes, Mabel knows she might find a bird if she ignores the stop whistle, but she knows that if she does stop then there's likely a more certain hunting opportunity that will come through me instead.

27/05/2026

One of the absolute best things about what I do is being able to work with the dogs awaiting their forever home.

And I'm always talking about the dogs we have to people, but not so much on social media. So, here they are

1. Tracey (maybe renaming to Daisy) - she seems to be a lab mix as she's on the small side. She came to the rescue last week as her owner had unfortunately passed away. She's an absolute sweetheart and loves everyone.

2. Duke - I'm trying so hard to find this man a home. He's a long term resident at the rescue. He's the most loyal dog, easygoing and a gentle giant. He does suffer when left alone so needs somebody who can be around most of the time and build this up gradually.

3. Tucker - this lad is a bit of a nervous boy, but he quickly warms up to you. He is learning how to live in our world, especially within a home so needs a calm household where he can learn to feel comfortable in his own time.

4. Ingor - I absolutely love this dog (as I do them all). He's super intelligent, picks things up super quickly. He can get a little excited but is absolutely fine if given some challenges to work that brain.

Please if you are considering a dog, please consider dropping me a message about any of these dogs, or pop into your local shelter as there are so many dogs across the country in need of a good home.

26/05/2026

26/05/2026

Ignorance is not an excuse!

Yes, I said it. Ignorance when it comes to your dogs health and safety is not a good enough reason to put them in danger during this heatwave that parts of the UK are experiencing currently.

I've seen lots of educational posts, all of which have comments underneath saying "I saw X walking their dog in the midday sun", or other comments explaining uneducated owners putting their dog in extreme danger.

And education is good, but education is something that as good dog guardians, we seek out. It is something we do proactively to ensure we are best prepared for having a dog companion. This is no different to parents researching how to look after their babies when planning a family.

I don't want this to turn into a rant, into something negative, because that's not what I'm about. My business is about helping dogs and people in a positive way. So here are 10 things I've seen other people do (in person or online) to help their dogs during this period of hot weather:

1. Taking their dogs out early in the morning (as early as 4:30am) and late at night only
2. Dog water bowls being placed in gardens in the shade so the dog has easy access to it when enjoying a bit of sun.
3. Fans placed in hotspot areas at home to help keep the dog cool
4. Paddling pools out for dogs as a way to cool off
5. Taking dogs inside from the garden at the hottest times, or when they're showing early signs of being a bit hot
6. Dog guardians who don't have gardens, taking their dogs to shaded areas nearby for toileting and some sniffing. In some cases, dogs are carried to the shaded area
7. Families going to the dog friendly pub or cafe WITHOUT their dog.
8. Dog walkers, trainers and other businesses completely rescheduling their days, offering safe, alternative services or completely cancelling their day
9. People volunteering at shelters, helping with tasks such as refreshing water, taking the dogs in paddling pools, or just sitting with them in a shaded area to give them a break from their kennel
10. Providing their dog with frozen treats as a way to keep their dog cool and calm