The Dog Trainers - Durham Dog Training

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The Dog Trainers - Durham Dog Training

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2x Voted UK Best Dog Trainers by the public
300+ 5 star Reviews
Qualified and Accredited
4000+ Dogs

13/11/2026

🐾 Durham puppy owners – start your puppy's training journey the right way!

We're running our 6-week, in-person puppy classes at venues across the North East, so you can choose the one that suits you best. These classes still have spaces:

📍 Sunderland – Monday 16 November, 6:00pm (Pennywell Community Centre)
📍 South Shields – Monday 16 November, 7:00pm (Marsden Road Health and Wellbeing Centre)
📍 Washington & Gateshead – Wednesday 18 November, 6:00pm (Eighton Banks Village Hall)

What you can expect:
✅ Game-based, force-free training from qualified, accredited trainers
✅ Loose lead walking, reliable recall, and teaching your puppy to drop and leave items
✅ Confidence-building activities and personalised attention for every puppy
✅ An online theory course to help with teething, chewing, toilet training and socialisation
✅ An exclusive goody bag

Limited spaces available – booking links are in the comments 👇

10/11/2026

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Another awesome new 5 Star Review from another happy client and dog super team! ❤️

10/11/2026

Week 2 with our 2nd Monday evening puppy group im Sunderland 🐾

Our two gorgeous boys were back last night and ready to get stuck into their games! 🐶

We continued building on our foundations, helping our puppies develop important life skills and strengthen their relationships with their humans.

Here's what we've been working on:

🐾 Bed Shaping: Encouraging puppies to choose their bed, building confidence and independent thinking.

🐾 Impulse Control: Teaching puppies to pause, think and make good choices.

🐾 Find My Face: Building on eye contact and encouraging puppies to actively seek out their owners.

🐾 Heel Position: Introducing the position we want our puppies in when walking with us, laying the foundations for loose lead walking.

🐾 Intro to Toy Play: Teaching puppies and owners how to play together safely, building engagement and strengthening their bond.

We also threw in a couple of additional games.

🐾 Airplane: A great game for bringing our puppies energy levels down.

🐾This Way: A great game for teaching our dogs to move with us and great for moving our puppies away from distractions.

We also covered how rewarding voluntary check in and voluntary loose leads can make a big impact on loose lead walking.

🏠 This week's homework

Keep practising your bed shaping, ready for us to introduce the verbal cue next week. Build on your impulse control games in preparation for introducing Leave, and continue developing Find My Face and those lovely voluntary check ins.

For heel position, practise in short sessions, start adding your verbal cue and gradually fade out the food lure. Don't forget to keep enjoying your toy play together too!

Remember, short, fun and successful sessions are the way forward. We're building foundations, not rushing the process!

A huge well done to our two lovely boys and their humans. We can't wait to see what they achieve next!

Bring on week 3! 👏🐶💕

09/11/2026

New Sunderland Puppy Graduates 🎓🐾

And just like that, another 6 week puppy course has come to an end! What a lovely group of characters we've had the pleasure of getting to know.

In week 6, we revisited our usual games and covered our nose to tail health checks, bringing together everything we've been learning. But most importantly, we celebrated how far these little ones have come!

🐾 Cazza

Our gorgeous German Shepherd, full of energy and enthusiasm! Always ready to get involved, Cazza has been a joy to work with. It's been lovely watching him put that busy brain to work and build on his skills.

🐾 Nova

Oh, gorgeous Nova! In week one, we were figuring out the best ways to encourage her to settle. Fast forward to week 6 and we had a full on sploot, with those back legs kicked right out! 😂 She's certainly discovered that relaxing can be rather lovely.

🐾 Doc

A tiny dog with a BIG personality! This little sweetheart has brought plenty of character to our sessions and has been an absolute pleasure to get to know.

🐾 Bree

Our friendly, food loving Golden Retriever! Always happy to get involved, especially when tasty rewards are on offer. A lovely girl who has brought plenty of enthusiasm to learning.

🐾 Molly

One of the most special journeys to watch. In week one, Molly would run away from me, but by week 6 she had found her confidence and was happily coming over for a fuss. Those little moments are what puppy training is all about. ❤️

A huge well done to all our puppy guardians too. It's been a pleasure watching every pup progress and seeing the time and effort you've put in along the way.

Remember, the learning doesn't have to stop here! Your puppy class videos will always be available to revisit whenever you need a little refresher.

Congratulations to our latest graduates. I'll miss seeing you all each week, and I can't wait to see where your adventures take you next! 🎓🐾❤️

07/11/2026

🐾 Saturday's 1:1s! 🐾

Today we caught up with three familiar faces as they continue their training journeys. It's always lovely seeing those foundations start to come together! ❤️

🐶 First up, we were back in Jarrow to see Yuki the Samoyed for session 3!

Over the last couple of sessions, we've built some lovely loose lead walking foundations. Today we took these skills out on a walk to practise in different environments, troubleshoot and make adjustments along the way.

We had some lovely check-ins between Yuki and his guardians and discovered just how much he LOVES to sniff! We'll be exploring how to use this as a life reward in future sessions. 🐾

🐶 Next, we stayed in Jarrow to visit Sadie for session 2!

Sadie's guardians are looking for support with recall, loose lead walking and her love of chasing wildlife.

Today we introduced a "Get It" cue as part of her impulse control work, teaching Sadie to pause and think before being released to her reward (her tug toy!).

We also introduced the heel cue and started fading out the food lure. Her recall is already really strong at home, so now we need to transfer those skills outside. Next session, we're heading to the park!

🐶 Finally, we were back in Sunderland to see Luna for session 3!

Luna's guardians wanted support with calmness around visitors, loose lead walking and recall.

Her calmness is coming on brilliantly, and the difference since session one has been amazing! Her loose lead walking is going well too, with her guardian reporting how much more enjoyable their walks have become. ❤️

Today we started building her recall foundations, ready to take things up a level at the park in session 4.

Three lovely sessions and lots of progress to celebrate! It's clear you're all putting the work in between sessions, and that's where so much of the magic happens.

Well done Yuki, Sadie, Luna and your wonderful guardians. Can't wait to see you all again soon! 🥰

Fiona x

06/11/2026

🐾 Durham puppy owners – puppy classes with spaces are coming up in the surrounding area!

Our 6-week, in-person puppy classes are designed by qualified canine behaviourists and run by experienced, accredited trainers. It's all force-free, fun and game-based, so your puppy learns to want to stay close to you.

What your puppy will learn:
• Loose lead walking and reliable recall
• To drop and leave items on cue
• Confidence in new situations
• Plus personalised attention, an online theory course (teething, chewing, toilet training, socialisation) and a goody bag

Choose the venue and date that suits you:
📍 Sunderland – Monday 9 November, 7:00pm (Pennywell Community Centre)
📍 Sunderland – Monday 16 November, 6:00pm (Pennywell Community Centre)
📍 South Shields – Monday 16 November, 7:00pm (Marsden Road Health and Wellbeing Centre)
📍 Washington & Gateshead – Wednesday 18 November, 6:00pm (Eighton Banks Village Hall, Gateshead)

Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised. Booking links are in the comments 👇

03/11/2026

🐾 New Recruits in Sunderland! 🐾

Our second class of the evening saw us welcoming two gorgeous new puppies and their humans to the family as they begin their training journey with us. 💛

A smaller class, but plenty to learn! Week 1 is all about building those important foundations and helping puppies and owners start developing that lovely connection.

We worked through our usual games:

🐶 Marker Word: Helping puppies understand when they've got something right.

🐶 I Love My Name: Building a positive response when they hear their name.

🐶 All Eyes On Me: Encouraging focus and engagement with their humans.

🐶 Runaway Recall: Making coming back to you fun and rewarding.

🐶 Settle: Learning the importance of switching off and relaxing.

🐶 Middle: Building closeness, confidence and connection.

We also chatted about something incredibly important… PUPPY SLEEP! 💤 Growing puppies need plenty of quality rest to help them learn, develop and process all the new experiences they're taking in. Sometimes doing nothing is just as important as doing something!

We finished with our Preference Test, helping owners discover which rewards their puppies love most. After all, knowing what motivates your dog makes training much more rewarding!

🏠 HOMEWORK:

This week, it's all about practising! Recap the games at home, using your puppy class videos as a handy reference to help you along. Keep sessions short, fun and positive, and remember that little and often is the way to go.

Get those foundations in place and be ready for Week 2! 🐾

A huge welcome to our newest recruits. We can't wait to see you again next week! 💛

02/11/2026

Week three in Newcastle for these perfect pups 🐶

So much progress already on their settle, self-control, and engagement in a busy environment.

On top of this we introduced loose lead walking foundations, swapping toys and also worked through disengaging around other dogs with those who needed some extra support.

Well done everyone and see you next week! 🐾

02/11/2026

🐾 Week 5 in Sunderland! 🐾

Tonight was our first class of the evening in Sunderland, and we're already into the final stretch of this 6-week puppy course!

We had another busy session, introducing new skills, revisiting some important life skills and putting those foundations into practice.

We started with “paw”, a lovely practical skill to help with nail clipping, drying muddy feet and checking for any injuries.

We then built on our “leave” cue, adding more challenge to help our pups make good choices around tempting distractions.

Next up was “drop”, an incredibly important cue that could one day help keep our dogs safe if they pick up something they shouldn't.

We also played our “What's This?" recall game, keeping coming back to their humans fun and rewarding, before finishing with some loose lead walking to encourage our pups to walk nicely alongside us.

The progress these pups are making is lovely to see.

Homework time! 📝

This week, we'd love everyone to practise all the games we've covered throughout the course, but with a particular focus on walking in heel position as next week we'll be looking to fade out the food rewards used in loose lead walking, so we want those foundations nice and strong!

And can you believe it… next week is GRADUATION WEEK for this class! 🎓🐶

Our final class has come around so quickly. I can't wait to celebrate how far these pups and their humans have come!

31/10/2026

🐾 A lovely Saturday of 1:1s! 🐾

Today we spent time with three lovely pups and their guardians. Two new faces starting their training journeys with us, and one familiar face making some lovely progress!

🐶 First up was Robbie!

Robbie is a 7-month-old Goldendoodle whose guardian contacted us for support with jumping up at visitors and getting very excited before walks.

Today we started building some important foundations, including introducing a marker word so Robbie can understand when he's got something right, and working on engagement with his guardian.

We also discussed management strategies for when visitors arrive, helping to prevent Robbie from rehearsing the jumping up, while introducing an alternative behaviour we'd like him to learn instead.

🐾 Next, we had our second session with Enzo!

Enzo's guardians are looking for support with loose lead walking, calmness and excitement around visitors. Last session we focused on building calmness, and it's lovely to already see some positive progress!

Today we introduced some simple loose lead walking games, including our "This Way" game, rewarding those lovely voluntary check-ins and reinforcing Enzo when he chooses to stay alongside his guardians.

🐕 And finally, we met Ralphy for his first session!

Ralphy is a very energetic boy who gets rather excited around visitors, so today we focused on some similar foundations to Robbie.

We introduced his marker word, worked on engagement with his guardian, and discussed management strategies to help prevent jumping up while teaching him an alternative behaviour.

We also looked at our calmness protocol, including capturing and rewarding those lovely moments when Ralphy chooses to settle by himself. Because learning how to switch off is an important skill in itself.

A lovely day of 1:1s, with new foundations being built, some familiar skills developing and lots of opportunities for our dogs and their guardians to learn together.

Well done Robbie, Enzo, Ralphy and your lovely guardians! I can't wait to see how everyone progresses at their next sessions. 🐾

Fiona x

Address

79 Front Street
Durham
DH61HD

Telephone

+447893950688

Website

https://www.southshieldsdogtrainer.co.uk/dog-training/dog-training-in-durham

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