Buddy's Tails & Trails

16/10/2023

We are offering FREE, in person muzzle training for all XL Bully Dogs!

We understand how difficult this time is for you as a dog owner and we want to help you prepare as best as you can for the new legislation coming in.

With muzzle training, it’s important it is not rushed and your dog is trained to wear the muzzle rather than just putting it on them.

It’s something that every dog should be trained for and it’s not uncomfortable or stressful if your dog is desensitised to it first.

So, what will happen if you own an XL Bully?

You will need to apply for a Certificate of Exemption and demonstrate that your dog isn’t dangerous to the public. Your dog will also have to:

🐾Be neutered

🐾Be microchipped

🐾Kept on a lead and muzzled in public

🐾Kept in a secure home/ garden that they can’t escape

All sessions will be in the comfort of your own home and 1-2-1.

Contact us to arrange your muzzle training session!

All our love,

Buddy’s Tails and Trails ❤️

14/10/2023

The colder and wetter months are coming 🥶and you may find it difficult to take your dog out for a long walk due to extreme weather or illness.

Walking our dogs is a general form of exercise, there are many creative ways of giving our dog the movement and mental stimulation they need daily.

And remember, mental stimulation is just as important as physical.

So, what are other forms of exercise?

🐾 Playing Tug

🐾 Taking up Agility, you can home make obstacles

🐾 Play hide and seek with your dog

🐾 Teach your dog a new trick

🐾 Hide treats around the house

🐾 Give them an enrichment activity

These are some ideas of how you can exercise your dog when you’re unable to walk them.

Mix it up and do various activities for 5-10 minutes each! 😊

11/09/2023

Here at Buddy’s Tails and Trails, we LOVE to ditch the bowl. I tell all of my clients to ditch the bowl and the routine as much as they can.

Our dogs get the same meals every day, this can become pretty boring. So how can we as owners make it more fun?

CHANGE THE EXPERIENCE. Make the way the food is delivered to your dog more fun. You can use puzzles, use your food to train or hide it around the garden, it doesn’t matter, as long ad it’s not going into the BORING BOWL.

There are endless benefits to ditching the bowl, food is valuable to your dog and you have the power to take that value and put it into areas you want to improve.

Above are some tips on how you can ditch the bowl! ⭐️🫶🏽🐾

06/09/2023

Signs that you’re dog is stressed ⬆️

Many of the above seem like every day behaviours for you’re dog but if they are done excessively or in specific situations it may be a sign you’re dog is stressed.

For example, if you’re dog is in a park full of other dogs and they are excessively yawning, and trying to hump other dogs, they may feel uncomfortable.

Or if someone goes to pet your dog and they turn their head away and lick their lips, they don’t want to interact with that person.

If you can look out for these signs and acknowledge them, you’re learning to speak you’re dog’s language. Once you’re able to do this, you can become your dog’s perfect advocate.

Our dog’s can’t say “I’m stressed”, “I’m uncomfortable” or “I don’t want to say hello to this person” but with these signs they tell us. It’s up to us to listen and react on our dog’s behalf 💛🫶🏽🐶

02/09/2023

Being the best owners we can be for our dogs.

If you’re a nervous wreck on walks, you need to work on that before you try to help your nervous dog.

Our dogs can sense many of our emotions, stress is a big one. If you’re stressed it’s likely you’re dog will be stressed. If you know this is the case don’t try to train until you’re in the right head space! 💛💛💛

06/06/2023

Nova (German Shepherd) and Akira (Staffie) live together but have completely different personalities and struggles.

I have been working with Nova over the past few months, she is reactive and nervous about a lot of things in life. Putting that aside, she is an extremely bright dog, she knows a lot of cool tricks and is a fast learner.

Her sister Akira is much more confident, she will lick almost anyone that comes through the door. She is intelligent but doesn’t have as much patience as Nova when learning new tricks.

They like different treats, they communicate in different ways, they learn at different paces, they have their separate skills and struggles because they are different dogs!

Dog training is not a one size fits all, every dog is unique and what may work for one dog, may not for another. There’s a lot of information available on the internet about the “right” way to train a behaviour. This is no one way for most things, it will take trial and error with a lot of patience.

Nova has improved since I started working with her and a lot of that improvement is down to owners mindset.

I’ll be posting more of Novas progress over the coming weeks.

Well done Nova and Akira ❤️❤️❤️

04/06/2023

Middle is one of our favourite games!

How to teach your dog “Middle”

1. INTRODUCING THE BEHAVIOUR: Lure your dog around one of your legs until they come round the back of you and are in the middle of your legs. Once they are in between your legs, ask them to sit.

2. ASSIGN A CUE: Say “Middle” while you are luring your dog into the position and again once they are sitting in between your legs.

3. PRACTICE THE BEHAVIOUR: Gradually fade out the lure and ask for the behaviour in different environments.

Remember to make this a fun game! This behaviour can be used in many situations, this morning I used middle to feed Munro his breakfast. On that note, remember to DITCH THE BOWL! ⭐️🐾❤️

03/06/2023

⭐️ Creating Calmness in Rosie ⭐️

I’ve been working with Boxer Rosie for a few month now. Rosie is a sweetheart but had major issues with settling down around visitors. She also struggled with engagement on walks and calmness in general.

After introducing management techniques paired with consistent training we have seen massive improvement in Rosie’s behaviour.

Before I began working with Rosie she had no interest in listening to her owner at all, no treats could get her to focus, she had caused burst lips and broken ribs. It seemed impossible to get her to settle.

We have worked on growing calmness, focus, impulse control and engagement we have seen a huge improvement.

These photos are from my most recent session with Rosie. I brought a very kind helper to meet Rosie. You can see she’s engaging with her owner and she made very good choices and healthy coping strategies such as chewing which is something she would never have done before.

There’s still work to be done but I’m so proud of her and her owner, it’s been a privilege to work with them and see how far they have come 💛💛⭐️⭐️

31/05/2023

Details are still to be finalised for this meet. A lot of interest has been shown so I’m trying to choose a venue which everyone is able to access! I’m hoping to have dates, times and places posted next week! 😊

⭐️REACTIVE RASCALS MEET⭐️

A lot of negative feelings come with owning a reactive dog, guilt, resentment, stress and anxiety.

I am organising a FREE meet for owners to discuss their struggles and listen to each other’s experiences.

This meet is designed to help build confidence in reactive dog owners, a positive mindset is a massive part of helping your dog overcome their fears. 💪🏼

There will also be tea, coffee, cakes and more snacks available on the day! 😊

For obvious reasons, this is an owners only meet, no dogs will be present.

Further details will be posted soon, get in touch if you have any questions! 💛

30/05/2023

With the sun out, your usually quite walks may get a lot busier. Owners want to take their dogs to the beach, parks and woods during the hotter days.

It’s all fun and games until it’s not.

Taking your dog on these walks can seem like a nice idea, but does your dog actually have the tools and capabilities to handle the situation you’re about to put them in?

It’s lovely to see a dog running around enjoying off leash freedom but with a good recall. The last thing you want is to let your dog off and then spend most of your walk trying to convince them to come back to you.

If your dog is a puller, that’s where you need to start. On Leash Freedom Unlocks Off Leash Freedom. If your dog doesn’t want to be near you while on leash, why on earth would they want to be off leash?

If your dog pulls, it can be painful, literally, for them and for you.

If your dog doesn’t have a good recall they’ll run up to people with food, run up to children, run over to people with dogs who may not want to say hello. And then you’ll be embarrassed and it’s no longer a nice day.

So before you take your dog to busier and different places, ask yourself what level your dog is at and if they have the tools to be in the situation YOU are about to put them in.

Check out our Loose Lease Walking and Recall Program if you feel like you do need to improve these skills.

💛🐾🌊🌞