Edinburgh Holistic Dogs

Edinburgh Holistic Dogs Dog Trainer and behaviourist specialising in Foreign Rescue dogs and Reactive dogs. Seeing the owners become proud of their dogs achievements too.

Edinburgh Holistic Dogs is a dog training service set up in 2017 by Suzanne Gould. The business aims to provide Calm Confidence for Foreign Rescued and Reactive Dogs. Specialising in training for Foreign Rescue Dogs and Reactive Dogs which is inspired by my personal history of adopting Old English Sheepdogs and after realising there is an increasing number of adopted dogs, whose owners are strugg

ling. Working with rescued dogs has earned me the name of The Rescue Dog Ranger™

I show owners how they can transform their lives with their dogs, the training provided isn’t your typical obedience style instead I focuses on confidence building, strengthening communication and how to handle stressful situations. Training is done on a 121 basis, I am known for my relaxed and friendly approach when working with dogs and their owners. I always share own experiences with my dogs both the good and the embarrassing too. I am driven by the need to help fellow dog owners who want the best for their dog and are stuck on how to go about it. The common problem I come across is the lack of support and help new owners get from the place they rescued their dog, this in turn causes unnecessary problems or escalates easy problems to solve into something more intensive. I absolutely love seeing the relationship between owner and dog grow, become stronger and deeper.

Chewing is oh so good! 🐾Did you know that letting your dog settle down with a long-lasting chew is more than just a way ...
25/06/2026

Chewing is oh so good! 🐾

Did you know that letting your dog settle down with a long-lasting chew is more than just a way to keep them busy? It is a powerful, tool for their mental and physical well-being.

There have been a number of brilliant studies published recently indicating that giving a dog a long-lasting chew toy:
1️⃣ Increases relaxation
2️⃣ Increases memory and learning
3️⃣ Improves overall welfare

From a holistic perspective, chewing provides incredible benefits. It supports dental and oral hygiene, digestive health, bone strength, psychological health, and active stress management. When a dog chews, it releases calming hormones that naturally lower their stress levels.

☀️ The Perfect Hot Weather Alternative! ☀️
With the warmer weather hitting Edinburgh, taking a reactive or anxious dog out for a walk can be incredibly stressful and physically unsafe in the heat. If you are keeping your dog indoors to keep them safe and cool, an enrichment chewing session is the perfect alternative to a walk. It tires their brain, settles their nervous system, and burns energy without the risk of overheating or encountering triggers out on the street.

A dog’s preference for chew items is primarily driven by odour, taste, texture, and mouthfeel. Every dog is beautifully unique in what they find reinforcing!

👇 What is your dog's absolute favourite chew toy or item?

Please share below so we can all some fresh ideas for these quiet, warm days inside!

This wee girl is looking for a new home due to unforeseen circumstances arising in her current home. She is in Scotland...
25/06/2026

This wee girl is looking for a new home due to unforeseen circumstances arising in her current home. She is in Scotland.

Debbie is a lovely, gentle soul whose confidence has grown since she arrived.

Debbie is a gentle soul who prefers a calm, predictable environment. She is a thoughtful dog who likes to assess situations before jumping in and is an excellent communicator, clearly letting people know when she feels uncomfortable.

She loves:
* Belly rubs and cuddles
* Lounging in the garden and soaking up the sun
* Exploring woodland walks and following interesting scents
* Playing chase games with her dog friends
* Napping beside her favourite humans

For such a young dog, Debbie is wonderfully relaxed in the home and can happily spend her day alternating between walks, garden time, and snoozing.

Debbie is a clever girl with a strong foundation.

She is:
* Housetrained
* Crate trained
* Comfortable being left for short periods
* Used to baby gates and safe spaces
* Good on lead
* Well-behaved in the home with no destructive habits

She responds best to kind, reward-based training and gentle handling. Harsh corrections or reprimands would not be suitable for her sensitive nature.

Click on the link for full information, and feel free to share.
https://new.shelterluv.com/embed/animal/TBL-A-2952

Can you actually "reinforce" fear? Let’s talk about comfort. 🐾There is an old, outdated myth floating around that just w...
24/06/2026

Can you actually "reinforce" fear? Let’s talk about comfort. 🐾

There is an old, outdated myth floating around that just won't seem to shift. You might have heard it at the park, or read it online: "Don't comfort your dog when they are scared, or you will reward the fear and make it worse."

It is a load of nonsense.

Fear is an emotion, not a conscious behaviour. Your dog isn't sitting there thinking, "Excellent, if I shake and cower, my human will give me a cuddle, so I'll make sure to be extra terrified next time."

When a dog is genuinely frightened whether it’s by a loud traffic noise, a sudden bang, or the sight of an unfamiliar dog approaching their nervous system can become completely overwhelmed. They can end up in survival mode.

Think about it from a human perspective. If you were terrified of flights (that's me!), and the person sitting next to you held your hand and spoke to you calmly, would that make you more afraid of flying? Of course not. It lowers your heart rate. It makes you feel safe.

It is exactly the same for your dog.

Providing a calm, loving presence, letting them lean against your legs, or gently stroking them does not reinforce their fear. It offers safety. You cannot reward an internal emotional state with kindness; you can only help soothe it.

If your foreign rescue dog or reactive dog is struggling to feel safe in everyday life, you don't have to navigate the stress alone. My bespoke 1-2-1 behaviour programmes take a deep, holistic look at your dog's world to build genuine, lasting confidence from the inside out.

👇 Have you ever felt judged or hesitant to comfort your dog in public? Let’s talk in the comments.

Why Skipping the Dog Walk in Hot Weather is 100% OK.As the summer sun hits Edinburgh, the pressure to get out and explor...
23/06/2026

Why Skipping the Dog Walk in Hot Weather is 100% OK.

As the summer sun hits Edinburgh, the pressure to get out and explore our beautiful green spaces can feel immense. But if you are the human of a reactive dog, a sensitive Romanian rescue, or a former street dog, hot weather can bring a whole new layer of stress to the table.

Here is the truth: It is completely okay and often much safer to skip the dog walk today.

When the temperature rises, a walk can quickly become a sensory and physical overload for your dog. Staying home can the best choice you can make:

🥵 Pavement Heat: If it is too hot for the back of your hand, it is far too hot for your dog's sensitive paws.

🥵 Trigger Stacking and Heat: High temperatures physically stress a dog's body. When a dog is already struggling to stay cool, their internal fuse becomes shorter. A trigger that they might usually manage like a passing dog or a sudden noise can cause a major blowout because they simply do not have the coping capacity left.

🥵 Street Dog Instincts: For former street dogs, extreme weather can trigger old survival anxieties. Forcing a walk when they are uncomfortable could potentially damage the trust you have worked so hard to build.

What to do instead:
Ditch the pavement and focus on mental stimulation indoors. Try scent games like find it, scatter feeding their dinner in the shade, creating a snuffle box or prepping a frozen enrichment toy. Ten minutes of sniffing and brainwork will tire your dog out far more safely than an exhausting, stressful walk in the heat.

So, let go of the guilt. Pour yourself a cold drink, keep your dog where it is cool, and enjoy a peaceful day at home together. I will be fight Ally for a spot in front of the fan!
😀

🛑 Distance is not "avoiding the problem." It is giving your dog's brain room to think.When you live with a reactive dog,...
19/06/2026

🛑 Distance is not "avoiding the problem." It is giving your dog's brain room to think.

When you live with a reactive dog, it is incredibly easy to feel trapped on tight Edinburgh footpaths, constantly bracing for the next explosion. You might feel like you have to face every trigger head on to "fix" it.

But one of the most powerful tools we have for reactive dogs is distance not as a retreat or a sign of failure, but as an active choice to keep your dog safe while keeping their brain in a learning state.

When we create enough space to keep your dog under threshold (meaning they see the trigger but can still function without exploding), something amazing happens:

🌱 Sensory processing improves: They can look at the world logically instead of instantly switching into survival mode.
🧠 Learning becomes possible: A highly stressed brain cannot form new, positive associations. Distance allows you to teach your dog.
👀 Curiosity increases: They can safely observe another dog (trigger) without feeling the immediate need to react.
⏱️ Recovery is faster: Even if they track the trigger, they can bounce back to a calm state much quicker.
🔀 Behaviour becomes flexible: They can choose to look at you, sniff the grass, or take a treat instead of feeling the need to react.

The science part: When arousal and stress levels soar too high, performance and learning drop sharply. If your dog is over threshold, the learning has stopped, digestion shuts down and your stress levels go through the roof.

Next time your out with your reactive dog, you take a step back, cross the street, or loop around a quiet space in the park, remember: you aren't hiding. You are actively giving your dog the physical and mental room they need to make a better choice and learn.

💬 Do you find it hard to find enough distance on your daily walks? Let me know in the comments.

Ally: mum calls me ‘reactive’ when i personally feel I’m just deeply committed to announcing a scooter has appeared in ...
17/06/2026

Ally: mum calls me ‘reactive’ when i personally feel I’m just deeply committed to announcing a scooter has appeared in our environment ! 🤣🤣🤣





The Illusion of One Location: Why Real-World Environments Matter.Relying on artificial or single, isolated environments ...
16/06/2026

The Illusion of One Location: Why Real-World Environments Matter.

Relying on artificial or single, isolated environments can significantly hinder your progress and leave you feeling unsupported when it matters most.

When working through dog reactivity, practicing in only one place can create a training trap. Visiting the exact same field, garden, or quiet facility session after session allows a dog to become completely familiar with that specific environment. They adapt to the surroundings, lower their guard, and begin to cope beautifully. While this looks like fantastic progress, it is often just an illusion created by predictability.

Controlled setups are perfectly acceptable when you are introducing a brand-new concept to your dog. However, if still need to walk your dog and venture further than your own property, then real-life happens and it is not controlled. Isolated training inside a single bubble fails to help you when you step out onto your regular daily routes.

It does not teach you what to do when an unfamiliar dog suddenly appears around a corner, walks directly towards you on a narrow urban footpath, or how to handle a sudden reaction when caught off guard. If these scenarios are only ever discussed in theory rather than practiced in reality, long-term behavioural change becomes incredibly difficult to achieve.

To set your dog up for real-world success, you need guidance and support inside your home and out in the real life locations where your life actually happens.

I work by coming directly to your home and we train alongside one another in your local, real-life environments. Beyond the practical training, I am there to support you through your own worries, anxieties, and questions throughout the entire journey.

We look at the whole picture reviewing and addressing wellbeing, diet, sleep, lifestyle, and behaviour as one interconnected system to build true, lasting confidence.

If you'd like a chat about your reactive dog email [email protected]

The most handsome boys! Arlo and Pablo ❤️❤️❤️
15/06/2026

The most handsome boys! Arlo and Pablo ❤️❤️❤️

Let’s Talk About Your Dog's Coat: Is it a Bad Hair Day, or is it Discomfort? 🐕🧐Ever noticed a strange "flick" in your do...
12/06/2026

Let’s Talk About Your Dog's Coat: Is it a Bad Hair Day, or is it Discomfort? 🐕🧐

Ever noticed a strange "flick" in your dog's fur, a sudden parting, or a patch that looks like a permanent bad hair day?

As humans, we often just brush these off as quirky coat patterns or unique grooming traits. But looking at a dog holistically means recognising that the coat is a massive window into what is happening directly underneath the skin.

When I review a dog's gait and posture during my behaviour assessments, I am also looking closely at these exact coat disturbances. Often, an uneven flick or a abrupt change in hair direction can be a sign of fascial tension.

What is Fascia?
Fascia is the complex, web-like connective tissue sitting right beneath the skin, wrapping around and connecting every muscle in your dog's body. When fascia becomes tight, restricted, or dehydrated, it hitches and pulls on the skin above it.

What to Look For in Your Dog:
🐾 Fur that flicks up or parts completely unevenly, uneven symmetry

🐾Sudden, sharp changes in the direction of hair growth.

🐾Subtle variations in coat texture or colour in one specific area.

🐾 Raised or separated patches of fur that won’t lie flat.

In many dogs, these structural changes can lead to reduced mobility, altered movement, and genuine physical discomfort.

Coat disturbances may indicate underlying tension, however we can not look at this in isolation we must review it alongside their gaits, postures, daily activities and of course behaviour to build a complete picture. Sometimes it really is just a bad hair day!

Remember, if a dog is physically uncomfortable or restricted in how they move, their tolerance levels drop, their ability to achieve restorative sleep is impacted, energy levels might drop all of which can directly fuel unwanted behaviour. It isn't "naughty" behaviour; it's often physical discomfort.

Have you noticed any unusual coat patterns or "coat flicks" on your dog?





Address

Edinburgh
EH65LD

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

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