Victoria Walton Dog Training

06/12/2025

✨ 5-WEEK PUPPY COURSE ✨

Excited to announce I will be running a 5-week group puppy course in July! 🤩

This class will focus on the following:

🐶 Loose lead walking
🐶 Recall
🐶 Sit
🐶 Leave it
🐶 Stay
🐶 Confidence building
🐶 Focus and Engagement around distraction
🐶 Promoting calmness
🐶 Socialisation

This small class is only open to 5 puppies (aged 3-7 months) and will be held in a secure dog field, so you know your pup will be safe 👍🏼

🗓️Date: Tuesday 22nd July 2025
🕰️Time: 7pm
📍Location: Cathedral View Dog Park, West Fen Road, CB6 2BZ

Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to get booked in ☺️

03/17/2025

✨ Desensitisation ✨

This gorgeous boy is called Sydney and he is a 5 year old Dachshund. He is a very sweet boy but has mixed feelings about other dogs when out on walks, which comes out as reactivity 💥

As part of his reactivity training, we are desensitising him to other dogs…this means:

🐶 Changing his emotional response to dogs gradually over time
🐶 Exposing him to dogs at a distance where he doesn’t react (staying under threshold)
🐶 Rewarding him for engaging with us around other dogs
🐶 Showing Sydney he can engage in other behaviours around dogs eg sniffing

Reactivity is often seen as barking and lunging, but these are just the symptoms. To help a dog that shows reactive behaviours we must address the root cause through behavioural modification such as desensitisation 👏🏼

If you have a reactive dog and need help, please get in touch 🥰

03/11/2025

✨ Adolescent Dogs ✨

This is Brodie and he is a 16 month old Malinois cross. Brodie struggles with lead frustration towards other dogs. He is extremely friendly but doesn’t deal well with not being able to say hello quickly enough 🤯

This is extremely common, especially in Shepherd breeds his age 🐕

Adolescent dogs have a lot going on in their bodies/brains that can cause them to feel overwhelmed or frustrated. It’s not their fault and quite often it is a phase…but training is needed to prevent it from becoming a habit! 👏🏼

Here are a few things you can do to help your adolescent dogs:

🐶 A good foundation of puppy training
🐶 Calming activities eg. Lick or Snuffle mat
🐶 Decompression walks
🐶 Confidence building exercises
🐶 Breed specific activities eg. Retrieving
🐶 Engagement games
🐶 Desensitisation to triggers

Living with an adolescent dog can be testing and tiresome at times. Just know that over time you will have more good days than bad days ☀️

Brodie has shown an overall improvement the past few sessions and in our session today had a fabulous break through 🥳

If you need help with you dog whether puppy, adolescent or adult, then please get in touch 🥰

03/03/2025

✨ Improving Lead Walking ✨

Whilst there is definitely technique and practice to be had in teaching loose lead walking, what you do in the moment isn’t the only thing that contributes to loose lead walking success!

🐶 Orientation exercises - these encourage engagement and proximity in your dog, meaning they’ll be more likely to stick close and check in when on the lead! 👏🏼

🐶 Meeting breed specific needs - do something fun to give your dog an outlet for their innate desires…for example, playing scent games with your gundog or chase games with your sight hounds! 🎾

🐶 Off-lead time - this may seem like the opposite of lead walking…but if you’re able to reward your dog for engaging with you when they have the choice to be off doing their own thing, then they will be more likely to stick close when on the lead! 🙌🏼

🐶 Calming activities - anything that gets your dog sniffing, licking or chewing. If your dog is feeling more calm in general, they will be less frantic when on the lead. Give lick mats, kongs and long lasting chews such as pizzle sticks or yakkers a go! 🦴

Try to think of loose lead walking as a puzzle and these are all the pieces needed to make the full picture 🧩

If you need help with loose lead walking then please get in touch 🥰

02/24/2025

✨ BRAMBLE ✨

This gorgeous girl is a 5 month old Springer x Cocker Spaniel puppy and has been working her way through my 1-2-1 puppy course 🐶

As my 1-2-1 courses are tailored to the individual dog, I asked her guardians what they thought was important for her to learn to be able to live a happy life with them 🤍

We’ve worked on focus and engagement, lead walking, recall, ‘leave-it’, sit/stay and learning to settle 👍🏼

Bramble has been really responsive to her training and is a super smart girl! 🤩

If you have a puppy and have areas you’d like to work on or don’t know where to begin with training, then please get in touch 🐶

02/04/2025

Always referring my clients to Tan’s Trims! A great groomer who is kind and patient and will always keep your dog looking their best 🐶

Dog Groomers In Littleport Tan’s Trims if you are living in the area and your pooch needs a bit of a spruce up. Tans Trims was recommended by our readers as one of the best groomers in the Ely area !

If you’ve used these groomers post your comments and pictures of your dog from here we will feature the most popular groomers in your area in a future issue of htpps://cambridgeshirespotlight.com.

01/22/2025

✨ PAIN IN DOGS ✨

Pain manifests itself in a wide variety of ways, such as limping or being lethargic…but it can sometimes be more difficult to notice 🧐

A study concluded that up to 82% of dogs that displayed reactivity were experiencing pain. When we think about this, whilst it’s very sad, it isn’t that surprising 😕

When we have a headache or feel unwell, we often become irritable and may snap at our loved ones or have a shorter fuse. It’s the same for our dogs 🐶

Often clients will get in touch to say ‘my dog has suddenly started…’ or ‘their behaviour is completely out of character’. Any sudden behaviour change should first be looked at from a physiological point of view, so we can rule out pain or address it if present 🩻

If there is an underlying health issue, no amount of training will help. We owe it to our dogs and their welfare to prevent and manage pain 💜

Keep your eyes peeled for my next post on effective pain management 🥰

12/31/2024

✨ 2024 ✨

Wow…what a year this has been! Taking the leap of faith and going self-employed was one of the scariest but best decisions I ever made.

I want to thank every single one of my clients for trusting me in helping you with your dogs. It has been a pleasure to watch you all grow and succeed! 🥰

Little old me is so grateful for all the support. Whether you book in with me, like my posts or recommend me to friends/family/other dog guardians you encounter…I appreciate it all 🫶🏼

Here is just a handful of the wonderful dogs I have worked with this year (it was very hard choosing just 20 of you) 🐶

Happy New Year everyone and may 2025 be the best year yet! ✨💕

12/11/2024

✨ NALA ✨

This gorgeous Cockapoo pup, Nala, is working her way through my 5 week 1-2-1 puppy course 😍

Myself and Nala’s guardian discussed the areas they would like to focus on first. Training to be alone, managing puppy biting and learning how to settle in her bed were the main points! 👏🏼

Nala is a smart girl and picks things up very quickly. When training we try to let Nala use her brain and figure things out for herself 🧐

Problem solving is a huge confidence booster, which is really important during a puppy’s development 🐶

I’m looking forward to watching this clever girl progress 🥰

12/02/2024

🎄 Christmas Training 🎄

Christmas time can be challenging for puppies and dogs for a variety of reasons! 🫣

There’s food everywhere, visitors, changes of schedules…it can be a lot to deal with! 🤯

With just over 3 weeks until Christmas, you still have time to help your dogs through this period! 🥳

How about teaching a ‘place’ command so it’s a bit less manic with people coming and going through the front door? ⛔️

What about a ‘leave-it’ command to prevent your dog from eating any toxic food that has fallen on the floor? 🍫

It’s our job to help our dogs be prepared for the situations we put them in ☺️

If you’d like help with squeezing some training in before Christmas then please get in touch 🐶💕

06/18/2024

✨ SOCIALISATION ✨

When getting a puppy, you’ll hear that you need to socialise them as soon as possible…and whilst this is true, there’s often confusion over what socialisation actually is! 🤯

Unlike what most people think, socialisation isn’t about meeting as many dogs and people as possible, it’s actually about experiencing all of these things but still being able to engage with you ✅

If your puppy is able to say hi to every dog or person, they will expect that every time and if there are times they can’t say hello, they can become reactive through frustration! 😬

The best thing you can do with your puppy is to take them out and about and encourage them to focus on you whilst everything else goes on around them 👍🏼

You also don’t want to wait until your puppy can go out on walks…their crucial socialisation window shuts at around 12 weeks, so you have limited time ⏳

Before your puppy is fully vaccinated, carry them around or if you have a large breed, park up your car with the boot open. Sit with them from the sidelines and let them take it all in 🥰

If you need any help with socialising your pup then please get in touch 🐶

06/02/2024

If anyone in the Ely/Littleport area is looking for a dog groomer then please head over to Tan’s Trims! Tan is fabulous with dogs of all breeds and will have your pooch looking amazing 🐶

Hi, I’m Tan, level 3 City and Guilds Certificate/Diploma for Dog Grooming Stylist
Based in Littleport
Now open and taking bookings, please drop me a message or give me a call to get booked in 😁