Positive Direction Dog Training & Behaviour

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United Kingdom
Falkirk, Scotland
Positive Direction Dog Training & Behaviour

A positive, force-free, fear-free canine behaviourist specialising in rescue dogs ♥️

31/10/2026

We’re heading to the middle of nowhere for a week, to avoid the worst of the fireworks. Off-grid living is heaven for us! 🥰

See you all soon, stay safe ❤️

30/10/2026

It’s Halloween tomorrow! I absolutely love Halloween and all things spooky 🎃

But I don’t love having people knock on my door all evening, disturbing my dogs. I’ve got a really good system which works every time.

I pop a sign on the door, and leave a big bowls of sweeties outside for kids to help themselves. It works a treat (pun intended).

Please feel free to use the sign below - print it out and stick it up to keep the ghosts and ghouls at bay 👻

Prevention is better than cure!

29/10/2026

Pre arrival sessions for rescue dogs 🐾

Setting your new dog up for success is the first step in their journey with you. Getting the foundations right is really important, and sometimes you might not know who to ask or where to turn.

That’s where I come in! I do pre arrival sessions for lots of different rescue adopters - both from the UK and overseas - and they are a great opportunity to talk to someone with years of experience in dog rescue. I also live with 2 Romanian dogs myself, which helps!

So if you’d like to get one step ahead of things, and talk about how you could best prepare for your rescue dog’s arrival, why not book in for a pre-arrival session? I’d be delighted to talk to you more about what’s involved, just drop me a message 🙂

Some feedback from recent participants:

“I found the session informative and supportive. I feel more prepared now.”

“Very relaxed session with plenty of useful tips and opportunities to ask questions.”

❤️

28/10/2026

Aww my clever girl! 😍

27/10/2026

Some lovely feedback on the behaviour package from Frodo’s mum:

“Frodo’s behaviour has changed massively since working with Hayley - I feel like I have a different dog. From scared and frozen in the corner of the room, to playful puppy exploring the world.

I’ve learnt a lot. New ways, tips and exercises to help Frodo’s confidence. I feel like because of that, I know my dog better. Sometimes less is more and Hayley helped me to remember that.

Working with Hayley was a great experience which changed my mindset a lot. She is an amazing person and every session is another big step for me and Frodo. I would recommend a behaviour package to anyone who needs to understand their dogs, and especially for people with rescue dogs.”

❤️❤️❤️

25/10/2026

Never happens to me 😂

23/10/2026

Sometimes, avoidance is a perfectly fine strategy.

Neither of my dogs love the Hoover. Nor do I! But as a three pet household, it’s a necessary evil, and hoovering has to be done at least every second day.

When they first encountered the Hoover, both Dylan and Sia were really scared - Dylan would try to fight it, and Sia would freak out and back herself into a corner. It was a stressful experience for everyone, including me, but I totally understood why they didn’t like the big noisy thing that came creeping towards them for seemingly no reason!

There are all kinds of ideas online about desensitisation to scary household appliances - giving treats and playing games while the scary thing is happening etc. But for me, the easiest thing to do was to teach my dogs to get space from the Hoover, to help them cope and feel safe. So that’s what we did - when the Hoover comes out now, they both automatically go into another room - no cue needed - and chill out until it’s done. They don’t get remotely stressed anymore, they just wait and then head back to their own beds. The photo shows them doing just that!

And that’s absolutely fine! I don’t need them to love the Hoover, and I’m really happy for them to get space and avoid the thing that scares them. This is true of all scary things - space and distance is key to help your dog develop safe coping strategies. And once we’ve taught the necessary strategies, dogs will begin to choose what feels good to them. It takes time, but it works!

If you need help teaching your dog to make safe choices, drop me a message today ❤️🐾

22/10/2026

The benefits of remote assessments.

I love meeting new dogs. There’s so much they can tell us in those first moments - through body language, vocalisations and the ways they respond to us. I find canine body language endlessly fascinating and could bore you all day talking about it 😂

But for some dogs, meeting new people is HARD. Some dogs absolutely hate new people coming into their space, which is fair enough in my opinion - it is and should always be their choice who they want to meet. If a dog is coming to me with issues around visitors to the home, guess what I’m NOT going to do? I’m not going to introduce myself inside their safe space and expect them to feel good about that. I’m not going to try and ‘train’ them by forcing them into an uncomfortable situation. That’s not a good learning environment and it certainly isn’t going to set the dog up for success. It’s also going to make the dog instantly wary of me and less likely to trust me enough to work together.

Instead, for dogs with this particular preference, I like to start off with a remote assessment. This gives me a chance to talk to their carers at length, assess video footage and ‘meet’ the dog without stressing them out. Then, we’ll meet outdoors for gentle introductions in a safe neutral area, and get to know each other before I even set foot inside the home. Working with dogs should never be about the trainer’s ego or preference, but about what makes the dog feel safest and happiest.

I wouldn’t particularly like a stranger walking into my house either! I’m happy to take the time needed to gain trust of these special dogs - it’s worth it ❤️

21/10/2026

Another celebration here today - it’s 3 years since we adopted our baby girl Sia! 😍🥰

The cuddliest, silliest girl in all the land. We love you SiaBella Mozzarella! ❤️🐾

Address

Falkirk

Website

http://www.positivedirectiondogtraining.co.uk/

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