Paws Up Academy

03/12/2025

Hello everyone.
My website provider has informed me there is a problem with the 'Contact via email Button' part of the 'Get in Touch' section on each page of my website.
They have apologised profusely and are working hard to resolve this.
Until it is resolved, I will be removing the email 'button' option from my website, leaving the 'hover over' link, which does work correctly.
Phone link and What'sApp button contact options are operating as they should.
I'm so sorry for this inconvenience.

[email protected]

02/12/2025

New review today on Google. Very chuffed 😊. Thank you so much, it was absolutely my pleasure to assist.

Tailored, one on one Dog Training starting in your own home using force free, positive reinforcement methods, working at your dog's own pace.

Full details of all of my services can be found on my website.
https://pawsupacademy.co.uk

27/11/2025

So many of us saw Baggins out and about on his adventures and many of you knew him well. I will never approach a dog unless the dog invites me to, so I always watched and admired Baggins from afar. I would have loved to have known him but it wasn't my place to interrupt him without invitation. I have already ordered my copy of Baggins The Brave’s Seaside Wheeliee Adventures Children’s Book and I hope you will all do the same.

26/11/2025

What an amazing afternoon with so many cuddles - very pleased to welcome to Paws Up these gorgeous 3 year old Cavapoo siblings and their extremely lovely, 11 year old French Bulldog housemate.

Two of them have had a tiff over a resource following unavoidable 'trigger stacking'.

Resource guarding is as perfectly natural in dogs as it in humans, as is 'trigger stacking' - we've all had a bad day and just that one thing when someone tries to steal our winning lottery ticket, tips us over the edge!

Having lived with a resource guarding dog for over 10 years, not only am I highly educated in the subject, I have a great deal of personal experience.

Tailored, one on one Dog Training starting in your own home using force free, positive reinforcement methods, working at your dog's own pace.

Full details of all of my services can be found on my website.

https://pawsupacademy.co.uk

(Photo courtesy of the dogs' guardians.)

25/11/2025

Absolutely thrilled to bits to welcome this gorgeous 12 week old Labrador who commenced their Puppy Bundle today.

Tailored, one on one Puppy Training starting in your own home using force free, positive reinforcement methods, working at your dog's own pace.

Full details of my very popular Puppy Bundle can be found on my website.

https://pawsupacademy.co.uk/puppy-bundle

22/11/2025

Last but not least tonight, the amazing news of the launch of the Innate Health Assessment Tool. Congratulations to every involved including my friends and colleagues Jo Middleton, Hannah Capon of Canine Arthritis Management, Debby Lucken of Kids Around Dogs® and Tom Candy amongst many others.

"The purpose of this site is to raise awareness of the significant welfare issues affecting animals resulting from people breeding them to look a certain way and exaggerating the normal physical characteristics (‘conformation’) for their species to such an extent that their health and welfare is compromised."

Explore our Innate Health Assessment (IHA) for dogs, learn about responsible breeding practices, and help improve animal welfare standards today.

22/11/2025

This is brilliant news!

After more than a decade of tireless campaigning, we’re one huge step closer to ending the cruel puppy smuggling trade for good. We’ve led the charge, and no...

20/11/2025

I advertise that I train using 'force free, positive reinforcement' but what does that actually mean in it's simplistic terms when you are choosing the trainer for your dog?

There are 4 quadrants in operant (person) conditioning (training) -

1) Positive reinforcement - adding something a dog likes to increase the behaviour. Ask dog to sit - dog sits. Add treat or toy - whatever the dog likes. Dog happily sits every time asked. 😃

2) Positive punishment - adding something a dog does not like to decrease the behaviour. Dog barks - add spraying water in dog's face. Dog stops barking for fear of being sprayed in the face. 😡

3) Negative reinforcement - removing something a dog not like to increase the behaviour. Dog will not sit when asked so we push down on their hips to insist on a sit. Dog does not like this so they sit to remove the force being exerted on them and become fearful of human hands near their rear end. 😡

4) Negative punishment - removing something a dog does like to decrease the behaviour. Dog jumps up on people for fuss. People move away. Dog learns that fuss and cuddles come from not jumping on people. 🤔

Under no circumstances will I ever use positive punishment or negative reinforcement.

No fear free, positive reinforcement trainer would ever train using a slip lead, shock collar, prong collar or choke chain and these days many of us, myself included have completely come away from head collars & figure of 8 collars due to recent scientific evidence of the damage they cause to a dog's nose, neck and spine.

I am proud to be a force free, positive reinforcement dog trainer and will always keep learning to bring you the best service I can.

www.pawsupacademy.co.uk

19/11/2025

Tonight's learning as per my commitment to you to always remain up to date to bring you the best service I can and in accordance with the JSOP requirements, has been a phenomenal case study through Aggressive Dog, from Dr Moira Hechenleitner -

((DVM, CSAT, graduate of Mayor University College of Veterinary Medicine 2007, in Santiago, Chile, Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer (CSAT), with a postgraduate in Animal-Assisted Therapy. Dr. Hechenleitner is a founding board member of the Chilean Association of Professional Dog Trainers.))

This was a case with a 2 year old Italian Spinone with Separation Anxiety which took over a year to achieve comfort and feelings of safety for the dog.

Whilst I am not (currently) a Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer this lecture reinforced to me that there are no timescales which can be placed on a dog's own learning.

I have never and will never advertise - "see results in 2 weeks", "my 10 step programme with guaranteed results" because I fully appreciate, every dog is different, every dog is unique and every dog learns at their own pace.