Katey Aldred - Clinical Animal Behaviourist, Veterinary Nurse

09/12/2025

🎄✨ Pooch Paws 12 Days of Christmas – Day 5! ✨🎄
�🎁 Calm Christmas Tips: Keeping Dogs Happy During the Festive Chaos
Christmas is exciting… but for many dogs it can be a lot.
�Visitors, kids buzzing around, crinkly wrapping paper, new smells, sudden noises it’s easy for dogs to become overwhelmed or overstimulated. 🐶🎄

Today’s advent door opens with a carousel of calm Christmas tips to help you and your dog enjoy the festive days ahead with less stress and more connection. 💛

Swipe through for practical, welfare-focused support, including:�✨ Setting up safe spaces�✨ Creating predictable routines�✨ Managing visitors kindly�✨ Helping kids interact safely�✨ Spotting early signs of stress�✨ Easy enrichment for downtime�✨ Noise support (doorbells, crackers, excited voices)�✨ How to advocate for your dog during busy moments

Remember: calmness isn’t something we ask for at Christmas it’s something we set up and support. Your dog will thank you for giving them what they need to cope confidently and comfortably. 🐾

📸 Let’s make this interactive!�Share in the comments:
�👉 What’s the ONE thing your dog finds hardest at Christmas?
�(I’ll reply with a personalised tip!)

Here’s to a calmer, kinder festive season. 🎄💛

06/12/2025

🚨 Puppy Welfare Update – What You Need to Know

This week the UK announced stronger laws to crack down on puppy smuggling a huge win for puppy welfare and for anyone planning to welcome a new four-legged family member.

Far too many puppies are still being brought into the country illegally, separated from their mums too young, transported long distances, and sold with fake paperwork. These pups often arrive stressed, under-socialised, and vulnerable.

Better regulations mean:
✨ Healthier, happier puppies
✨ More transparency for buyers
✨ Reduced risk of illness and behaviour problems
✨ More protection for responsible breeders

If you’re thinking about getting a puppy, this is your reminder to:
✔️ Research breeders thoroughly
✔️ See mum with the litter
✔️ Ask questions about health, genetics & early socialisation
✔️ Never feel rushed or pressured
✔️ Walk away if something feels “off”
✔️ Don't accept 'doorstep' deliveries either to you or lack of entry to a home to view puppies

Welfare should always come before convenience. A good start gives puppies the best chance of becoming confident, safe, well-balanced adults and that begins long before training even starts.

05/12/2025

🎄✨ Pooch Paws 12 Days of Christmas – Day 3! ✨🎄
🎁 Today’s Treat: £5 Off Our Lead Walking Course!

It’s time to open Door No. 3… and today’s festive surprise is a little gift for anyone who dreams of peaceful, pleasant walks (yes, even in December rain! ☔🐶).

For the next 48 hours only, you can get £5 OFF the Loose Lead Walking Online Course the one designed to help you ditch the pulling, boost focus, and bring joy back to your walks.

Use code: LEADWALK5

This course is perfect if you want:
🎄 Less pulling
🎄 More connection
🎄 Practical steps you can start today
🎄 Supportive, welfare-first training
🎄 Real-life, workable strategies (not magic tricks!)

Treat yourself, treat your dog and walk into the New Year with a calmer, happier lead experience. 🐾

👉 Grab your £5 off before the door closes! Visit https://zurl.co/LDmy0 to sign up to the course
👉 Comment below with “🎁” if you’ve claimed it so I can cheer you on!

Happy training, and happy Day 3!

Let’s keep the Christmas magic coming… ✨

04/12/2025

MYTH BUSTING TIME 🚫🍗

“If I use treats, my dog will only behave when I have food.”

Nope. Not even close.

Treats don’t create dependency they create clarity.
They help your dog understand exactly what earns reinforcement, so later they can perform the behaviour confidently without constant food.

As training progresses, rewards naturally shift to:
✨ real-life reinforcers
✨ the job itself
✨ praise, play & partnership
✨ retrieve value

Good training fades food with purpose, not pressure.

Three of our Bellanino Gundog students working off lead together lovely heelwork, focus around each other, and even practising left-to-right switches.
(One is still learning the switch and that’s okay! Learning is a journey, not a race.)

This level of engagement comes from positive, structured, reinforcement-based training not bribery.

02/12/2025

Behind the Scenes at Bellanino Gundog Training 🦆💚

Ever wondered what goes into our Sunday training sessions before you even arrive? Here’s a little BTS peek at how your morning is built 👇

First job before the session: signing up students for the month making sure everyone is in the right group for their skill level and goals.

Next up, it’s lesson plan time. Each session is designed to build on the previous one, adding small, achievable layers of difficulty. This month we’re introducing the goose dummy for some students a new experience to help broaden retrieve confidence, weight and grip variety.

Then comes equipment prep: checking dummies, long lines, leads, placeboards, whistles, posts… everything we might need to set you and your dog up for success.

Sunday mornings start bright and early, driving to the field and opening up the training site.

Once on the ground, the post markers go out. Every student in the 'regular' monthly session gets their own working space with plenty of room to train without pressure. Clear boundaries keep sessions calm, focused and safe.

For our advanced group, we take things up a notch.
Extra posts are placed with progressive spacing: 10m, 15m, 20m, all in a line, ending in a 45m challenge retrieve. This allows handlers to work on control, distance cues, straight lines, and building confidence gradually.

All of this happens before the first whistle blows 🐶✨
Because good training isn’t just what you see in class, it’s the planning, thought, and structure behind it.

Did you know we did 'regular' sessions (monthly workshops), field sessions (out in real life) AND one-to-one gundog sessions?

01/12/2025

🎄✨ Welcome to the Pooch Paws 12 Days of Christmas! ✨🎄

Pooch Paws are kicking off December with something a little special…
This year, we’re spreading the festive cheer throughout the whole month with 12 magical advent moments sprinkled between now and Christmas! 🎁🐾

Behind each “door” is a surprise designed to support you and your dog, plus for fun:

🎓 exclusive training goodies

💡 practical seasonal tips

🎁 little treats

✨ and a few very exciting opportunities to win spaces on our online courses!

No daily posts to keep up with just check back on the dates revealed and keep your eyes peeled for each new festive drop. 👀🎄

Let the countdown begin with a door for day 1 👇❤️

𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝓐𝓭𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓒𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓻 𝓓𝓪𝔂 1 - 𝓑𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓮𝓭 𝓟𝓱𝓸𝓽𝓸

How to enter:
Head over to Pooch Paws and post your photo of your dog in the comments AND
- Tag Pooch Paws
- Like the page
- Share the post
The photo with the most likes will win a Christmas stocking of goodies for their dog and be the cover picture for Christmas.

Entries close 17th December at midnight. The winner will be sent a direct message to be informed and asked for a postal address. Winners must respond within 48-hours otherwise the next photo with the most likes will be picked.
**By entering you are allowing us to use your image with rights to edit for any content**

30/11/2025

🎄✨ Something festive is coming… ✨🎄

We’ve been busy behind the scenes putting together a very special Christmas treat for our community and we can finally give you a little hint… 👀🎁

This December, we’re launching our 12 Days of Christmas Countdown!
But not the usual “post every day” kind, ours will be sprinkled throughout the month with surprises, training goodies, tiny treats, exclusive offers, and maybe even a couple of festive giveaways… 👇🐾

Think:
🎓 Chances to win training spaces
✨ Bite-sized discounts
🐶 Fun challenges
🎄 Calm Christmas tips
🎁 And one VERY exciting finale!

If you want to join the fun, keep your eyes peeled the first festive door opens soon… 👀🎄

Tell us in the comments…

👉 What would YOU love to see pop up in our Christmas Countdown?

29/11/2025

Cookie absolutely smashing some heelwork practice out and about recently! 🐾✨

There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing real-life training fall into place especially when it’s all taught through calm, kind, positive methods.

Cookie’s focus, loose lead, and lovely engagement didn’t happen overnight… but with consistency, rewards, and sessions tailored to his needs, he’s showing just how beautifully cooperative training can work in the real world.

Proud of this little superstar ⭐️

🎥 Watch him being oh such a good boy!

17/08/2024

04/08/2024

What a fantastic day we have had at the Dog Fun Day - Celebrating the 60 Year Anniversary of The Lowestoft Dog Agility Display Team!

We spoke to so many of you and met so many gorgeous pups! Thanks for stopping by to chat to us and ask us so many brilliant questions.

Lots of fun things to do on the day and James gave a wonderful tricks display which went down well.

Here’s a few photos we managed to take when we had a chance 😊 🐕

01/08/2024

Check out classes we have space in for next term

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