Wutheringhounds, Hebden Bridge (2026)

Distinction Cert TPTD with the NOCN. Canine first aid trained.

03/06/2026

𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 (1sr March-31st July)

During bird nesting season on open access land dogs should be kept on a fixed lead of no longer than 2 metres and walkers should stick to designated foot paths. The vast majority of Calderdale’s surrounding moorland is open access land, and as such, restrictions apply and people are legally required to abide by these restrictions.

I have copied and pasted below information I shared earlier in the year. The post is written in relation to Calderdale, however this applies countrywide too!

‼️Why Dogs Should Be Kept on Lead‼️

𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙𝙨. Calderdale is home to some of the UK’s rarest breeding birds, many of which nest on the ground. Us humans may not notice that they are there necessarily, but dogs with their keen sense of smell would be able to locate them pretty easily. Keeping dogs on lead will prevent ground nesting species from being disturbed and abandoning nests and potential chicks.

𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚. Even if you think, your dog has no interest in chasing birds, and doesn’t stray far from the path. Just the presence of a dog/s running around, creating noise and movement can lead to birds becoming stressed and abandoning nests and their young. Birds do sometimes nest close to public footpaths too, so remaining on the path is important.

𝙇𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡 𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, dog owners are legally required to keep their dogs on a lead in certain areas during nesting season. Failing to comply can result in fines and penalties, as well as harm to wildlife. These laws apply to professional dog walkers too.

Why is this so important?

𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨. Many bird species are already declining due to habitat loss and environmental pressures. Dogs indiscriminately hooning around on open access land will exacerbate this decline further leading to fewer successful breedings due to disturbance or destruction of nests.

𝙋𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. Responsible dog ownership and abiding by laws is essential for maintaining public support and avoiding further stricter restrictions on open access land in the future. We also have more pet dogs in the UK than ever, so abiding by laws to protect wildlife is even more important…if we all decided the rules didn’t apply to us, the ecological impact would be huge.

𝙆𝙚𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙨

‼️ 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙙𝙤𝙜𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣‼️

‼️ 𝙎𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙨‼️

‼️𝙀𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 ‼️

01/06/2026

A few pictures of the dogs from our recent connection workshop. In this workshop we explored how to keep companion gundogs connected when outside on walks, looking at

✅Ways to motivate them.
✅Reinforcement strategies including food, play and premack.
✅Thresholds and the importance of managing arousal, including strategies to bring calm and help working dogs keep their marbles and remain cognitive.
✅Keeping focus around distractions.
✅Ways to improve recall and….

🎉Most importantly, how to harness their breed instincts to work with us rather than against🎉

The handlers and dogs who attended this workshop all worked fantastically and had fun too! Well done everybody 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

‼️𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙨‼️

📅 Thursday 25th June 2026
🕐 12.00pm - 3.00pm
💷 £70 per dog / handler
📍 Our fully secure training ground, Salterforth / Barnoldswick

📅 Saturday 27th June 2026
🕐 12.30pm - 3.30pm
💷 £70 per dog / handler
📍 Our fully secure training ground, Salterforth / Barnoldswick.

𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 £25. (You cannot bring your dog along if you want a spectator place).

Startrite Dog Training

31/05/2026

We have a tradition of stopping off after training and getting Newt something tasty from the service station. For being a good girl at training she has recently delighted to partake in savouring some chicken nuggies, sharing a bit of an egg and salmon baguette from Pret and today we went posh and got some fancy salmon from Marks and Spencer. She declined a taste of the matcha though, maybe she isn’t quite the hipster middle class dog I thought she was 🤣.

What traditions do you have with your dogs? 🐾

&sdog

29/05/2026

I had the pleasure of meeting the very cute and clever Goose and his owners this week. His owners have been doing super with him, but needed some help and advice with a few things to ensure that he grows up to be a well mannered balanced boy.

What we did…

✅Began to teach a ‘leave it’ cue.
✅Introduced a target mat and taught a settle behaviour on the mat. This will hopefully help Goose to switch off at home, and also give him a clear boundary when his owners are cooking and eating. As the mat is portable this will also help him to settle in other environments such as cafes and pubs.
✅Response to name and eye contact.

Whilst Goose was sleeping at the end, we also discussed a few important topics. Socialisation, and how to avoid resource guarding. Goose has been a little conflicted when he has had things that he perceives to be valuable, so we looked at various ways we can change how he feels in these situations. Well done to Goose and his owners, he is such a little dude and you guys are doing great with him 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Disclaimer: I can’t claim responsibility for this fab photo, this is one taken by his owners. Unfortunately Goose had head butted a beetroot before the session and had a purple/red splodge on his head… and he was also completely flat out at the end of the session 🤣😴

28/05/2026

𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 🐶🏊‍♀️

With the warm weather we’ve been having, lots of people are opting quite sensibly to change timings or location of their walks, often opting for shorter walks near water sources with their dogs and encouraging their dogs to swim to cool off. I am also aware that there are many people who use long lines when walking their dogs so they can manage their dogs behaviour whilst training is taking place. However, long lines can pose a risk for your dogs if they are attached whilst swimming and it’s important that people are aware of these risks so they can either detach the long line whilst their dog is having a swim ( if safe and/or appropriate), or take action to mitigate those risks through line and environmental management.

𝙍𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙨

‼️𝘿𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧. Lines getting caught on debris either that is floating on the water, or underneath the water that we cannot see on first visual inspection. This can lead to injury, entanglement or drowning.

‼️𝙈𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙜𝙨. If there are other dogs either on long lines or off lines swimming nearby, this can increase the risk of injury, entanglement or drowning as managing lines will be trickier when trying to avoid other dogs becoming tangled etc.

‼️𝘿𝙤𝙜𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚. If the line gets tangled around a dog’s neck or legs this is more difficult to manage when they are swimming and you cannot easily get to them. If there are other dogs swimming too, this risk is also posed to them.

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠

✅𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜. If it is appropriate for your individual dog the best option is to remove the long line when they are having a swim. I appreciate this may not be possible for every dog, so the next points are for you.

✅ 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. To help mitigate risk of entanglement, before your dog gets into the water, do a visual inspection of the surface of the water and along the edges where your dog will enter or exit. It’s best to avoid floating debris, or even heavy w**d cover as your dog could easily get stuck via the line and get into trouble. ( this is a good idea to do whether your dog is wearing a lead or not)

✅ 𝙇𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Keeping the line taut so it doesn’t sink below the water line helps to reduce the risk of your dog getting stuck on sunken debris. We often cannot see what is below the surface, so line management can help mitigate this risk. Keeping the line taut will also reduce the risk of the line wrapping around your dog too!

✅𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨. You can buy specialist long lines that are buoyant so don’t sink! Who knew!? 🤷‍♀️🥳🤣 (these will still need managing to avoid entanglement). As a side note, a heavy lead on a small dog in water will make swimming much harder. If they have a fabric long line attached, this will be heavier when wet.

✅𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜𝙨. It’s best that if your dog is swimming on a long line that swimming isn’t a high arousal free for all. Taking turns to swim may be better to avoid risk of injury or drowning.

✅ 𝙐𝙨𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩. If using a long lead on your dog whilst swimming, using a life jacket to keep them buoyant is a good idea for safety purposes.

Hope some of you have found this useful. I don’t want to sound like a kill joy, but knowledge is power and sometimes changing a few things up can keep everyone safer. Happy swimming 😎🏊‍♀️🐾

26/05/2026

Let’s hear it for all the dog walkers and trainers who when the weather is this hot, despite losing business and money, cancel, rearrange or reduce walks, classes and 1:1 sessions in the best interest of the dogs they work with. It’s hard, but often the right thing to do. But in bloomin May! Let’s hope it’s an anomaly and not a harbinger for the rest of the summer!

Adding insult to bloody injury, when I have a day off I generally plan a nice walk or a longer outdoor training session/s with my own dogs, and I can’t even do that! I don’t have a personality outside of the dogs, wtf am I to do? 😅 (seriously though? I’m all ears…what do normal people do these days?… I appreciate I may be asking the wrong people here 🤣). I also haven’t had chance to use my new remote control bolting rabbit yet, which I’m actually pretty foomin about ( this is a dog training piece of equipment btw for those that do not know! 🙊🤣).

Anyway, after getting out at the crack of dawn with the dogs, I’ll be spending the rest of the next few days not working much if at all and melting in various parts of the house and garden.

Here’s a video of Newt yesterday morning demonstrating a very loose interpretation of ‘heel’… I know you all love a blooper 🤦‍♀️🤣.

❤️Tag a canine professional in the comments to show your appreciation❤️ ….i’ll go first Diamond Dogs

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