Wutheringhounds, Hebden Bridge (2025)

26/06/2025

I had the pleasure of meeting Louie and his family this morning. Louie is a typical spaniel, full of life and enthusiasm, which is occasionally getting him into bother. Today we discussed how in order to give clarity to our dogs it’s important we let them know when they are doing the right thing. We reintroduced a marker word and started to reward the good stuff whilst out on walks so Louie knows exactly what it is his owners want him to do and the reinforcer makes it more likely that Louie will continue to repeat the behaviour they want.

Today we looked at…

✅ Learning to ignore other dogs and people instead of running over.
✅Teaching him an off switch outside, when I stop, you stop.
✅Started to teach him not to jump up.
✅Introduced searching for his ball in the long grass, which he thought was great fun!

Well done to Louie and his family, you all did fab, and he didn’t go over to any of the dogs at the park 🙌💪🥳

25/06/2025

🐶🐶PET GUNDOG FOUNDATION CLASS STARTING MONDAY 4th AUGUST 🐶🐶

Due to a few people from the waiting list being unable to attend the dates of this class there are some spaces available. I rarely have to advertise this class so be quick if you want a spot!

Do you want to learn more about your Gundog breed or Gundog breed cross.

Learn why they do the things they do, tap into their amazing genetics, give them outlets for deeply ingrained behaviours and build an awesome relationship !!

What will you learn ??

✅ Exactly what your dog was bred to do and why they behave the way they do.

✅ The Stop Whistle.
✅ Retrieving.
✅ Placeboard training.
✅ Distance commands.
✅ Steadiness ( sit stay under big distractions ).
✅ Autosit to movement.
✅ Exercises to reduce over arousal.
✅ Heelwork under distraction.
✅ Directional work.

The next Pet Gundog foundation class starts on ..

Monday 4th August 6:30pm - 7.30pm

Each course runs for 6 weeks

The foundation course will be held in Old Town, Hebden Bridge.

The cost of the course is £125 for six weeks, this also includes a pack of equipment that you will need for gundog training.

The course will be run by myself and another qualified dog trainer Kath from Startrite Dog Training - Kathryn Wellock Cert.TPTD, so two trainers per class.

The class is limited to 6 dogs.

A progression class is available for those who wish to continue.

🛑 PLEASE READ 🛑

There are some stipulations to be able to join this class…..

1. Dogs must have completed foundation training and have a reasonable level of general obedience ( puppy foundation training is available for puppies under 6 months of age in a seperate class )

2. Dogs must be comfortable working in an indoor environment with other dogs and people, the class will not be suitable for reactive dogs.

3. Dogs must be able to focus on their handler around other dogs and people.

4. The class will not suitable for dogs that resource guard items from people or other dogs ( resource guarding means they can become aggressive when they have something they perceive as valuable or will not approach or be near anyone with something in their mouth )

If you are unsure of any of these things, please do contact me Gemma on 07866896356

24/06/2025

Rule number 5 of spaniel club…..

Thou must walketh, even if the weather be sh*te 😂 ( alternatively known as the ‘get yer big coat on’ rule).

Bit of a change from a few days ago eh?!
😜

21/06/2025

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be hosting an occasional Zoom evening! We’d love to hear your suggestions for topics, as our valued customers and followers. Based on your input, we’ll select a topic or put it to a vote. Before the event, we’ll invite everyone to submit questions related to the chosen topic. Our goal is to spend about an hour discussing and answering those questions.

We’ll have a limited number of spots available for the live Zoom session and will record it for those who can’t make it, sharing the replay in a private Facebook group.

If this event proves popular and beneficial, we plan to host more in the future.

Are you interested? If so, what topics would you like us to cover?

Startrite Dog Training - Kathryn Wellock Cert.TPTD

20/06/2025

A visual representation of brits leaving work on a sunny Friday and heading straight to a beer garden at speed! 🏎️💨

Although some of us humans may enjoy the hot weather, it’s less pleasant for our canine friends. You might be eager to sit in a beer garden, with a drink in hand, but your dog would probably really rather stay at home in this weather. Remember, no dog ever died from not being walked!

Some tips to keep your dogs cool, let me know if you have any others in the comments….

🌞 Time your walks, avoiding the hottest part of the day- early mornings and later in the evening .

🌞 Stick to shaded walks, near to water.

🌞 Keep walks shorter than normal, and try to keep things more sedate ( easier said than done with a spaniel I know! 🤦🏻‍♀️)

🌞 Avoid ball throwing and other high energy activities. I know Newt is hunting in this video but the video is from a few weeks ago and the weather wasn’t hot! Spaniels will quickly overheat hunting at pace!

🌞 Make sure your dogs have plenty of access to fresh water.

🌞 Make sure there are cool spots at home for them to relax, cool mats, fans, and cold treats can be helpful too.

🌞A paddling pool in the garden is a fun way to keep them cool.

🌞Frozen treats/enrichment feeders are also a great way to keep cool.

Enjoy the lovely weather, keep safe and stay cool 😎

Due to the hot weather, we’ve cancelled classes and 1:1 appointments for a portion of this week, over the weekend and early next week.

19/06/2025

A very short introduction to me ( Gemma) for those of you who are new here 👋

Before training to become a dog trainer I had a successful career as an A&E nurse. By the time I left the NHS I had worked my way up to a senior sister level and started to study to become an advanced practitioner. Unfortunately it was at this point that I realised I was completely burnt out, I just had nothing left to give. I had always dreamt about working with animals so that’s what I did instead, I was first a dog walker before obtaining extra handling experience through voluntary work and undertaking various qualifications in the dog training field. Now I’m literally living the dream 😊😂.

However I missed the organised chaos, stress and the feeling of being on the edge of control… so I got a spaniel, then I got another.

True story 😂

18/06/2025

Leave it is a word that we all want our dogs to understand. Long term we want to train our dogs so that their choice is to automatically leave stuff unless told otherwise, after all nobody wants to walk around exclaiming ‘leave it, leave it, leave it!’ 🤦‍♀️😅. However a strong leave it cue is important for those times when we need to reaffirm to our dogs what is expected/what we want them to do.

Leave it should mean as it’s says on the tin, that your dog should leave the thing you’ve asked them to. However, it also means leave it and forget about it, as at no point do we let them get the thing we’ve asked them to leave. This is important as it teaches dogs frustration tolerance. Essentially, leave it means ‘tough you can’t have that, forget about it’. Some dogs find this harder than others, and it’s such an important skill to have. To make the process less frustrating in the early stages we start simple and gradually build on that behaviour making it harder and harder as the dogs understanding develops.

Below is a video of Benji showing how quickly a puppy can learn that leaving things is a good thing to do. On several occasions as his understanding increases he makes the choice to leave it without me asking, because leaving things works out well for him.

Whilst Benji is learning what leave it means, we make sure we reward the behaviour highly to increase the likelihood that he will do it again, in this video I’m using treats, but going forward those rewards can vary- toys, play, affection, praise etc.

Good job Benji 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

15/06/2025

Springer spaniels get their name from their action in the field, ‘springing’ game from cover toward waiting guns….

….and then there’s also this! 🙊😂😂😂

13/06/2025

Newt is recovering post spay today. Due to Newt having phantom pregnancies after both her seasons, where she had several behavioural changes and was very stressed, we decided to get her spayed before she had another season as it wouldn’t be fair to put her through that again.

Since coming home she has mostly slept, she has managed 2 tiny snacks/ meals, she’s been outside in the garden for a wee and is drinking. She’s feeling rather sorry for herself but she has wagged her tail a few times and I’m sure she’ll be back to her normal self in a few days. Then we’ll have to contain her for the next couple of weeks to avoid aggravating her wound! I’m sure that’ll be fun with a young enthusiastic and busy springer! 😱😂 For now she is chilling in a safe and cosy corner in the living room to rest and recuperate.

Thanks Hird and Partners for all the care provided. Where would we be without the help and professionalism of all the amazing and dedicated vetinary staff!? 🌟

Wutheringhounds

26/06/2025

25/06/2025

24/06/2025

21/06/2025

20/06/2025

19/06/2025

18/06/2025

15/06/2025

13/06/2025

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