Watchdogs Of Whitesmith.

31/03/2026

Táltos… 6 months yesterday, moved onto a bigger dummy, a longer retrieve and some big distractions!
No steadiness just yet. 😉👏🏼❤️🐾

26/10/2025

A truly wonderful sh%tover day yesterday.
The weather was perfect, the grounds were fabulous and the company was great.
Thank you all for making it a memorable day.
Stockeld Park, we will be back. ❤️🐾

22/10/2025

Torski building the hold.
No fussing this year, I think he’s growing up 🤔😳🤞🏼❤️🐾

07/09/2025

The boy did good! ❤🐾
Torski and I ran in the HVS Novice Grouse trial on Saturday on the incredible Alston Moor.
A huge thank you to all that make these days possible for without each and every one of you there would be no trials.
We were awarded 3rd place and I was absolutely thrilled with Torski's performance on the day.
His first run gave us the full HPR and his second run was a level of hunting from him that I have never seen, he was incredible but we had no game on that run.
I am so truly blessed to call him my hunting partner. ❤🐾

13/08/2025

Well what an incredible day!
Torski & I competed in our first grouse trial on the glorious 12th, so incredibly lucky.
Our first run was great but non productive.
Our second run started a little lack lustre as we were so very hot and tired but Torski found his mojo & indicated game, not a solid point he looked slightly over faced by scent then a covey of 4 grouse flushed!
Torski sat to flush, the bird was sho¥ and he was sent to make the retrieve. He picked it and got a mouthful of feathers so put it down, spat out the feathers and picked it up again and delivered beautifully to hand.
Sadly we were put out for the feather spitting element as he had put the game down to do so. 🙁
Super thrilled with his first ever grouse trial and his performance on such a difficult day.
Great ground, great guns, great competition ❤️🐾

25/07/2025

Worth a thought ❤️🐾

Loose lead isnt natural. It’s a skill that has to be learnt. Biomechanically, dogs are built to move faster than us. Dogs choose to shift to a natural trot and on average walk at 2.5 - 4 mph (Hildebrand, 1966) where us naked monkeys on the otherhand average 2-3 mph walking (Kirtley, 2006). Do you know what 2.5 feels like? You should!

Because the mismatch alone creates tension — physically with the lead and emotionally in the relationship. Infact Dogs Trust found 30% of owners considered it a reason to rehome.

Now add in breed differences with research by Fischer & Lilje (2011) suggesting that Different breeds have different locomotive profiles based on original function. Malinois and Vizslas who are bred to move, track, cover ground; hearding breed like kelpies and collies who are bred to arc out infront; scent hounds like Beagles and Bloodhounds - designed to follow their noses with purpose, drive and speed; and of course breeds like Huskies who are literally bred and built to pull - it’s in the actual job description.

Its not a suprise that Rooney & Cowan (2011) found Lead tension and restricted gait was specifically a negative welfare marker for working breeds.

So when we expect all dogs to plod beside us through a park at human pace, ignoring smells, distractions, and natural instinct…we’re arent asking for a behaviour: We’re asking for the dog to restrain their pace, suppress their instincts, and constantly self-regulate.

In my opinion loose lead is one of the three essential skills I believe every dog pro needs to understand in depth - gait, drive, motivation, mechanics, assessment, different technique and exercise, consequence gradients and all.

Because when you understand what you’re really asking for,
you stop calling it stubbornness
and start training it like the advanced skill it actually is. And this leads to way better pet dogs with way happier relationships. ###

28/06/2025

A fabulous water workshop completed!
We started with 3 non swimmers & 3 confident swimmers.
We ended with 6 confident swimmers. ❤️🐾
Long retrieves with shot across the lake. Midway right & left retrieves from the dummy launcher. A blind on the opposite bank too.
Such great progress by all and done with the added distraction of sheep. 🐑
Huge thank you to our guest trainer Rob Gould & his amazing dog Djyn for ensuring the session went so smoothly and all those stray dummies were expertly picked. 🙏🏼

23/06/2025

Spanner in the works is back!!
Wednesday 2nd July 6.30pm.
Join us for some spanieleering fun. ❤️🐾
Get in touch if you’d like to join us.

09/06/2025

A few more... ❤️🐾

09/06/2025

A beautiful day at Heveningham Estate for the NSHPRC water training day. A fabulous selection of trainers giving of their time, knowledge and experience along with endless patience to ensure we all progressed in our learning throughout the course of the day.
Torski's confidence to enter water grew immensley and we managed to get huge distance and duration on that hold when exiting water, applying all his impulse control not to drop the retrieve to shake. Great day, great results. 🙌❤️🐾

02/02/2025

A fabulous last day of the season for Tẽl and I yesterday.
I didn’t sh**t as many as she retrieved on each drive but she did an incredible job of marking and retrieving for 3 others!!
A very happy dog and a fantastic day in great company ❤️🐾