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Bark To Basics, Manchester (2025)

28/11/2025

Meet Rex !

Rex is a handsome Akita who came in to work on his reactive behaviour passing both dogs in particular & on occasion, people. Rex would fixate heavily at a distance and try lunging towards triggers, he would also pull hard on the lead & was always focused ahead - we got to work !

Rex is only 7 months old so I'm starting this with a massive props to his owners for being so proactive - I love to see it ! Rex will only get bigger and stronger as he matures so getting this nipped in the bud now was our top priority. During our assesment we saw Rex was struggling with a form of reactive behaviour called Barrier Frustration, we also discussed that at 7 months old, he is likely experiencing a fear period as he's just began some nerve driven behaviours around environmentals.

We saw that Rex's collar was sat just above his shoulders, the constant tension on the collar & lead was causing additional frustration when passing triggers. We spoke about how flat collars sit on the trachea and are only really suitable for dogs who don't pull, so we swapped him off this & onto the slip. We worked on leash skills & communication, and with the help of some tasty high value rewards Rex was very eager to remain in a heel to earn something as we positively conditioned him to the position. Rex took to this in no time at all! Next, we moved onto working him around triggers.

Rex did beautifully in this part of the session, normally he would rear up or refuse to move, but the conditioning we had done prior set him up for sucsess. Passing dogs that are playing off leash or running after a ball was a big trigger for Rex, he would become fixated and end up on his back legs - with a little work he was able to calmly pass excitable dogs without any bother thanks to a lack of leash tension and a new, positive place to be in during the walk making things far more relaxing for everyone. We see posts all the time stating akita are impossible to train or difficult to train - they're no labrador or German shepherd, but they aren't impossible to train and too many trainers write off primitive breeds aa a result. They tend to have a very "well, what's in it for me?" Attitude to life and training, and I love that in a dog. It shows higher intelligence to question WHY they should do what you're asking !

In session we covered appropriate socialisation for his breed, developmental periods, classical conditioning for nervous responses to "scary" environmental factors and touched up on same s*x aggression and when this is likely to begin if he develops this trait, which is common in akita. Its important to note that same s*x aggression does not = reactivity. SSA is a common trait in primitive breeds that not alot of owners are prepared for due to a lack of research, luckily Rex's owners were already prepared and had done a ton of research before committing 🙌 I was also really impressed with how tolerant and handler friendly Rex was - you can tell both his owners and breeder have put alot of hard work into him. We finished up our day with rex in a calm, relaxed heel passing dogs & people.

Rex now has a few weeks worth of homework to practice until we see him again to further the above skill sets, he was brilliant in session and really eager to please once we showed him what we wanted to do. Well done Rex !

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26/11/2025

Meet Vega !

Vega is a Welsh Collie x Border Collie who came in to work on his reactive behaviour towards traffic.
This is a really common problem we find alot of our working collie / collie mix owners experience. Vega was fixating on traffic, lunging and occasionally barking at passing cars/trucks/buses etc we found the larger the vehicle the more he would react. We got to work !

9 times out of 10, when I'm working with herders as a reactive behaviour specialist, they are reactive to traffic & and 9 times out of ten they're working line - The reason this happens is because of the drives that have been historically selected to make them good herding dogs. Before some farmer jumps on here saying his collie doesn't kick off at the 98 bus - your dog has an outlet for their genetic predisposition to fixate, chase, herd, nip. Most working collies in pet homes don't have this outlet - this is how we end up with environmental reactivity. Joggers, bikes, scooters, running kids, traffic - anything that goes past quickly can illicit this response. Not being able to complete the action of chasing, herding, nipping can build frustration which results in lunging & barking at the trigger. Providing an outlet is key here, we can't change genetic predisposition but we can provide an alternative outlet !

After Vega's assessment we took him out to a part of the pavement with minimal distractions beyond the traffic. We had already done a little foundational work on the heel position and how to make this a positive place to be, so we began utilising this during his exposure training. We discussed how having Vega out infront on the harness will make us non exsistent, he will be far to fixated on the traffic to care what we are doing if we aren't in sight - we kept him in the heel position and counter conditioned fixation while classically conditioning in a positive association with the traffic passing. He did really well with this and clicked on in no time at all ! We spoke about how to further his handler value and engagement going forward and set him up with a hand feeding plan to build on this - engagement is the key to everything you could possibly want from your dog. We also opted to not use the harness, I don't reccomend them for reactive dogs as it makes lunging easier & offers very little control, with this form of reactivity it's an accident waiting to happen so we've opted for the slip to keep Vega safe.

After a few minutes practice we took him away from the road to decompress, it's imperative you don't try to run before you can walk when working on behaviours like this. Keeping exposure sessions short and sweet keeps things relaxed and achievable for young dogs & puppies. He didn't take long to decompress at all and was ready for round 2 in no time. Vega is close to his adolescent stage now at 4 months old, so massive props to his family for getting him in so early to work on this behaviour before it became habitualised 👏 I really wish more owners were this proactive !

Vega smashed his first session, we've set him up with 4 weeks worth of homework and I can't wait to see the little man's progress ! Well done Vega 🐕

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23/11/2025

Meet Leo !

Leo is a handsome German Shepherd that we did a House Call with recently. His family got in contact due to some seemingly random growling & grumbling that Leo was directing towards his owners partner. This was typically occuring whenever she entered the room, went to engage with Leo or when Leo was told to get in his bed or sit etc. Direct interactions or looking as if she was coming toward him would trigger the reaction.
We also discovered he would do this if he has penned himself in a narrow area like the stairway, under the bed etc.
They had previously seen other trainers for this issue with one saying they'd never seen this behaviour before & reccomended some relationship building via play - great advice on the relationship building -but via play was just not quite right for Leo.
We got to work!

Upon meeting Leo for the first time it was clear he was struggling with over arousal. He had 0 off switch and practiced displacement behaviours when guests entered the home. He was nowhere near as bad as I expected which I don't get to say very often ! Leo is ball obsessed and couldn't relax as a result, and while work to drop the ball on command was evident this didn't stop the constant desire to play fetch with himself or bring you his ball 1938373829 times while you're sat on the sofa. We spoke about the full preydrive sequence and how games like fetch illicit a part of that sequence but don't allow for the full expression of the preydrive cycle - for some dogs prone to over arousal, this can begin obsessive behaviours surrounding play. Everytime we throw the ball adrenaline is realised - when adrenaline is released it can stay in your dogs system for upto 72 hours ! This can affect your dogs sympathetic nervous system and cause issues like seemingly random intolerance, moodiness and even reactivity. All of that adrenaline is telling your dog "go go go" and can make them abit jumpy, erratic, less tolerant and ultimately exhausted.

We decided to remove free acsess to toys and stop fetch altogether for a few weeks. This isn't a long term change for Leo & he is still allowed to play a little - but for now we want to stop that adrenaline cycle in its tracks during training. The last trainer was on the right path with the suggestion of relationship building but we've opted to not throw more fuel on the fire by doing this via play, instead we're focusing on hand feeding. Food releases dopamine, the feel good hormone that helps dogs feel relaxed, this hormone helps mitigate adrenaline & cortisol and helps build positive associations with perceived triggers. We reccomended bonding exercises that focus on easy to teach tricks & obedience so Leo could understand interacting with this person, or thus person interacting with me = good things ! We've reccomended a short term change to his feeding structure to help maintain handler value.

During these exercises I could see Leo was communicating his feelings long before he growled. This can be very subtle so we went over some body language and behaviour ID to help his owners understand exactly what he was saying. We never correct dogs for growling, its like taking the batteries out of a fire alarm, dogs that warn you *dont* want to escalate. Luckily, Leo is a really friendly sweet natured German Shepherd but some key body language was going amiss, growling was his only other option to communicate. When the family member entered the room, he would show the whites of his eyes and watch exactly where she was going - a clear sign of apprehension and nerve aswell as raising his tail to show that he was alert. We opted to create a positive association with coming in & out of the room and passing him, calling him over etc and he did really well with this, he clicked on in no time that interacting = something positive and tasty. Now that he could be understood clearly & this, ontop of removing the root cause of the adrenaline cycle, will help lessen that nerve & improve upon handler value.
We also saw thar Leo practices displacement behaviours - displacement behaviours can vary - some dogs will groom themselves, others will hump toys or pillows, some will spin and others will rush to frantically find an object to bring you- often a toy - on the surface this just looks like friendly greeting from a dog who wants to play, what it actually is, is a dog trying to cope with "big feelings" and redirecting this onto the closest possible object out of arousal & excitement- feelings that further adrenaline release. This is why so many pace, "dance" or refuse to let you take the item away until they're calmer.

Lastly we spoke about how overly aroused & excitable dogs don't always rest properly due to the adrenaline cycle - just like us, a mentally exhausted dog will be more likely to be less tolerant and not the very best version of themselves. We have all heard the infamous phrase "a tired dog is a good dog" but it doesn't always ring true for dogs struggling with behavioural issues. We set up a plan to build an "off switch" for Leo via structured decompression to help him hit his REM sleep cycle. This will help him relax properly, and get some proper sleep which will increase his tolerance on top of his training plan. I wanted to feature Leo because not only is this a really interesting case but to show that we do offer house calls - I don't feature enough of them !

All in all Leo did brilliantly, he's a clever dog who can clearly communicate his needs - I was expecting far worse to be honest, I was anticipating some potential resource gaurding but he showed us what the problem was in no time and he was really eager to learn ! Well done big lad

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07/11/2025

Meet Rocco !

Rocco is a Great Dane who came in to work on his Reactive Behaviour towards dogs. Rocco is only 1 year old but his size & strength were making him difficult and pretty unenjoyable to walk, which is completely understandable - he would lunge forwards, bark & growl and was particularly worse with smaller dogs who would react toward him first. He's huge for his age & this alone can make a reactive dog 10× more tricky for owners ! We got to work -

We began by working on his leash skills. Alot of my giant breeds owners default to headcollars because they give the illusion of more control, unfortunately they are one of the worst aversives you could ever use with a dog of any size. They don't make dogs stop pulling through sheer magic or in a kind or gentle way as they're commonly marketed, they work by making pulling really negative for the dog by pressing directly on the "stop" part of the muzzle. Instead we swapped him onto a slip - unlike a head collar this isn't a restrictive tool it's a communication tool, when used correctly.

Roccos owners had previously had him on the slip so We had a look at how this had been used prior to our first session, we adjusted a few things to help both Rocco & his family understand how to communicate via the slip and to how to mainatian a nice slack leash. We spoke about how constant tension will build more frustration - from there we worked on building engagement. Rocco has a brilliant food drive and was really eager to earn some tasty, high value rewards for maintained engagement in the heel position & We had him in a heel walking beautifully in no time at all during reps !

Alot of my giant breed clients end up habitualising a lot of unnecessary pressure on equipment but this makes pulling so much worse - his family are super driven & keen to learn - they all picked this up quickly during reps and I can't wait to see how they progress with more practice. We then began working Rocco around passing dogs politely & calmly whilst maintaining the heel position as we gradually increased distractions & triggers at his pace. Rocco did so well with this and passed all but one dog in two hours without a problem. The one dog he struggled with was particularly reactive towards Rocco, but the over all immediate improvement was clear - he did such a good job ! even if he did cover me in slobber 😂👏 Roccos owners now have some homework to practice until we see him next time, I'm looking forward to seeing his progress - well done big lad 🐕

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27/10/2025

Meet George !

George is a Handsome Pointer who came in to work on his Reactive Behaviour towards dogs. George would become fixated at a distance, bark, pull, lunge & panic when he passed most dogs. He also had some environmental nerve issues surrounding floor textures. Hes a powerful, tall dog so his reactivity and nerve was making him pretty difficult to control - luckily he's a sweetheart with people so building trust with him was nice & easy - we got to work !

We made a start by conditioning him to the slip which he took to quickly. This allowed us to teach him leash communication, so he could understand what we did want him to do. We orginally began working with George on his daily working route as he was really struggling to walk past one local dog that had free acsess to the front garden, which is also reactive, so George would get very pent up when he had to walk past this house - making his everyday walks incredibly stressful for him. We began classically conditioning him via hand feeding when passing this area to help gradually improve on the expectations he had when passing this spot. He did really well with this and has taken to hand feeding beautifully, teaching him a heel has also meant that he feels safer and is far easier to redirect and control.

The second time we worked with George was in a busier park, now that he had abit more confidence and training was already in place, we wanted to further it at his pace by doubling down on exposure and showing George that other dogs aren't any of his concern. We opted to do this in an on leash unless verbal control area, which he did beautifully with. We had him calmly walking past dogs and taking food in no time. We explained to George's owner, the impact of the trigger stacking cycle and that George had learned if he reacted one of two things would happen - either the scary trigger is removed or he is removed - reacting = being able to aviod the dog, it was working for him.
So we are focusing on helping him become nuetral and reading body langauge so we can advocate for him and his space long before he feels like he needs to react without avioding every passing dog. I was really impressed with how well he took to this and his owners hard work was really clear to see 🙌 because he is a working line pointer, we also covered some outlets for all of that drive so he can appropriately express it - this makes a huge impact for working line dogs, no matter the breed.

George is a nervous, sweet natured boy who really wants to make the right decisions and I'm mega proud of his progress so far. Intense nerve like this can take a little longer to convince, but it's well worth the journey. He was far calmer, collected and in a nice slack leash heel the second time around - i cant wait to see him progress even further! - Well done gorgeous George 🐕✅️

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24/10/2025

Meet Rio !

Rio is a KNPV line Belgian Malinois whi came in to work on some foundational skill sets before he begins his career as a Personal Protection Dog.
We absolutely *love* seeing dogs like this landing in homes who want to honor their genetics. Rio really impressed me straight out of the gate - he was confident, nuetral & sociable which was a great sign ! We got to work -

We made a start on some key skill sets surrounding heelwork & handler engagement. Engagement is a key skill for the vast majority of training, it makes recall a breeze, heelwork easy to achieve and means you have a dog who actually wants to listen to your every word. We spoke about hand feeding and breed specific outlets, and how we can utilise both as a structured reinforcer in his training.

Despite how many distractions, dogs, people, novel experiences, sights, sounds, smells, textures etc that we came across today - he absolutely smashed it & could maintain a engagement & a lured heel throughout. Those needle teeth caused a few minor injuries today during hand luring 😂 so we've sent his owner some reccomendations for some working grade gloves so he actually has some hands left to feed from going forward !

We did a little work around the fair ground today, everything was off but it's still a great novel place to work in. The novel sights, bright colours, new textures, people, noises, flags & signs blowing in the wind and more are alot for a 14 week old pup to take in, but he was completely unphased. A few times he was keen to clamber up on to the rides, the metal safety floors, no fixation or fear of the lads putting flags up or dragging cannisters around - he wasn't bothered whatsoever by how unusual all of this was & that alone was really impressive. Lastly we spoke about drive building, outlets, decompression/ building an off switch & how we can improve on engagement in some busier environments going forward. *This* is what socialisation is all about - not meeting every random dog and person out on walks - contrary to popular belief !

He did so well & I'm really looking forward to seeing him improve 🙌 Well done little man !

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13/10/2025

Meet Skunk !

Skunk is an American Bulldog x English Bulldog who came in to resolve his pulling on the lead, his owner has ended up with two wrist injuries so we needed to get Skunk in a relaxed heel as quickly as possible so his owner could still take him out on enjoyable walks without risking further injury by being dragged ahead or pulled from side to side. Despite his size, Skunk is a big boy with alot of strength behind him - we got to work !

We made a start by getting him off the harness as he'd learnt he could use his full strength when on this equipment. Instead, we moved him onto the slip & taught him leash communication & pressure to build a slack leash heel and a positive association with the heel position so he *wanted* to be there of his own volition - every Bulldog owner that we get in says the same thing - bulldogs are stubborn. But really, Bulldogs aren't ! They're typically easy to motivate with both food and fun. We got the foundations down by hand luring and using some high value food in return for handler engagement. If a dog is engaged in a heel, they're not focused on pulling ahead ! Skunk took to this really quickly and while he did insist on some short breaks to have a quick rest 😴 he showed us he can maintain motivation for clear reinforcers and not charge ahead on the lead which, longterm, is going to be so much more comfortable for his owner, for him and easier to manage all round.

Due to the nature of this session we did two days in a row to really focus in on heelwork, engagement & hand feeding - another problem Skunk was experiencing, was that he would charge down the driveway excitedly to get to the park across the road. After one session and some advice regarding how to handle the driveway situation, Skunk walked down the driveway calmly and politely 🙌 he's a really intelligent lad with loads of drive and personality, he's caught onto training really quickly and heel work repitions have been giving him a ton of exercise and enrichment that he's really enjoyed - despite him being one the laziest dogs we've had in to date 😂

Skunk now has a few weeks worth of homework to focus on to refine the above skill sets, I've no doubt he will do great as hes so eager to learn and please - well done Skunk ! 🦨👏

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11/10/2025

Meet Gunner !

Gunner is a 15 week old Belgian Malinois who came in to work on some basic obedience. She's typical for her breed and was full of beans. Early on into our session we saw Gunner was experiencing some frustration, she was lunging, growling and keen to nip, she wanted to untie my shoe laces a good few times with those little needle teeth 😂- I'm really impressed with her owner for getting on top of this now rather than waiting for this to go away on its own which is a really common mistake we see here when it inevitably becomes a bigger problem around the adolescent stage. We got to work !

Gunner was being walked on a martingale style collar and while these collars are useful for alot of dogs they're not ideal for young dogs who lunge, this is because they sit where a traditional flat collar sits and this can put pressure on the trachea when a dog lunges forward. We opted to move her onto the slip to stop lunging & frustration behaviours while working on some general obedience & heel luring via hand feeding. We spoke about leash pressure and communication and that if there was consistent tension on the lead, it can easily cause frustration. Naturally, when dogs lunge or are reactive, you will want to stop them from completing the action - how the action is stopped is the key here. If you block your pup from the exciting thing by holding them back & the trigger is just a little out of reach,it creates frustration and that will encourage a drivey dog to try even harder !
This is why you will see tie backs being used in bitework. Dog can't complete the action immediately = frustration = trying harder = tenacity under pressure. Instead, we showed her owner how to stop lunging without building further frustration. We slso covered some beneficial outlets for Gunner going forward, as she will make an amazing little sport dog & hes getting the basics down nice & early - once she was shown what we did & didn't want her to do she understood quickly and had a real willingness to please.

Gunner took to heel work exceptionally well for her age and showed us she has a great food drive. we spoke about how key hand feeding is at this stage to help build a solid foundation for engagement, which sets puppies up for success and helps you build upon an engaged slack leash heel and solid recall. We spoke about outlets and I was pleased to see her owner had brought a small bite pillow to session, one of the issues Gunner was experiencing is that she would loose interest in the pillow and occasionally would spit food out too. We covered why this can happen; when adrenaline is released it dampens food drive. Hand feeding a quality high protein food is going to really help build on food drive. we spoke about how we use food and that using it as a distraction once already aroused, will mean she is less interested in food and may refuse it. We saw during our training session that Gunner only struggled to take food as a distraction but not as a clear reinforcer. Its in our nature to distract but most dogs just won't operate this way for food 🐕

Lastly, we covered exposure. Gunner has mainly been walked early in the morning when there aren't many dogs, people, traffic, environmental noises, smells, sounds, or distractions to work around. While genetics play a huge role in who our puppies will become, exposure helps them learn from an early age that noises, distractions and other people/dogs are no big deal. We've sent a list of reccomendations to work on exposure whilst training to help Gunner see the world as no big deal as we continue to focus on the basics & handler value. And of course, we covered outlets that her breed typically enjoys so she can have a job and feel fulfilled 🙌

Gunner now has some homework to focus on until we see her next time, she did so well 👏 well done !

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08/10/2025

Meet Echo !

You may recognise Echo from his post earlier this year when he was only a few weeks old, hes now 6 months old and absolutely huge for his age ! Things have being going smoothly for Echo & his owner until they hit the adolescent stage, there's been some regression in his engagement and leash skills which is a really common problem around the 6 month mark, so we got to work on setting him back on the right path. Massive props to his owner for getting this sorted now 👏

In Echo's first session we covered hand feeding and why it's so important in building a heel and engagement. Echo's owner really struggled to get him to take meals after his session as he was a little nervous of the world, adrenaline & cortisol commonly have a negative impact on food drive, this is normal in the sense that if you think you're in danger, you won't be stopping to eat! So high value treats were used instead but still abit hit and miss. Now he's alot more confident and socially nuetral, so we've opted to move back to the orginal hand feeding plan.

We spoke about the current food he's fed and while it's a top brand it was a working and sport food ! This always has an impact, additional carbs mean more energy - most pet dogs aren't doing half of what a working/sporting dog are doing in a day & all that energy has to go somewhere - it can exacerbate unwanted behaviours surrounding pulling and impulse control. We also went over that he has been on a harness and longline before the heel was solidified & walked on slip while wearing the harnees which we have found to be confusing for some more intelligent dogs who understand certain equipment = running and pulling full tilt. While Echo is miles better, there is still a tiny bit of nerve going on and the adrenaline released when feeling unsure will only tell him to keep moving and to be vigilant. The above three little problems above coupled with him being the most hormonal he will ever be in his life gave us a clear root cause for the regression. In session we focused on repitions in an engaged heel, he absolutely smashed this and quickly understood what we wanted from him really quickly & it was great to see the foundations were still in place - a slack lead, handler engagement and food being used as a reinforcer rather than a bribe or distraction 👌

Lastly, we covered a ton on slip use. It's normal when getting used to this tool for it to be used incorrectly, positioning matters, the method behind the tool matters but most of all TENSION matters. When large, strong dogs have a tendency to pull or new habit of pulling, we unconsciously end up putting a ton of pressure on the leash. This builds frustration, it means leash communication no longer works and it quickly can devolve into both parties putting a ton of unnecessary pressure on. We resolved this in session by adjusting how the slip was held leading to a much more relaxed walk for both Echo and his owner.

Echo did beautifully, he now has a few weeks worth of homework and practice ahead of him until I see him again when he will no doubt be bigger than he is now 😂 well done big lad !

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