WalkWise Dog Training

WalkWise Dog Training Fun dog training and socialisation support for owners of young, sociable dogs in Manchester. We believe in nurturing your dog's social side, safely.

We'll help you feel confident out on walks so you can share enriching and varied experiences together!

Tiny dog, great big world...'Small dog syndrome' - how many of you have heard that one? Well, let today be the day you r...
21/05/2026

Tiny dog, great big world...

'Small dog syndrome' - how many of you have heard that one? Well, let today be the day you reframe it, for the benefit of your tiny pal.

Small man syndrome, when used to describe men, is a derogatory term to dismiss the emotions of shorter individuals. It's use reduces displays of emotion to a compensation for insecurities about their size, dismissing the idea that these men have complex and nuanced reasons for showing their emotions.

Similarly, when it's used to describe dogs, it dismisses the real function of the behaviours on display. Maybe some men are insecure about their size, but no dog is insecure about their size. They have no societal expectations for what makes a 'dog'. Small dogs are just naturally more at risk, and therefore have very real reasons to be defensive to protect themselves. It's hard for us to imagine, because there is nothing in our society that is as big as a labrador is to a dachshund.

If we had grizzly bears, hippos and moose wandering around, entering our personal space, we'd have something to say about it. If we were tethered to someone who didn't let us move away when we were scared (I.e on a lead), we'd DEFinitely have something to say!

Small dogs bark for all the same reasons as big dogs - fear, frustration, excitement - but their threat perception is different.

Some small breeds were bred to alert bark (chihuahuas were guard dogs in the home, dachshunds were hunting dogs that needed to be heard from underground!), so breed is also a big factor.

From my experience, the real reason small dogs are loud is because their quiet signals of discomfort or anxiety get missed. Lip licks, head turns and paw lifts, all much harder to see! Most learn that, if they need space, they need to shout about it.

I wish for more compassion and respect for the little guys, they are perfectly capable of being calm, confident little optimists, they just need to be listened to and for us to believe them when they say something is a threat. It might not be for us, but it is for them!

With the right support and training you can have bark free walks with your little dog 🐕 get in touch if you want to get there!

20/05/2026

Supporting a reactive dog through their learning journey💪

We were blessed with a very calm and disinterested beagle today, so I made the most of it, to give kalli the opportunity to practice her self-regulation skills.

We were just on the edge of her threshold when she became more fixated, but we sat with it. She was able to refocus, we practiced disengagement and self-control, she was able to regulate through sniffing and she made her own choice to disengage, no need for escalation. A great learning experience for her - threat assessment updated!

One important thing to know about this if you have a reactive dog:

If she can't practice regulating, she'll never learn to do it well, and so will struggle to be a dog that can handle more of the world and see it in a positive way. So it's important to not shy away from life.

That being said, I'm very selective about situations, in public, that I use in this way, because it's important to be safe and to build up a bank of good experiences like these, avoiding as many setbacks as I can. I'll happily avoid 9 out of 10 opportunities to avoid the risk, and select the one golden opportunity that helps me make real progress.

The rest of the time, we just have fun! She gets big full pelt runs in quiet open spaces, we practice obedience exercises, play tug and chase and catch. Ultimately, there's no actual pressure for her to change, but my job is to provide experiences that could open up her world, and my god it's a joy to do so.

❤️ So proud of kalli today! ❤️

Feel free to ask questions in the comments 🙌

What is a relationship without good two way communication!?Vocal cues are your way of talking to your dog, asking them w...
18/05/2026

What is a relationship without good two way communication!?

Vocal cues are your way of talking to your dog, asking them what you want of them, so that you can build trust in them to listen and make good choices when off lead.

Always teach vocal cues using positive reinforcement - your dog will love the sound of your voice and be much more likely to listen and respond when you need them to!

If you don't teach vocal cues properly, it may seem like your dog isn't listening to you, but in reality they're just filtering your voice out like they do most of the time. When you're talking to friends, on the phone, or to yourself like I do 🙃 your voice becomes background noise for your dog. They get a lot of practice at ignoring you! So it's normal for them not to respond, until you give your voice specific meaning.

That's why it helps to make your vocal cues stand out. Say them in a different tone to your normal speaking voice, or give them a sing-song quality. That way your dog will know when you're talking to them vs when you're not.

Thats not to say your dog will respond perfectly everytime, thats an unrealistic expectation! But at least, when you've taught them the cue and they're still not responding, you can begin to understand why, and help your dog get it right.

11/05/2026

'My dog wont listen'

Do they have a clue what you're saying?

Teach your vocal cues properly and your dog will listen! Otherwise you're just babbling nonsense near them, they've got better things to do.

Create the behaviour with lures or targets.
Fade the help out and find a way to gesture for the behaviour.
THEN add a vocal cue.

When you first teach it - say your cue, gesture, reinforce, repeat.

After some reps - say your cue and see if they give it a go! If not, keep practising and reinforcing, they will learn.

Don't ask me why Chimichanga came to mind either 👀🙃

07/05/2026

The beauty of the parade 🫠

Gundogs like to possess their resources, it is a part of the predatory sequence that humans really liked for their job!

'Go get that thing and carry it here, but don't damage it or tear it up please'

So the result in today's world is that they love holding items, carrying them round like precious cargo. They can definitely enjoy a good tear up, but mostly they enjoy the carrying - and they like to parade it in front of us for the joy!

If you want your gundog to be happy and self confident, let them parade - its in their DNA. Be a part of it with them and they'll love you for it.

If they pick up unwanted items, don't rush to grab it off them. If it won't kill them, let them have their moment to feel happy and satisfied and proud! If they can trust that you won't take things away, they'll bring things to you - they'll happily show you all the things they find, rather than running away or gobbling them down.

Then you can swap it for something else once they've had their fun, but at first keep your hands off and show them some love instead - after all, they're the best gundog in the world 🌎

05/05/2026

Cue the snores...

❤️

24/04/2026

Just two old dogs being peaceful and cute, happy Friday ❤️

30/03/2026

How do thresholds affect your dog?

If they cause them to:
📴Switch off from you
🤪Be impulsive
💨Rush around or away

Then give this exercise a go!

If they can't focus, hear you or eat whilst inside, in their harness, around just the scent of outdoors etc then your walks will be much more difficult and you can kiss recall and off lead freedom goodbye!

This is a must for every dog, give it a go 🐶

25/03/2026

Bramble doesn't like to be touched, she will very clearly back away and ask me to stop if I attempt any sort of petting. Her owners put her harness on for me so that it's as least stressful as possible, but she also doesn't really like them to touch her very much either.

So, in my most recent session, I set about creating ways to build trust and positive associations to handling. To do this, I created a pattern and made the handling a part of the pattern.

Predictability negates anxiety.

The pattern was:

Food presented
Vocal cue of 'harness'
Touch harness
Mark for the touch
Feed the food.

Adding a vocal cue for the handling means, in future, I can read her response to the word to see if she is consenting or avoidant.

At the end of this video, I say the cue 'harness' without the initial food presentation. She has a small tense up, but it is a much lower level response than she would normally have because I said the cue, so she knew what to expect.

By completing the pattern, and with her having recent experience of the outcome being positive, she handled the stress and got her reward and then got a sniffy break to recover. Great achievement!

The lesson here - patterns are the best (and Bramble is also the best👌)

Big love to this sweet old lady learning new things and overcoming her worries ❤️

25/03/2026

Tiny death shark spotted on local sofa ⚠️

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