Pawsitive Steps

30/08/2025

30/08/2025

A lovely peaceful walk

29/08/2025

I took all the dogs, whippets first outing with everyone to the woods for a change of scenery, hoping that on a wet day we could have a quiet walk, didn’t see a soul. All the dogs behaved beautifully , what’s better than a lovely stress free walk in the woods, perfect.

24/08/2025

Lastly Teagan came for a visit, she hasn’t been for a while, her owner has done some tests with her, but unfortunately had a bad experience with some shot , so this has now made her fearful in some situations. When she arrived she was most definitely pleased to see me and showed no signs of discomfort, so we took things slowly and ran through some excercises we knew she could do, she had a thoroughly great time and was a little star, not really wanting the session to finish. Hopefully this will continue, we will take it slowly and give her plenty of time to work things out. She is such a talented little dog.

24/08/2025

Next is was Kali’s turn, she had her learning head on today, so we worked through some lead walking, a little retrieving, then as it was getting warmer , we then did some work on the placeboard. We worked on her staying on the board while I walked about tempting her with toys and just me as she finds me very exciting!! So it was small movements, so she could manage herself and be successful. A good session with this young dog.

24/08/2025

Next was Tollie, she was full of enthusiasm but found things difficult today, so we ending up simplifying our excercises. You have to accommodate your dogs capabilities on that day, especially those struggling with adolescence. It was also quite a warm day , so we talked through some excercises, luckily she has a very capable owner. Her retrieving has much improved and the delivery is getting there. A lovely young dog.

24/08/2025

This week I had a visit from Dottie, who came in a mood to learn, so we decided to make the most of it. We taught her the beginning of directions, Dottie does like her food so that’s always a bonus, she worked well and was rewarded by a good sniff in the hedge. Then we moved on to some recall which hasn’t been great recently, but today she was spot on also, we then did a little retrieving into the box, this gives her more incentive to try, she did well. Finished with a little lead walking, an excellent session this week.

08/08/2025

In between working and helping other people with their dogs, I have been upping my dogs training in the afternoons, as the next shooting season is looming. Some days everyone has been together remembering how to sit quietly and wait their turn, some need a little more help as they are still young or some a bit more enthusiastic, my old Lady now suddenly decides she might like a retrieve, but as she is now quite deaf, can get in the way , but it’s all good steadiness for everyone else. Weather permitting they need to start getting fitter, definitely keeping with Pure Flax and goats milk for rehydration this season as it worked well last, have a feeling that the Partridge season may be quite warm and with all this dry weather the normal streams may well be dry, so carrying some water and goats milk for them will be essential.

08/08/2025

Kali came for another visit, this time I brought out my spaniel to work with her, Kali finds other dogs exciting and wants to play with everyone, my spaniel is not bothered with other dogs , so that helps. We went into the small paddock and walked around that to settle them, then practiced sitting on the placeboards and walking close to each other then away again, some parallel walking, how to handle her if she wanted to play and it wasn’t appropriate, she settled well. We also went to the jump box as it has a nice low part now. Kali thoroughly enjoyed a bit of retrieving. She had to then also wait quietly while my dog had a go too, so to set her up for success, we moved her further away and talked beforehand how to handle the situation. She managed herself really well. A good session.

08/08/2025

Next up was Dottie, more working on listening skills, coming when called , if she didn’t how to handle it, being consistent in your approach to adolescent dogs is very important. Both of her owners came as she is being difficult to walk on jute lead at times, so we chatted about where to walk and how much free time she needs and thinking carefully about what levels of excitement she is exposed to. They practiced recall between each other, we hid some dried spears to find learning to hunt for. We also did a little retrieving, this is not her favourite thing at the moment, but some fur dummies helped that and we had much more enthusiasm. She tried hard tonight.

08/08/2025

This week has been busy first up on Monday was Tollie for a visit, haven’t seen her for a while as holidays and hot weather get in the way!! We had a great session, they clearly had been working hard on dummy delivery, so we had a go at the jump box which she loved.We also worked on giving yourself time to get organised for each retrieve, thinking about what pattern we use , which arm to extend and how that affects the dogs concentration , which arm holds the dog until she is more steady, human mechanics takes time to get the hang of , but is very important for the finish you want. A very pleasing session with this young dog.

22/07/2025

During the hot weather I went to visit a puppy at his home, to talk through with his owner what his needs will be be, starting of with learning recall and learning to walk on a lead. Crate training among other things were discussed, a lovely young pup, in between sleeping we did lots of little short introductions to life.