Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer

19/06/2026

The joys of early recall training!

Early recall training is fun, and because you are introducing a young pup to the outdoor world, generally your bond is still strong while they have not yet truly discovered their senses, and strength and agility in their physical attributes.

That will come quickly…

And with it an increased curiosity in the world and everything in it.

This is where you have to really work on focus, your motivational powers, and encouragement.

But peppering your dog with too many recalls can also backfire.

Don’t be too demanding and distract your dog from everything. They are curious about the world, let them discover it, learn about it, and do it together.

There is a time and a place for training and for discovery.

17/06/2026

Practicing and drilling your recalls, regularly, as a matter of habit keeps them sharp.

If you don't drill and train them regularly as part of training and you only use and expect them to work in real time in front of challenges and temptation they will surely erode.

There are no shortcuts, only practice!

Train yourself to train your dog!

14/06/2026

Goodness me, in a recent discussion with a client about comparisons between dogs and wolves I took a look back at a podcast I was on a number of years ago.

I hadn’t listened to this for a very long time but it brought back some great memories during my wild wolf adventures.

In this episode you can hear trainer, behaviourist, writer, broadcaster and wolf expert Maxwell Muir talk about what wolves mean to him personally, their plight in a modern world, and his hopes for their future. Plus we have the DogCast Radio News.

11/06/2026

It’s that time of the week where I devote my time to working with our Labradors in rescue.

I’m not sure who gets the most pleasure from it, me or the dogs!

10/06/2026

Dogs are curious creatures by nature. I believe in a world of such vast variety of breeds that curiosity has developed even further as breed types, shape, facial and bone feature differences, how different breeds move, and how some smell different to others are just a few of the factors that stimulate that sense of curiosity further.

This, socialisation and the learning and development of social and communication skills among dogs takes place over a wide area of language and communication.

Social skills are exactly that, skills, and they need practise so dogs can learn from them. There are different encounters where dogs can learn from each other but I believe they learn from each other when the balance is right. That means not too many dogs present but a small group and meetings over successive periods.

Dogs should meet Indoors and out but there should be variety of meeting places and activity, and during rest periods also.

Lack of social skills results in some dogs being over exuberant, where they haven’t learned self-control (that’s a skill also). Small group social walks are likely the best way to do this.

We live in a society where there are so many rules and pressures that those outlets aren’t met.

Some young dogs don’t understand when another dog is receptive to greeting them or when it is saying no. Or they haven’t learned the necessary self-control in meetings.

It’s not only about recalls and recall training…

It is about satisfying a dog’s need to be with its own kind, to interact and mix respectively, and to learn to respect the space of other dogs, by honing their communications skills and body language.

I am all for training my dog so that I, the owner, am the main focus. But, also on those occasions when I am happy to let my dog meet another I am confident that it has good skills and intentions, and will leave another dog alone if it says ‘No!’ to an encounter and respect its space.

If dogs don’t mix they don’t learn that and for many they seek an answer to the problem of ‘How do I stop my dog running up to other dogs?’

First they need to learn about other dogs…

08/06/2026

Giving Your Dog a Job it Loves!

Most gundog breeds have an aptitude to pick up and carry, which are the initial traits of a retriever.

With some dogs we may have to invest a fair bit of time nurturing and building a dog’s desire to retrieve…and that’s a great process to work with as it’s fun, builds teamwork and harmony between owner and dog, and gives the dog an endless outlet to use it inherent hunting instincts and traits.

With some dogs the enthusiasm is high to begin with which makes things much easier from the outset.

This Vizsla puppy training session at the weekend showed exactly that. This puppy just loves to have the gundog dummy in its mouth

Now here’s a tip if your dog displays a strong early inclination to pick up and carry:

• Don’t be in any hurry to take the funny from the dog in the beginning, otherwise you may incur a trophy parade where the dog plays keep away. Simply praise the dog, turn to the side and encourage your dog to follow. Keep your arms and hands to your side showing no intention that you want what the dog has in its mouth.

• If the dog holds onto it for a prolonged period take another dummy out of your bag and let the dog see you do it. Slight turn and slowly walk away giving all of your devoted attention to the funny you have. Likely your dog will follow with the other dummy and drop it near you in interest of your one. When it does this pick the other up, praise the dog, and gently lob the other dummy out to repeat the process.

In time you will reduce your dog’s suspicion of your intention and you will get some teamwork going.

Happy training folks!

04/06/2026

The Myth of Easy to Train

It’s often a play with words that is interpreted wrongly by dog owners who choose a breed of dog to suit their lifestyle.

I mostly work with sporting and gundog breeds from working stock which include Labradors, Spaniels, Pointers, Setters, Golden Retrievers, Tollers, Sighthounds, Collies, and some dogs that are just plain good all rounders as some of the above mentioned are.

However, with the Labrador being one of the most popular breeds chosen as a pet I often ask what swayed an owner’s choice…

‘Easy to train…’ often comes up with several other reasons.

There is a big difference in highly trainable and easy to train. The former way of putting it being the more accurate.

There are no shortcuts to training. We have to show up and do the work amidst our busy lifestyles, it’s as simple as that.

It’s about developing good habits, practise, committing time to the process, and seeing it through over the first few years of life to lay a good foundation.

After that, it’s maintenance. If you don’t use it you lose it, behaviours erode.

Training your dog does make things easier. These pets from working stock don’t need to be trained to gundog level, but they do need consistent training so you can enjoy the life you imagined when you first chose to get your dog.

They all have specific breed and individual traits, they are hunters, they display those drives in different ways, but those drives and traits are powerful and understanding them is needed along with know how in the best way to channel them.

That is done through a solid training foundation, which isn’t rocket science, but it does involve dedicating time to it and learning skills to get to the level you want.

The difficulty in easy to train is in the commitment for the dog owner to invest their time and emotions into the training. All that dedicated time pays off over the longer term when your highly trainable dog has had the benefit of a sound foundation.

Labradors may be in the top 5 list of dogs to train but the key to having any trained dog is the bond that you nurture
and develop throughout the dog’s early years of life.

That’s worth every ounce of work you put into it!

02/06/2026

A Solid Foundation Solves Many Problems

Often owners come to me for help with their dogs in a specific area, most notably:

Recall difficulties

Pulling in lead

Jumping up

Hyper and energetic behaviours with general lack of focus.

A solid foundation covers everything. If there’s a problem with recall there’s more often issues in the smaller areas. There are some exercises, particularly in gundog foundation training, which cover all aspects of the above.

Take for example the retrieve:

A steady and focused dog that remains by the handler’s side and will only go out on command.

The dog learns to walk to heel, and to move and stop with the handler in position.

The dog displays self-control while the handler takes out a dummy and casts it up and outwards…

The dog learns the hand signals and body language of the handlers and the cue for release to go hunt out the dummy…

On pick up the dog is recalled and brings the dummy back to the handler where it presents it nicely…

The dog goes back into heel position and awaits the next move.

All of the above behaviours are if great benefit and use in everyday life.

A retrieve has everything and the exercise is very flexible.

This client and her dog have some recall issues they would like to work on and fine tune. So, we get to work on all the more subtle areas which improve the handler’s training skills and the dog’s overall behaviour.

What a lovely session and lovely natured dog. At 15 months of age a few challenging habits have set in the dog’s behaviour which will be adjusted through solid foundation training which improves the mental and physical skills of both human and dog.

Retrieving and recall drills were the menu of the day for this one to one training session.

01/06/2026

Building Social Confidence!

Confidence is easy to lose and slow to gain in many cases. dogs form memories of various sorts and episodic memory, which can be a salient experience, can form powerful assoications.

That is why time needs to be taken with a systematic approach if the association that is made has resulted in any type of aggressive/defensive/self protective behaviour. It takes time to change behaviour...

Dogs can de-socialize very quickly through negative experiences.

We not only have to build the dog's confidence in the environment again, but also the dog's confidence in us, and in turn our confidence in the dog's behaviour.

It also involves training reliable behaviours behind the scenes before testing them when it comes to exposure in negotiating environments that were previously problematic.

One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given, 'the slower you take it, the quicker you'll get there.'

Understanding the dog, building a bond through the training, and laying rules and boundaries which are well rehearsed are the preludes to success, or how well a dog can come along.

Tally had lost confidence in people when she first came into rescue. It took me a while to win her over with a lot of behind the scenes work before I decided to take what we had trained into a testing social environment again. I started slow...and stayed systematic with the process. There were some setbacks and obstacles, that is natural...but she has come on greatly and she responds to behaviours I can safely rely on.

That's a win, win for handler and dog!

29/05/2026

Labrador Retriever Rescue Scotland Scio Day!

Tally’s confidence in water has come on greatly.

She doesn’t get herself immersed but not so long ago intimate past she wouldn’t even dip her paws in a river.

A series of exposures in small steps and incremental building of confidence helps give her a wider experience.

The refreshing feel of the water on a hot day really helps. The river Esk in Cumbria is wide but shallow in many parts when other weather has gone through a dry spell, a perfect time for exposure.

Sail on Tally, I’m proud of where this girl has come from to where she is now…which is happy!