Target Dog Training Academy

30/08/2025

So it’s been a cockapoo kind of week!  the lesson with these two little beauties was how to achieve a good recall. Easier said than done when you’ve got two dogs to train,  which is why I advise people with two dogs in the household to take one dog out at a time to enable the dog to have your attention 100%. Now I also advise people to bring very tasty treats such as chicken cheese or sausage. This is to make sure that you are the most interesting thing on the field and the dog is much less likely to take interest in its distracting environment. Now a couple of times this week people have turned up with packets of dog treats which they say their dog loves at home which is fine if you’re training your dog at home but not valuable enough to train in an outside environment.. this is when you need to up the anti and give yourself and your dog the best possible chance of achieving a successful outcome. So even if you’re out with your dog by yourself, it’s ideal to have some valuable treats in your pocket to do little mini recalls to re-establish a fantastic result. Happy training everyone.!

21/08/2025

Four feet on the floor!

21/08/2025

So what was your dog bred for? Chasing sheep? No sheep? They may well chase something else then! Before you judge your dog for its behaviour, just give some thought to it’s job - is it behaving badly or is it returning to the history of the breed. If the behaviour is incongruent to your idea of what a pet should be, lets take a look at how this behaviour can be re-directed. Contact me for further details.

21/08/2025

So … bit difficult to tell from these photographs but this little dog never stopped jumping for the whole of his walk. This was obviously becoming a bit of a nuisance for anyone who was walking him, in particular this gentleman because he just wouldn’t leave him alone. After an hours work with him, we made such huge progress that I think this little dog now has a bright future making walks much more pleasurable for everyone concerned.

08/08/2025

From an uncontrollable high alert when anything moved … to a calm acceptance of her surroundings.
Sometimes when getting a rescue and the only information you have is that ‘she came over from Ireland’, it’s very difficult to know the way forward because she’s gone through such a lot in her 7 months if life.
She needed assessment, she needed empathy, she needed patience and then, with everything taken into account, she needed direction.
After some work we found out she was bold! She was accepting of instruction without being offended or shutting down which can happen with dogs without a history. She was confident, ready to learn, full of fun and … after 10 minutes, she was retrieving a toy which she’d never been able to accomplish before!
See you around you little star!

26/06/2025

So, this little beauty just needed some basic manners along with lots of brain games to enable her to improve her basic recall. It’s not all anout ‘rigid’ training methods, it’s about having fun along the way. 😊

07/06/2025

Rescue dogs come with various issues, and mostly we have no idea why they have those issues. We try and work out what may have happened in their past, we try and source a back story … and we sit and wonder.
This young man is approximately 3 years old, he’s lived with his new owners for 5 months, and they came to me because of his high prey drive, especially his interest in chasing any dog that moved!
Obviously this has a lot to do with his breed traits, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be re-programmed to enable him to be walked without pulling his owner over every time he sees a dog.
We worked with him for about an hour, the difference was incredible, from being on high alert, eyes popping, ears pricked, tail over his back and lunging making him difficult to hold on to … to a calmer stance, seeing other dogs but then immediately turning back to his owner - association and decision making at the best! Still a lot of daily training to give him the best chance of understanding what’s required of him, but he’ll get there, he’ll get there ❤️

13/01/2025

Back to it! Off to train a little dog who has decided if he pulls on the lead, he’ll get there a lot quicker! 😄

15/11/2024

Just done my usual morning, walk with the dogs, watching other people enjoying their dogs and then wondering why people use standard tennis balls regardless of the size of their dog so from a Yorkshire terrier to a German Shepherd. The same size ball is used. this could possibly eventually lead to The large breed dogs such as German Shepherd, golden retriever, Labrador etc, getting the ball either stuck at the back of the throat which obviously can kill them or actually swallowing the ball leading to a major operation to have it removed. Incurring substantial vet fees.

Please please consider the size of your dogs mouth relating to the size of the ball you use for them. Larger tennis balls are much safer for your larger dogs .

Enjoy your walk with your beautiful companions 🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺

27/10/2024

13/08/2024

This cute little guy was rescued from beside a busy road. We could only work for a short time with him as he has a slight leg injury - but he doesn’t know that! He was one of the cleverest pups I’ve ever worked with. He’s a bit of a pest when the owners are eating so we taught him to go to a mat and settle. It took him twice to realise what he has to do! See you again soon clever boy! ❤️