All To Play For

26/05/2026

Progress, not perfection. Easy to say. Not always easy to do.

Because the second your dog reacts, or feels like they’re going backwards... we feel like we’ve failed. Like everything we’ve done was rubbish. Like we’ve let our dog down. Again.

Is that you?

It’s me. Completely.

I’m actually going through exactly this with my ACE Free Work qualification right now. I’ve got an assignment to write, I’ve got all the resources, all the examples... and all I’m doing is looking at what other people have done and thinking “mine will never be that good.”

What if it’s rubbish? What if I’ve totally missed the point? What if, what if, what if...

One of the ACE instructors basically told me to stop stressing and just enjoy it. And I’m really trying. But the perfectionist in me is loud.

Here’s the thing though, it’s the same with our dogs. We’re not chasing perfection. We might never get there. And that doesn’t make us rubbish owners. It just makes us human.

Be kind to yourself today. I’m going to try to do the same.

Who needs to hear this right now?

23/05/2026

Please, don't walk in the day this week!

21/05/2026

Time to admit to my guilty pleasure... 🤫

I love watching Sumo. Yes, THAT. Japanese wrestling done by huge men wearing very little! 😂

But here's the thing - it's SO much more than fat blokes pushing each other around. These men are seriously strong, the history is fascinating, the rituals, the culture... and don't even get me started on the women in the audience wearing the most stunning traditional dress! 😍

It started because of my parents - both in their 80s and absolutely obsessed after trips to Japan. And now I'm hooked too.

And yes, it has everything to do with dogs. 🐕

Just like a reactive dog isn't trying to kill anyone, Sumo isn't what it looks like on the surface. To really help our dogs we have to look beyond the behaviour - find the WHY behind it. That's what Sumo reminded me.

We're in week 2 of the May Basho right now and it's a wild one - both Yokozuna have pulled out! I'm rooting for Wakatakakagi and Tobizaru, though I suspect Kirishima might take the Emperor's Cup again... 🏆

What's YOUR unusual interest? Drop it in the comments - I genuinely want to know! 👇

And if you're curious, go watch five minutes of Sumo. I dare you! 🙏

Sayonara!

06/05/2026

I LOVE this from The DoGenius Institute

Welfare-led, reward-based training isn’t ideology. It’s biology.

05/05/2026

A message from your dog. I'm just passing it on.

Dear Human,

I love you. Even when you make that disappointed noise and whisper "whyyy" at me on walks.

But when I see that Labrador across the road? The one who STARES at me like he owns the whole pavement? Something happens in my brain I genuinely can't explain.

It's not your fault. It's not my fault. But it IS something we can work on.

I heard you googling stuff at midnight. I was watching from my bed.

I want to get better at this too.
We deserve nice walks.

Also I'm sorry about the postman thing.

Love always,
[Your dog] 🐶

If this hit close to home, drop your dog's name in the comments and tell me: what's their "thing"? 👇

Other dogs? Cyclists? Squirrels with the audacity to exist? I want to know.

03/05/2026

I'm not going to lie, but it does feel pretty icky sometimes sharing my reviews.

I suppose it's my Britishness - feeling super awkward about sharing good things people have said!

Although I do have to disagree with one thing in this review - I'm always learning loads of new things. Both from amazing professionals, but also from our dogs themselves - as Sarah Fisher said, they are our greatest teachers.

Having said that I'm so super proud of my 61 five star reviews on Google!

It goes to show that kindness, backed by science and constant ongoing CPD really works.

29/04/2026

Myth of the week: training a reactive dog with treats is essentially rewarding bad behaviour.

Sounds logical. But it's wrong.

Here's why: you can't reinforce an emotion. Fear isn't a behaviour your dog is choosing, any more than you choose not to flinch at a loud noise. The treat doesn't teach them "lunging is great." It teaches them "okay, that was scary, but something good happened after."

Do the training right and the reactions get fewer.

Here's something useful to try this week: watch how your dog takes treats during training.

Eating normally? You're good, keep going.

Sharky mouth, not taking treats, or spitting them out? That's your cue to get out of there. Treats are tool to help you gauge exactly how they're coping. Listen to them.

27/04/2026

Do you have a dog who barks and lunges at things?

Then here is a piece of advice that you definitely don't want to follow:

Reward your dog when he does not bark at the trigger.
This statement on its own is really bad advice. Because it is very likely to make things worse.

But Julia, isn't rewarding my dog a good thing?

Yes, of course! I am all for rewarding your dog. And by all means, rewarding when your dog is able to stay calm and not lose his s**t is great!

But the problem with this piece of advice is that it leaves out so many steps that have to happen first. It's like saying to fix a leaking toilet, replace the wax ring (actually no idea what that is, but you get the idea). True! But maybe turn the water off first, or things could get messy.

The problem is most people never even get to the rewarding part. By the time they reach for the treat, the dog is already gone. Barking, lunging, completely unreachable. So now you have an escalating dog AND a treat doing absolutely nothing, which feels totally s**t.

Sound familiar? Drop a comment below. Tell me where it's all going wrong. Promise we won't just tell you to replace the wax ring. 👇

22/04/2026

I was walking Dash the other day and at the top of my road was a woman taking a very exuberant cocker spaniel puppy for a walk. She had their lead clipped onto the collar and puppy was bouncing around - as cocker spaniels do.

The puppy would have been about 6-7 months old and was a bit pully.
So the woman did what she thought would be the best way to "teach" puppy not to pull on the lead - what is often referred to a "popping" the lead. I'm sure you've seen this on TV and YouTube! It means yanking on the lead to try to stop pulling.
This hurts the dog. If it "works" it's because the dog is trying to avoid pain.
I'm sure the woman in question, along with the vast majority of dog guardians didn't want to cause pain, but because ### off the tell does it, it must be OK.

And there's the thing which I get so frustrated about. Dog guardians doing everything they can to get their dog to fit into our mad world by following advice they find. Only for them and their dogs to be let down by this advice.

There's never any need to make a dog feel pain or fear - but quite often dog guardians don't know another way.

If that's you, drop me a message or check out my freebie: freebie.alltoplayfor.co.uk/VDxogj

21/04/2026

The day after a second session with an amazing client and her equally amazing bullmastif, I received this WhatsApp message.

This is what it's all about! Great results, step by step, happy dogs and happy care givers.

WOOOOOOOOP!

Drop me a message if you need ethical and kind help with your dog that put your dog's wellbeing and your own front and centre.

14/04/2026

We had a lovely walk with Hattie and Dash at the weekend.

A lot of the time I walk them separately as they do have very different needs, but Matt and I decided to go to a lake to have a lovely sniffari. And it was Dash's 12th birthday!

We started out having a great time - loads of sniffs. Dash really didn't want to leave that carpark! Typical dogs!

Once we got moving along the path (very slowly taking into account old dog mobility and the fact that it was THEIR walk and they were loving the sniffs) it was lovely.

We passed some people and some dogs - all great. It's such a relief not to get the big feelings from Dash these days.

Then about a quarter of the way around Hattie stopped. I was walking Hattie and Matt and Dash were disappearing into the distance. They noticed us pretty quickly and I was just waiting with Hattie. There was a big group of people coming so I thought I'd wait until they'd gone past to see if she'd want to keep going then. And she did!

For a bit.

About 10 metres. Then she stopped again.

And I listened.

She has arthritis and a collapsed trachea so it was enough for her.

I said to Matt I would take Hattie back to the car and wait for him and Dash so that they could carry on.

Problem.

Dash was being a mummy's boy and didn't want to go with just Matt.

So we swapped.

Dash and I had a great walk.

Meanwhile Matt took Hattie back to the car where he sat with her and just watched the world go by.

Was it ideal?

No.

Was it the best thing for the dogs.

Totally!!