Tricks for Treats Dog Training

07/08/2025

🐾Unleash Your Dog’s Full Pawtential🐾

Ready to improve your dog’s manners or teach them new skills to make day to day life easier? Come along to our September Adult Dog Training classes🐶

What will you learn in these classes?

- Basic Obedience: Settle, Stay, Recall, Loose Lead Walking and lots more.

- Behavioural Support: Get help with specific behaviours such as jumping up, over excitement and stealing things.

- Confidence Building: Take part in exercises that are designed to increase your dog’s overall confidence and help them have a more positive outlook on the world.

- Handling Skills: You as the human will learn techniques to make training a breeze for both human and dog!

🐾Why choose our classes?🐾

- Qualified Trainer: I am an IMDT qualified dog trainer and have years of experience in using force free, modern training techniques with a variety of breeds/ages/types of dogs🐕🐩

- Small Class Size: More one on one personalised attention for each client and dog🐶

- Fun and Interactive: Keep your dog interested and excited to learn!🐕

- Receive Class Notes: Each week you will be sent home with notes to refer to when practicing throughout the week.

🐾 This is a 5 week course and it will run from Sunday the 14th of September until Sunday the 12th of October.

🐾 Classes will take place on Sunday evenings from 7:15pm - 8:00pm each week at The LEAP Community Hub, 56 Hamilton Road, Cambuslang, G72 7LD

🐾 The 5 week course is £85.

To sign up simply go to our website and fill out the form:

https://www.tricksfortreatsdogtraining.co.uk/adult-classes/

Limited spots available! Only 4 dogs max🐕

Please note your dog should be comfortable in a group setting with other dogs.

I also offer one to one sessions, please contact me for more info.

06/08/2025

🐾Start your pup on the right paw!🐾

Got a new puppy and want to set both of you up for success? Book our puppy classes for September today🐶

🐾What you will learn in classes:

- Basic obedience: Settle, Sit, Stay, Loose Lead Walking, Recall and much more.

- Socialisation: Safely introduce your pup to other dogs, people and environments.

- Toilet training: Learn how to properly teach your puppy to go to the bathroom outdoors.

- Confidence building: Help your pup become optimistic & ready to take on the world!

- Problem solving: Address common puppy behaviours such as play biting and chewing.

🐾Why choose our classes?

✅ Qualified trainer: I am an IMDT qualified dog trainer and have years of experience in using force free, modern training techniques with a variety of breeds/types of dogs.

✅ Small class size: More one-on-one attention for everyone!

✅ Fun and interactive: Keep your puppy engaged and excited to learn.

✅ Get class notes: Each week you will be sent home with notes to refer to when practicing throughout the week.

This is a 5 week course and it will run from Sunday the 14th of September until Sunday the 12th of October.

Classes will take place on Sunday evenings from 6:15pm - 7:00pm each week at The LEAP Community Hub, 56 Hamilton Road, Cambuslang, G72 7LD

The 5 week course is £85.

To sign up simply go to our website and fill out the form:

https://www.tricksfortreatsdogtraining.co.uk/puppy-classes/

Limited spots available as I will only have 5 puppies per class🐾

I also offer one to one sessions, please contact me for more info.

29/07/2025

“My Dog Is Stubborn!” - Or Are They?🐾

This is a phrase I hear all the time as a trainer, whether that be from people referring to their own dog as being stubborn or referring to specific breeds of dogs that are characterised as being ‘more stubborn’ than others.

In order to be ‘stubborn’, the dog would need to:

1. Clearly understand what they’re being asked to do…
2. Have the motivation and ability to do it…
3. Intentionally choose not to do it, just because.

It’s highly unlikely that this is the case!

So if it isn’t stubbornness, what is it?

🐶Lack of Motivation - The reinforcer you are using isn’t valuable enough in that moment. You’d be surprised how many dogs will immediately start to do what’s being asked of them as soon as the reinforcer is switched up! E.g. going from using kibble to using chicken pieces. Kibble might be accepted in the house but out on a walk the value of it as a reinforcer will go down🍗

🐕Confusion - Sadly, dogs don’t speak English. If your dog doesn’t fully understand what you want them to do, it can seem like they are just not listening. Remember, even if it’s a cue your dog knows already, a change of context or environment changes everything & can throw them off! If in a new place, try to make the behaviour a little easier in the beginning.

🐩Overwhelmed or Distracted - If your dog is feeling nervous or otherwise overstimulated, they may struggle to follow cues. Remember, arousal inhibits learning and listening! Pay attention to your dog’s body language🐾

So the next time your dog seems ‘stubborn’, ask yourself:

1. Is my dog motivated by what I am offering?
2. Have I practiced this skill in this type of environment before?
3. Are my cues clear enough for the dog to understand?
4. Is my dog nervous or overstimulated?

Adjust your approach to suit your dog & try to be understanding of how they may be feeling in that moment🐶

16/07/2025

Reinforcement isn’t bribery!🍗

It is a common misconception that using food/other reinforcers when training our dogs is just bribing them into compliance.

🐾 Bribery is the act of offering a reward before you ask for a behaviour, particularly one they already know. Kind of like going ‘look what I have!’ In order for them to do it.

🐾 Reinforcement is when something is given to the dog directly after they perform a desired behaviour, increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated.

Now, we DO sometimes use food as a lure to guide the dog into certain positions/teach certain behaviours. The intention of luring is not to use the food as enticement to complete a known behaviour, it’s to guide them and teach them new ones and it is a powerful tool. Over time as the dog is gaining more understanding, we make the luring less obvious until we have faded it out completely🐶

A nice human example would be teaching a child how to ride a bike. For a while at the beginning, we might hold the bike and help to guide them, eventually once they have built their skills and balance, we gradually let go!

But should my dog not listen to me purely out of respect? To that I’d say - would you show up to work for free? Why would anyone choose to keep doing something that doesn’t pay off in any way ever? Whether that be through obtaining a reinforcer or simply because doing it makes them happy and brings enjoyment (which is also reinforcing!).

If you think about it again in human terms, we function in a similar way. We are going to repeat the things that pay off or make us feel good:

💰Go to work to earn money
🥘Cook your favourite meals because they taste good
🎮Playing games/puzzles because solving the challenges makes us feel good
📱Scrolling our phones for the dopamine hits

But does that mean we have to give our dogs treats after every repetition forever? Absolutely not! In fact, it actually is less effective to forever give a treat after EVERY rep. This is where different schedules of reinforcement come in (eg. You may give a treat every 3rd rep, then one day you might make it completely random and so on, you’d mix it up). This creates a stronger, more reliable behaviour and retains more motivation for the reward (in this example, food). It’s kind of like a slot machine but for dogs! If we won every single time we did it, it’d get boring fast.

Our goal is to build desirable habits, not to depend on having treats present.

Reinforcement done right teaches dogs what works and makes it worth their while to keep choosing those behaviours. It’s not bribery, it’s using effective communication and training🐕

15/07/2025

Rest Is An Important Part Of Training - Especially For Reactive Dogs!🐕

After experiencing a few deep losses these past few months & taking some time to recover, I was reminded of the importance of decompression time within dog training too.

Imagine your dog’s nervous system as a cup. Every small trigger adds water to that cup, no matter how small the stressor may be!

Some examples may be:

🐾 A dog barking at them on a walk
🐾 The doorbell going
🐾 A startling noise
🐾 Them barking at things out the window
🐾 Delivery driver

Eventually, that cup will fill up until it inevitably overflows. That overflow would be the extreme reaction - the barking, lunging, spinning etc, over something they may not usually react this intensely about.

This is known as trigger stacking, & it can happen to us as well!

For reactive dogs, rest, predictability & decompression walks are just as important as the training involved. No one learns or functions well when their nervous system is overloaded!

So the next time your dog has a big reaction or seems like they might be trigger stacked, consider having a decompression day. This can be a remote walk with lots of sniffs & less risk of seeing triggers (which could potentially overflow the cup!), or a day at home with enrichment. Put the focus on lowering their stress levels so that they’ll be more equipped to tackle their triggers another day🐶

The same applies to ourselves. If the cup is full right now, pause, rest & reset. Tomorrow is a new day!

19/05/2025

While mistakes happen, it’s just a regular occurrence now that, another dog will run over regardless of lead on, change of direction, communication.

Until you are the one with the nervous, vulnerable, reactive, recovering dog, it’s hard to understand the repercussions of this. But it can make walks unpleasant, the anticipation of what could happen, anxiety inducing.

We deserve our peaceful walks back, our dogs deserve to stay on track with training. We should live in a world where dogs are under control.

04/05/2025

Double the puppies double the fun!!

Introducing all of the new pups of this block🥰

03/05/2025

The first week of tricks class was lots of fun🥰

02/05/2025

❗️STARTING THIS WEEKEND❗️

🐾4 week Trick Training course: Saturday mornings at 11:15am-12pm from May 3rd - May 24th. £80 for the full course🐕 ONE SPACE

🐾5 week Puppy Training course: Sunday evenings at 7:15pm - 8pm from May 4th - June 1st. £85 for the full course🐶 ONE SPACE

🐾5 week Adult Dog Training course: Sunday evenings at 8:15pm - 9pm from May 4th - June 1st. £85 for the full course🐩 2 SPACES

All can be booked on my website below:

www.tricksfortreatsdogtraining.co.uk

Limited spaces available!

I also offer one-to-one training, PM for more information🐶

29/04/2025

Only 1 space left in puppy!

🐾Puppy Training Classes - 5 Week Block Starting 4th May🐾

❗️DUE TO THE HIGH DEMAND, I HAVE OPENED A SECOND SECTION OF PUPPY❗️

ONLY 2 SPOTS LEFT

Come along & teach your puppy essential life skills at our 5 week puppy training course! Give them the best start in life🐶

🌟What’s included?

- Confidence Building activities & playtime
- Socialisation/Habituation
- Recall, loose lead walking & more
- Tackle common puppy behaviours eg. play biting
- Basic obedience (settle, sit, leave it, stay & more)
- Teaching neutrality in any environment

All taught by an IMDT qualified trainer who has years of experience with a variety of breeds/types of dogs using a force free compassionate training style.

🗓️Date: - May 4th - June 1st

🕦Time: 7:15pm - 8pm Sunday Evenings

📍Location: The LEAP Community Hub, 56 Hamilton Road, Cambuslang, G72 7LD

💰Price: £85 for the full 5 week course!

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

To book, go to our website below & fill out the form:

https://www.tricksfortreatsdogtraining.co.uk/puppy-classes/

Let’s get your puppy off to a pawsitive start!🐕♥️

I also offer one to one training sessions, PM me for more information.