Mersea Mutts

15/08/2026

Super scent walk session this evening.

14/08/2026

Happy Birthday to Hudson.

3 years old today.

We’ve already had some great adventures but we will have many more.

29/07/2026

Millie had a fantastic photo shoot with The Canine Lens I’ll have the pictures up on the wall at home very soon.

Thank you Jo.

27/07/2026

Trust The Nose — Introduction to Scent Detection 🐾

Starting Monday 7th September, 11:30am

Ever wondered what's going on in your dog's incredible nose? This 6-week course is the perfect introduction to the world of scent work — no experience needed, just bring your dog and an open mind!

Using fun search games and Kong target odour, you and your pup will learn:
🔍 The foundations of scent detection
🎯 How to build motivation & confidence
👃 Introduction to indication behaviours
🧠 Search patterns and handling skills
🏡 Exercises you can carry on at home

Whether you've got a high-drive dog who needs an outlet, a young pup building confidence, or you just fancy trying something new together — this is a calm, supportive space to give it a go. Dogs work individually, so it's all at your own pace.

✅ Suitable for dogs 6 months+
✅ Max 4 dogs — small group, lots of 1:1 attention
✅ No specialist kit needed
✅ Runs Mondays, 11:30am, for 6 weeks

📍 Our training ground, Mersea Road, Abberton

Spaces are limited, so if you fancy joining us, drop me a message! 💬 You can reach me on WhatsApp — details below 👇

18/07/2026

🐾 Concept Games: Disengagement — 2 spaces left! 🐾

Our weekend course is already fully booked, but good news — we’ve still got 2 spaces on both the Monday and Tuesday courses!

This isn’t about teaching a cue — it’s about building a skill. Concept training uses short, fun games to grow your dog’s natural ability to disengage: to notice something exciting, tricky, or worrying, and choose to turn away and check back in with you or just carry on doing what they were doing, rather than getting stuck or reacting. Once it’s grown as a skill, it shows up everywhere — not just in one trained context.

Over 4 weeks we’ll build:
🐾 Real disengagement as a life skill, not a rehearsed response
🐾 Confidence around distractions and triggers
🐾 A dog who generalises the skill to everyday walks and situations

📅 Tuesday course starts Tuesday 1st September
📅 Monday course starts Monday 7th September
🔗 Book here: https://bookwhen.com/merseamutts?tags=Concept+Training

Only 2 spots left on each — don’t miss out!

Mantrailing Scent...

18/07/2026

🐾 Trust The Nose is back! 🐾

Fancy giving your dog a job that taps into what they’re actually brilliant at? Our 6-week Introduction to Scent Detection course kicks off Monday 7th September — and it’s our very first weekday course, perfect if weekends are usually off the table for you!

Whatever their age, breed, or experience level, your dog’s nose is about 10,000 times more sensitive than yours — this course is all about channelling that into a fun, confidence-building game you can build on for life.

Over 6 weeks you’ll learn how to:
🐽 Read your dog’s natural search behaviour
🐽 Introduce target odour properly
🐽 Build searches from simple to tricky
🐽 Get hooked on scent work (fair warning, it’s addictive)

Great for reactive dogs, nervous dogs, busy brains, or just dogs who love to sniff (so… all of them).

📅 Starts Monday 7th September
🔗 Book here: https://bookwhen.com/merseamutts?tags=Scent+Detection

Spaces are limited, so grab yours before they go!

Mantrailing Scent...

12/07/2026

Another 3 teams had their first go at mantrailing this evening and they were fab!

I never get tired of watching that moment when the penny drops for the dog — from “what’s going on?” to “hold my beer.” Gets me every time.

11/07/2026

🐾 LAST 2 SPACES — Introduction to Mantrailing, TOMORROW! 🐾

Ever watched your dog's nose twitch and wondered what they could really do with it? Come find out!

Join us tomorrow (Sunday 12th July), 4–7pm at the Mersea Mutts Training Ground, Colchester, for a beginner-friendly mantrailing workshop. You and your dog will start your journey towards finding a hidden person at the end of their scent trail.

It's brilliant mental and physical exercise, builds confidence and strengthens your bond — and all that sniffing helps lower stress levels too. All breeds and ages welcome, no experience needed. 🐕‍🦺

📍 Mersea Mutts Training Ground, CO5 7NT
🕓 Sunday 12th July, 4pm–7pm
⚠️ Only 2 spaces left!

Book now 👉

Mantrailing Scent...

10/07/2026

So there we have it, socks can be used, just check I don’t still have yours in my pocket when you leave.

05/07/2026

Why we don’t run sessions at around 24°C+ 🌡️🐾

You might notice sessions get cancelled or rescheduled once the forecast hits 24°C — here’s the science behind it:

🐕 Dogs cool themselves mainly through panting — they don’t sweat like we do.

👃 Here’s the key bit for nosework and mantrailing: dogs cannot pant and sniff at the same time. When they’re actively searching, they’re not panting — so once the heat builds up, their body forces a choice: cool down, or keep working the scent.

💦 Humidity makes it worse. Panting cools by evaporation — but that only works if the surrounding air can absorb moisture. Once humidity climbs, that system loses effectiveness fast, even on days that don’t feel scorching. A muggy 22°C can be tougher on a dog than a dry 26°C.

🌍 Our dogs aren’t acclimatised to heat. Dogs can adapt to working in hot conditions, but it takes weeks of sustained, gradual exposure — not something a UK climate with a random hot week ever gives them. So we can’t rely on the “they’ll get used to it” logic that working dogs in genuinely hot countries benefit from.

⚠️ Put together, that’s a dog whose only cooling system is compromised, working in muggy air, with no built-up heat tolerance. Heatstroke can happen quickly and become serious fast — it’s not a risk worth taking for a training session.