Emma Phillips - Paw by Paw Training & Behaviour

Emma Phillips - Paw by Paw Training & Behaviour Dog behaviourist and trainer offering 121s and classes in Weymouth and Dorchester Stress free dog training with compassion and understanding.

06/06/2026

Now before we start, you can't let your dogs jump w***y nilly on random people.

But if you don't mind your dog jumping up, or hell, if you LIKE your dog jumping up, that's okay!

I like my dogs jumping up. I like cuddly dogs. I do teach my dogs when they are and aren't allowed to jump. Generally that is only when I say "go say hi". But at the very least, if we're in an environment where they might jump on people, I use a lead to prevent them access to doing so.

Just because the general opinion on good manners is XYZ, doesn't mean that has to be exactly what you do with your dogs (as long as they aren't a nuisance to others!)

05/06/2026

Socialisation is the process of exposing your puppy to the world they're going to experience throughout their life.

We cannot do that whilst training our puppies to utterly focus on us/walk nicely on their leads/focus on general manners training at the same time.

We can be clear on the goal we have for each outing. If your puppy needs exposure to a scenario, reinforce behaviours they offer you but don't ask for them. If your puppy has seen an environment loads and is familiar with everything, then you can focus on training the behaviours you want in those environments.

If your puppy needs to become familiar with an environment give them the chance to look around and take it all in.

04/06/2026

Your dog doesn't give a stuff about your training plan. This is something Pumba taught me well. Before I retired him I would have my training plans that I affectionately called the "good terrier" training plan and the "bad terrier" training plan. The good terrier plan was aimed at a dog who had a decent idea of what I was going to ask him to do. The bad terrier plan was aimed a little more at a dog who looked like he'd never had a day's training in his whole life 😅 (we do still train now, but since retiring him he's the one with the training plans and I'm just there to have a good time with him!)

Sonic rarely makes me change my plans drastically but on this day she really gave me the finger. It was a day I had planned with a friend and we had loads of cool content ideas. Most of these ideas involved Sonic doing some nice heeling along the prom. Sonic said sod that and genuinely looked like she had never heard the word obedience before in her life. As you can see, I found this very disappointing 🙈

After a bit of reflection it dawned on me that she was exhausted after Zazu joined the household and she had no brain cells available for what I wanted her to do. That's not the end of the world. I took the pressure off, shelves my goals and she hung out with my friend and I and joined us for chips and an ice cream instead of doing heelwork. We can go back to film cool heelwork another day.

Don't buy into the idea that your dog is the only one who totally loses their brain somedays. All dogs do it, just not many of us post about it because its a) embarrassing as hell and b) rather frustrating! Shelve the plans for the day and come back to it when you and your dog are in a different place, you never know, they may be better off for it!

02/06/2026

We know that puppies are exhausting for us humans who are mad enough to bring them home, but have you stopped to think how tiring they are for your older dogs as well?

Routines change. Adults get less attention, whilst simultaneously being relied upon to maintain their manners. There's this bouncy thing all over the place.

Sonic LOVES Zazu, the feeling is very much mutual. But I have never seen Sonic lay like this and either she is asleep or she's up doing something, this video was a huge moment for how exhausted Sonic was from Zazu coming home. I had already been giving her breaks and plenty of time to rest from him, but it was clear she still needed more so that's what she got. Do your older dogs a favour and give them a break from the puppy nearly every time you sit there wishing you could get a break from the puppy yourself.

01/06/2026

I've been working with Archie for a while and he's such a sweet boy.

His family have been quite nervous to let him off or work on his recall after negative experiences with a previous dog. In this session we took Archie from looking at anything but his owner in true adolescent male style to his first recall!

Just because your dog is always breed that is harder to train off lead focus, or is an adolescent who is currently a rather stupid version of themselves that doesn't mean you shouldnt be training for the bigger goals you've got. A good trainer will always be able to break it down and help create a bridge from where your dog currently is to get to where you want them to be.

31/05/2026

Dogs are on the whole very intuitive and know how to speak dog quite well. Even reactive dogs that I work with are generally very good at reading other dogs, and when presented with dogs who have nice relaxing body language often find it easy to calm down themselves.

This was quite an intense play session with Sonic and Zazu. We had left the house at 5.45am to get to a show, Sonic did lots of work in the ring and Zazu found the show environment pretty overwhelming. We stopped over at my grandparent's house to stretch their legs whilst I caught up with some family (and of course was force fed by my grandma 🤣). Despite the high tensions the dogs had experienced in the day, Sonic masterfully reduced the intensity of their play session by pausing, looking away from Zazu and shaking off her coat then going to sniff elsewhere. Zazu is a little chameleon and copied her exactly meaning there were two much calmer dogs all of a sudden

30/05/2026

Long lines are so helpful but they definitely have their downsides as well. Here are my favourite dos & don'ts:

✅️ better to have too much rather than not enough! I personally go for longer than I think I'll need
✅️ always attach the clip to a harness, you don't want dogs hitting the end and all of that force going through their neck
✅️ teach your dog a cue to slow down, simply say your cue before they get to the end of the line and they soon learn this means they're running out of lead
✅️ drop the line if you need to, far better to stand on it to stop your dog rather than try to hold it and have your dog yank you off your feet
✅️ fold the lead over your palm
❌️ do not loop the lead round your hand, this is a recipe for rope burn
❌️ allow the line to get wrapped round other dogs or people, either drop it, follow your dog so that they can't wrap it around others or keep it short enough that they physically can't tangle anyone
❌️ do not let the lead drag when in fields or directly next to livestock, you should need to have your dog under control and a dragging longline in a field of livestock looks a lot like a dog off lead. Be fair to farmers and help protect their livelihood
❌️ do not use long lines when there are lead laws in play, most of these laws in the UK require a lead of 2m
❌️ ensure that when you tidy up after your dog that your dog can't shoot to the end of the line and jar the bag (ask me how I learned this lesson I dare you 🤣🤣🤣)

29/05/2026

Keeping multi dog households stress free is such a fine balance. Some key skills like a hand touch really help keep the peace.

Would you like to see more body language break downs like this? Let me know in the comments!

28/05/2026

Your adolescent dog needs their needs met more than anything else right now.

Behaviours might need training, they might pull like a train, their recall may need work, they might have just started jumping on people again. But instead of having fixing these training issues as your core focus, instead pay attention to making sure that their needs are met.

Ensure they're getting enough exercise. I can almost guarantee you that they aren't getting enough exercise out in nature just being a dog and doing dog things. Not chasing toys constantly, just mooching through the world using their nose and being their core doggy self.

Ensure they're getting enough sleep. A tired teenager isn't fun for anyone!

Ensure they're using their brain, ideally with some kind of work for their food (via a KONG, lickimat or other enrichment activity) AND with at least 5 minutes of training a day. When I say 5 minutes of training I really mean using their brain. Don't practice the same 3 things you perfected when they were a puppy, teach them something NEW. Get their brains working for five minutes a day, not rehearsing things they already know.

Address

415a Chickerell Road
Weymouth
DT49TP

Opening Hours

Tuesday 6pm - 9pm
Wednesday 9am - 9pm
Thursday 9am - 9pm
Friday 9am - 3pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm

Telephone

+447775448828

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