Bark-Ology

01/11/2026

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast… 🐾🍂

Life gets busy, and it's easy to feel that everything needs doing right now – including our dogs' training!

But just as I discovered during a week of slowing down, sometimes the best things happen when we stop rushing and take time to enjoy the moment.

In my latest blog, I explore why dog training isn't about quick fixes or instant results. It's about understanding our dogs, building strong foundations, practising patiently and celebrating the little wins along the way.

Whether you're working on loose lead walking, barking or reactivity, there's a lot to be said for taking a step back, slowing down and remembering to enjoy the dog in front of you.

After all, our dogs are pretty good at living in the moment. Perhaps we could learn a thing or two from them!

Fancy a little reminder to slow down? Read the full blog at www.bark-ology.co.uk/blog 🐾

23/10/2026

🌧️ Does every day have to be an adventure with your dog? 🐾

It’s raining. Again. And the dogs have decided the sofa looks far more appealing than a soggy walk! .🐶

But then comes that little voice… Shouldn’t we be going for a walk?

We put so much pressure on ourselves to be the perfect dog owners, but the truth is that a day without a walk doesn’t automatically mean an unhappy or understimulated dog. ❤️

From scent games and simple enrichment to a little training or simply learning to relax, there are plenty of ways to keep our dogs happy without stepping out into the rain.

And sometimes, doing nothing at all is exactly what they need.

In my latest blog, I explore how we can take the pressure off, find the right balance for our individual dogs and learn to appreciate the quieter days together.

🐾 Because being a good dog owner isn’t about counting miles or filling every minute. It’s about understanding your dog.

☕ So, put the kettle on, snuggle up with your four-legged friend and have a read!

👉 Read the full blog at www.bark-ology.co.uk/blog

Happy training!

Karen
Bark-ology Dog Training

21/10/2026

🐾 It’s been a little while since I posted! 🐾

I’ve had some lovely time off, followed by a not-so-lovely dose of the cold bug that’s been doing the rounds! 🤧😂

But I’m back, and I thought I’d share a couple of photos from our Beginners Scentwork class, who are doing amazingly well! 🤩👃🐶

And the first photo is of the very splendid Freddie! 😍

Freddie comes along for 1-1 sessions simply to have some fun, learn new things and enjoy spending time with his guardian.

We’re working on foundation skills, loose lead walking, scentwork and have even started having a play with some hoopers!

It’s so much fun, and Freddie is just wonderful. 🥰

I absolutely love sessions like these. Dog training doesn’t always have to be about solving problems — sometimes it’s simply about having fun together, learning new skills and building that lovely partnership. 💛

Anyhoo, back to work today! 🐾

I’ll be catching up on emails and getting back into the swing of things.

Have a lovely Wednesday everyone!

Karen 🐾🐾

04/10/2026

🐾 It’s been a super busy few weeks at Bark-ology! 🐾

And honestly, it’s been wonderful. I’ve met lots of new people and their amazing dogs, all needing support with very different things.

There have been a couple of new separation anxiety cases — always quite intense — including one very handsome sighthound (I do love a super snoot! 😍) who was so distressed when left that he ate the sofa.

I’ve also met an Labrador who is worried by lots of sounds around his home, a new reactivity case, loose lead walking for a very excitable spaniel, welcomed some newly adopted rescue dogs, and met the cutest little spaniel who is coming along simply to play and learn — hoopers, scentwork and some general foundation skills. 🥰

Do I have photos of any of them?

Of course not. 🤦‍♀️😂

I did, however, remember to photograph the very handsome Walter, a Portuguese Water Dog who has been struggling to settle and LOVES to bark. At home, at visitors, in the car, at work… Walter has plenty to say about pretty much everything!

I asked him to sit nicely for his photo. Apparently I took too long because he couldn’t resist barking at me too. 😂📸

But underneath all that barking is a really super dog who is already making progress.

In our first session we looked at the whole picture — his routine, lifestyle, rest, enrichment and what might be contributing to his arousal — and started building some useful foundation skills.

This week we began working on settling and switching off, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how he progresses. 🐶💛

Changing behaviour is rarely about fixing one thing. Sometimes we need to look at the dog’s whole day and make lots of little changes that, together, can make a really big difference.

Anyhoo… I’m now taking a week off! 🙌

A little life admin, lots of walks with my own dogs, some reading 📖 and, most importantly, a chance to recharge my batteries.

See you all in a week!

Karen 🐾🐾

03/10/2026

Huge congratulations to everyone who took their Kennel Club Good Citizen exams last week — we had passes across the board! 🎉🐾

🥉 BRONZE
🐾 Bailey
🐾 Bodie
🐾 Nell

🥈 SILVER
🐾 Fable
🐾 Stanley
🐾 Mollie
🐾Wilma
🐾 Monty — aka Montysaurus 🤭🦖

🥇 GOLD
🐾 Frank
🐾 Ziggy

We are so proud of every single one of you. All the practice, perseverance and teamwork paid off! ❤️

But we have to give a special shout-out to Monty, who finally decided that staying still for a full TWO MINUTES was actually possible! 😂👏 Quite an achievement for Montysaurus!

And, of course, a huge thank you to our wonderful judge Yvonne Green, who is always so fair, encouraging and incredibly generous with her time. We really appreciate you. 💛

Congratulations everyone — what a fantastic result! 🥳🐶🏆

Karen, Julie & Jen 🐾🐾

03/10/2026

🥳🏆 A CLEAN SWEEP! 🏆🥳

Huge congratulations to everyone who took their Kennel Club Good Citizen exams last week — we had passes across the board! 🎉🐾

🥉 BRONZE
🐾 Bailey
🐾 Bodie
🐾 Nell

🥈 SILVER
🐾 Fable
🐾 Stanley
🐾 Mollie
🐾Wilma
🐾 Monty — aka Montysaurus 🤭🦖

🥇 GOLD
🐾 Frank
🐾 Ziggy

We are so proud of every single one of you. All the practice, perseverance and teamwork paid off! ❤️

But we have to give a special shout-out to Monty, who finally decided that staying still for a full TWO MINUTES was actually possible! 😂👏 Quite an achievement for Montysaurus!

And, of course, a huge thank you to our wonderful judge Yvonne Green, who is always so fair, encouraging and incredibly generous with her time. We really appreciate you. 💛

Congratulations everyone — what a fantastic result! 🥳🐶🏆

Karen, Julie & Jen 🐾🐾

01/10/2026

🐾 Golden Oldies 🐾

I’ve been noticing the grey faces a little more lately. The slower walks, the extra naps and the fact that Rupert now regularly ignores squirrels — something I spent YEARS trying to teach him to do 😂

My dogs are getting older.

I’m not going to lie, it makes me a little sad. They’re both happy, well and still very much enjoying life, but there’s something about watching your dogs grow older that makes you appreciate the ordinary moments a little more.

Rupert and Mila have taught me an incredible amount. In fact, these two challenging overseas rescue dogs are a huge part of the reason I became a dog trainer in the first place.

So my latest blog is a slightly more personal one — about my Golden Oldies, slowing things down, adapting what we do and enjoying the dogs who are still very much here. 💜

🐾 Read the full blog here: www.bark-ology.co.uk/blog

And let’s celebrate those beautiful greying noses 🥰

Show me your Golden Oldies! Add a photo in the comments and tell me their name and age. I’d love to see them. 🐾💜

Dog training, home alone support and separation anxiety programmes.

28/09/2026

🎉🐾 Congratulations Bailey, Rowan, Lola & Daisy! 🐾🎉

A huge well done to our latest Scent Academy graduates for completing their 4-week Beginners Scentwork Course! 👃🐶

Over the four weeks we explored scent identification, indication and searching, starting with foundation exercises to build confidence in both dogs and handlers before progressing onto pipe searches, chairs, blind searches and even cars!

And everyone did brilliantly! 🥰

One of the things Julie and I love most about Scent Academy is watching the partnerships grow. Dogs start to understand the game, handlers learn to trust those incredible noses, and everyone cheers each other on along the way.

We’ve built such a lovely, friendly community around our scentwork classes, with lots of familiar faces coming back for improvers, workshops and trials. It really is about having fun with your dog, learning together and celebrating everyone’s successes — however big or small. 💛🐾

Congratulations Bailey, Rowan, Lola & Daisy — we hope to see you back for more sniffing very soon! 🥳

Fancy joining the Scent Academy family?

Our October course is FULL, but our next Beginners course starts in November and spaces are available now.

Scentwork really is for everyone — any breed, any age and any experience. You might come along to try something new and discover your dog’s new favourite hobby… and yours too! 🥰

⬇️ Book your place here:
https://www.bark-ology.co.uk/book

Come and join us — we’d love to welcome you. 💛

Karen & Julie 🐾🐾

28/09/2026

🎉🐾 Congratulations Bailey, Rowan, Lola & Daisy! 🐾🎉

A huge well done to our latest Scent Academy graduates for completing their 4-week Beginners Scentwork Course! 👃🐶

Over the four weeks we explored scent identification, indication and searching, starting with foundation exercises to build confidence in both dogs and handlers before progressing onto pipe searches, chairs, blind searches and even cars!

And everyone did brilliantly! 🥰

One of the things Julie and I love most about Scent Academy is watching the partnerships grow. Dogs start to understand the game, handlers learn to trust those incredible noses, and everyone cheers each other on along the way.

We’ve built such a lovely, friendly community around our scentwork classes, with lots of familiar faces coming back for improvers, workshops and trials. It really is about having fun with your dog, learning together and celebrating everyone’s successes — however big or small. 💛🐾

Congratulations Bailey, Rowan, Lola & Daisy — we hope to see you back for more sniffing very soon! 🥳

Fancy joining the Scent Academy family?

Our October course is FULL, but our next Beginners course starts in November and spaces are available now.

Scentwork really is for everyone — any breed, any age and any experience. You might come along to try something new and discover your dog’s new favourite hobby… and yours too! 🥰

⬇️ Book your place here:
https://www.bark-ology.co.uk/book

Come and join us — we’d love to welcome you. 💛

Karen & Julie 🐾🐾

19/09/2026

I think we tired Bracken out yesterday… 😂🐾💤

Of course, I completely forgot to take any photos during our session 🤦‍♀️, but her person sent me this afterwards — Bracken clearly needed a well-earned snooze!

Bracken is a super little dog, but she finds loose lead walking tricky and likes to shout at cars 😇🚗

We’ve spent time building the foundations first — working on focus, pattern games, loose lead skills and helping her feel more confident around traffic. Yesterday it was time to take those skills out of my field and into the real world.

And she did brilliantly! 🥰

Lovely lead walking, lots of sniffing, great focus on her person, and several cars and vans passed without any reaction at all. 👏

On our way back home, unfortunately a few more cats appeared one after another and that proved a little too much for her. Bracken did react — and that’s okay. She recovered quickly once they’d passed and carried on walking home beautifully.

Because that’s real-life dog training.

Progress isn’t about expecting a dog to suddenly be perfect or never react again. It’s about gradually building skills and confidence, improving recovery and helping both dog and guardian cope when things don’t quite go to plan.

Bracken has come on leaps and bounds, and her guardian is really pleased with how much she’s improved. They now have lots of strategies to continue building her confidence around cars and developing those lovely lead manners.

Changing behaviour takes time, patience and consistency — but Bracken is well on her way to her ultimate goal…

🍻 A nice walk to the local pub! 😂🥰

Great work Team Bracken! 🐾🐾

Karen x