Houghton's Hounds - Dog Training and Puppy Classes

04/06/2025

🌸 May 🌸

1. Ariel the is at still looking for her forever family
2. Sunny classes at
3. A super wonderful walk with .regard and Conker, who is the perfect doggy friend for Jet. Unusually for me I didn't get any pictures of the dogs, so here's our fab lunch
4. Attack of the golden puppy torpedo!!
5. My garden 😊 lols I wish, it was the Malvern Spring Show.
6. Hazel graduated and she was very pleased about it.
7. Actually my garden! The most flowers the peony had had since we moved in 5 years ago.
8. I bought the cats a new tower for their 2nd birthday, and Loki loves it.
9. Got my accreditation 🥳🥳🥳
10. Jet being a good boy in his canine conditioning classes.
11. Pro photo of at the Puppy School film shoot
12. Loki claimed a basket
13. My super little mate Caxton
14. Super proud to be part of an amazing Puppy School network.
15. Tomatoes!
16. Beautiful lunch pub walk with friends, the red arrows gave us a free air show and Jet had an ice cream.

Spring is my favourite.

Please tell me one of your highlights from May...

❤️

03/06/2025

📣 MASSIVE NEWS! 📣

I am so excited to announce the launch of a very exciting, brand new course - Happy Handling! The course teaches consent-based handling techniques for multiple veterinary treatments, including injections, nail clipping, heart checks and muzzle conditioning.

This course is for you if:
✨ You want vet visits to be as relaxed as possible.
✨ You want to improve communication between you and your dog.
✨ You want your relationship with your dog to be founded on trust and confidence.

You can read more about the course here: https://www.puppyschool.co.uk/our-classes/happy-handling

📆 The course is 6 sessions across 6 weeks; the first session is an online video to watch, then sessions 2-6 are in-person on Sundays at Warndon Hub, WR4 9NX. The course dates/times are as follows:

- Week 1 - 35 minute video to watch in own time. Homework and WhatsApp support provided.
- Week 2 - 13th July, 12:15 - 1:15pm
- Week 3 - 20th July, 12:15 - 1:15pm
- Week 4 - 27th July, 11am - 12 noon
- Week 5 - 3rd August, 11am - 12 noon
- Week 6 (graduation) - 10th August, 11am - 12 noon.

This is a revolutionary new course designed by Puppy School's team of accredited Behaviourists, and I am incredibly proud to be the first to offer it in the West Midlands.

Grab your spot today: https://client.puppyschool.co.uk/enquiry/HH/8B3BC132-008D-43EC-A5E0-81F5D10AB921

01/06/2025

Brilliant day at the Worcestershire Animal Rescue Shelter charity dog show. It was the first time my little business Houghton's Hounds had a trade stall, and it went really well! Despite the wind, which caused some chaos including blowing over my lickimat stand.

Then some of the Puppy School tutors from across the West Midlands were rallied to promote our kind, positive puppy training classes, as well as to raise money for this brilliant shelter. The Puppy School stall managed to raise just over £100 today 👏 Thanks so much for coming to help out Puppy School Hollywood, Puppy School Coventry, Puppy School Ledbury, Tewkesbury & Cheltenham, and Pershore And Evesham Puppy School.

Some highlights:

✨️ Puppy Poppy won our hamper raffle.

✨️ Living legend Gwen Bailey judged the best trick category.

✨️ I stood like I was about to practice some sumo wrestling.

I also judged a couple of classes today, which was a joy up until I realised I had to choose some winners. Having to choose between you was a horrible task! I wish I could have chosen everyone.

And a special shout out to my super husband, who doesn't often get a mention on here unless I'm taking the p**s out of him. He's the absolute epitome of "my wife started her own business so now I have a job I didn't apply for, don't get paid for, and can't quit" 😂 but honestly I couldn't have done it without him today. I didn't get any decent pictures of him, though, partly because he spent the whole day wearing a jumper over the new Houghton's Hounds branded top I'd bought him 🤦‍♀️ Love you, bab.

Looking forward to hearing how much was raised for the shelter in total, and also the official pictures. For now it's sofa and takeaway! See you all at the next WARS dog show 💚🐾

29/05/2025

Come and join me at the charity dog show this Sunday!

📆 1st June, gates open at 10:30am, judging starts at 11:30am 🐕🏆

I'll be there with my amazing Puppy School colleagues, we'll be doing our best to raise as many pennies as possible for this wonderful charity. We'll have a guess the puppy breed, teach your dog a trick, and a raffle for a doggy hamper.

We also might be guest judging some of the classes. I don't take bribes of course but unrelated I do love a dairy milk... 😉

My other half has also volunteered to man a stall with my shop table. If you've been along to my classes, you know I sell a carefully curated selection of my favourite toys and treats, including and . Please come and buy just one chew from the stall, because if Chris doesn't sell anything, I'll never persuade him to do this again, and I've bought him a Houghton's Hounds branded top and everything. 😅

Final word, as much as I would really love to see you there on Sunday, please put your dog's welfare first. If they'd hate it, please don't bring them. Dog shows aren't for every dog, just like busy pubs aren't for every person. Welfare first, please. ✌️

27/05/2025

🌈 Tizzy 🌈 October 2011 - May 2025 🌈

Saying goodbye was too hard, so instead we said thank you...

Thank you, Tizzy
Thank you for choosing us on that very first day
Thank you for sharing your very gentle and loving ways
Thank you for giving us so many joyful happy days
Thank you for those beautiful eyes and ever knowing gaze
A big thank you for all your patience, with Amber’s and Maisie's plays
But most of all, thank you, for just being you, we will love you always.
(words by Lee Houghton)

How lucky we were for a couple of short months of you, Tizzy, teaching Maisie how to be the best dog. I never really thought you were fully a dog, there was human soul in there too. So knowing and so pensive. So tolerant of silly spanner Jet. It won't be the same without you, but we're all so much better off for you having been here.

Rest in biscuits, best girly ❤️🌈🐾

21/05/2025

The problem, in my opinion, with the movement is that not all rescues are equal, just as not all breeders are equal. There are very good and very bad practices in both camps.

Please take a second to sign this petition for better licensing and regulation for UK rescue shelters, so that we can prevent the awful story below from happening again.

Many UK animal rescues operate without clear legal oversight, creating opportunities for unethical practices. Some rescues have been linked to supporting irresponsible breeding, neglecting animals, or misusing public donations.

20/05/2025

Say hello to my brand new group of babies 🥰

Pic 1 is Ellie the - doesn't she have the most incredible markings!

Pic 2 is Popcorn the - absolute top tier name 🍿👌

Then we have not one, not two, but three whole retriever puppies:

Billy the Flat Coated
Amber the Golden
and Wilson the Labrador

Which one would you be stealing?

18/05/2025

Look who I met this week! 😍

Dani is a Malinois puppy - a breed that is absolutely not suitable for everyone! Malinois (a type of Beglian Shepherd) are high-energy, highly intelligent, but also watchful and wary. They are NOT a dog who you can just walk for an hour and then leave at home for 9 hours every day.

I think there can, unfortunately, be a lot of ego attached to wanting a super high-drive dog like this. When choosing a breed, it's so important to be honest with yourself about your lifestyle. A misalignment of dogs' needs versus owner expectations is what can make for a very unhappy household.

Luckily, Dani has an outstanding home with a behaviourist, who will ensure she has an outlet for all her breed-specific needs. I wasn't meeting Dani to train her, I was meeting her mum to chat over some tricky cases. ✌️