Thrive Dog Care

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Thrive Dog Care

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🐕 Supporting you and your dog to have fun, connect, feel confident and safe together.
🎒 Dog training, Dog walking and Home visits, Canine nutritional advice.
🎁 Using kind, fun, reward based strategies.
📚 Fully Insured and Canine First Aid trained

22/06/2026

"Lovely Ruth keeping Willow entertained during the warm weather - which isn’t fun when you’ve so much floof. Anyone needing a dog walker or dog trainer in the Ardara, Glenties, Lettermacaward area I can’t recommend Ruth enough. Thrive Dog Care"

Thank you Kyla Tailor as always for your compliments, support and advocacy for my services. Willow is a smart floof and so lucky with you as her human 💖.

13/06/2026

Lunchtime Learning -
Today we introduced Ash and Blane to their new harness. We put them on in small steps.
To make sure they will enjoy having it put on and wearing it we paired it to one of their favourite activities so far: letting them frolic around in the garden. Such immense joy.

11/06/2026

The magic of socialising puppies

Yesterday we went out to watch cows and have a 10 minute spree at a quiet beach. Ash and Blane enjoyed their outing into the big unknown. We might sometimes forget that for them everything!! is new. And that from their frog eye perspective everything is huge too ☺️.

Socialising puppies is about thoughtfully introducing the world to our babies. It is not about throwing them into the deep and overwhelming them with experiences that scare or cause over arousal. The exposure needs to be such that the puppy can observe calmly, with a soft body so no excessive tensing of their muscles.

We could tell on the beach that they were getting tired. Their excitement rose and the fast running increased. Time to go home!!

30/05/2026

Look at the proud learners of the Adorable Adolescent Class.
Rosaleen with her sweet Luna and Lee with his energetic Samojed Sora. It was the first time for the dogs and their humans they entered a class, so lots of new experiences to take in.
Well done you two. You put in great effort and made big steps forward. Good luck with your lovely pooches and training!
Adolescent dogs can really struggle with life.
Owners of adolescent dogs can really struggle with their dogs.
It can feel as if the sweet pup that behaved so well, stuck to your ankles and was all eye for you has changed into a being you do not recognise. Has all your upbringing and training gone down the drain? Why does nothing you try land with your sweetheart?
That is because during Adolescence your dog is undergoing very radical neurological and physiological changes. They have a really high sensitivity for novelty and rewards and a greater awareness of other dogs. Their sex-hormones rush through their young bodies. They think they can conquer the world while in fact the have fearful periods and their emotional regulation is not stable yet at all.
So it is no surprise that owners can worry, lose confidence in themselves or their dogs, even panic. Being in a class is a great way to gain reassurance and discover you are not the only one who is challenged by their teenager.
During the classes we focused on:
🌺reading the dog's body language
🌺rewarding desired behaviours versus saying no! no! no!
🌺clear communication and timing of the reward delivery
🌺rewarding calm behaviour and the ability to settle
🌺using a hand signal to direct the dog's movement
🌺'look at that' > look at a person or object without interacting
🌺teaching the hand touch and recall.. and more.

www.thrivedogcare.eu

23/04/2026

Thank you Ann for your review of the Puppy Course you took with me. It was a pleasure to watch your progress and I look forward to seeing you and lovely Ollie back 🎉!

"Myself and my 6 month old Golden Labrador Ollie have completed a 6 weeks puppy handling course with Ruth from Thrive Dog Care at the Dolmen Centre. The course is geared towards small groups 3 maximum. Ollie has learned obedience and calmness without yelling or punishment. He also interacts better with other dogs. I have become more confident and calmer as his handler. It was enjoyable for both of us.
Ruth is an excellent teacher. She is dedicated to her training, giving clear instructions and answering individual queries and concerns. She posted videos of the classes on a WhatsApp group so we could continue training at home. I am looking forward to joining her next session of outdoor classes. I would highly recommend this course and Ruth/Thrive Dog Care as a teacher. Thank you Ruth for your help and generosity. Ann and Ollie

12/04/2026

The class is full.

🌷SPRINGTIME COURSE FOR ADOLESCENTS🌷

A new class for dogs 6 months to 3 years: adorable adolescents.

Just when you thought all was going fine puberty hits and hormones take over. Has all you had established with your baby gone out the window? Attention all over the place but not with you? Bold, curious, sniffing, while also at times lacking confidence and seeming insecure?

Don't worry, it is a natural phase in the development of dogs.
It passes, they grow through it. This however does not mean you can lay back, let the universe do the work and hope for the best!
This is an excellent time to spend time with your youngster.
Strengthen your bond with fun connection games.

Train with them to live a safe, content life in a human world.
Teach your dog to settle, practice self control, learn to walk together, develop a recall, the value of play and sniffing.
Plenty of opportunity to ask your questions, class notes.

Please get in touch with me if you have questions about the class or about suitability for your dog.

26/03/2026

Congratulations to the lovely graduates of my Puppy Class: Ruth with Nell, Ann with Ollie and Liz with Henry, who unfortunately couldn't make it to the last session.

You have done a wonderful job with your youngsters and made huge progress. I am chuffed that you enjoyed the classes; after all, going to school should be fun for both humans and dogs.

During the six week course we covered:
⭐️how to communicate with dogs using our hands
⭐️teaching a new behaviour using lure, hand signal and a cue
⭐️using a marker word, timing and reward delivery
⭐️body language, stress and arousal levels
⭐️calm, quiet, precise handling
⭐️and lots more...

Thank you to the Downstrands Family Resource Centre and Dolmen Centre for hosting the Thrive dog training classes.

www.thrivedogcare.eu

17/03/2026

🌷SPRINGTIME COURSE FOR ADOLESCENTS🌷

A new class for dogs 6 months to 3 years: adorable adolescents.

Just when you thought all was going fine puberty hits and hormones take over. Has all you had established with your baby gone out the window? Attention all over the place but not with you? Bold, curious, sniffing, while also at times lacking confidence and seeming insecure?

Don't worry, it is a natural phase in the development of dogs.
It passes, they grow through it. This however does not mean you can lay back, let the universe do the work and hope for the best!

This is an excellent time to spend time with your youngster.
Strengthen your bond with fun connection games.
Train with them to live a safe, content life in a human world.
Teach your dog to settle, practice self control, learn to walk together, develop a recall, the value of play and sniffing.
Plenty of opportunity to ask your questions, class notes.

Please get in touch with me if you have questions about the class or about suitability for your dog.

Address

Lettermacaward

Website

http://www.thrivedogcare.eu/

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