Paws Academy Dog Training

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New puppy or new problem? From the first night home to adolescence: biting, toileting, sleep, separation anxiety, jumping up and more. Online, wherever you live.

Award-winning behaviourist, 30+ years, vet recommended. Start with Puppy Club ⬇️ Welcome to Paws Academy Dog Training

With over 30 years of experience, Paws Academy provides professional dog training and behaviour support, both online and through one-to-one and group classes in Co Mayo. Led by a qualified trainer and behaviourist, we are dedicated to using force-free, science-backed methods to achieve lasting, positive results. Our training is vet recommended, and we specialise in supporting all behavioural challenges, with significant experience working with rescue dogs. Our services include:
* Puppy training classes
* Specialised workshops
* Behaviour modification programmes
* Agility training
* Online training

At Paws Academy, we are committed to helping you develop a well-behaved, confident, and happy dog through ethical, reward-based training.

01/11/2026

It's two o'clock in the afternoon, your puppy has been following you from room to room since breakfast, they've had a play, a little training session and a wander round the garden, and every time you pop them in their bed they're straight back out again to see what you're doing. Then by teatime you've got a little Tasmanian devil on your hands, and you're sat there wondering how much sleep they're actually meant to be getting.

For a puppy under about 16 weeks it's a lot of sleep, and the hours I'd aim for are in the slides.

There's also where I'd have the naps happen, why the one hour awake, two hours asleep guide won't suit some puppies, and the one thing I never do... even if it means lunch is half an hour late.

01/11/2026

Dog training tip for the nights you're lying there wondering whether to get up or not... crying in the night doesn't come with one answer, and it's really difficult to tell anyone to just let their puppy cry it out when nobody knows the whole scenario around it. Is it a strop at bedtime, or is it real distress? And has the house only just gone quiet, or has everyone been fast asleep for hours? Those are two very different puppies, and they need very different things from you. And if it's five nights in and they're still crying, that's when I'd want to know everything... your setup, what's happened in the day and what happens before you go to bed.

When the whole house has been asleep and then the crying starts, the reason is usually a lot simpler than it feels at that hour.

So in the reel I've shown you exactly what I do in that moment, from where the lead lives at night to what happens if your puppy isn't lead trained yet (and why there's absolutely no partying once we're back in).

31/10/2026

Firework sounds playing quietly in the background will help a new puppy, but it is just to help... it's not the golden nugget to fix it. If you've got a sensitive or anxious puppy, they might cope with the recording on your phone and then not cope with the real thing at all, because the real thing comes with light, flashing and lots of different sounds, and when they're going off close by, the whole house can shake. So I'd treat the recordings as a starting point, not the end goal.

The younger your puppy, the easier it gets, so I'd be starting this week rather than holding off until the big nights come round.

It isn't one size fits all, and it really depends on looking at the puppy in front of you. But there's one thing I do the moment I hear the first real bang, and it's in the reel, along with just how quietly those recordings should be playing (a lot quieter than you'd have the telly on).

31/10/2026

Your puppy has been home a few days, you've been told to wait until they're fully vaccinated before they go on the ground outside, and everyone keeps telling you how much these early weeks matter. So you're stuck at home wondering if you're missing something important, while the days tick by.

But they're learning about the world right now, and none of it needs their paws on the pavement.

I've put the three things I'd be doing this week in the slides, plus the one thing that matters more than any of them... and what comes next once the vaccinations are done.

31/10/2026

Your puppy's name gets overused so quickly, and then its meaning gets lost, so today's dog training tip is a game I play with a new puppy from the day they come home. You'll say the dog's name when you want a recall, when they've got hold of something they shouldn't have, when you're giving them a cuddle on the sofa, and before long it's just background noise to them... so when you really need them to look at you, they carry on sniffing whatever they've found.

I always use "yes" as my marker word, or a clicker, and sometimes I pair the click and the yes together... either works, as long as it comes the second they look.

It's one of those things I teach without thinking about teaching, if that makes sense, because I just do it as part of a game with them. But there's one thing I'd stop doing straight away if they don't look, and that's in the video.

31/10/2026

It's Halloween tonight. If the doorbell is your dog's least favourite sound, do these three things before it gets dark.

My free Halloween guide and four door posters are in the comments. Print one and stick it on your door.

30/10/2026

Jumping up at ten to twelve weeks is usually something your puppy has learned, and nobody sets out to teach it. At this age they're desperate for your attention, so they jump at your legs, you crouch down for a scratch and a belly rub (because how could you not?), then you stand up and move away... and up they come again. And it's so easy to tell yourself he's only little and it doesn't matter yet, except he won't be little for very long.

At this age it can absolutely be changed, without being harsh, because at ten weeks they're soaking everything up and anything learned this early can be unlearned too.

So I've gone through the three things I'd change if your puppy is jumping up like this, including the one with your treats that so many of us do without a second thought... and why it's encouraging them to pop up.

30/10/2026

Paws for thought this Friday.

30/10/2026

Chasing a puppy who's pinched your sock is one of the quickest ways to teach them to pinch another one, so today's dog training tip is all about what I'd do instead. Because from a puppy's perspective, it's fun. Socks, tea towels, the TV remote... these are treasures to your puppy, and they've just found the best thing ever. And now you're squealing, you're running after them, you're shouting, and they don't understand English, so all they're thinking is woohoo, game on, let's go for it.

And holding your hand out with a treat right then is a bit like asking a toddler to sit with sweets all around them and not touch them... it just doesn't happen.

Swapsies is something you build up gradually, from the toy they like least to the one they love most, so it's already a good deal by the time they've got hold of real treasure. There's one part of it I'd bet you've been skipping, and it's in the video.

29/10/2026

Most new puppy parents hadn't realised how hard it was going to be... and that's not a criticism, because we live in a world of instant gratification now, and that way of thinking spills over into our puppies too. So we expect a new puppy to slot in just as quickly, and when it turns out to be crying in the crate, needle teeth in your hands and broken sleep night after night, it's very easy to decide you must be doing something wrong and that you're somehow letting your puppy down.

So you're up late searching for answers, trying one thing tonight and something different tomorrow, while the puppies on your feed all seem to be sleeping through and walking nicely on the lead.

It's anxiety, it's frustration, it's being tired, all at once, and it's a tough time. There are three things I see over and over again that make it more intense than it needs to be, and I've put all three in the reel, along with what I'd do instead.

Address

Ballycroy, Westport
Mayo

Telephone

+353857574185

Website

https://www.thetrainingofdogs.com/paws-puppy-club

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