Laura Jennings Dog Training

25/11/2025

💥 Extinction Burst 💥

When you stop rewarding or reinforcing your dogs unwanted behaviours sometimes we see an increase in the undesired behaviours before they stop!

Imagine your dog has previously gotten something they felt was rewarding, that could be attention, toss a toy, you engaging with them etc and when suddenly that disappears, your dog will often try harder at first before giving up! And why wouldn’t they, we do the exact same.

So it looks like it is making them worse!

A dog that used to get attention for barking may bark louder or longer when you start ignoring the barking.

A dog that used to paw at you for treats may paw more insistently when pawing no longer works.

How to deal with an extinction burst

💥 Stay consistent, that makes it a easier for your dog to know this behaviour is no longer working for them 
💥 Reinforce or reward an alternative behaviour. For example a dog that barks at you when on the phone, teach them to go to a place or mat when you take a call and reinforce and reward that loads.
💥 Make sure your dogs needs are met prior to training eg walked in an enriching environment and they have breed specific mental enrichment
💥 If they are doing these behaviours through fear, pain or stress that is very different and getting to the root cause is so important as ignoring will not work.

WhatsApp me on 0857317129 if you need help

24/11/2025

I love this type of message!

(Message shared with permission)

Sadie is booked in and we are ready to start training 💪

10/11/2025

Why you should be walking your dog first thing…

☀️ Well you get to see amazing sunrises like this, no need to go on 🤣

☀️ Your dog’s behaviour will be much easier to manage when they have had decent exercise, rather than waiting all day, getting into mischief!

☀️ There is way less ‘don’t worry he’s friendly’ owners out first thing 😬 aka I havent taught my dog to recall 🤭

☀️ If you are a busy parent and busy with work, as the day progresses more and more things will get in the way of getting out. So once they have a good walk, I know it’s done and no guilt about not getting round to it

☀️ there is benefits to you too. You start the day with half your steps done and viewing morning sunlight and according to there’s lots of health benefits even on cloudy days

Try it for one day this week and see how it goes. It’s a great time of year to catch a sunrise as you don’t have to get up at crazy O clock 🕰️

31/10/2025

👻If you have an adult dog already scared, there’s still time to get on to your Vet. They can prescribed medications that may help. Don’t waste your time buying stuff in the Petshops. Nutracalm is sold over the counter in Vets too.

💀Get the dogs walk in very early before anyone might be messing around with bangers and fireworks. Kids around my way are setting them off all day.

👻There are strong links between pain and sound sensitivity in dogs. If your older dog is more fearful this year that might be one thing you want to rule out with your vet.

💀 If your dog or puppy wants comfort because they are really scared, please comfort them. It’s okay, You won’t make them worse.

👻 If they want to hide away let them do that too. Prepare a ‘den’ in the quietest part of the house (for example I use my downstairs bathroom as it’s not attached to outside of the house so the quietest room) or a covered crate under the kitchen table or under the duvet or bed etc

💀 Close all blinds and curtains too. Play music like reggae and classical to try muffle the noise

👻 Try to feed them and get last wee early as they may not want to eat or toilet when the fireworks start because they are out of ‘rest & digest’ mode and in ‘fight or flight’ and forcing or pushing them could add stress

💀 go easy on high intensity games today (like ball chasing, playing in the dog park, or if they are reactive to people/dogs etc) anything that might increase the adrenaline and cortisol and make staying calm harder

🎃Good luck to all the dogs and puppies tonight. It literally breaks my heart and I don’t know why parents keep buying these for their kids 💔 there’s organised fireworks display on if they want to see some. I worry about the wildlife, horses etc that can’t get inside especially!

30/10/2025

One place left! Starting Tuesday - book your place below or WhatsApp me 0857317129

https://laurajenningsdogtraining.as.me/schedule/1dcf63db/?categories%5B%5D=Baldoyle%20Classes%20

📍Puppy Class 📍Baldoyle Community Centre

Teach your puppy to focus and engage on you around other dogs along with teaching them basic cues.

The class usually books out at least a week in advance so booking is essential and will most likely be full on the day.

You can book your place here https://laurajenningsdogtraining.as.me/schedule/1dcf63db/?categories%5B0%5D=Baldoyle+Classes+&fbclid=PAQ0xDSwMikvtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABpxpCINvi3mL9A7qzLXOTpQkr2azZKh97gqfj4wyrhy8cYYM888Qe8JU1Six8_aem_niXug7fepBzc5jqP9LWx_Q

WhatsApp me on 0857317129 with any questions or follow the link in stories or bio to grab your place!

30/10/2025

Maybe it’s not just leash skills that you need to work on to improve your loose lead walking….

- dogs pull on leash that are scared, frustrated and overwhelmed. Building confidence and resilience is important first. Check out my earlier reels on building confidence and a resilient dog.

- dogs pull on leash when they are unmotivated and not engaged with you. Ask why does your dog not want to be beside you? And what can you do to change that. How can you improve YOUR engagement with your dog and motivate them to want to work with you.

- a lack of proper breed and species appropriate enrichment can cause leash issues. Are you meeting your working dogs needs in a way that helps them manage arousal, distractions and frustration. Tip this isn’t just lickmats! You will never get any real progress if you are not letting your dog be the dog they were meant to be after thousands of years of selected breeding

- you may need to improve your teaching and communication system. If you have been trying the same thing over and over you need to look at your teaching style and seek help from a good coach.

I am a dog trainer based in North Dublin. Pop me a DM if you need help in your local area to improve your lead skills

28/10/2025

Need the kids off the screens for 15 minutes!

Grab your dogs dinner and have some fun teaching them their left and right turns 🥰

Tag me in your videos and I’ll give you some tips!

25/10/2025

The truth is I don’t know yet 😮‍💨😅

We are winging it until we get to our first competition on Monday and get a good sense of everything.

But the idea is they run under the hoops, around barrels and tunnels so everything is low impact no weaves or contacts or jumping.

And you get higher points if you don’t run with the dog and do it from a distance.

At the moment I feel like barrel communication will be everything 😅 but am open minded and looking forward to watching and learning from others 🙏🏼

17/10/2025

✨ Feeling Grateful ✨

In the past, I’ve been very vocal about so-called “pay-to-play” awards — the ones where you have to pay up to €500 to attend (and if you don’t pay, you can’t win!) or €300 just to be listed on a website as a “top trainer.” 🫣

That’s why I’m genuinely happy to share this one — I recently won an award for Excellence in Service, and I didn’t pay a cent. I was nominated for it, and it covered all animal businesses across the Republic of Ireland, not just dog training. And best of all, I can attend the awards at no cost! 😅

As a sole trader, this means a lot. I always want my dog training skills to speak for themselves — but just as importantly, I want my support for people to shine through too. I try to approach every client with empathy and without judgment, because you never know someone’s circumstances. At the end of the day, I’m not just training dogs — I’m helping people train their dogs. 💛

My first day in college in the UK almost two decades ago. The lecturer said, “If you’re here because you love dogs but hate people, you should leave now.” 🫣 Thankfully, I’ve always loved working with both.

Like all sole traders, I do it all — no matter what’s happening in my personal life. I’m replying to clients while comforting a sick vomiting child after a sleepless night, or from A&E in agony (yes, I brought my laptop so clients wouldn’t have to wait for their notes!). 🐾

While awards like this will never mean as much to me as my clients’ progress and happiness, it’s still lovely to have this little moment of recognition for the work I do every day. 💕

Thank you to all my amazing clients for trusting me with your dogs — you make it all worthwhile. 🐶✨

27/07/2025

‼️ Dog & Child Friendly Hike ‼️

📍 Massey Woods Based in the Dublin Mountains with an easy to follow trail and plenty of pit stops to keep children interested. Mine found about 7 home made swings.

🥾 I wore rail runners and was glad I did because a lot of the path was muddy but the children had runners and were fine.

🚘 There was no Carpark but the Hellfire Club Car Park was about 20m up the road. It was a little bit hairy on the way back walking along the road with the kids and dogs.

☕️ there’s a coffee truck at the Carpark for refreshments or we headed to for a gorgeous scone and coffee at the Timbertrove Cafe

🐶 there was almost always room to move off the trail to let dogs pass and plenty of off the beaten tracks to explore, if you have a nervous or reactive dog. Most people leashed their dogs to pass or their dogs stayed with them.

11/07/2025

If like me you are getting ready to head off camping, maybe some of my tried and tested hints and tips managing dogs and kids might help!

Dogs are usually allowed in your own tent on most campsites but always kept on lead. It’s worth to phone before booking to ensure it’s ok, some campsites don’t allow dogs in the peak seasons and some don’t allow restricted breeds.

🏕️ Bring Extra Pegs so you can stake the dogs leads in to the ground when you need to free your hands up. Don’t stake them near the tent poles and guy wires 🫣

🏕️ Bring wind breakers to create a visual barrier for your dogs, three would be ideal. Campsites are often busy places with lots of children running around playing. It can help stop the ‘neighbours’ dogs reacting to yours too.

🏕️ Save large yogurt pots and similar and prepare your dogs meals in advance and you can feed direct from the pot and then recycle it. It’s probably not a huge deal if your dogs have just kibble but mine have fresh food with cold pressed and supplements so having it done it advance helped not be fussing too much.

🏕️ There’s not much chance I’m making Kongs & Lickmats on holidays so we bring plenty of lovely long lasting chews to help the dogs decompress a bit from the busy environment. We love the variety from

🏕️ Plan in advance where your dogs will sleep. I’ve tried several options over the years and my dogs are warmest and happiest in their crate in the car. A dog bed on the ground sheet can be really cold if the temperature drops during the night. But some dogs will be happier snuggled up with you especially if they are an only dog.

🏕️ We gave the dogs lots of chances to sniff in the long grass and took them to quiet walks away from the camp site. I also gave them lots of breaks in their crate to help them manage the amount of stimulation.