Calvert Canines - Dog Behaviour Specialist & Dog Walking Service

25/04/2025

DOG WALKING PICS NOT YET SHARED 🐾💜

We've had some cute & funny moments this week. Scroll through for jack in a box pictures of Molly & Mitzy. Selfies by Fern & Nala. Gymnastics by Max. Dressage by Pebbles. Tree surgeon work by Kenneth. Smiling, playing and dogs being dogs 💜💜

25/04/2025

It must be hard work being THIS handsome, right? 🥹

Loved meeting this chap today and his people to begin to sort out some issues around anxiety as well as overstimulation in the outside world. He took to the training extremely quickly. Young brains will do that! As soon as we opened up the communication channels adequately enough he was nailing it. So much so, I never actually saw what the problem behaviour was outside because he was already basking in the relief of not needing to do it 💪🏻

Such a little character. Love him 🐾💜

24/04/2025

MY DOG JUST SNAPPED, AND I FEEL BAD: BUT SHOULD I?

Short answer, no.

Long answer, read on.

I do not consider it to be my job as a dog guardian or my job as a dog behaviour specialist to make it so that dogs who once upon a time were reactive, become tolerant and happy in ALL situations at ALL times. (Mainly because that is not possible).

I was just on a walk with my two terriers. Seeing two dogs nearby on lead I popped them both on lead. They don't like stranger dog interactions and that should have been enough to alert them to not let their dogs off lead to approach mine. It should have been enough to alert that I want to stay in my own little bubble without interruption. It wasn't.

As soon as they let theirs off one came bombing over to us leaving me with no choice but to just watch as my dogs were rudely accosted. Given my job I was angry initially. But at myself. Why have I not sorted things out so I can go to the local park and not have my dog snap? But then I put my head back on straight again. It is totally unfair for me to expect my dogs to cope with something they shouldn't have to cope with. It's rude, threatening, and not ok for my tiny dogs on lead to be run at by a big dog, whatever that dogs' intentions.

It's the typical gripe isn't it. The "my dogs friendly!" brigade. The difficulty is my dogs are friendly too. But not in THAT situation. That very situation I tried to protect them from. But it takes a village to understand dog etiquette and unfortunately it is severely lacking at times.

But that's not YOUR dogs fault. It's really important to remember that 🐾💜

24/04/2025

Not all dogs who are scared quietly shrink away; in fact, in this day and age with our reliance on leads that restrict any avoidance, most fear that I see has morphed into the loud fear that shouts and makes a scene in order to feel like they're keeping themselves safe.

This fella is known to literally scream. I've not seen it, I don't need to. I hope I never see it! I hope to get him feeling much more able to cope with his very big feelings around all dogs so screaming is no longer his go to 🥺

Foundational work in place. See you in a few weeks handsome boy to begin re-exposure 🐾💜

23/04/2025

THE LITTLE THINGS ARE BIG THINGS WHEN YOU'RE WORKING WITH AN EXTREMELY FEARFUL DOG

If your dog is fearful/reactive it's so easy to get wrapped up in the whole "look how close we got today!" goalposts. When dealing with extreme fear you need to appreciate SO MUCH MORE than just distance.

Did Astrid get closer today? Sure. Did she manage parallel walking today without defensively showing aggressive behaviours? Sure.

But the list of what else she achieved is so much longer. Primarily my biggest sign that Astrid is making progress is her body language was much more relaxed than last time. Her tongue was lolling out her mouth more, not tensely held in. Her tail wasn't as dramatically held down and was looser. Her ears were upright and pricked as she looked in our direction, not back. She was able much more to explore the environment and sniff. These might seem like only little things but to me they speak volumes.

Lily is winning her over, slowly, as am I. As long as I keep seeing these signs of progress towards relaxation and confidence around us, it's Astrid going in the right direction towards a less scary life 🐾💜

23/04/2025

WALKING WEDNESDAY GROUPS 🐾💜

Group one: a FANTASTIC time had at the wonderful Poundon Pastures for Kenneth, Max, Sherlock, Butch & Skip. Boys doing what boys do best! Bloomin good fun!

Group two: the littler group had a rather unpredictable walk at the river where we had to have our listening ears on avoiding sheep and other dog walkers. All did superb. Well done gang! Molly, Mitzy, Coco, Bella, Hettie, Bella, Peanut, Dave, Raggy, Lucy.

So many beautifully happy faces 😁🐾💜

22/04/2025

After great consideration, Jet has decided what he wants to be when he's older...
.. a canine tooth inspector 😂 🐾💜

22/04/2025

Our return to work today was a joyful one with these fantastic friends!!

Jet started these walks new to socialising and was quite hyper focused on just getting dogs to play and interact, and sometimes we'd need to guide his behaviour with the long line. Today Jet had a different feel about him. Whilst he certainly did interact with others (especially his bestie, Bailey) he also did a lot of independent exploring. He didn't need to be guided in his behaviour at all! He self managed his arousal levels perfectly. Well done buddy.

He also LOVED meeting our Lily for the first time 🥹

Pebbles, Jet, Marnie, Molly, Bailey, Yoda & Lily 🐾💜

21/04/2025

To the professionals and guardians who don't wish to shock their dogs around sheep in order to "keep them safe".
To the professionals and guardians who just accept that long lines/leads around sheep are necessary, coupled with basic positive reinforcement training.
To the professionals and guardians who just take responsibility for the fact if they don't know if there's sheep in a field, they will keep their dog on long line until they know. Because sheep don't just fall from the sky unexpectedly.
To the professionals and guardians who do this because we know it isn't as black and white as "use a shock collar on your dogs; else they might get euthanised" that likes to be spread about.

I take responsibility for keeping my dogs under control around livestock, in a way that doesn't disturb my dogs or the livestock themselves.

A lovely moment this evening with these lambs approaching US to take a good look whilst we sat by the river. I love watching joyful innocent lambs. Something very puppy-esque about their curiosity!

20/04/2025

Hope you've all had an excellent Easter Sunday!
The Calvert Canines doggies enjoyed an Easter egg hunt (made up of dehydrated meat eggs!) in the barn hunting shed.

Did your dog get something special to do/eat? 🐾💜

19/04/2025

NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS CAN TAKE JUST A SECOND; POSITIVE ASSOCIATIONS, A LIFETIME.

It's SO MUCH QUICKER to get a dog to dislike something they like than it is to get a dog to like something they dislike. So much quicker.

If your dog is a foreign rescue, or carrying trauma, it'll take even longer still.

That's why quick fixes are lies.

You can't quickly get a dog to feel ok around something they currently do not.

All you can achieve with speed is shutting them down from expressing that they don't feel ok.

FEELINGS ARE HERE TO BE HEARD! we are quick to shout in society today.

Except if you're a dog. In which case feelings are argued to not even exist?

I do not claim to be able to change behaviour fast, ever. That would be a total lie. Ultimately because I'm not in the interest of just changing behaviour. I'm in the interest of protecting emotions. And here's the kicker-

I don't ONLY care about the emotions of your dog either.

I care about the emotions of all the beings AROUND your dog too.

This is why I do not run many reactive sessions out in busy parks. Because a.) I don't think it's fair to put a reactive dog in a busy area if they are telling me they can't even cope with a less busy one and b.) I don't think it's fair to all the other dogs in the park to potentially be negatively affected by the dog who is currently struggling around other dogs.

Hold your horses - I'm not saying reactive dogs shouldn't be going to parks. I'm not in the business of telling people I've never met where to go with their dogs. But I'm not going to purposefully put a reactive dog there in order to "train" them, in my sessions. My training takes place in quiet fields with specific buddy dogs UNTIL I KNOW the student dog can cope with various situations (like passing dogs) without having a negative effect on others around them. Reactions still happen, of course, but generally not to the degree of when we started. It's basic safety and wellbeing concerns.

It can take time to get to that point. But that depends on the severity of the dog mostly. Reactivity ranges from an excited bark to a quiet grumble to a bite. Even bites range from defensive bites to offensive ones. There's such a detailed picture to hold for every individual dog so there is no straight answer for a single problem of reactivity.

But it WILL take time.

I am unable to offer enticing offers like "see improvement in just one session or your money back!" But good news I don't need to market myself that way. I'm not starved of clients who are happy to let the journey unroll as and when it can. My new client this morning wasn't given any false promises about where we could get to. I didn't promise that they will be at parks soon with their dog happily playing with others. When you're working with living beings the idea that you can change them into being exactly what YOU think a dog should be is egotistical at best. A bit delusional at worst.

I'm an introvert and I wouldn't want anyone putting me through therapy to make me an extrovert because that's how they think humans should be 🤷🏻‍♀️

I avoid busy places and specific triggers (for me, alcohol). And my life is just fine.

Sometimes we focus so much on how we want our dogs to change, and quickly, we kid ourselves into believing we have a right to do that when they might simply be expressing preferences just like you and I get to do everyday.

Let's consider it:

Instead of: my dog snaps at dogs who run at them off lead...
How about: my dog doesn't like going to busy parks but enjoys countryside walks or on lead potters.

Instead of: my dog spins and lunges at cars on the road...
How about: my dog doesn't like to walk on pavements by the side of a road.

Instead of: my dog goes for any dog that tries to take his ball...
How about: my dog doesn't like to share his ball so we only play in quiet places.

It's a twist we might not be used to. Are they behaviour problems, or preferences? There's no straight answer. There never is 🐾 💜

19/04/2025

Such a lovely morning with this beautiful soul working on her confidence and associations with other dogs.

Impeccably trained, but we've got to look at the feelings underneath any training to deal with behaviour presentations born from anxiety and fear.

We can't train a dog to feel better but we can work on making better associations and then practicing positive interactions.

Looking forward to working with this gentle one for a bit going forwards 🥹🐾💜

18/04/2025

WHOOPSIES!

Thursdays dog walking pics for you 😜

We appreciate the Easter gifts we have received - thank you so much! It's been lovely having a day off today to do something totally un-dog related for once, swimming! But we look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday next week!

Have a great weekend,

Team CC 🐾💜

18/04/2025

PICTURED: Lily getting rewarded with bacon for recalling out of a woods.

There's a strange vibe going around that seems to insinuate that dogs who will be adequately rewarded with praise and pats alone are somehow "better trained" than those who respond better to food as a reward.

In my whole dog guardianship life so far I have never shirked the idea of taking tasty bits on walks with me to reward my dogs for sticking around and coming back to me when I ask them to. I don't think that makes me LESS of a dog guardian, less of a dog professional even. My dogs are so used to me having the good stuff on me that the one time I need to call them and I don't have anything (say if they run out of my house) I can bet you they'll come! I don't wave a treat to get them back, I simply give them a treat when they've completed the behaviour and there's nothing "less impressive" about that.

It's between you and your dog, frankly. It matters not what anyone else does down your road. What a fellow owner tells you to do in a pet shop. It matters not.

What matters is that it's working for you in keeping your dog safe and under control. If it is - excellent. No second thought needed 🐾💜

17/04/2025

Lovely catch up session & licks with this one today 🥹

And a clear reminder that separation anxiety is not caused by cuddling your dog any more than a solution to separation anxiety is to not cuddle your dog and give/receive affection.

This little man is learning that his people aren't always around but we don't have to starve him of the good stuff when they are around.

There are a lot of myths circulating online and it's ALWAYS worth checking them out with me but I'm super glad when my clients already know what my response will be before they even ask. Because that means they know I will never ask you to do something that just feels plain unfair and uncomfortable.

Besides, this little man gives the best cuddles. Doggy cuddles are medicine right?! 🥹🐾💜

16/04/2025

WALKING WEDNESDAY 🐾💜

Group one: Hettie, Sherlock, Peanut, Molly, Snoopy, Coco, Mitzy, Lucy, Raggy, Bella and this week joined by Max! Well done Max for lowering your energy for the littles group but so impressed you managed to get my Lucy to play! That's a rarity!

Group two: Fern, Nala, Butch, Skip - new friends!!

Group three: An integration walk for Sid with Molly & Sherlock. What amazingly lovely social skills you have Sid!

Great day, thanks all 🐾💜

16/04/2025

Shout out to the INTO Dogs family.

Shout out to the validation they warmly give when required to help drown out the noise of an industry at war.

Shout out to the guidance they offer each other with nothing but good intentions at heart. No snobby competition.

Shout out to the DOG IS THE PRIORITY ethic that concludes every conversation just as it starts it.

Shout out to the acceptance, the warmth, the humour and the inclusivity that makes this industry less of a tough place to be 🐾💜

INTODogs are here to promote and support the ethical application of canine behaviour and dog training.