Understanding how your dog communicates with you means you’ll be able to recognize when they’re feeling confident and happy, as well as times when they might be feeling worried or frightened.
If your dog appears to lack confidence or is a little shy, don’t worry! There are lots of things you can do to help improve your dog’s confidence no matter how shy they are.
Don’t worry if your dog does seem reserved, as there are lots of ways to help them to enjoy walks, and you’ll be helping their confidence to grow at the same time!
Dogs aren’t born knowing how to feel okay when they’re all by themselves, so it’s important to teach your dog to feel confident and relaxed about being home alone.
Because chewing and mouthing are normal dog behaviors, we need to give our dogs plenty of opportunities to do these in a safe and acceptable way.
We all love spending time with our dogs, but how can we make sure it is time well spent that enhances their quality of life and encourages them to reach their full potential?
Just like us, dogs can become worried if they feel that something they value is at risk, especially when it might be taken from them.
Rest assured, regardless of how they’re behaving, your dog is neither being dominant, nor using dominance, to get what they want!
When training dogs, it’s important to remember that any behavior a dog finds rewarding is a behavior they are likely to do again in the future!
Walking your dog in a harness is a useful way of reducing the risk of neck injury, maximizing comfort and making walkies more enjoyable for everyone!
Handling dogs in order to restrain, groom or medicate them is something that many of us take for granted, however the reality is that this can be scary and confusing for our dogs!
The aim of teaching a dog to ‘stay’ is for our dog to remain in a specific position until we return to them.
It’s wonderful that that we can take our dogs outside and walkies should be an enriching and fun time for them – however for some dogs the very presence of another dog can make them feel very uncomfortable indeed.
Most dogs love running around off the lead, but before you give your dog their ‘freedom’ it’s vital for their safety that you know they will come back when called, regardless of where they are and what’s going on around them.
Dogs have extremely sensitive hearing and can hear things humans can’t, so imagine how frightening it is when extremely loud noises happen without any warning.
Teaching ‘leave’ gives you the ability to ask your dog to move away from something they are interested in! It helps develop your dog’s self-control, which is incredibly useful in many other areas of their life.
As well enabling you to feel more relaxed and keeping everyone safe, muzzle training has the added benefit of helping your dog avoid situations that may worry them, as people are less likely to approach!
As part of your family, it’s important for dogs to learn to relax, lie down, and have time on their own. It’s hard for your dog to learn to be settled when there are distractions.
Most dogs jump up for one simple reason – to get our attention! Your dog is likely to jump up when they are excited to see you and want you to interact with them.
All dogs can be taught to toilet outdoors, and you might think it would come naturally, but this is not something they will all do automatically!
Training with rewards is all about teaching your dog that good things happen when they make a good choice.
Many dogs get nervous and/or excited when they hear the sound of the doorbell or a knock at the door, and this can make welcoming guests into your home difficult!
We all hope our dogs will be as healthy as possible for as long as possible, but it’s unlikely that any pet dog will ever completely avoid visiting the vet practice.
Your dog might be stealing things because they are looking for something to do or for some interaction with you.
One of the most common reasons dogs pull on lead is because they’ve quickly learned that’s how they get to move forward.