Category Archives: Video posts

Teaching a puppy to walk in a retractable leash

I’ve seen probably hundreds of claims about how flexi leashes “make your dog pull”. Unfortunately, universal statements without caveats are easily falsifiable… you only need one black swan to prove not all swans are white, so I wanted to show that a retractable lead does not automatically make or teach a dog to pull andContinueContinue reading “Teaching a puppy to walk in a retractable leash”

Thoughts and tips on puppy exercise + book recommendation

I recently started re-reading a book I bought a while ago called “How to Build a Puppy” and stumbled on some interesting stuff, so I posted about it on our kennel’s Instagram account and thought it would be useful to share on the blog too. Since I only thought of sharing it here afterwards, here’sContinueContinue reading “Thoughts and tips on puppy exercise + book recommendation”

Puppy training 101: disengaging from humans

For one reason or another, Astra has found humans mesmerising for a long time – not just hypergreeting in close proximity like Nell, but intentionally seeking them out, as you can see here. I’ve been working on this consistently on every walk, and to be honest, it’s quite frustrating for me after living with Grace,ContinueContinue reading “Puppy training 101: disengaging from humans”

Training puppies to disengage and recall

Disengaging from distractions is perhaps THE most important life skill for a puppy, and the sooner they learn, the better. Of course, their brains are not yet capable of a lot of things – impulse control being one of them, because the parts of the brain that control activation develop faster than the parts thatContinueContinue reading “Training puppies to disengage and recall”

Building curiosity and confidence in search

I’m quite opportunistic when it comes to training. What I mean is that I try to look at the environment on walks through the dog’s eyes and take training opportunities as and when I see them. In this case, our local forest is full of branches fallen after the big storm a few weeks ago,ContinueContinue reading “Building curiosity and confidence in search”

Why you should start walks with a sniffing game

Lots of new owners struggle with recall and this morning I realised I do a lot of things automatically now that might be helpful insights and ideas for others. So, here’s a short film about how sniff games can really help with both recall and your dog paying attention to you outdoors – none ofContinueContinue reading “Why you should start walks with a sniffing game”

Toy review: Buster ActivityMat

I’ve talked about the BusterMat before so I thought I’d make a longer video. It really is the best brain toy I’ve come across – you can increase the difficulty as your dog learns more, and it is difficult time and time again because you basically need dexterity to get the treats too, not justContinueContinue reading “Toy review: Buster ActivityMat”