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Many dogs hate having their collars and/or harnesses held, but it's something that most of us do at some point, to keep our dogs safe or move them away from a potential problem. Willow and Shadow were never overly bothered by it, but as a puppy, Luna hated it if I grabbed her collar, and she...

I've known about this book for a while, but never got round to sharing it. Anyway, it's a free ebook comprising a collection of articles by various FDSA instructors. There's loads of good content in it, and it's definitely worth a read for any puppy owner, whether or not you're interested in...

I just came across a very non-scientific poll of serious household aggression cases on a FB dog group. Aggression was defined as being where injury was sustained on one or more occasions (more than just noise and snapping), where it was difficult to separate the animals, and the respondent had...

Kate @kateincornwall found this article and wanted to share it. It's by the wonderful Jean Donaldson (of The Culture Clash fame) and talks a little about why it's wrong to think dogs "should behave" in order to please us. I particularly like the last two quotes. An Open Letter to Owners Who...

I’m back in Andorra with my team, and I’m already ready to go back to Spain! Remind me it WILL get better! Arriving on Christmas Eve into complete chaos, so many people and dogs everywhere! W&S barking at people because they’re on edge, alert barking in the flat. Squidge super excited, Ginny...

Just back from the vets with the Labradogs (yes, autocorrect, I do want that to say "Labradogs", thankyouverymuch) for their annual vaccinations. The weigh-in results are in. Shadow: 24.6kg (he's a bit skinny at the moment, despite the fact he's eating twice as much as everyone else) Willow...

Two years ago, this bundle of mischief entered our lives. My sister and I took the long drive to Lockerbie and back, from Surrey, to pick her up. She was good as gold in the van - she sat in an open cat box on the seat between the two of us, and slept for most of the six hours return...

What is the one biggest piece of advice you had, or have learnt since having your dog, that you would pass on to new owners? Or that you will remember to use the next time you get a new dog or puppy? My number one is: Reinforce heavily what you want later on. You cannot over-pay for the things...

A nice fluffy thread for sharing something that made you happy/thankful/grateful today. Dog related or not. Let's spread the positivity :)

I sometimes use kibble for training treats, and I like Alpha Spirit (and the dogs LOVE it!). The name sucks, but, yeah, the food is good. I went on to buy some more and saw their tinned food for the first time. I had to laugh. How do these combos strike you? Lamb and pear Rabbit and banana...

I shared an article with Jessica Hekman from The Dog Zombie on FDSA a couple of weeks back, because she's going to be offering a course this term about how genes, environment and personality interact. It's an article I've shared on here in the past, about fear learning. She shared it on her FB...

This is something that I hate to see advised. I’ve said to try it myself, in the past, but now - never. It’s something so many of us have done, and it seems to make sense; when a dog is afraid of someone, have them use treats to teach the dog that they’re nice. I’ve learned with Willow how...

WARNING! You are in the "behaviour geeks" section!! Just thought I'd put that in to avoid people's brains getting inadvertently fried ;) Here's the thing, someone said something along these lines in another group earlier: "If you are trying to teach a conflicting behaviour, you are...

I watched this video this morning and I love it: It's what I'm doing with Willow, trying to get her to interpret nervousness as excitement. Shadow does it quite well for himself. It's interesting to hear it described.

I'm excited and nervous because I'm about to enter our first Rally Online competition! I've had some help from Joy, but I've not trained any of the moves, so we're really just winging it at this point - how bad can it be? :cwl: We have until 30th November to post our entries, so I'd best get...

I saw this earlier on a group I'm in and thought I would share. It's very bright. Tracer LightHound - LED dog harness and LED running/cycling/sports vest I use the Ezydog collar lights for my lot, but if you have a dog who roams farther afield, or has longer hair, this might work better.

So true...

Last time I made pyramid pan treats I threw my blender on the floor in a fit of rage* and it broke. I needed to make some more, so thought I'd try an experiment. Fish and vegetable baby food, that dog-awful powdered "cheese for pasta" that tastes like vom, eggs, flour and milk. Whisked together...

I went for a Labrarun for the first time in ages - with the clocks changing, it means I can fit them in a bit better now, and at last don't have to worry about it being too hot, hurrah! Anyhow, the podcast I was listening to made an interesting point about release cues. I'll preface this by...

I've not done any retrieving with my lot since Summer Camp in July - it was too hot back here, and I sort of lost my mojo, but I've got back into doing little bits this last couple of weeks. Of course, Willow didn't even go to Camp, so it's a very long time since she did anything. One thing I...