RL Dog Training

24/09/2026

This was all thanks to an awesome little dog called Cobi, his human and KONG 🐾

A huge thank you to Ryan RL Dog Training and one of his clients, who helped make a very generous £2,000 donation from KONG to us at Ferne Animal Sanctuary possible. 💚

What can £2,000 do?

For Ozzy, pictured here, it will cover the cost of his castration and anxiety medication. It will also help cover the neutering and vaccinations of the baby rabbits we recently rehomed, along with their wider veterinary costs.

That’s a significant contribution towards the veterinary care these animals need, and we’re incredibly grateful to KONG for their support.

Thanks again Ryan, for your continued support.

23/09/2026

A lovely final session with this little one today.

A big part of our work together has been about building confidence, taking things at her pace and gradually helping her feel safe enough to explore a little more of the world.

Today it was so lovely to see her brimming with confidence, happily walking and exploring places that, just a couple of months ago, would have felt far too difficult for her.

There were still things she was unsure about, and that's absolutely fine. Confidence isn't about never feeling worried. It's about being able to take in information, recover and carry on.

Such a lovely way to finish our sessions together. Very proud of how far she's come.

11/09/2026

Meet today’s training assistant.

02/09/2026

🐾 EXTRA OCTOBER PUPPY CLASS ADDED! 🐾

We’ve had lots of enquiries for our October puppy classes, so we’ve added an extra class to the timetable.

Our puppy classes are deliberately kept small, with a maximum of just five puppies, giving everyone plenty of space, individual attention and time to learn.

If you’ve got a puppy joining the family, or one already causing a little chaos at home, you can find all the details and available October classes at the link below.

👇 Full details and booking:

Join our fun, reward-based puppy training classes in East Devon. Learn essential life skills, socialisation and build a lasting bond with your puppy.

31/08/2026

What a day!

A huge thank you to and for inviting us along to sponsor today’s Dog Fête and run the Puppy Zone.

It was brilliant to see so many familiar faces, clients and friends stopping by to say hello, as well as meeting lots of new dogs and their humans who came to explore the Puppy Zone, have a snuffle and try out some of the activities.

It was also a real pleasure to help hand out some of the dog show prizes alongside our friends from Ferne Animal Sanctuary

And a massive thank you to Monica from Devoted Dog Training & Behaviour for joining us and helping to keep everything running throughout the day. We definitely couldn’t have done it without you, and Kelly of course

A long day, but a very good one. Thanks to everyone who came over and said hello. 🐾

28/08/2026

⚠️ IF YOU FEED YEARS DOG FOOD, PLEASE READ THIS ⚠️

The dog pictured here with me is Solomon, a five-year-old Whippet and one of my training clients.

I haven't seen Solomon for several months. Today was our first session back together, and the reason for that gap is quite a story.

Solomon is one of the dogs whose serious eye problems are potentially linked to the developing investigation and current recall involving Years dog food.

So when I heard this being discussed in the media this morning simply as "dry eye", I felt I had to share his story.

Because "dry eye" really doesn't convey what Solomon and his family have been through.

Solomon effectively stopped producing tears.

His condition became so serious that he required two major corneal grafts, one in each eye. His family were faced with some devastating possibilities, including the prospect of him losing his eyes.

His treatment has run into tens of thousands of pounds, considerably beyond what his insurance covered, alongside an enormous commitment from his family to manage his treatment and recovery.

Thankfully, they were able to do that.

And his recovery is quite remarkable.

Today I got to see the same happy, slightly bonkers Whippet I remembered. After everything he's been through, seeing him bounding around and enjoying being a dog again was absolutely wonderful.

But seeing him also made me realise how important it is that people don't hear the words "dry eye" and think this is necessarily a minor problem.

Years has voluntarily recalled its Fresh Meals, excluding its Chef's Collection, while reports of sudden bilateral dry eye in dogs are investigated.

If you currently feed Years Fresh Meals, please take the recall seriously and check the latest information from Years. Their current advice is to stop feeding the recalled meals, even if your dog appears well.

Keep an eye out for changes such as squinting or excessive blinking, rubbing or pawing at the eyes, discharge, redness or signs of discomfort, and speak to your vet promptly if you have any concerns.

The precise cause of these cases is still being investigated, which is why I'm deliberately describing Solomon's case as potentially linked.

But having spent time today with one of the dogs behind this developing story, I wanted people who follow my page to understand that the phrase "dry eye" can hide something potentially very serious.

Please share this with anyone you know who feeds Years.

18/08/2026

It’s okay mate, we’re working on it ❤️🐾

14/08/2026

Really looking forward to being part of this!

We’ll be at the Symondsbury Summer Dog Fête on Monday 31st August, with plenty going on throughout the day.

I’m also really excited to be joined by some old colleagues and friends who now run Devoted Dog Training & Behaviour and will be running the puppy zone.

A brilliant day out for dogs and their humans, and we’re very proud to be supporting it as a Platinum Sponsor.

Hopefully we’ll see lots of familiar faces there!

Our Symondsbury Summer Dog Fete is now only a few weeks away.

Meet Our Platinum Sponsor

Every great dog event deserves great supporters, and we're delighted to have RL Dog Training on board as a Platinum Sponsor for this year's Symondsbury Summer Dog Fete on Monday 31st August.

With a passion for helping dogs and their owners thrive, RL Dog Training offers professional, reward-based training and behaviour support for dogs of all ages. From puppy foundations to tackling more challenging behaviours, they're dedicated to building confident, happy partnerships between dogs and their people.

Having a dog training specialist supporting our event feels like the perfect fit, and we're so grateful for their contribution in helping us create a fantastic day for our local dog-loving community.

Thank you, RL Dog Training, for being part of the Symondsbury Summer Dog Fete—we're looking forward to celebrating with you!

13/08/2026

It may have come to your attention that another local dog trainer has publicly called some of my training methods into question in a local community group, and has subsequently made a video about them.

So, below is my response.

Before you watch it, I do want to say something important.

The local dog training community is, on the whole, a really supportive place. Many of the people you might technically call my “competitors” are actually people I consider colleagues. We meet for coffee, talk about dogs, discuss research, share ideas and methods, refer clients to one another and generally support each other. I think that's exactly how it should be.

There is, unfortunately, one outlier who has consistently chosen to publicly criticise other local trainers as part of their approach to promoting their own business.

It would appear that it's finally my turn. About time! 🙂

The particular criticism made about my work is that I use stuffed dogs when working with reactive dogs, with the suggestion that I don't use real dogs.

I do.

A stuffed dog is simply one tool within a much bigger training process, used deliberately at particular stages where controlling distance, movement and intensity can be incredibly useful. We then progress to carefully controlled work with real dogs when the individual dog is ready.

The criticism therefore gives me a rather good opportunity to explain why we use these tools, what they can tell us, and how they fit into a properly structured behaviour programme.

And that's what I've done in the video below.

One final thought. In any profession, I think you have to be very careful when your marketing starts relying on bringing down other people rather than demonstrating the quality of your own work. It's particularly risky when the criticism you're making is based on an incorrect understanding of what that person actually does.

I'd much rather talk about dogs, behaviour, evidence and training. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

And to all of my clients, past and present, thank you. Thank you for trusting me with your dogs, for putting the work in between sessions, for asking questions, and for being willing to learn alongside me.

That's the bit of this job that actually matters.

12/08/2026

Four weeks in and our current scent detection group were having a brilliant time last night.

Lots of searching, problem-solving and some very busy noses!

Really lovely to see each dog finding their own way of working through the searches.