Carrie's Canines & Friends

Carrie's Canines & Friends I help puppy & dog owners with their training to ensure their dog is a well-behaved, calm, easy to care & is the envy of their friends.

New Track & Trail Club
https://www.carriescanines.co.uk/track-trail-club/ 'Because they're worth it!'

We started simply because of our genuine love and passion for dogs and animals. We provide Puppy & Dog Training classes, One to One Dog Training and Dog Behaviour Consultations based in Coventry who care for your dogs as if they are our own and offer you a friendly, professional and reliable serv

ice. Our Puppy and Dog training classes are set up to get you in the right pathway for a great life together giving you the skills you need. Our One to One Dog Training Sessions and Behaviour Consultations are set out to provide you with the skills you need to help you communicate effectively with your dog and giving you the skills and knowledge you need for everyday life in a effective and fun way! We will help you build your bond with your dog and their trust in you.

The best thing I can teach you isn’t how to train your dog. 🐶It’s how to understand them.When I first meet puppy owners,...
03/09/2026

The best thing I can teach you isn’t how to train your dog. 🐶

It’s how to understand them.

When I first meet puppy owners, understandably they want answers.

How do I stop the biting?

How do I get them to sleep?

How do I teach recall?

What do I do when they pull?

And yes, we’ll work on all of those things.

But something much more important happens along the way.

Owners start learning to look at their dog differently.

They begin to recognise their body language.

They notice when they’re getting tired or overwhelmed.

They understand why a behaviour is happening rather than simply trying to stop it.

They know when to make something easier.

And when something changes — because puppies ALWAYS change as they grow — they have the skills to adapt.

That’s been one of my favourite things about working with Sirius and his owners, Mike and Hope.

We’ve worked together from those chaotic early puppy days right through to the young dog he is today.

And Sirius isn’t the only one who’s learnt along the way.

Mike and Hope understand their dog.

They know his quirks, what motivates him, what he finds difficult and what he needs from them.

And ultimately, that’s what I want for every client.

I don’t want you to need a dog trainer standing next to you forever.

I want to give you the knowledge and confidence to look at your dog and think:

“I understand what’s happening here. I know how to help them.” 🤎🐾

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing Sirius’s full story — from those first puppy weeks to where he is today.

Your Working Cocker doesn’t need you to stop them being a Working Cocker. 🐾One of the biggest parts of working with Siri...
02/09/2026

Your Working Cocker doesn’t need you to stop them being a Working Cocker. 🐾

One of the biggest parts of working with Sirius has been understanding the dog in front of us.

He’s a Working Cocker Spaniel.

He’s bred to use his nose, hunt, search, move and work.

So rather than spending all our time trying to stop those natural behaviours, we’ve looked at how we can give him appropriate outlets for them AND teach him the skills he needs to live in our very human world.

That means things like:

🐾 scent and searching activities
🐾 retrieve and gundog-style games
🐾 using play as part of training
🐾 building engagement and check-ins
🐾 developing recall around increasingly exciting distractions
🐾 teaching him when it’s time to work and when it’s time to switch off

Because training isn’t about removing everything that makes your dog who they are.

A Spaniel wanting to sniff isn’t being naughty.

A retriever wanting something in their mouth isn’t being difficult.

A terrier wanting to investigate isn’t deliberately ignoring you.

Breed matters.

Personality matters.

The individual dog in front of you matters.

The more we understand WHY our dogs do the things they do, the easier it becomes to give them appropriate outlets while teaching them the skills they need.

Don’t train the dog out of your dog.

Learn who they are — and work with them. 🤎🐾

Does your dog listen perfectly at home… then completely forget you exist outside?It’s one of the most common things I se...
01/09/2026

Does your dog listen perfectly at home… then completely forget you exist outside?

It’s one of the most common things I see — recall disappears, lead walking falls apart, focus goes out the window and every dog, smell or person becomes more interesting than you.

That doesn’t mean your dog is stubborn or that your training has failed. It usually means the skill hasn’t yet been built strongly enough around real-life distractions.

That’s exactly what I work on through my 121 Dream Dog Programme — helping you build better focus, calmer walks, stronger recall and training that actually works outside the house, not just in the kitchen.

I currently have some availability for new clients, so if walks are becoming hard work or you feel like you’re constantly competing with the environment, send me a message and tell me a little about your dog.

You can also book a free 20-minute Breakthrough Call if you’d like to talk through what’s going on first.

Testimonial Tuesday 🐾 SiriusI’ve loved working with Sirius and his family.When they first came to me, they’d had a diffi...
01/09/2026

Testimonial Tuesday 🐾 Sirius

I’ve loved working with Sirius and his family.

When they first came to me, they’d had a difficult experience elsewhere and wanted a different approach to training their young Cocker Spaniel.

Rather than trying to suppress all those very spaniel-y instincts, we’ve spent our time learning how to work with them.

We’ve built a strong recall, introduced gundog-style games and activities that give Sirius appropriate outlets for the things he naturally loves doing, and worked on everyday skills that make life together easier.

We’ve also tackled a very different challenge with Sirius: separation anxiety.

That’s meant adapting our approach again and helping him develop the confidence and skills he needs at his own pace.

What I particularly love is how much his owners have embraced understanding the dog in front of them. They’ve put the work in between sessions, asked questions, adapted when Sirius needed something different and really invested in building their relationship with him.

Dog training isn’t about creating a dog who simply follows instructions.

It’s about understanding who your dog is and building the skills you both need to enjoy your life together. 💛

Thank you, Mike, for such a lovely review and for trusting me with Sirius.

How much should dog training actually cost? 🐶If you’ve started looking for help with your dog, you’ve probably noticed t...
28/08/2026

How much should dog training actually cost? 🐶

If you’ve started looking for help with your dog, you’ve probably noticed that prices can vary a lot.

A puppy class might cost one amount.
A trainer might charge for a single 121 session.
A personalised programme can cost several hundred pounds.
Behaviour support can cost more again.

So how on earth are you supposed to know what you actually need?

The important thing is that these services aren’t all offering the same thing.

A one-off session can be absolutely enough for some straightforward training questions.

But if you’re dealing with recall that disappears outside, pulling on lead, overexcitement, poor focus or several things happening together, you may need more than somebody showing you an exercise once.

And behaviour support for things like reactivity, fear or guarding is different again.

I’ve written a new blog explaining the different options, what affects the price and what you should actually look for when comparing dog trainers.

How Much Does Dog Training Cost in Coventry in 2026?

I’ve also included some questions I think every owner should ask before choosing a trainer.

👉 Read it here: https://www.carriescanines.co.uk/dog-training-cost-in-coventry/

And if you’re not sure what kind of support your dog needs, you’re always welcome to get in touch.

Top tip: Reward the things you DIDN’T ask for 🐾We spend a lot of time teaching our dogs what we’d like them to do.Sit.Wa...
27/08/2026

Top tip: Reward the things you DIDN’T ask for 🐾

We spend a lot of time teaching our dogs what we’d like them to do.

Sit.

Wait.

Come.

Leave.

Settle.

But some of my favourite moments to reward are the ones I didn’t ask for at all.

Your dog looks back at you on a walk without being called?

Reward it.

Your puppy chooses to lie quietly while you’re getting on with something?

Reward it.

Your dog sees another dog and chooses to carry on walking rather than rushing over?

Reward it.

They pause at the doorway rather than charging through?

Reward it.

They disengage from something exciting and turn back towards you?

Yep. Reward that too.

Because those little choices are exactly the behaviours we want more of.

We’re often incredibly good at noticing our dogs when they’re doing something we DON’T want.

The pulling.

The jumping.

The barking.

The puppy who’s just stolen your sock for the fifth time today. 😂

But how often do we notice all those tiny moments when they’re actually getting it right?

Training doesn’t always need to start with us asking our dog to do something.

Sometimes it’s simply about watching, noticing and reinforcing the great choices they’re already making.

And the more those choices pay off, the more likely your dog is to make them again. 🤎🐾

What’s one thing your dog does that you could start noticing more?

Here is little Dotty her first time off lead, naturally checking in with her owners and getting rewarded for it ❤️ she even was offering sits, so they got rewarded too!

Happy National Dog Day 🐾Today will be full of posts celebrating how much we love our dogs.And of course we do.But I thin...
26/08/2026

Happy National Dog Day 🐾

Today will be full of posts celebrating how much we love our dogs.

And of course we do.

But I think loving our dogs is about more than the walks we take them on, the things we buy them or the photographs filling up our camera rolls.

It’s about really getting to know the dog in front of us.

Knowing their little quirks.

Knowing what makes them ridiculously happy.

Knowing what they find difficult.

Learning what their body language is telling us, especially when they’re trying to say “I’m not comfortable with this.”

And sometimes being prepared to say no on their behalf, even when somebody else thinks we’re being silly.

Because ultimately, we are our dog’s advocate.

We’re the person who can give them more space when they need it.

We’re the person who can say, “No, they don’t want to say hello.”

We’re the person who can change our expectations when they’re finding something difficult.

And we’re the person who gets to build a life that actually works for the individual dog we’ve got, rather than the dog we thought we were going to have.

That’s something my own dogs have taught me over the years.

Maisie has taught me an enormous amount about training and just how much dogs are capable of learning.

And Envy reminds me constantly that sometimes loving your dog means adapting. Listening to what their body and behaviour are telling you and making decisions based on what they need.

Our dogs don’t get to choose where they live, where they walk, who they meet or what we ask of them.

But they do communicate with us all the time.

One of the best things we can do for them is learn to listen. 🤎

So for National Dog Day, rather than simply telling me your dog’s name…

Tell me something you’ve learnt about YOUR dog.

What’s one little quirk, preference or piece of communication that you understand because you know them so well?

Let’s celebrate them for exactly who they are. 🐾❤️

Testimonial Tuesday 🐾 From Hugo to PoppySome client relationships stay with you for years, and this is definitely one of...
25/08/2026

Testimonial Tuesday 🐾 From Hugo to Poppy

Some client relationships stay with you for years, and this is definitely one of them. 💛

I first met Pippa when Hugo, her Tibetan Mastiff, was a puppy. As you can imagine, raising and training a dog who was going to become very large came with its own challenges! We worked on helping Pippa understand Hugo, communicate with him and build the foundations they needed for life together.

Fast forward and Pippa contacted me again, this time about Poppy.

Poppy had become frightened of going for walks. Loud noises worried her. Cars worried her. The outside world had become somewhere she simply didn’t feel safe.

So we didn’t push her.

We started where Poppy was comfortable and gradually worked on rebuilding her confidence, one small step at a time.

But there was another important piece to Poppy’s story.

I noticed something about her gait that didn’t look quite right and suggested Pippa get it checked. It turned out Poppy was experiencing underlying pain.

Behaviour is communication.

When a dog’s behaviour changes, particularly when they suddenly become worried about something they previously coped with, it’s so important that we don’t automatically label it a “training problem”. Sometimes we need to look much deeper.

I’m incredibly glad Pippa followed her instincts and reached out for help, and even more glad that Poppy’s discomfort was identified.

And the fact that Hugo apparently now considers me lifelong family? I’ll happily take that. 😂💛

Thank you, Pippa, for trusting me with your dogs over all these years.

🐾 When should you first let your puppy off lead?This week I joined Ziggy and his family for one of his first proper walk...
24/08/2026

🐾 When should you first let your puppy off lead?

This week I joined Ziggy and his family for one of his first proper walks, helping them build their confidence with letting him off lead and starting recall training.

And actually, puppyhood can be a brilliant time to begin.

Young puppies naturally tend to stay fairly close to their people. If we use that to our advantage, we can start building the habits we want before they reach adolescence and suddenly the rest of the world becomes far more interesting!

With Ziggy, we worked on:

🐾 Introducing a specific recall word rather than using his name. We use our dogs’ names all day for lots of different things, so I like recall to have its own important cue.

🐾 Rewarding him for choosing to stay close and check back in.

🐾 Knowing when to pop the lead back on for safety.

🐾 Managing other dogs and people rather than simply allowing him to run over and say hello.

🐾 Using food strategically when people, dogs and other distractions passed us.

We also talked about my one-in-three rule.

Ziggy doesn’t need to greet every dog or every person he sees. Roughly one in three is plenty. Greeting happens with permission, rather than him learning that spotting someone automatically means running over to them.

That matters because recall isn’t just about teaching a puppy to come back.

We’re teaching them that staying connected to us while they explore the world is worthwhile.

Waiting until six months or beyond to first give a puppy freedom doesn’t necessarily make things safer or easier. By then, they can be more confident, more independent and considerably more interested in everything around them.

Start building those skills early, in appropriate safe places, and you’ve got something really valuable to build on as they grow. ❤️

Ziggy did brilliantly for one of his first adventures! 🐾

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Coventry

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Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 7pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 4pm

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+447710628449

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