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The Dog Teacher, Dunfermline, Dunfermline (2026)

30/08/2026

Just Raven being top notch and my flappy arm preventing her from getting full marks (trying not to be perfectionist because this score is excellent!) 💫🤣

She was textbook and absolutely smashed it. Great trial with lovely owners, where everyone got all THREE of their badges! Thanks West Lothian Dog Training for hosting, had a great time 🐽

25/08/2026

Our dogs are athletes. We walk them, train them and some of us do things like agility, mantrailing, canicross, tracking or other activities that put pressure on their joints, muscles and body.

Just like us, if they’re active, we need to look after their bodies.

The difference is, we can say “my hip feels a bit tight today”. Our dogs can’t tell us in the same way and often the really obvious signs don’t appear until something has progressed further ie limping, not wanting to bear weight, slowing down or refusing activities they’d normally happily do.

It’s our job to get good at spotting the subtle signs. When I was walking Vinnie the other day, I noticed some rippling through the fur around his back and hips. I know he can get quite tight hips, but more importantly, this isn’t what his fur normally looks like. It’s so important to know what NORMAL looks and feels like for your dog.

Things I’m looking out for:

• Changes in the direction of their fur or rippling
• Muscles feeling tighter than normal
• Changes in how they move or use a leg
• Pacing, hopping or skipping
• Licking, chewing or scratching an area
• Hesitation doing something they’d normally find easy
• Reactions when you touch an area, such as lip licking, looking round, wide eyes, moving away or suddenly becoming stiff

None of these automatically mean something is seriously wrong. Sometimes it can simply be your dog saying, “That bit feels a little uncomfortable.”

For Vinnie, it means I’ll be a bit more conscious of looking after that area with plenty of rest, warming up and cooling down properly, massage and making sure what I’m asking of him physically is within his capabilities.

Regular massage and body checks can be really useful, but learn how to do them properly. More pressure isn’t always better and you can cause damage if you don’t know what you’re feeling for. Honest Hounds has massage tips and following along from

The better you know your dog’s normal, the quicker you’ll notice when something isn’t quite right.

18/08/2026

Horn Tooting Time 📣

Teaching whilst holding a Croc and a poo bag, despite the fact I am, in fact, still wearing shoes 🤣 - This Is Me.

I might not be the most polished dog trainer you’ll ever meet. There are definitely no airs and graces here. I’m loud, I’ll probably swear, and I have somehow earned myself the nickname Foghorn Fife (don’t know how that happened).

At heart, I am a teacher and although the subject has changed quite considerably, teaching people is still where my heart lies. I love helping people understand their dogs, giving them information that actually makes sense and helping them feel more capable of dealing with whatever is going on in front of them.

Sometimes I’ll give you the blunt and honest answer, but I’ll also listen. I’ll never make you feel stupid for asking a question and one of the biggest things I care about is making people feel comfortable around me.

We will laugh and be silly. I might accidentally make you scale the side of a mountain because I didn’t check the route properly. I’ll jump out from behind things to be the spooky stranger your dog needs to practise with. Whatever we need to do, we’ll probably find a way to do it.

I take what I do incredibly seriously, but I try not to make doing it feel too serious because living with a dog you’re struggling with can already feel heavy enough. Training doesn’t need to add to that.

And then there’s US.

Everything The Dog Teacher has become isn’t just me. It’s the people who turn up to walks and events, the social things without our dogs, the jokes, the blethers and the actual friendships that have come from all of it. It’s also the community created through

Both are communities where your dog can have issues, you can have issues, you can make mistakes and we’ll probably laugh at them together. But we’ll also answer your questions, support you and genuinely want to see you succeed.

There’s no judgement and no expectation that you or your dog need to have it all together before you’re welcome.

So tonight I’m tooting my own horn a little bit, but I’m tooting yours too - this is the community we’ve built ❤️

17/08/2026

Got 10 minutes to spare? Let’s make the most of it 🐾

Training doesn’t need to be big planned session to be worthwhile.

This was a quick session I had with Athena which was around 10 minutes of scentwork practice. All I used was a tin, a piece of cloth which smelled of clove and food reward.

Short sessions like this can build problem-solving skills, encourage independent thinking, provide mental stimulation and give dogs an outlet for natural behaviours. They’re also brilliant for building your partnership. Learning to work through a problem alongside you can make it easier for your dog to reconnect and look to you for guidance when they find something difficult elsewhere.

It’s also an easy way to provide fulfilment without lots of physical exercise, particularly on hot days, during injury recovery or when a big walk simply isn’t practical.

And it doesn’t have to be scentwork. Practise a skill, teach something new, search for food, play a structured game or work on something your dog already knows.

We can get caught up thinking we need loads of time to properly do something with our dogs or we simply don’t have the time. You really don’t need big chunks of time but instead 10 intentional minutes can be incredibly valuable.

10/08/2026

Resource Guarding: Walk & Talk 🐾

Resource guarding is an incredibly common behaviour in dogs, and quite often we don’t realise our dog resource guards until we put them in the presence of other dogs.

It’s also something we can be quick to accept because we humanise it. “Well, I’d be annoyed if someone tried to take my dinner too!”

Yes, resource guarding is a naturally occurring behaviour. But natural doesn’t necessarily mean socially appropriate in the world we expect our dogs to live in.

When guarding escalates to threatening or attacking other dogs over food, toys, sticks or even who gets to sniff the same blade of grass, it can have a huge impact on their ability to safely exist around other dogs.

The problem is we don’t often get opportunities to safely practise these situations, particularly around unfamiliar dogs.

Our Resource Guarding: Walk & Talk creates controlled opportunities for dogs to eat in proximity, share space and resources, approach while another dog is eating and learn that another dog’s presence doesn’t automatically mean conflict or loss.

Every dog is at a different stage of learning, so we work with the dog in front of us and create opportunities appropriate for what they need.

🐾 Resource Guarding: Walk & Talk will now be running monthly.

If you’d like to come along to the next one, get in touch. 🤎

31/07/2026

Social Walks

The social walks I run put an emphasis on helping dogs learn to exist with each other. Whether that’s exploring, sniffing, running, hunting, interacting with each other, other humans or the wider environment, we do it together.

But a lot of the dogs who attend didn’t start out this way, and still aren’t perfect (is there such a thing?). So many owners are waiting for their dog to get to certain point in their training before asking to attend the walks. But actually allowing your dog to learn in the right setting with the owner having the appropriate skills and strategies for feedback is actually what’s missing in their training.

Some of these owners have done 1:1s, Zooms, Workshops, Board & Trains or events through first which has given them the skills to attend. But the walks are where we get to practice these in a safe community of people willing to help.

The dogs make mistakes, learn, build confidence and owners become part of something bigger!

Stop waiting, reach out ♥️

29/07/2026

When’s the right time to tell Dinky she’s not a HPR?
🖤🤎🧡

27/07/2026

Dinky 🖤🤎

This is our newest member of the gang. Her owner who is a deer stalker reached out to me to train her for tracking injured game. She’s living with me for the next year for her to be set up and have the best success as a working and pet dog.

This is a new experience for me and I’m so excited for what’s to come and what we will learn together.

What do you want to see from our journey together?

25/07/2026

Evening Social Walk 🌅

We headed out on an evening walk along South Queensferry beach.

What I love most about these walks is that the dogs have true freedom with opportunities to sniff, explore, climb, run and interact. We don’t avoid, we encourage them to be dogs not robots 🤩

But we also make time for us and our community with a wee chippy on the steps.

Do you want to give your dog the opportunity to be a dog in amongst others? Come along with us - comment WALK

21/07/2026

Is there anything better than seeing your dog enjoying life and you being a part of that 🧡

Hazel’s owners smashing off lead freedom in Thailand and enjoying every minute of it. When we start to chip away at those stressors in a dog’s every day life we start to see them being fun, free and ultimately a dog!

Loved being in Thailand with them - what an opportunity to be a part of 🤩

The Dog Teacher

30/08/2026

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18/08/2026

17/08/2026

10/08/2026

31/07/2026

29/07/2026

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21/07/2026

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