Agata Brzek - Dog Focused

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Agata Brzek - Dog Focused

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I help owners of young, energetic dogs who struggle with recall, pulling, over-excitement, chasing, and reactivity across Perth and Kinross area.

Dog Training and Behaviour Consulting based on positive reinforcement techniques and protocols. Non-aversive methods, creative and effective solutions to common behaviour problems, life enrichment for pet dogs, games, everyday manners, obedience. I hold a Diploma of Dog Training and Behaviour Consulting from Companion Animals Sciences Institute, and the Pro Dog Trainer certificate with AbsoluteDOGS, and have attended various courses, workshops, seminars and webinars related to animal training and behaviour. I have over 15 years of experience of working with dogs, including 10 years as a pet dog trainer.

21/10/2026

Listening in arousal is a skill that not many trainers pay attention to.

Especially in the force free paradigm, it's more common to teach calmness rather than make sure the dog can think and respond quickly when very excited.

But it's a critical skill for a young, high-energy dog. If you can't influence his behaviour when he is just about to chase that jogger, or run towards another dog, you'll need to rely on the lead forever.

It all starts at home. You teach the behaviours first: sit, down, spin, touch, figure 8, heel, front, whatever comes to your mind. And then start inserting the behaviours into your play.

It doesn't really matter what these behaviours are. But you need a few, so the dog learns to really listen to you. If he can only sit, you have nothing to work with.

Outdoors I also add recall, stop cue, distance down, longer heeling, etc, but once the concept is learned at home, it's relatively easy to expand the dog's repertoire.

Apart from being a part of our lifestyle training, it's also a great physical outlet for both of us. If it's raining, like today, I can do a few minutes of this and have a nicely tired and fulfilled dog.

But the main benefit is the real life control, split-second responses from your dog, and totally enjoyable walks, when you know that whatever happens, your dog will listen to you instantly.

That's the true power of play training 💪

19/10/2026

Today I had the pleasure to work with Meg the Springador, and Storr the Border Collie.

You will know handsome Storr, as I have already worked with him a couple months ago. His awesome owners signed up for my new continuation package "Your Adolescent Dog - Thriving Together".

Storr needs more training around dogs, traffic, and other distractions, as his collie brain is constantly seeking opportunities to engage with everything around him.

Meg is 2 years old and was adopted a few months ago. She's a bit unsure of new people, but is very excited about dogs, all dogs! She gets locked on to them and it's hard to get any attention from her.

So we started developing our rewards, like food and toys. Then we turned them into games, and as a result she's much more interested in her person now. We got some lovely disengagement from other dogs today, super nice recalls, and a good play with food and toys.

Looking forward to our next sessions😊

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If you're struggling with your adolescent dog, drop me a message, we can have a chat about it and come up with a plan.

13/10/2026

Most people give up playing with their dog way too soon.

They show the toy to the dog, wave it in front of his face, and if the dog doesn't immediately grab it, they declare the dog not interested in toys.

I see it all the time.

In vast majority of cases the dog is interested in playing but:

1. it's the wrong toy: too soft, too hard, too short, too long, wrong material etc. Yes, dogs have preferences, and some will just not engage with anything that feels wrong to them. It's you job to find a toy your dog loves. If you succeed, your every day training will skyrocket!

2. you are not presenting the toy in a way that's stimulating to your dog. That's the typical scenario, when the owner waves the toy right in front of the dog's face, the dog turns his head away, as he finds this off-putting, and refuses to engage with the toy ever again.

3. your dog might play at home, but he has zero experience of playing outdoors, because you never take any toys with you. Dogs associate locations with activities. If you don't ever play on your walks, and then suddenly you try, your dog might be confused and walk away from you to sniff something, since sniffing is the "right" activity on walks.

4. even if the dog grabs the toy, the owner quickly tells him to Drop or Out the toy for another try. A dog that has a very weak interest in the toy, and no history of playing outdoors, will be turned off by this immediately. He needs to find the joy of playing, and winning, and get really excited by it, before you can introduce any control successfully.

Sometimes it takes a while to get the dog's interest in the toy. But practically every dog will eventually play and usually get really good at it. It's our skills that are lacking, and we can inadvertently ruin toy play for the dog if we don't learn to play better.

But if you do get good at it, you can achieve so much more in your training, especially with recall and engagement. In majority of my training sessions, we introduce toys and we see amazing results, right away.

In my own life, I wouldn't be without toys. Merrick sticks to me like glue because I am associated with fun things, and I always have a toy with me. The videos I post, of him ignoring wildlife, walking off lead next to me, coming back the moment I shout his name, yep, all achieved with play.

And you know what? It's actually very easy. You want to learn? Drop me a message😊

10/09/2026

Frankie went home on Sunday, after two weeks with me and Merrick.

My work focused on lead walking, traffic reactivity, barking at people and dogs.

Merrick worked on Frankie's play skills, which developed immensely during his stay with us.

But our job was not over when Frankie went home.

It's one thing when he walks well with me, and a totally different thing with his mum.

Dogs know what a handler will or will not tolerate, how much to push them, what has been allowed before, etc.

So when his mum came to collect him, and we were going for a walk together, Frankie instantly started pulling again.

It took us a while to explain to him that the same rules apply no matter who holds the lead, or who's around watching.

Then, after a few days we met again, this time in the city, at an open wide street, so she could further practise her handling skills around minor distractions.

She was very pleased with Frankie's behaviour around his triggers, and worked really hard to keep him on a loose lead.

We had a head collar on him, but in the video the lead is attached to the collar. I never used the head halter when Frankie was with me, but I introduced it to him, as sometimes it's a good option to have.

Next time we'll go to a busier location. And I'll try to remember to make a video.😊

09/09/2026

I firmly believe that you should train your dog to suit your particular lifestyle, not some arbitrary standards.

Yes, it looks impressive if a dog can do a down stay in the middle of a High Street, surrounded by hundreds of people.

But I don't live in a city, I don't have the desire to take my dog there, it's just not my jam.

What I need is this⬇️

Other people love taking their dogs to the city, cafés, dog friendly shops, and that's totally OK.

In those situations habituation and training on the High Street is a necessity.

My environment is full of wildlife, so I concentrate my energy on that.

Choose your battles wisely, it's your life.

02/09/2026

This is Roo, a handsome boy I recently worked with. His owners just needed to know that they were on the right track.

And they absolutely were.

I don't often work with puppies, most dogs come to me when they're adolescents, and sometimes adults.

And they already pull on lead, have no recall, never even look at their owners, run away to every dog and person they see, jump all over people, and so on.

And all these issues would be so much easier to address in puppyhood.

You see, a puppy is easy to handle. He's small, can't pull you hard, comes back because you're the centre of his universe, may be a bit apprehensive to approach unfamiliar dogs and people, is not interested in other animals.

So what do we do, as owners? Nothing. We take them out, follow them on lead, show them the wonderful world, love on them, and smile when they're bumbling around and exploring.

Soon they bumble a bit farther and maybe put a little strain on the lead because they really want to smell that tree, or to say hello to that dog.

But they're still so cute and small, that we let them, after all they still come back, and are manageable on lead.

Then, when they're about 4-5 months old, they may ignore your recall from time to time, suddenly lunge forward on lead, barely look at you any more as everything is more interesting.

By the time they're 7 months old, you have a dog that is constantly on lead, after he runs away after another dog, he drags you around to sniff everything, and doesn't listen to anything you say.

It all could have been avoided, if you didn't take puppy behaviour for granted, and made sure to actually train the puppy on your walks.

A puppy needs to learn that good behaviour brings great consequences, like treats, toy play, interaction with you, or access to something in the environment.

And if they don't listen they might lose their privileges for a moment, might be put back on lead, or even told no ( yes, you can do that).

When you work on their engagement, lead walking and recall right from the beginning, it tends to stick, because it's not only a natural puppy behaviour, but a trained and reinforced skill.

If you do have a puppy right now and need some guidance, like Roo's owners did, send me a message and I'll help you to raise an amazing dog.

If you're planning to have a puppy soon, remember: puppyhood is the best time to instill all the awesome life skills.

So don't take your puppy's behaviour for granted.

A.

29/08/2026

Collies in paradise 😆

Both boys love their balls, but until today they played with them separately.

I didn't want to create any issues between them, especially that Frankie is a bit possessive and sometimes guards his stuff from Merrick.

But now they know each other better so I decided to do a supervised ball play session.

It went really well, no issues at all. There were so many balls around that Frankie couldn't guard them all, so he gave up and enjoyed the play.

Merrick was a good boy too and even allowed Frankie to sn**ch a few balls from under his nose. Not that I approve of that behaviour, but at the moment that's what Frankie does.

They were tired and happy afterwards, which was my goal, as I needed to go out for another session.

After the play the balls were collected and put away again. Firstly I do this anyway, as Merrick would just stare at them forever. And secondly with two dogs around it's just safer for everyone.

Have a good weekend! Don't forget to play with your dog😊

27/08/2026

I take Frankie to the village every day. We walk on a country road for a while and then on the streets, usually to the park. And back.

Frankie struggles with vehicles, but also dogs and people. And walking on lead.

So we leave my house calmly, and I keep him as calm as possible throughout most of the walk. If his arousal spikes at something, I slow everything down and we move on only when he's feeling better.

This way he is able to walk at a normal pace instead of dragging me forward and getting frantic. A dog that pulls constantly is much more likely to react to something, than a dog that walks well on lead.

Pulling is an effort, and it takes higher arousal to generate all this energy to pull, so if the dog then sees a trigger, he's already high enough to just explode.

Occasionally I play with him with food, have him chase me, or throw treats for him to catch or chase. This is to release some of his energy, and engage him in some fun activities. We do it in safe places, not in front of a car or a dog.

I don't want the village walks to be all about mental work and managing emotions. We need to have a bit of fun too, to balance it out. Especially with such a young dog.

Adolescent dogs can be a lot of work, but it's so rewarding to see them maturing into confident and well balanced adults.

Drop me a message if you need help with your doggy teenager. They are not that bad, you just need to know how to motivate them to listen to you😊

25/08/2026

Gorgeous Frankie came to us on Sunday for a bit of residential training. He will stay for a couple of weeks.

At the moment he struggles with lead walking, over arousal, reactivity to dogs, some people, and vehicles. Recall needs some improvements too, especially around distractions. Fairly typical for an adolescent collie.

I've known Frankie for a few months, we had some sessions together, but he still needed a bit more work. He looks sweet but he's a strong dog, and he knows how to get what he wants.

Luckily he and Merrick get on well together, otherwise he would not be able to stay.

So far we've had a couple successful walks to the village, we started his head halter training just in case he ever needs it, he had a blast with Merrick in the stubble fields, and we're working on walking to heel and a release cue.

I always wanted to do residential training, but I didn't have the space for it before. Now, in this house, it's possible, and hopefully I'll enjoy it enough to offer it as a regular service. Time will tell. I may be absolutely exhausted after Frankie and abandon the idea before it even takes off😆

17/08/2026

When even a walk outside your house turns into a struggle, you need a structured plan to get your life back.

Nala, an adolescent German Shepherd, managed a good 20 minutes of walking on her street today.

For a while that was nearly impossible, or at least very hard, as she would get very overwhelmed and would bark the moment she got out.

And if she saw anyone, or a dog, she would lunge and shout at them even louder.

Her amazing owners realised that exposing her to the street was going nowhere, so they got in touch.

They were already doing the right things, so I added a bit more, like relaxation training, more play and engagement, and managing Nala at the window and doors, and it's all working!

Look at them, enjoying their walk as if that was the easiest stuff on Earth.

Of course we made sure there was nobody around, as we wanted Nala to experience a different walk, one when she was relaxed and engaged rather than hyper vigilant and tense.

We will add people and dogs later.

At Nala's age, the breed tendencies come out and a young dog doesn't always know how to handle the newly developed urges.

They may get territorial and defensive, but at the same time they may still want contact with people, so they go through an internal conflict when they see a stranger.

I was not welcomed in her house the first time I visited, but today she barked much less, and quickly came to say hello and then relaxed.

We have a lot to work on, but the progress so far has been phenomenal. Hats off to Nala's owners! You rock!

➡️ If you're in a similar situation with your dog, please reach out. You don't have to do it alone, help is just a phone call away.

07593032280
[email protected]

Address

Dunning
Dunning
PH29BX

Telephone

+447593032280

Website

http://www.dogfocused.co.uk/

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