Ruths Pet Behaviour Services

05/06/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18uxNE3LXn/?mibextid=wwXIfr

🐾 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 & 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗱 𝘅 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗲 🐾

We are urgently looking for a loving foster home for a pregnant Shepherd x Collie who has recently come into our care while an ongoing legal case is being resolved. She is due to give birth in very soon and deserves a safe, loving environment where she can feel secure and supported.

💔 She deserves so much more than giving birth in kennels.
We would love to find her a calm foster home where she can settle, safely give birth, and raise her puppies until they reach 8 weeks of age.

💛 What's involved?
🏡 A quiet, safe space for mum and puppies
🐶 Supporting mum as she raises her litter
🍼 Monitoring the puppies as they grow and develop
📸 Providing regular updates and photos to our team
🚗 Transporting mum and puppies to any necessary veterinary appointments
❤️ Plenty of patience, kindness, and reassurance

We'll provide all food, equipment, veterinary care, and ongoing support throughout the foster period.

⚠️ Due to the ongoing case, we are unable to share photographs of mum at this time.

If you can offer a safe haven to this deserving girl and help give her puppies the very best start in life, we'd love to hear from you.

📩 Apply to foster here:
https://service.sheltermanager.com/asmservice?account=rc0266&method=online_form_html&formid=34

𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲: applications with ALL requested information will be prioritised:
• Valid ID
• Photos of your home and garden
• Landlord permission (if renting)
We will work through applications. Please keep an eye on your inbox and check your spam folder.

This mum-to-be deserves a warm bed, a safe space, and the chance to raise her puppies surrounded by love. Could you help make that happen? ❤️🐾

🐶💕

05/06/2026

Something many rescue dogs (particularly foreign rescues) don’t play with toys because they haven’t had access to them.

There are loads of techniques we can use to encourage dogs to play.

This is Eddie and despite toys being available at home and having enthusiastic humans he still couldn’t pick up or enjoy toys.
This means for a high prey driven little guy, it’s difficult to meet all his needs and to engage him outdoors at times.
Using a clam toy and kong to begin with means he can now pick them up, and can now mouth and pick up a ball but not chase or retrieve as yet!

We tried some new play techniques to get him exploring with his paws and head and he really started to engage and enjoy the play part, rather than just look for food!!

Little steps you can see in this clip are just huge for this anxious little guy who is transforming into a confident playful dog😁😁
There’s no way he could do this a few months ago!!

04/06/2026

Buddys owners have just moved home with a much bigger and more exciting garden than his previous home.

Being a busy spaniel he’s utterly embraced more freedom, chasing pigeons out of the garden and following scents… which is great fun for him… except he won’t come back inside 😳
Not for a treat or toy or pleading!
He’s so fixated on scenting and exploring and can do this for hours!

We discussed the skills he already has
We talked about human body language, focus and motivation and routines.
Within 8 mins of practical training in the garden Buddy was running into the house without any problems!

This issue was resolved much quicker than expected.. mainly because we had a good in depth discussion first!!
All training was done with positive reinforcement training😁

Now he just needs lots of practice!!
Well done little Buddy… enjoy your new garden 😀

04/06/2026

03/06/2026

I love this clip😂

Dogs do indeed have more awareness than us 🤣🤣🤣🤣

03/06/2026

Dogs learn best through rewards and repetition so practicing skills regularly is really important.

Until now, I’ve always worked alongside my clients and their dogs in training sessions.
I’m often asked if I could take a dog for a morning or for the day to train the dog by myself without the owners present.

I’ve always been reluctant because my view was that the dog needs to learn with their own humans.
However I can see the difficulties owners can face, juggling work, appointments, family life and many owners are unwell or very anxious taking their dogs new places or working around other dogs.

I’m thinking of introducing training sessions where my clients would drop their dogs at my office and we will work with the dog for a set period of time working on skills like recall, lead walking, behaviour around other dogs and different environments.
There would also be follow up sessions to ensure that owners can carry on with the work that’s been done.

Is this something you might be interested in?

03/06/2026

It doesn’t look very exciting BUT here’s my littlest dog Jessie in preparation for an exciting new project!

Desensitisation to new sounds and places and introduction to new people is the first step and then we can look at teaching some patterns/routines.

She’s 13years old and still very capable of learning new skills.

Dogs are never too told to learn something new!

03/06/2026

Well done to Ophelia on completing her 6 week puppy course 😀

She’s a sweetest little spaniel, a real whirlwind and loves learning new skills!

02/06/2026

REACTING TO REACTIVITY

When a dog reacts, it's natural that all the focus is on the behaviour we see in that moment, but the reaction itself is not where it begins — it's where it ends up.

Reactive behaviours like barking, lunging, snarling, growling is often the final behaviour in a much longer chain.

The reactive behaviour itself becomes the primary concern. It’s what we focus on and try to stop or “fix”.

By the time a dog reacts or explodes, the nervous system has likely already switched over to survival mode. In this state, the brain's ability to listen, learn, respond, process information or make appropriate choices is switched off.

Reactive dogs are struggling to behave differently because they no longer have access to the part of the brain that allows that to happen.

When we only focus on stopping the behaviour when it happens - we're just reacting to the reaction.

This is why working with a reactive dog often looks really boring. It's not about dramatic interventions during the explosion. It's about noticing what came before it.

When we understand why a dog is reacting, rather than simply reacting to the behaviour itself, we can start addressing the cause instead of just focusing on the symptom.