Love Your Paws

02/06/2026

🐾🌿 REAL-WORLD SEARCHES 🌿🐾

Did you know that dogs are used around the world to help locate wildlife, monitor ecosystems, and support conservation projects?

Our NHU Ecology and Detection Dogs workshops offer a fascinating introduction to the foundations of conservation detection training and the incredible role scent work can play in the real world.

Whether you're completely new to scent work or looking to expand your dog's searching skills, this is a brilliant opportunity to explore a different side of scent detection.

🌱 July Workshop – Foundation & All Levels
🌿 August Workshop – Progression

More details via the link in the comments.

🐾🌿 REAL-WORLD SEARCHES 🌿🐾

Scent work isn’t just enrichment.

In the conservation world, it’s a powerful tool used to protect wildlife and monitor ecosystems.

On April 18, we’re excited to be hosting a special workshop with Natasha from NHU Ecology Dogs, an introduction to the foundations of conservation detection training.

You’ll gain insight into how scent detection dogs are used in real environmental and wildlife projects, and explore how those same training principles can build motivation, independence and clarity in pet dogs.

During this practical, hands-on day, we’ll focus on:

🌿 Increasing toy and food value
🌿 Developing confident, free searching
🌿 Introducing clear indication behaviours
🌿 Beginning directional object searches

Training will be reward-based, welfare-focused, and designed to deepen your understanding of how your dog searches, learns, and works with you.

If you’ve ever wondered how conservation dogs work or want to strengthen your own dog’s searching skills, this is a fascinating opportunity to learn from a specialist in the field.

Spaces are limited for this hands-on workshop. You can book your place via the website.

📸: Photo courtesy of NHU Ecology and Detection Dogs

01/06/2026

🐾🧡 EXPLORING TRELISSICK TOGETHER 🧡🐾

Trelissick is a lovely place to explore with dogs.

Open spaces.
Woodland trails.
New scents around every corner.

And because there’s so much going on in the environment,
it’s also a really useful place to practise real-life skills together.

That’s exactly what our Explorer Adventure Walks are designed for.

A chance to work on things like:
- lead handling
- recall
- staying connected around distractions
- and calmly sharing space with others

All within a relaxed group setting.

Walking alongside other thoughtful dog owners often makes these environments feel much more manageable and enjoyable, for both ends of the lead.

Our next Explorer Adventure Walk is heading to Trelissick, and we’d love to have you join us.

More details via the link in the comments.

01/06/2026

🐾🐶 THE ART OF DECOMPRESSION 🐶🐾

A fast, high-energy run isn’t always what every dog needs.

For some dogs,
especially when they’re already feeling overstimulated,
more speed and excitement can sometimes make it harder for them to settle afterwards.

Sniffing offers something different.

It encourages dogs to slow down,
process the environment,
and move at their own pace.

Using the nose takes focus.
It engages the brain in a very different way to physical exercise alone.

And for many dogs,
a slower walk with plenty of time to sniff
can leave them feeling calmer and more settled afterwards.

31/05/2026

🐾💬 A DIFFERENT KIND OF WALK 💬🐾

For a long time,
many of us were given a very fixed idea of what a “good walk” should look like.

A brisk pace.
Lots of distance covered.
A dog walking neatly beside us the entire time.

But walks can look different depending on the dog in front of us.

Sometimes,
a really good walk is the one where they had time to sniff deeply.

Where their body stayed relaxed.

Where they moved through the environment calmly
and stayed connected to us along the way.

When we start paying attention to what helps our individual dogs feel settled and able to engage with the world,
the pressure around walks often begins to ease.

And the experience can start to feel more enjoyable
for both ends of the lead.

31/05/2026

🐾🐶 EXPLORE THEIR NATURAL SKILLS 🐶🐾

Our NHU Ecology and Detection Dogs workshop is back this July!

This workshop is a hands-on introduction to conservation and ecology detection work, giving dogs the opportunity to use scent in a thoughtful and highly engaging way.

And the lovely thing about this workshop is that it’s open to everyone.

Completely new to scent work?
We’ll guide you through the foundations.

Already experienced?
There will still be plenty to explore and develop.

Attended the previous workshop?
You’re very welcome to return and continue building on those skills.

The workshop is designed to be low-pressure, practical, and rewarding for both dogs and handlers.

If you’d like to join us in July, check the link in the comments to grab your spot before they go.

30/05/2026

🐾🧡 WALKING WITH PEOPLE WHO GET IT 🧡🐾

There’s something really reassuring about walking with people who understand real life with dogs.

The moments where things go smoothly.
The moments where they don’t.
And everything in between.

In our community sessions,
dogs are allowed to take things at their own pace.

Some need more space.
Some need more time to observe.
Some are simply figuring things out as they go.

And that’s okay.

What makes these walks special
is the shared understanding that everyone is there to support their dog thoughtfully and respectfully.

Over time, that sense of community can make a huge difference,
for both ends of the lead.

30/05/2026

🐾⛺️ LYP ADVENTURE WEEKEND - the bits in-between… ⛺️🐾

AKA Camping!!

Honestly, I think that the camping might’ve been the best part of the weekend!!

Everyone having the chance to chill out with their dogs, relax, chat to each other, have a BBQ, go for walks - it was a real chance for everyone to just enjoy their dogs and each others company.

It’s what bank holiday weekends are made for!

We’ve talked about doing this for years, we finally got brave enough to try it and it was so amazing that the next one is already being planned!!

Are YOU coming to the next one?

30/05/2026

🐾❤ LYP ADVENTURE WEEKEND - DAY 2… ❤🐾

…. What Happens on Adventure Weekend.

STAYS on an Adventure Weekend!!!

This became our theme early on, because in the lead up to the weekend the group chat was…. well, let’s just say we learned some new things about some people!! 🫣

Our 4 teams of dogs had 8 challenges to complete, some tricky, some that made the dogs think, some that made the humans think and some that were just fun!

Cat nip searches, kong searches, silent challenges, group photos, dogs getting to choose what to do, random searches and there was even a quiz thrown in for good measure!

And… the challenges were spread over 50 acres of stunning farmland so they had to work out how to get to each one too!!

It was such an amazing day, everyone threw themselves into the challenges with loads of enthusiasm and a sense of fun.

Dogs learned new skills, people realised how great their dogs are, they also learned that they either could / or couldn’t read a map ( ), and they discovered that trying to hold a clip board, navigate a map, answer quiz questions and eat an ice lolly all whilst holding their dog is a skill not given to many!!!

We did make the decision to end the day early as it was the first day of the heat wave, and the intensity of the sun took us by surprise (the day before we had a full day of sea fog and mizzle which was perfect!). But, with long grass, shady areas, a hose pipe and an intermittent breeze the morning was utterly fantastic!

All that said…. there are SOME things that happened on our Adventure Weekend that will STAY on our Adventure Weekend forever!! 🥰

If you were there - what was your favourite part of the day?

30/05/2026

🐾❤ LYP ADVENTURE WEEKEND - DAY 1 ❤🐾

It doesn’t seem like a week ago already that we held out very first Adventure Weekend.

And judging by the feedback we’ve had. It won’t be the last!

So what was our big weekend all about?

It was about our Love Your Paws community spending time with each other, learning new skills, having fun and most importantly, doing it all with our dogs.

On Saturday we focused on Track n’ Trail. The 10 dog and handler teams were spilt into 2 groups and each group completed a Leap Frog trail. A trail of around 2 km, with scent items left by their trail layer along the way and each dog completing a section each, with their team mates supporting them.

The support element was vital, as the trail was double blind, meaning that they had no idea where the trail went!

However, each team absolutely nailed it! They collected all their scent items, the team work was amazing and both teams made it back to base and found their trail layer.

They also had a go at a scent exercise where they had to follow a trail and pick out their person, from a group of 5 people all sitting together. A really complex task which some dogs took a little while to figure out, and others flew straight to the right person.

The training part of the day finished with each handler deciding what type of trail they’re like to do, and their team mates having a go at laying thoughtful trails designed to set the dogs up to succeed. We had dogs finding their target person as they mooched around the campsite, dogs picking out the right person out of 2, dogs working on surface changes and everything in between.

There was some great trial laying, great trails and fab finds!!

All in all a brilliant day with great tracking n’ trailing, team work, laughs, learning new skills and awesome dogs ❤

30/05/2026

🐾💬 THE ART OF DOING NOTHING 💬🐾

We often hear that puppies need to be “socialised.”

And it’s easy to assume that means interacting with every dog, person, or busy environment they come across.

But socialisation isn’t always about doing more.

Very often,
it’s about helping puppies learn that the world can simply exist around them safely.

Sitting quietly on a bench.
Watching traffic from a comfortable distance.
Taking in the environment without needing to engage with everything in it.

Those quieter moments can be incredibly valuable for young dogs.

Sometimes,
learning to calmly observe the world
is just as important as interacting with it.