Optimum Canine

04/08/2026

If you are currently frustrated by your dog’s behaviour, please read this. 👇

Only a month ago, my body could do almost anything I asked of it. I had been living with pain for some time, but I could still get things done.

I could:

• Lift over three figures during power and strength exercises.

• Walk a kilometre in 9–12 minutes—depending on whether I was reading a book while walking around the village.

• Achieve between 10,000 and 20,000 steps without thinking twice.

It is frightening how quickly that freedom can disappear. Now, I am lucky if:

• I can lift my youngest daughter up for a cuddle.

• I can complete a single kilometre—and, when I can, it may take me close to 20 minutes.

• I can push myself to reach 5,000 steps in a day.

The difficult part is not the pain.
It is my mind still saying, “Go.”
While my body answers, “You can’t.”

Most people who know me would probably describe me as fairly docile. But right now, the anger and frustration caused by these limitations are bubbling and boiling inside me.

I have not lost the desire to walk, lift, explore, work or be physically active.

My motivation has not disappeared.
My opportunity to act upon it has.

And that has given me an uncomfortable insight into the lives of many dogs, more importantly working breed dogs living purely as household pets.

Our dogs have not lost the instincts created through generations of selective breeding.

They may still possess an intense desire to search, chase, retrieve, explore, carry, track, investigate, problem-solve and work.

But having a natural desire to do something does not mean you are given the opportunity to do it!

I now understand how deeply frustrating that can feel.

Imagine having a healthy body filled with energy, powerful instincts and the motivation to use them, but almost every decision about your life is made by somebody else.

Imagine that nobody teaches you how to live successfully within those limitations.

You are not given enough meaningful work to satisfy you.

You are not taught reliable behaviours that could earn you greater freedom.

You are not shown an acceptable way to express the drives and instincts already living inside you.

You are simply expected to suppress them.
Day after day.

And then, when that frustration finally finds an outlet through barking, pulling, chewing, chasing, digging, stealing or destruction…

You are called badly behaved and the human often then utilises pain to stop you from being a frustrated and suppressed dog.

That is the part we often misunderstand.

The behaviour may be the problem for the human, but for the dog, the behaviour may be the release.

A release for frustration.
A release for unused energy.
A release for natural instincts.
A release from a life offering too little purpose, too little choice and too little control.

I am not suggesting that dogs should be allowed to do whatever they want. I cannot currently do everything I want either.

But there is an enormous psychological difference between being helped to live successfully within limitations, and simply having limitations imposed upon you with no understanding, no guidance and no meaningful alternative.

That is what training should provide!

Training should not exist only to stop dogs from doing things that inconvenience us.

It should teach them how to succeed in the human world.

It should give them clearer communication, meaningful work and safe ways to express natural behaviour.

Most importantly, training should create reliable behaviours that allow us to give our dogs more freedom, not continually take freedom away from them.

My body has temporarily removed much of my freedom, and the anger this has created is teaching me something important.

So, with my restrictions that I am currently having to deal with and the new insights I am expressing, before becoming angry at your dog’s behaviour, ask yourself:

• What has this dog repeatedly been prevented from doing?

• What have I taught them to do instead?

• What meaningful outlets have I actually provided?

• Have I taught behaviours that allow me to trust them with greater freedom?

• Or have I simply expected them to cope with greater restriction?

Sometimes, the behaviour we are desperately trying to stop is communicating exactly what the dog’s life is missing.

So, if you are frustrated by your dog but you are not consistently training them, providing meaningful outlets or teaching behaviours that earn them greater freedom, consider this:

Your dog may not be giving you a hard time.
You maybe the one giving your dog a hard time.

This post has been created not to upset people, but to get them thinking from the dog’s point of view.

30/07/2026

Morning everyone,

It’s currently 05:00am, and I’m struggling to find the words for this message, that I genuinely did not want to write.

As you know, I have been off work since 15th July due to my spinal injuries. I had a review with the doctor yesterday and, unfortunately, there are some complications and concerns which mean I cannot return to work at the moment.

All I wanted was to be told that I could get back to work in August. I made it clear how worried I am about being away from you all and your dogs for so long, but the answer was an absolute no. I have now been signed off until the end of August.

In the doctor’s own words: “Mr Smith, these are not injuries that you can ignore.”

To be honest, it has felt like one thing after another. This month I am not only having to go for further tests on my spine and X-rays on my neck, but I have also been told that the cyst on my kidney has grown and now needs to be investigated too.

I honestly wish there was a way that I could just push through and be there. I miss the work, I miss seeing you all, and I miss your dogs more than I can put into words. But if I return before my body is ready, I risk making this worse — and I have to take that seriously.

I know this causes disruption and I do feel as though I am letting people down. I am truly sorry. Some things in life happen that we simply cannot control, no matter how much we wish we could, and for now I have to accept the medical advice and concentrate on getting better.

I am keeping everything crossed that I will be back with you all in September. Thank you to everyone who has been patient, understanding and kind — your messages and support genuinely mean more to me than you probably realise.

22/07/2026

Morning everyone,

I have delayed this post due to a number of reasons, but mainly because I wanted to understand the bigger picture. I will try and keep this as short as possible, because I am drugged up to the eyeballs with Va**um (as Opioids are no longer working) and I just want to climb into bed.

Heads up — I am getting ChatGPT to write this post for me.

On the 15th July I was taken into hospital and was taken down to have an emergency MRI. The results have shown some serious issues which is why lessons have been cancelled.

• Degeneration and loss of disc height at L5–S1.
• Bulging discs in the L5–S1 region.
• A ruptured (cracked) disc in the same area.
• Two discs around T5–T6 that are pressing against my spinal cord.
• A small right-sided subdural collection, which is fluid between the brain and the skull that is also being investigated.

So as you can read I am pretty much ready for the scrap heap.

I am being treated by Kings as an outpatient, and I am still waiting to hear back from them.

For two years I have been going in and out of hospital and the doctors say “it’s okay Mr Smith, we will patch you up and get you back to work.” It seems now they are taking me seriously now that I am no use to anyone.

In regard to clients;

1. I will only reply to messages from the supported client membership, and messages will be replied to early mornings before I have my first lot of medications.
2. Catch-Up calls will be booked on one day during the week and early mornings. This is so that i can delay my medication so that I can think and problem solve with you.
3. As it stands, unless I’m told otherwise. I will be returning to work on the 1st August. If I have medical advice not to, that will be passed on to clients — and I hope that everyone can understand the serious situation that my health is in right now (if not, I’m on so much Va**um I doubt I would care anyway 🤤).

I will try to update you all as soon as I have any information — until then 🫡…

22/06/2026

Imagine your dog put this advert online…“Seeking a human trainer to help with my human’s aggressive behaviour toward dogs.”

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But let’s be honest.

When a dog growls, barks, lunges, snaps, or uses threat to control space, stop pressure, or make something move away, we often call that aggression.

And in behavioural terms, that is what aggression often is:

“Using threat, force, or intimidation to influence another being’s behaviour.”

The dog uses it because, somewhere along the line, it worked.

The growl made pressure stop.
The bark made someone back away.
The lunge created distance.
The snap ended the interaction.

The behaviour was reinforced. But I’m going to make you feel uncomfortable now and take a deep dark look why this world is full of contradicting pricks!

A dog pulls, so the human pops the lead, the dog stops 🟰 The human feels relief.

A dog barks, so the human shouts, yanks, corrects, or intimidates. The dog stops 🟰 The human feels back in control.

These behaviours are reinforced in you too. You are using aggression (by behavioural terms) and being reinforced for doing it.

So why is it aggression when the dog does it…But “training” when the human does it?

Why do we punish dogs for using threat, force, or intimidation to control situations they feel uneasy about…While using threat, force, or intimidation to control situations we feel uneasy about?

That is the contradiction. We tell the dog aggression is unacceptable. Then we use a human version of it to stop them.

Maybe the better question is not:

“How do I stop my dog being aggressive?”

Maybe the better question is:

“What is my dog trying to avoid, escape, control, or communicate?”

Because dogs do not need us to overpower them. They need us to teach them better options.

And we cannot teach them that force is not the answer…

While making force our answer.

22/06/2026

Imagine your dog put this advert online…

“Seeking a human trainer to help with my human’s aggressive behaviour toward dogs.”

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But let’s be honest.

When a dog growls, barks, lunges, snaps, or uses threat to control space, stop pressure, or make something move away, we often call that aggression.

And lets be factually correct in this post.
In behavioural terms, that is what aggression often is:

“Using threat, force, or intimidation to influence another being’s behaviour.”

The dog uses it because, somewhere along the line, it worked.

The growl made pressure stop.
The bark made someone back away.
The lunge created distance.
The snap ended the interaction.

The behaviour was reinforced.

But I’m going to make you feel uncomfortable now because I want people to take a deep dark look why this world is full of contradicting pri🤬ks!

A dog pulls, so the human pops the lead, the dog stops 🟰 The human feels relief.

A dog barks, so the human shouts, yanks, corrects, or intimidates. The dog stops 🟰 The human feels back in control.

These aggressive behaviours are reinforced in you too. You are using aggression (by behavioural terms) and being reinforced for doing it.

So why is it aggression wrong when the dog does it?
But called “training” when the human does it?
And then people hail it on social media.

Why do we punish dogs for using threat, force, or intimidation to control situations they feel uneasy about…
While using threat, force, or intimidation to control situations we feel uneasy about?

That is the contradiction. We tell the dog aggression is unacceptable. Then we use a human version of it to stop them.

Maybe the better question is not:

“How do I stop my dog being aggressive?”

Maybe the better question is:

“What is my dog trying to avoid, escape, control, or communicate?”

Because dogs do not need us to overpower them. They need us to teach them better options.

And we cannot teach them that force is not the answer…

While making force our answer.

19/06/2026

Did you know that Navy dolphins were trained with positive reinforcement methods for mine detection missions?

In 2003, dolphins helped disarm more than 100 anti ship mines in Iraq and helped clear the path for Sir Galahad in a matter of hours.

Let that sink in!

A dolphin can be trained in open waters in complex environments using science backed methods to detect mines and save people’s lives.

But somehow, in the dog world, there are trainers still telling people that force is needed to get a domestic animal to walk next to us.

If reinforced based methods can teach complex military detection work, then your dog does not need force to learn to walk on a loose leash.

We need to look at ourselves and our habits.

Once upon a time using these methods was accepted, just like once upon a time a man was able to discipline his wife in his own home.

Now we call one abuse and the other still is “training.”

17/06/2026

Your dog will want you to read this 📖
We need to discuss the topic “Should speed ever dictate ethics?”

“Why are we are okay when we are the ones who benefit from a lapse in morals and ethics? BUT when the tables are turned, we suddenly see the problem.”

Read until the end to understand what I am on about.

About two months ago, a lady contacted me for help with loose lead walking for her Cockerpoo. At the time, I didn’t have any placements available, so she went onto my waiting list.

In the meantime, she sought help from another trainer. She was told to bin the harness and use a slip lead instead because “harnesses cause pulling.”

If I had a £1 for every time I heard this fallacy — when in fact it’s because the trainer cannot train the dog without choking it first, does that sound like a trainer?

Anyway…

She paid a lot of money for what she said was a day intensive lesson. At first, she was happy.

And wouldn’t she not be happy?

Her dog walked next to her.
He looked “under control.”
He stayed in position.

When he moved out of position to sniff, look around, or investigate the environment, she followed her instructions, “pop” or “correct” him with the lead.

Which now brings us to her current situation *sigh*

The original problem was loose lead walking and now the dog is reacting to the environment — dogs, bikes, and some people.

So now this owner is out of pocket, cannot afford another trainer, and has gone from a dog who pulled on the lead to a dog who is starting to see the world as a threat.

So my question is this “Should speed ever outweigh ethics?”

For me, there are very few situations where speed should come before the wellbeing of a sentient being.

And here is where I will actually stick up for the other “trainer” — slightly…

In skilled hands, punishment can look clean.
It can look fast.
It can look impressive.

But that is exactly the danger - Owners are not dog trainers.

The industry has said for years that owners often struggle with timing when using positive reinforcement.

WHY on earth are we handing those same owners punishment-based techniques and expecting them to apply them with perfect timing, perfect pressure, perfect emotional control, and perfect judgement?

If timing is poor with food, the worst-case scenario is usually messy training.

If timing is poor with punishment, the worst-case scenario, the dog will start associating the environment, the handler, other dogs, people, bikes, and the lead itself with discomfort or threat.

And then we act surprised when reactivity appears.

This is the part people don’t want to hear - a dog walking quietly next to you is not always calm.

Stillness is not always neutrality.

Sometimes what people are selling as “calm” is simply a dog trying to avoid consequence.

Call it suppression.
Call it shutdown.
Call it survival mode.
Call it a nervous system learning that movement, sniffing, curiosity, and expression come with a cost.

But please don’t call it calm.

I once had a debate with a gentleman about using slip leads for lead walking.

He didn’t really care about the ethics, only just wanted something that worked — and worked fast.

Some time later, his van was broken into and his tools were stolen.
He was furious at the “scumbag” who did it.

And I said:

“Maybe they needed money fast. Maybe ethics and morals weren’t the issue.”

Now, to be clear, I was not justifying theft.
I was making a point.

We are often comfortable with moral shortcuts when we are the ones who benefit from them, but when we are the ones who pay the price, suddenly ethics matter.

And this is what dogs live with every day.

Humans want fast.
Humans want convenient.
Humans want control.
Humans want the behaviour stopped now.

But the dog often pays the bill later.

Reactivity.
Avoidance.
Suppression.
Stress.
Loss of trust.
A nervous system that no longer feels safe in the world.

The world is already becoming darker, louder, harsher, and more impatient because of humans.

We shield our children from that reality, maybe it’s time we started shielding our dogs too.

Because training should never just be about what works fastest.
It should also be about what it costs the dog.

08/06/2026

What would you do if this was your dog ⁉️ I’d be doing time…

As soon as the door is open for trainers to use behaviour modification techniques that rely on pain, simultaneously the door for abuse is opened.

They already think that using pain is okay — add in frustration and you have a dead dog 😢

https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/people/tamaskan-wolfdog-died-from-ruptured-liver-at-chesterfield-kennels-while-owners-on-holiday-as-dog-trainer-found-guilty-of-causing-death-7395145?fbclid=IwVERDUASTpQVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeTnNZMsRCGMj1mg50xbYqQQDZ3DBiuZo0WTDbquorhWnIEBopoSeKWpaJKS8_aem_d-VBLC-rqmC8Hj70Iz64yQ

A dog trainer from Chesterfield has been given a 12-month community order after being found guilty of causing the death of a Tamaskan wolfdog who died from a ruptured liver.

07/06/2026

Anyone else’s dog collect feathers on their noses?
I mean he bops the feather until it sticks 😂…BUT onto a more serious matter…

These 3 things I keep seeing in behaviour modification cases, and it makes for slow progress or poor prognosis.

After working with more and more behaviour modification clients over the years, I’m noticing the same pattern again and again. And honestly? It makes the dog’s progress so much harder than it needs to be.

There are three factors I keep finding:

1. The dog has no daily training routine.

They are walked, fed, loved, and cared for but there is no structured daily training.

❎No impulse control work.
❎No calmness training.
❎No lead work.
❎No recall practice.
❎No settling practice.
❎No confidence building.
❎No rehearsal of the behaviours the owner actually wants.

The dog is just expected to “know better” because they have been walked.

But walking is not training.
If that was the case, my job would be redundant‼️

2. The owner doesn’t set the dog up for success.

They hope for the best.
They walk into situations the dog cannot cope with.
They give the dog too much freedom too soon.
They allow the dog to rehearse the same behaviour again and again.

Then they feel frustrated when the dog reacts, pulls, barks, lunges, jumps up, or ignores them.

But behaviour does not change because we hope it will.

Behaviour changes because we create situations where the dog can succeed, then we repeat that success until it becomes a habit.

3. The dog goes to daycare or with a dog walker.

Now, this is not me saying all dog walkers or daycares are bad.

Some are excellent.

But for behaviour modification, we have to be really careful.

If we are trying to teach a dog calmness, neutrality, focus, impulse control, or better choices around dogs, people, traffic, movement, or excitement…

…but then several times a week that dog is placed into an environment where arousal, rehearsal, chaos, chasing, barking, pulling, or social over-excitement is happening…

We are now trying to change behaviour while the old behaviour is still being practised elsewhere.

That slows everything down.

‼️Now here’s the important part‼️

Even one of these issues can make behaviour modification harder. But I’m now seeing clients where we are having to overcome all three at once.

❎No daily training.
❎No setup for success.
😩And outside environments that may be reinforcing the very behaviour we are trying to change.

Is it impossible? No.

But will progress be slower? Absolutely.

Behaviour modification is not just about changing the dog.

It is about changing the dog’s daily routine, environment, habits, reinforcement history, emotional state, and owner patterns.

And this is the biggest truth owners need to understand:

‼️If you don’t change your habits, don’t expect your dog to change theirs‼️

Your dog’s behaviour is not happening in isolation.

It is being shaped every single day by what they practise, what they are exposed to, what they are allowed to rehearse, and what the humans around them consistently do.

So before we ask,
“Why isn’t my dog changing?”

We have to ask,
“What am I doing every day that is keeping this behaviour alive?”

Because once the owner changes the pattern & the dog finally has a fair chance to change too 😊

31/05/2026

Why do trainers that use punishment claim trainers that avoid punishment are the issue with rising dog attacks? The stats say otherwise — want to know what the data is saying? Read this post‼️

I had someone message me after my last post and say:

“Force-free trainers are to blame for the rise in dog attacks.”

So let’s talk about that. I am a force-free trainer.

I follow a strict code of practice where I avoid fear-based and pain-based tools. I do not reach for intimidation, suppression, leash corrections, prongs, shock collars, slip-lead choking, or “make the dog deal with it” training as my first response.

That does not mean I ignore dangerous behaviour.
That does not mean I let dogs rehearse aggression.
That does not mean I believe every dog can be fixed with cheese and cuddles.

And it definitely does not mean I would rather see a dog euthanised than admit a case needs specialist intervention.

In the most serious cases — where euthanasia is genuinely on the table — I may refer a client to a highly skilled tool-based trainer, or, where it is within my own training and competence, guide the owner myself.

But that is the point:

That should be the last resort before a life is lost.
Not the first thing people are told to do on TikTok.

And that is where the real problem is.

We now live in a dog-training culture where punishment is being repackaged as “leadership”, “balance”, “clarity”, “neutrality”, “accountability”, or “common sense”.

But very often, underneath the polished wording, it is still the same thing:

Pressure.
Fear.
Pain.
Suppression.
Shut the dog down and call it trained.

Now look at the data in this infographic.
Dog numbers peaked during the pandemic.

They have since dropped back down and plateaued.
Yet serious dog-related injuries have continued to rise.

So the argument that attacks are rising simply because “there are more dogs” does not hold up properly if that’s what you were thinking.

The issue is not just how many dogs we have.

The issue is how those dogs are being bred, raised, socialised, managed, handled, trained, punished, suppressed, and misunderstood.

AND before people point the finger at force-free trainers, they need to look at what owners are actually doing.

Punishment-based methods are not rare.
They are not some tiny fringe problem.
They are common.

The RVC pandemic puppy research found extremely high use of aversive methods, including physical punishment, shouting, and leash-jerking.

And dogs exposed to these methods were more likely to be associated with behaviour problems.

That matters.
Because warning signs are behaviour.

Growling is behaviour.
Barking is behaviour.
Lunging is behaviour.
Avoidance is behaviour.
Snapping is behaviour.

These things are communication.

And when you punish communication out of a dog, you do not magically remove the emotional problem underneath.

You often just remove the warning label.

That is how you end up with dogs that “bite out of nowhere”. They didn’t bite out of nowhere.

They were probably communicating for months.
They were just punished for doing it.

And now social media is pouring petrol on the fire.
The algorithm loves drama.
It loves conflict.

It loves the “before and after” transformation where a dog goes from barking, lunging, reacting, panicking, or protesting… to standing still and looking “neutral”.

But neutral is not always calm.
Quiet is not always safe.

Still is not always trained.
Sometimes stillness is learning.
Sometimes stillness is trust.

But sometimes stillness is suppression, conflict, fear, shutdown, or learned helplessness.

And unless you understand the difference, you can make a dog look better while making the dog feel worse.

That is not behaviour modification.
That is cosmetic training.

It looks good for the camera.
It feels good for the human.
It sells well online.

But the dog pays the price.

So no — I do not accept that force-free trainers are the reason dog attacks are rising.

The data does not point cleanly in that direction.

What it does show is far more uncomfortable:

Punishment remains common.
Aversive methods became heavily normalised during the pandemic puppy boom.
Online training culture rewards drama, dominance, conflict, and quick fixes.
And dog-related injuries to people and other dogs are continuing to rise.

That should concern everyone.

Not just force-free trainers.
Not just balanced trainers.
Everyone.

Because this is not about trainer politics.
This is about public safety.

It is about dog welfare.
It is about children getting bitten.
It is about dogs being attacked on walks.
It is about owners being sold confidence instead of competence.

It is about dogs being silenced instead of understood.

So before blaming the people trying to avoid fear and pain, maybe we should ask a harder question:

What happens when an entire culture teaches owners to punish the warning signs?

Because my fear is simple.

If your goal is to shut your dog up, make them look “neutral”, suppress their behaviour, and punish their communication, then you may not be solving the problem.

You may simply be hiding it.
And hidden problems do not disappear.

They grow.
They leak out.
And eventually, someone pays the price.

Another dog.
Another owner.
A child.
A family.
Or the dog itself.

Choose kindness and understanding first!
Choose education and data!
Choose safety and welfare!

Because punishment may stop the noise.
But good training changes the outcome.