Happy Stress Free Dogs

23/08/2026

I am reading while waiting for the kettle to boil. Nick is cooking a stew. I looked up and had to laugh as every single dog is carefully watching Nick Greeff 😁

06/08/2026

10/07/2026

Luckily it doesn't matter what the commentators are saying when watching Wimbledon! Alternative soundtrack of chewing 😁. They only get bones when I am supervising!

04/07/2026

The basics of was created from watching the wolf packs in Yellowstone. I have just finished Rick Mcintyres newest book full of beautifully explained passages from wolf watching which I could immediately observe in my pack of five.
The passages that stood out for me:
1.Parallel walking, two wolves walking touching shoulder to hip in unison, then another wolf pushes inbetween them and has both wolves either side. The pusher has the higher status. How many times have we all seen dogs push between us!
2. Adult Wolves bringing elk antlers to the litter for them to chew.
3. Alpha male could not get his puppies to follow him so he picked up a stick waggled it in front of their noses so they all stopped playing and excitedly followed him jumping up to try and get the stick he held out of reach.
There is also alot on the hierarchy of eating and even more on co-operation and characters.

30/06/2026

9 years ago today our first litter. Happy Birthday to all 12: Tuli, Gertie, Molly, Oscar, Dylan, Archie, Zola, Coco, Strudel, Milo, Charlie & Rolo.

30/06/2026

As Wimbledon starts Roger (black sproodle from Rosie) and Rafa (apricot sproodle from Tuli) really couldn't care less. Lupin their grandmother would not understand why they aren't focused on the tennis balls 😏 neither does Jayne who even so loves them very much. Lucky boys.

25/05/2026

A joy walking with friends but it means my mind isn't always on the dog. So just took my ultra reliable, very dependable, 110% recall, super relaxed Tuli who had a great time as did I.

16/04/2026

Behaviour change. Violet is the omega of the pack, at the bottom of the hierarchy so when she started growling at her sisters when they approached her we took notice. I called her to me lifted her up onto the counter top where I groom and gave her a thorough physical check. She is having a phantom pregnancy and has produced milk. So I have reduced her food a bit and had her running about alot more today. She is bright and alert. I will be checking her mammery glands daily.

06/04/2026

Myrtle, naturally, is a superb retriever and she loves it just like her mother did.
Florence was determined to have this important thing so tug of war commenced.
She has a very high opinion of herself. When she had got hold of the toy we all ignored her so it lost its importance, when she then dropped it I picked it up and we did it all again.
In the end she gave up totally so Myrtle and I could play in peace.

24/02/2026

This is Florence communicating with us. We are eating breakfast and she has positioned herself as close to our feet as possible, she then lifts her special bone and puts it ON our feet. If we let her do this I will lose RECALL.
Yes this sounds like a tiny cute thing, for her it is very important question. She is trying to show us how important she is.
The worst thing we could do is:
a. Let her
b. Compound it by reaching down and stroking her.
I love her to bits but when I call her I want her to come to me every time. So we ignore her and move our feet gently away, as we do it we smile at each other knowingly 😊.