Dovecote Dogs

20/10/2026

🐾 Introducing The Reactivity Roadmap — starting 2nd November!

Does your dog bark, lunge or struggle to stay calm when they see other dogs?

Do walks leave you feeling stressed, frustrated or constantly on edge?

You're not alone. And the answer isn't simply to tell your dog to stop reacting.

The Reactivity Roadmap is our new 6-week training course inside the Dovecote Dogs Academy, designed to help you understand your dog's behaviour, build the right foundations and work towards better responses around other dogs.

Over six weeks, we'll work through the process step by step, covering:

🐾 Understanding why your dog reacts and what triggers their behaviour

🐾 Building engagement and calmer walking habits

🐾 Counter-conditioning and changing emotional associations

🐾 Teaching disengagement and developing alternative behaviours

🐾 Putting the skills together in real-life situations

🐾 Reviewing progress and planning your next steps

And you won't be left trying to figure it all out on your own.

Inside the Academy, you'll have access to a dedicated Reactivity Roadmap page in our community area, where I'll post the weekly training plans and you can ask questions as you work through the course.

We'll also have a live support session every week to help you work through the training and get guidance along the way.

The goal isn't to promise a completely transformed dog in six weeks. It's to give you a clear plan, the right skills and the support to make meaningful progress at a pace your dog can manage.

📅 Starts 2nd November

🐾 Included with a Dovecote Dogs Academy membership.

If you're tired of jumping between random training tips and want a more structured approach to your dog's reactivity, this is for you.

Join us at www.dovecotedogs.com or follow the link in my bio

Let's work towards calmer walks, one step at a time. 🐾

19/10/2026

Your dog probably isn't sleeping enough… and it could be contributing to some of the behaviour problems you're struggling with.

We spend so much time thinking about what we need to teach our dogs that we often overlook something incredibly important.

Rest.

Sleep plays a huge role in helping dogs regulate their arousal levels.

Arousal is essentially how switched on, alert or stimulated your dog is. When arousal stays high for long periods, it can become much harder for them to settle, think clearly and respond calmly to what's happening around them.

And this is where things can start to unravel.

A dog who isn't getting enough quality rest may become:

🐾 More excitable and easily overstimulated
🐾 More reactive to things they would usually cope with
🐾 More likely to struggle with impulse control
🐾 More mouthy, jumpy or restless
🐾 Less able to settle and switch off

Of course, lack of sleep isn't the cause of every behaviour problem. But if your dog is constantly on the go, struggling to relax or becoming worked up over the smallest things, it's worth looking at how much genuine rest they're getting.

Sometimes, the answer isn't more exercise or more training. It's helping your dog learn to switch off.

And that doesn't necessarily mean they'll just sleep when they're tired. Some dogs need help building a routine that gives them enough opportunity to rest without constant stimulation.

So take a look at your dog's day.

Are they getting plenty of opportunities to sleep somewhere quiet, comfortable and undisturbed? Or are they following you around, reacting to every noise and staying switched on from morning until night?

It might be time to make rest part of your training plan.

🐾 Want more help understanding your dog's behaviour? Inside the Dovecote Dogs Academy, you'll find 200+ training tutorials, structured courses and ongoing support to help you build better habits with your dog.

Find out more through the link in my bio.

18/10/2026

🐾 Does your dog bark, lunge or go crazy when they see another dog?

If walks leave you feeling stressed, embarrassed or constantly on edge because you never know how your dog will react, this free webinar is for you.

I'm going to talk about why dogs react to other dogs, the common mistakes that can make things harder, and how to start building the foundations for calmer walks.

We'll cover:

🐾 Why dogs react differently to other dogs
🐾 Common training mistakes to avoid
🐾 How distance can make a difference
🐾 The foundations for helping your dog disengage and reconnect with you
🐾 What to focus on first, so you're not just guessing what to do next

This isn't a magic fix, and I'm not going to promise you'll solve your dog's reactivity in one session.

The goal is to help you understand your dog better and give you a good starting point.

📅 Wednesday 28th October
⏰ 7pm UK time
🎟️ Completely FREE

I'll also leave time at the end to answer your questions.

If you'd like to join us, book your free place through the link in my bio.

I look forward to seeing you there! 🐾

17/10/2026

Follow the link in my bio to get started today and begin making a real change!

15/10/2026

Your dog is allowed to look at other dogs. 🐾

In fact, I want my dog to notice what's happening around him.

I don't expect him to walk through the park pretending other dogs don't exist, staring at me every second or immediately looking away whenever he hears a bark.

Noticing another dog isn't the problem. What happens next is what matters.

In this video, he's watching two dogs and listening to them bark.

I'm not rushing to interrupt him. I'm not asking him to look away the second he notices them.

I'm giving him the opportunity to observe what's happening while I pay attention to his body language and how he's coping with the situation.

Then, at the right moment, I give him my marker word.

He disengages from the dogs, turns back towards me and comes to collect his reward.

That's the behaviour we work to build.

I want him to learn that he can notice other dogs, take in what's happening and then choose to disengage and reconnect with me.

Over time, we're building a dog who doesn't feel the need to remain fixated on every dog he sees.

A dog who can observe without becoming overwhelmed.

A dog who learns that other dogs can be around without every encounter needing to turn into a big event.

The goal isn't to stop your dog noticing other dogs. It's to change how they respond to them.

Of course, every dog is different. Some dogs need more distance, more management and more time before they can comfortably disengage. We always want to work at a level the dog can handle rather than forcing them to cope.

If you're working through reactivity with your own dog, we've got a 6-week Reactivity Course inside its own dedicated page in the Dovecote Dogs Academy community.

It gives you a structured way to work through the foundations rather than trying random tips and hoping something sticks.

🐾 Find it inside the Academy community area and work through it at your dog's pace.

Follow the link in my bio

13/10/2026

Your dog isn't ignoring you because they're stubborn. They're learning from what works. 👀

You ask your dog to come back.

They ignore you.

You ask again… and again… and eventually give up.

What has your dog just learned?

That they don't actually need to listen the first time.

Dogs quickly learn which cues matter and which ones they can ignore because nothing happens if they don't respond.

Consistency matters.

That doesn't mean shouting louder, repeating yourself endlessly or forcing your dog to obey.

It means teaching them what your cues mean, practising in situations they can handle, and following through calmly and consistently.

Because if you only mean it sometimes, why would your dog take you seriously every time?

🐾 Want to build better training habits with your dog? Inside the Dovecote Dogs Academy, we have 200+ step-by-step tutorials to help you get started.

Head to the link in our bio to find out more.

11/10/2026

Struggling to leave your dog home alone without worrying about what might happen? 🐾

Our 4-week Home Alone Project inside Dovecote Dogs Academy will help you build the foundations your dog needs to become more comfortable spending time apart from you.

You'll work through four weeks of structured training, focusing on things like:

🐾 Building a predictable daily routine 🐾 Helping your dog settle when you're at home but not interacting with them 🐾 Getting them comfortable with the little things that happen before you leave 🐾 Gradually building up alone time at a pace your dog can manage

This isn't about shutting your dog away and hoping for the best. It's about building the skills and confidence they need, one step at a time.

But the Home Alone Project won't be available forever. We'll be removing it from the Academy, so if you've been meaning to work through it with your dog, now is the time.

Inside Dovecote Dogs Academy, you'll also get access to 200+ training tutorials, our community, live Q&As and ongoing training guidance.

Head to the link in our bio to find out more.

Let's make being home alone easier for both of you. ❤️

10/10/2026

Training your dog shouldn't mean spending hours scrolling through Instagram, watching random videos and trying to figure out what to do next.

You need a clear plan, the right training for your dog and guidance on how to put it all together.

That's exactly why we created the Dovecote Dogs Academy. 🐾

Inside, you'll find 200+ step-by-step training tutorials covering everything from reactivity and barking to recall, loose lead walking, separation and calmness.

Plus, you'll get structured monthly training projects, regular live Q&As and a community where you can ask questions and get support.

No more guessing what to work on next. Just practical training you can work through at your own pace.

And there's no contract, so you can cancel whenever you want.

🐾 Ready to make progress with your dog?

Join the Dovecote Dogs Academy through the link in my bio.

09/10/2026

08/10/2026

Your dog doesn't need a walk.

They need a chance to be a dog.

Because the idea of taking a dog for a “walk” is actually a human invention.

We decide that at 7am we're going to put a lead on the dog, walk a particular route for 30 minutes, come home and call that their exercise for the day.

But your dog doesn't know what a 30-minute walk is.

They don't care how many miles you've covered.

They don't know that you've got somewhere to be afterwards.

What they actually have are instinctive behaviours and needs that they want to fulfil.

They want to sniff.

They want to explore.

They want to investigate interesting smells.

They want to search for things.

They want to move.

They want to make choices.

They want to interact with their environment.

And depending on the individual dog, they may have strong needs to chase, retrieve, dig, chew, carry, forage or interact socially.

So when I take my dog out, I'm not thinking:

“How quickly can I get him around this route?”

I'm thinking:

“How can I give him opportunities to do the things that dogs naturally want to do?”

That's why I'm perfectly happy for my dog to spend five minutes sniffing through a pile of leaves.

To me, he isn't wasting five minutes of the walk.

That's five minutes of him getting to be a dog.

And I think this is an important distinction when we talk about dog training.

Training isn't just about teaching a dog to fit neatly into our human world.

It's also about understanding what our dogs need from us.

We can teach loose lead walking so they don't drag us around.

We can teach recall so they can have freedom safely.

We can teach them to disengage from distractions when we need them to.

But within those boundaries, I want my dog to have opportunities to make choices and fulfil those natural behaviours.

Because a “good walk” doesn't necessarily mean your dog walked perfectly beside you for 45 minutes.

It might mean they came home mentally satisfied, physically exercised and fulfilled because they actually got to do dog things.

Let dogs be dogs.

If you want help solving your dogs behaviour then head over to my online academy, link in bio.