Happy Pets Services

14/10/2026

A very happy 5th birthday to my big girl Ivy. My shadow and sofa buddy . Last week we went to the beach on a lovely warm day to celebrate 🩷

30/09/2026

Dog training is all about practice. A dog trainers job is not to train your dog for you (unless it’s residential training) but to give you the tools and understanding to train your own dog. The problem is when you don’t keep practicing between sessions.
Let’s take a general problem of jumping up at people. The more your dog does it the stronger the neural pathway for jumping up becomes. We teach the dogs an incompatible behaviour- sitting . But here’s the problem. If you do not consistently keep training the sit then the neural pathway for jumping up will continue to be the stronger one.
The above video shows Ivy and me practicing the half weaves. I had previously put up a video showing her struggling with impulse control, knocking into me , me losing my balance 🙄What a difference some consistent training makes.
The other part of the video is weaves and looping my legs on either side just on cue .
My next step for the half weaves is to have no treat then raise my arms, but all in good time 😊

29/09/2026

Climbing Spaniels, ( not sure the squirrels would agree) nature and my crow friends on a lovely summers day in autumn. Perfect 😍

26/09/2026

25/09/2026

When I first got Ruby over from Bosnia at 5.5 months she had a multitude of behaviour problems. She came in the December and we went into our first lockdown in March . It was incredibly difficult at the time to get a vet to see her but a vet I used to work with agreed to see her if both of us wore full PPE .
The reason I wanted a vet to see her if? Because 80% of behavioural cases are caused by pain. Dr Daniel Mills does a lot of research into this you can read up on .
It turned out Ruby has CM/SM which can be either asymptomatic or extremely painful.
Ruby has been on Gabapentin and Metacam ever since abd now aged 71/4 continues to do well.
If your dog suddenly develops behavioural problems please take them for a vet check . Ask for a pain meds trial ( a proper one ). If you do dog sports book a physio appointment to check alignment or for tweaked muscles or trapped nerves.
As someone who has multiple health conditions that are now overlapping I can tell you how painful some of these things can be . Dogs can be very stoic and you might think they’re ok when they’re not . Listen to your dog’s behaviour.

24/09/2026

Out with Emilie and Sue Ashforth for coffee and cake with Kelly Marie , Gary and Stewart marie for his birthday tomorrow.
So nice to see so many dogs in the dog friendly cafe Blue Diamond Lower Morden .

23/09/2026

Yesterday I was supposed to be helping my friend (adopted daughter) with her flat . However I got sidetracked teaching her dogs some basic HTM moves , spin, twist, leg weaves and to go round me .
The dogs love it . They’re both such intelligent dogs who learn quickly 😊Doing this teaches them focus, impulse control, and makes you more important than what is going on in the environment which helps with your recall.
The other thing it does is keep dogs supple and fit .
It’s much more than just doing a few tricks or a bit of doggy dancing . It’s also a great warm up for before other sports 😊
I’m no longer able to do agility but I’m so glad I can still do this with my girls

22/09/2026

18/09/2026

Mantrailing from last Sunday 😊 Just the two dogs, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves and both searched really well. We searched on different terrain, and around lots of distractions . Well done to both of them 👏👏👏

16/09/2026

Saturday agility from a couple of Saturday’s ago. This week we practiced doing a blind cross which did cause some amusement 🤭. However as always they tried their hardest and all achieved their goal 👏👏👏