Tiny Paws Outdoors

04/09/2026

Fab work team Elaine and Wispa first one in class to master crossing their paws 🤩

03/09/2026

02/09/2026

THE FLAWS OF FLOODING

Using flooding to change a behaviour involves exposing a dog to an intense amount of anything that causes fear, anxiety or distress, with the goal of getting them used to it and eliminating that emotional response.

This approach is often recommended as a quick fix that achieves fast results.

Some examples of how flooding is used –

A reactive or nervous dog may be forced to “sit” or walk close to other dogs or people and be punished for any signs of reactivity.

A dog fearful of water might be forced into a pool and prevented from escaping.

A dog afraid of loud noises might be forced to stay in a room while loud sounds play, with no way of escape.

Flooding is traumatic and may cause extreme stress, anxiety, increase negative associations and create even more long-term fear related problems.

Flooding often causes learned helplessness - an emotional coping mechanism that may look like a dog is completely “cured”, but in reality, they have shut down, given up, disengaged, become emotionally numb and detached. There is no other choice because no matter how hard they try there is no longer any point in trying to escape or react.

Flooding can destroy the trust our dogs have in us. Dogs depend on us to advocate for them, protect them and keep them feeling safe.

Flooding prioritizes a quick fix attempt over emotional wellbeing.

Systematic desensitization and counterconditioning allow dogs to cope, think and learn without being overwhelmed. These methods involve gradually exposing a dog to a feared stimulus at a low intensity while pairing it with positive experiences. This allows dogs to form new, positive associations and adapt at their own pace without overwhelming fear.

These methods build trust, confidence, relationship, safety and in turn, true behaviour change.

No training objective is worth the harm that flooding can cause.

26/08/2026

JOLLY JUMPERS
Dogs jumping up is a common, normal behaviour, but it’s one that’s relatively easy to change as long as our reaction is consistent and everyone that interacts with the dog, follows the same approach.

When dogs have been jumping up for a long time, probably since pups, it takes time to teach an alternative behaviour and doesn’t happen overnight.

Allowing your dog to jump up when you wearing an old pair of jeans because it really doesn’t matter, but getting annoyed when you’re wearing smart clothes, causes confusion.

As with all behaviour we want to change, consistency is really important.
Dogs will continue to do what they find rewarding and we often inadvertently encourage and reward this behaviour by our reactions.

Pushing our dog away, shouting, scolding or interacting with our dogs when they jump up is still providing attention, even though it might be “negative” attention.

We need to show our dogs that jumping up results in no attention, but having 4 paws on the floor, searching for a treat that is thrown, retrieving a favourite toy, or a hand or chin touch is far more rewarding.

Dogs will soon realise that - “I don't have to jump up to get what I need. I can do something else that works much better.”

20/08/2026

Some fabulous photos thanks to timeless_treasures.co.uk

19/08/2026

WHAT THE F…?

The F words of stress responses

Fight or flight are well known when it comes to fear and stress, but dogs don't always respond to something frightening or overwhelming with reactivity or running away.

Sometimes the signs are much less obvious.

Freezing, fawning, fidgeting or fooling around are also stress responses that may be seen when dogs are feeling uncomfortable, conflicted, overwhelmed or just don’t know how to cope with a situation.

FIGHT
Fight isn't necessarily about a reactive or aggressive dog. Barking, growling, lunging, snapping or biting can all be attempts to make something uncomfortable go away. From the dog's perspective, the behaviour works because "You came too close - I reacted - you backed off." - the behaviour is reinforcing / rewarding because it works.

FLIGHT
Moving away, creeping backwards, hiding, running away or attempting to escape are all ways a dog may try to create distance from something they find threatening or overwhelming.

FREEZE
Sometimes dogs respond to stress by doing nothing. Being still, stiff, not moving, not responding normally or appear to be holding their breath. Dogs that have learnt that struggling or attempting to escape doesn't change the outcome may also show signs of being shut down. That's very different from looking calm and well behaved.

FAWN
Fawning can be described as an attempt to appease, avoid conflict or try to make the interaction stop. Dogs may roll over, crouch, make themselves appear smaller or show submissive behaviours. Context always matters - A dog rolling onto their back doesn’t mean they’re stressed.

FIDGET / FOOL AROUND
This one can be easy to miss. Some dogs respond to stress or conflict with behaviour that looks completely unrelated to the situation. Sudden intense play, jumping up, mouthing, frantic sniffing, zooming around, acting silly, displacement behaviour - actions that seem out of context or irrelevant to the situation are often triggered by stress or conflicting emotions.

Stress responses are individual and may change depending on the situation. The earlier we recognise stress, the more opportunity we have to intervene.

19/08/2026

Resin coasters £15

15/08/2026

📸🐾 OUTDOOR DOG PHOTOGRAPHY £40 – CAPTURE THEM BEING THEMSELVES! 🐾📸

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Whether it’s a favourite walk, a woodland adventure or a day out in the beautiful New Forest, I’ll capture those genuine moments and personalities that make your dog so special. ❤️

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£40

🚨 KEY WORKER DISCOUNT
As a thank you for everything you do:
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A HUGE thank you to the firefighters working incredibly hard to protect and save the New Forest. ❤️🌲
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Your dog deserves more than just a photo — they deserve memories you can keep forever. 🐾📸

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Discounts available with valid identification.

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“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at the picture for a second and think of it all your life.”

12/08/2026

HU***NG HOUNDS
Some dogs do and some dogs don’t, but if you have a dog that humps at the most inopportune times it can be particularly embarrassing or uncomfortable as though our dogs have just committed the ultimate social faux pas.

Hu***ng is a completely normal behaviour and some dogs are really not fussy about the recipient – other dogs, cats, people, visitors, toys, cushions, furniture - anything that can be mounted and clung to may be fair game.

Like many other behaviours, it doesn’t always have a simple reason. It’s often a complex behaviour that is usually emotionally or socially based.

When hu***ng is annoying another dog or person or causing frustration, discomfort or harm in any way, then obviously this behaviour needs to be addressed, but sometimes we need to consider if it’s really something we need to immediately stop because we see it as socially unacceptable?

Is it just a harmless way of relieving stress or anxiety or a way to release excess energy? Is a little hump now and then okay if it’s not causing any harm?

Taking note of the context, environment, or specific triggers can provide information as to what may be causing the behaviour.

An example of this with my own dogs – every week when we got back from a long walk, one of my younger male dogs would hump my little female. She’s an old lady now and finds it stressful so I needed to find a way to prevent it. I believe that hu***ng was his way of self-regulating, releasing the excitement and calming himself down after the walk.

Now when we return from a walk, he gets a long lasting chewy. Chewing is an alternative, incompatible behaviour. It has a calming effect, enables him to relax, self-regulate and has stopped him from hu***ng her.

We should not just be addressing the symptom, but look beneath the behaviour, understand what’s driving it and then address the underlying cause. Suppressing behaviour is not the same as modifying behaviour.

06/08/2026