Cumbria Dog Training

Cumbria Dog Training Dog Trainer, guiding you to a better and deeper understanding of your dog
Working on connection and boundaries through stimulation and fun from you.

Recall with and without distractions
Helping you work with your reactive dog
Energy worker
Shamanic Healer The decision to open Cumbria Dog Training came about while recuperating from a serious illness. At the time I was a partner in a different dog training business, where I'd met many people and trained many dogs. Along the way, different owners had suggested I should "go it alone" and set up my

own business. As I slowly returned to full health, I decided it was time to act on these comments and in 2010 Cumbria Dog Training was born. My only regret ? I should have done it a long time ago ! For further information, please visit my website and blog. http://www.cumbria-dog-training.com/
http://cumbria-dog-training.blogspot.co.uk/
https://plus.google.com/b/107374370416953227770/

This young lad returned yesterday to start more training.Progressing the work now with an adolescent dog.It’s crucial th...
06/09/2026

This young lad returned yesterday to start more training.

Progressing the work now with an adolescent dog.

It’s crucial that he knows boundaries and does as he is told when necessary as he is a strong lad already weighing 42kg. This of course applies to any breed.

He is a great companion for his owners who take him everywhere but know they have to be clear leaders.

Good work with a great lad.

I worked with this lovely lad and his owner yesterday Tidying up recall when he has a ball and going to work with dogs a...
04/09/2026

I worked with this lovely lad and his owner yesterday

Tidying up recall when he has a ball and going to work with dogs as a distraction and using the ball as a reward

Building and training foundations before going out to rehearse and perform

“I need my dog to recall when it’s away from me… SO THAT’S WHERE I NEED TO TRAIN IT, RIGHT?”❗❗WRONG......If you want you...
04/09/2026

“I need my dog to recall when it’s away from me… SO THAT’S WHERE I NEED TO TRAIN IT, RIGHT?”

❗❗WRONG......

If you want your dog to reliably come back to you from a distance, don’t start by sending it 50 metres away and shouting “COME!”

You start with your dog next to you.

Why?

Because recall is a behaviour you need to build, not a button you press when your dog is already miles away.

Start close.

➡️Reward your dog in the place where recall is, multi feed it or feed it a meal to the cue where you want your dog to recall to.
➡️ Call your dog from a couple of steps away.
➡️ Make coming back to you easy.
➡️ Reward the behaviour you want.
➡️ Build distance GRADUALLY.
➡️ Then add distractions.
➡️ Then practise in different environments.

Think of it as building a strong foundation for your recall building to be built on without wobbling.

And guess what many owners miss?......…

DISTANCE is a distraction.

The further your dog gets from you, the more opportunity there is for the environment to become interesting, exciting or rewarding.

So if your dog struggles to recall from 20 metres, repeatedly calling it from 20 metres away isn't training.

You may just be rehearsing failure!! especially if you actually reward your dog when it does eventually return to you!!

Make success easy.

Start near you.

Build the distance.

Then build the distractions.

There are no shortcuts to a reliable recall.

03/09/2026

Unpacking bags takes time, each dog is different

TRAINING MANAGES BEHAVIOUR — BUT IT DOESN’T ALWAYS FIX THE CAUSE.Regulate before you educate....We need to stop looking ...
03/09/2026

TRAINING MANAGES BEHAVIOUR — BUT IT DOESN’T ALWAYS FIX THE CAUSE.

Regulate before you educate....

We need to stop looking at behaviour as the whole problem.

❗Pulling on the lead.
❗Lunging.
❗Barking.
❗Chasing.
❗Ignoring you.
❗Overreacting.
❗Unable to settle.

Training can teach your dog what to do instead.

Don't get me wrong, that is important.

But....
If we only train the behaviour without asking why it is happening in the first place, we may simply be just putting a lid on the problem.

We must ask ourselves what is driving the behaviour?

🐶Is your dog overwhelmed?
🐶Over-aroused?
🐶Frustrated?
🐶Fearful?
🐶Lacking confidence?
🐶Not having its needs met?
🐶Struggling with the environment?
🐶Carrying accumulated stress?
🐶Lacking the skills to cope with what you are asking?

Your dog's behaviour is the communication.

Training gives your dog alternative behaviours and better skills to navigate the world.

But understanding the cause allows you to choose the right training, at the right level, at the right time.

There is a huge difference between.....

“How do I stop my dog doing this?”

and

“Why does my dog feel the need to do this?”

Don't just train the behaviour.

Understand the dog behind it.

Change then happens on a deeper trusting level for your dog

02/09/2026

You're trying but getting nowhere fast.
Reactivity. It gets attention.

Everything else?
Not so much.

Does that matter?
Absolutely it does.

You can be fighting a losing battle day in, day out if the "whole" isn't looked at.

Whether we want to see that bigger picture, that's another thing altogether.
Because it can be deeply uncomfortable to audit their life and our life with them.

And often we can't see that bigger picture because we're simply too close to it.

We think something doesn't matter.
That it has nothing to do with "the issue".
But it can absolutely fuel it.

Sometimes the things we dismiss are the very things that need to be addressed.

Training?
That's one part of working with a reactive dog.

Everything else?
Everything plays a part in a dog's life.

How can it not?

If the children are so active in your home that they're constantly turning your dog's "on switch"?
That matters.

If there is arguing and tension inside the home?
That matters.

If your dog spends every afternoon highly alert, watching the world go past the window?
That matters.

If there's tension between the dogs in the home that never quite becomes a fight, so it's dismissed as nothing?
It absolutely matters.
It all matters.

None of these things means we've suddenly found "the cause".
There won't necessarily be a "eureka" moment here.

But imagine trying to teach a dog to cope better with one difficult part of their life while ignoring all the other things making that life harder.

Maybe, just maybe, we are looking in all the wrong places for a solution.

FIELD TRIP.You wouldn’t take a class of children on a geography field trip without first teaching them what they need to...
02/09/2026

FIELD TRIP.

You wouldn’t take a class of children on a geography field trip without first teaching them what they need to know in the classroom! (Yes I admit it. I'm very visual!!)

You’d introduce the map.
Learn the terminology.
Understand the basics.
Practise the skills.

Then you’d take those skills out into the real world.

Dog training works in a similar way.

🏫 The classroom = your controlled training environment.

This is where your dog learns what a cue means, how to respond, how to engage with you and how to succeed without being overwhelmed by distractions.

🌍 The field trip = the real world.

You’ve taught your dog to sit in the kitchen.

Brilliant.

Now you take them to the park and they don’t listen.

“But they KNOW it!”

Do they?

Or do they just know it in the kitchen?

Training your dog is a lot like preparing for a geography field trip.

🏫 First comes the classroom......Many classrooms out in the world.

You teach the skill somewhere your dog can actually concentrate.

You build understanding.
You build repetition.
You build success.

🌍 Then comes the field trip.

And suddenly the classroom has disappeared.

New smells.
New sights.
Dogs.
People.
Traffic.
Wildlife.
Movement.
Excitement.

The environment has changed — so the difficulty has changed.

And this is where many owners make the mistake of blaming the dog.

Your dog hasn't forgotten the training.
You've skipped the fieldwork.

You can't expect a dog to go from.......

Kitchen → busy park → reliable behaviour without building the steps in between.

Take the classroom outside......
Then the quiet street.
Then the slightly busier street.
Quiet corner of a park/open space
Then somewhere with distractions at a distance that your dog can manage including scent.
Then somewhere more challenging.

ONE ENVIRONMENT AT A TIME, OVER TIME....there is no rush...you cannot rush the process and remember each dog is different.

Dogs don't automatically generalise what they've learned.

If you only ever practise the behaviour in one place, you're not teaching your dog that the behaviour has to work everywhere.

You're teaching them that it works there.

So stop saying:

❌ “But he knows it at home.”

Start asking:

✅ “Have I actually taught him how to do it here?”

Training isn't about collecting commands.

It's about taking what your dog has learned in the classroom and teaching them how to use it in the real world.

Classroom first.
Field trip second.
Reliability comes from doing both.

Master Chip went on a short walk on the fell today for me to see how he is progressing and we practiced recall and he responded well each time and also some love bubble ....... of course!
Master Chip was a star!🥰

02/09/2026

It doesn’t need to be a battle

🐾 YOUR PUPPY KNOWS THE CUE… BUT ARE THEY ACTUALLY TRAINED?Train instead of testing, your pup isn't ready yet......Your p...
31/08/2026

🐾 YOUR PUPPY KNOWS THE CUE… BUT ARE THEY ACTUALLY TRAINED?

Train instead of testing, your pup isn't ready yet......

Your puppy can sit when you say “sit.”

They can lie down when you ask.

They might come running when you call them.

So...... you might think…“Great! They’re trained!!!”

Not quite.......😉

Your puppy has learnt the cue.

That is very different from being trained to reliably respond to it.

A puppy may know exactly what “sit” means in your kitchen, your garden, with no distractions, when they’re calm and looking at you.

Now ....... take that same puppy outside!!

There are smells:-
🐾Birds.
🐾People.
🐾Dogs.
🐾Movement.
🐾Excitement.
🐾Different surfaces.
🐾Different environments.
🐾Different energies

Suddenly that “sit” has disappeared!! 😂

This doesn't mean your puppy is being stubborn or awkward

It means the behaviour hasn't been built, strengthened and generalised, proofed yet.

Dogs don't automatically understand that:

“Sit in the kitchen” = “sit in the park” = “sit outside/inside the cafe/pub” = “sit when another dog walks past.” etc etc

Every environment adds another layer to the training to build that solid foundation.

So don't rush your puppy because they can perform a behaviour once or twice.

Learning the cue is just the start.

Training comes next.

Build it slowly....

🐶Repeat it in different places.
🐶Change the distractions gradually.
🐶Work through different arousal levels.
🐶Reward the behaviour you want.
🐶Give your puppy plenty of opportunities to succeed.

BUT most importantly…

Don't keep increasing the difficulty just because you're bored with the easy stuff!

Your puppy isn't bored.

They're building the foundations they will rely on for the rest of their life.

There are no shortcuts to reliability.

30/08/2026

Adolescence
Not an easy phase
If you’re struggling get in touch

Address

Bampton
Penrith
CA102QJ

Telephone

+441931713304

Website

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