Cumbria Dog Training

23/10/2026

Oh I hate telling people this.

"He loves belly rubs!"

He might. Just not this one. Not right now.

That belly up, paws tucked, whale eye, mouth tight? That's not "more please." That's a "please stop."

A lot of dogs learn to tolerate touch that they don't actually enjoy.

So we pause. We check.
Does he actively seek more?

If not, we let it end.

If we only listen when they say yes, we're not really listening.

23/10/2026

MIND YOUR MANNERS!

The safe, respectful, polite way to interact with a dog.

Imagine a stranger walking up to you, invading your personal space, touching you without consent or maybe cornering or restraining you so you can’t get away.

Would you feel threatened? Would you feel safe? Would you accept this without reacting?

You try to communicate your discomfort, but the person ignores you and continues to touch you, leaving you no choice but to defend yourself.

This is perfectly understandable when it comes to people, but somehow, we often don’t understand that dogs have the same need for space, choice, consent and safety.

Dogs are frequently approached, touched and crowded by people without being given a choice. Their body language signals of stress are not understood or simply ignored.

Then, when a dog growls, snaps or reacts defensively, we act surprised.

One of my own dogs is particularly sensitive to unfamiliar people. If we have visitors, I always ask that they give her space and avoid trying to interact with her.

She needs to make the decision that she feels comfortable enough to approach and interact.

So often, my request is ignored. Sometimes resulting in a reactive response from my dog. The person is then genuinely shocked - What's wrong with your dog? Why is she so aggressive!

The real question should be - why wasn't her need for space respected?

Her personal space had been invaded, she had not been given the opportunity to feel safe or choose to engage. When her body language didn’t work to keep the person at a distance, her behaviour escalated.

We expect people to respect our personal boundaries. We expect to have a say in who touches us, when and where they touch us and if it’s acceptable. Why should it be different for dogs?

Dogs are not public property. They are sentient individuals with their own preferences, fears, boundaries and ways of communicating.

Being friendly, familiar or well-behaved does not mean a dog is freely available for anyone to touch.

Feeling safe is rooted in choice, in consent and the right to say no and we need to respect that.

22/10/2026

Dogs need to sniff
But
How is your sniffing!!
your dog sniff

20/10/2026

DOGS READ ENERGY FIRST.

Are you communicating with your dog with too many words which is creating confusion?

How much do you talk to your dog?
How many times do you repeat and correct
How many times do you explain

Don't get me wrong, of course we can talk to our dogs but when it matters are we expecting too much through too much chatter but also the wrong energy,our words carry energy, the more you talk and chat the more gets lost in that conversation.

Your dog is reading you, your body language, your tone, your facial expressions and also your emotional state.

You may be telling your dog one thing but your energy is saying something different.

Our dogs need to feel safe with us, we do that by being consistent and clear with clear boundaries and structure.

Sometimes we talk more through our own insecurities, if you are feeling insecure and anxious with your dog when out and about, simplify where you go, reduce the distractions and the "what ifs"

Slow things down
Calm your voice.
Soften your body but remain confident
Be happy with being quiet

We talk too much to our dogs, when they need our clarity and when they need time to just "be"

Try and have a day of being quieter with them and see what happens!

18/10/2026

Some dogs should never meet at all.
And saying that doesn't make you mean. It makes you the one who is paying attention.

A bouncy, in-your-face teenager and a shut-down, disinterested, low-energy dog?
A dog who's had very few good experiences with other dogs and a dog who wants to take on and wrestle the world?

That's not an introduction.
That's a setup.

I know, there's so much pressure to get it perfect.
Pressure from friends and family to meet their dog.

You can say yes. There just needs to be a bit of prep first.

What we do need to be wary of is setting them up. And not in the good way.
Certain things do need caution. They can create competition before there's even trust. And that's a longer road you really don't want.

Parallel walks are still my favourite. Same direction. Enough space that both dogs can breathe. No forced hellos. Sometimes it's one walk. Sometimes it's a few. Both are completely normal.

If your last intro went sideways and got barky, stressy and messy, that doesn't mean your dog failed.

Maybe the situation failed your dog.
And next time, you get to do it differently. Or not at all.

Both can be the right answer.

16/10/2026

You will struggle to work with distractions if your dog is too aroused

15/10/2026

💩 BETTER P**P MAY BE JUST THE BEGINNING.

A new peer-reviewed, randomized 6-month study compared dogs eating fresh food with dogs eating ultra-processed kibble.

Within about a week, the fresh-fed dogs were already producing firmer, better-formed p**p.

But what was happening INSIDE the gut was even more interesting. 🤯

After six months, f***l butyrate was ~87% higher in the fresh-fed dogs. The fresh group started with a head start, but the gap became much larger over the six months.

Butyrate helps support the gut barrier, healthy digestion and inflammation control — all important defenses for long-term health.

Researchers also found that the two diets produced distinctly different gut microbiomes, showing how strongly the food in the bowl can influence the gut.

Previous research shows fresh foods can also have higher nutrient and protein digestibility than kibble. Simply put, your dog can use more of what’s in the bowl, so less comes out the other end. 💩

🥩🥦 This is another reason I’m such a big advocate for adding fresh, minimally processed foods to our dogs’ bowls.

You don’t have to change everything overnight. Adding wholesome, minimally processed foods is a simple way to improve the quality of what goes into the bowl.

Because what you feed doesn’t just feed your dog.

It feeds their gut too. ❤️🐶

14/10/2026

More great info

I worked with more new clients today who had seen 2 other trainers and a behaviourist and none of them had explained about trigger stacking and arousal levels 🙈

Yeah, yeah. Trigger stacking 🥱
I know. We harp on about it.

But it's fundamental to understanding and helping a dog.

And those triggers?
They can be pretty insignificant when looked at individually.
A sniff that went wrong, a rattling trailer driving past or even a barking dog behind a fence.

That's why we always need to keep trigger stacking tucked away in the back of our minds.

It's often easy to recognise when a dog has reached complete emotional overload.
Clear as day.

All those other stages?
Sometimes not so clear.

And when things aren't quite so obvious, it's easy to make decisions to stay at the park a little longer, meet that next dog, or greet that person.
When maybe we should have recognised what our dog was already telling us.

And those stages?
They're not really a reliable, fixed scale.
Dogs won't necessarily work their way neatly or clearly through each one.
The stages can overlap, those changes can be really subtle, and recovery?
Yup, pretty individual too.

So maybe it's time to stifle that yawn and give trigger stacking the attention it deserves.
Because those seemingly small, insignificant experiences can add up.

And what a dog could cope with an hour ago might be something they simply can't cope with now.

Even your dog.

13/10/2026

Hold them a little closer tonight and love a little deeper
❤️🐾🙏🐾❤️