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Dogs be Dogs Behaviour, training & support for cockapoos, doodles, labradors, spaniels & vizslas in modern pet homes.

Helping owners better understand their dogs across Reading, Berkshire & South Oxfordshire.

23/10/2026

Anybody else?! 🫣🤣

Before your puppy's second vaccination, there is one question worth asking your vet.In the past, I would often see puppi...
20/10/2026

Before your puppy's second vaccination, there is one question worth asking your vet.

In the past, I would often see puppies in my puppy classes at about 11 or 12 weeks old. They had had their vaccinations, they had done their week of waiting, and they would come along to class. So if there were any issues, like a puppy being fearful of other puppies, protective of their food or chews, or scared of the harness or lead, we could pick them up early, before they had a chance to set in.

Recently, though, I am seeing more and more puppies who are not getting out until they are 14, 15, 16 weeks old.

A few weeks ago, I had a large breed puppy come to our socialisation session at 15 weeks old.
That puppy was scared of other dogs and people, would try to hide, but would also growl at the other puppies.

I am also currently working with a six-month-old small breed puppy who did not start going out on walks until he was almost 16 weeks old. He did not get those early interactions with other dogs or that early exposure to the world, so now he is worried about them and barks at every dog and every person he sees on walks. He is a small breed too, so he lives in a world of giants, and things are potentially even scarier for him.

So why does this matter so much?

We talk about the socialisation period and how important it is, but here is why.

From about 3 weeks of age until about 12 to 14 weeks, puppies are in their socialisation period.

During that time a puppy's curiosity outweighs their fear, so they are much more likely to approach new things and much less likely to be frightened of them.

They also recover, or bounce back, from mildly fear-inducing experiences a lot faster at this age.

If those experiences are positive or even neutral, the puppy's brain is creating a reference library: "I have seen a child running with a toy, nothing bad happened, so that is safe. I have seen a big dog, a small dog, a black dog, a fluffy dog, and none of them hurt me, so those dogs are OK."

A few positive or even neutral experiences can be enough to create that reference.

It is worth noting that every puppy is an individual, and it is not like we hit 14 weeks and the puppy turns into a pumpkin.
Puppies can absolutely still learn about the world after that.

It just means we need to be more careful, may need more exposures and more pairing of things with treats, play and good things, and it could be more time consuming.

So why are puppies going out later?

In my experience, we have had changes in vaccinations, and it is making a difference.

Puppy vaccinations cover two main things: DHP (distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus) and leptospirosis, or lepto, which is carried by rats.

Depending on the vaccine your vet uses, the second DHP can be given two weeks after the first, as long as your puppy is at least 10 weeks old.

A week after that, your puppy can go out to most places, while still avoiding areas where rats are more likely, like farmyards and riverbanks.

Lepto 4 needs its two doses four weeks apart.

So what I am seeing is the second appointment being booked for four weeks after the first, when the Lepto 4 is due, and puppies staying indoors for two weeks or more, right when they should be out discovering the world.

Having the second dose of DHP given separately from the lepto will usually allow you to take your puppy out at least a couple of weeks earlier.

And when it comes to socialisation, that is a really big deal!

Some vet practices already split the second appointment, giving the DHP first and the lepto later, for exactly this reason.

It does depend on which vaccine your vet uses, so it is a conversation to have with them.

And if your puppy had their first vaccination at the breeder's, find out which vaccine it was and let your vet know when you book, because I have seen vaccination courses that needed to be started again (and that delays going out even further).

So here is the question to ask your vet: "What can we do to make sure my puppy can go out as soon as safely possible? I would like to start getting out while they are still in their socialisation period."

And then see what your vet says. It is really important to have your vet's advice, as the disease situation in your area may be completely different to the disease situation in mine, so I would absolutely, 100% take my vet's advice on this.

In the meantime, there is still a lot you can do before your puppy is fully vaccinated to help with socialisation.

Sit in the open boot of the car in a supermarket car park and let them watch the world go by. Put their bed in a trolley and wheel them around the garden centre so they can take everything in from the safety of their own bed.
Have visitors round, so they get used to people coming and going, and visit friends with vaccinated, well-adjusted dogs who are happy to have a puppy in their space.

Carrying puppies is great too, but it can be harder to read their body language when they are in your arms, so I would mix it up.

And remember, socialisation does not equal interaction. We want our puppies to be OK with seeing buses and traffic going past, but we do not want them to go and say hello to the buses.
If your puppy's tail is tucked under, their ears are back and they are trying to escape the situation, it is too much for them.

If you have a puppy, check your vaccination schedule and give your vet a call to discuss it.

If you are getting ready to welcome a puppy home, save this and share it with anybody with a new puppy, so more puppies do not miss out on those very, very crucial first few weeks.

References (links in the comments):
• MSD Animal Health, vaccination FAQs for vet practices (Nobivac L4)
• MSD Animal Health, Nobivac DHP product information
• Forest Vets, puppy vaccination protocol
• Veterinary Practice, Socialisation for pre-vaccination puppies
• The Kennel Club, Your puppy's first few weeks at home

Your spaniel will happily work for a biscuit.He'd work a lot harder for your sock.Which tells you something about treats...
30/09/2026

Your spaniel will happily work for a biscuit.
He'd work a lot harder for your sock.

Which tells you something about treats. Food is a brilliant place to start, but it's not the only thing your dog will work for. So how long should you use treats for? Honestly, it really depends.

When a young puppy is only just starting to learn, food is the best and easiest reward there is. You can do a lot of repetitions, which means your puppy learns fairly quickly. Yes, we absolutely can use other things like praise, play and a good fuss. But imagine rewarding your puppy's sit with a fuss or a game with a toy every single time, and how long each repetition would take compared with food. When I'm trying to speed learning up, food is really, really easy. So when I start training a puppy, I use a lot of it.

On top of treats, think about your puppy's daily food allowance, because what an opportunity that is to reward the behaviours you want to see more of. If your puppy is fed dry, weigh or measure out their daily allowance and put it in a Tupperware pot. Give them breakfast as normal. The rest are your free treats. You don't have to think about how many you've used, and you don't have to make any adjustments, because your puppy was going to eat them anyway. It takes away so much of the worry about using loads and loads of treats.

(It's also one of the reasons I don't recommend free feeding a puppy. I want to notice straight away if my puppy is off their food, and that's much harder when the bowl is down all the time. But I digress.)

Every time my puppy does something I like the look of, one of those biscuits goes their way. My puppy looks at me. My puppy follows me. My puppy comes to me when I call their name. Behaviour that gets rewarded gets repeated.

So when do I start using fewer?

It depends on the behaviour. There are two I call lifesavers, and I never stop rewarding them: recall and drop. Those two behaviours can save your puppy's life. If your puppy is charging after a deer towards the main road, you bloody want your recall to work. If they've picked up a cooked chicken bone or a bag of rat poison, you want your drop to work. Those two get paid for life.

For most other things, I start fading the rewards out and making them unpredictable. Take loose lead walking. I start by rewarding my puppy every couple of puppy steps for following me and staying close to me. Then I gradually increase how long they walk with me between rewards. A sit stay is the same. I start by rewarding two or three seconds of staying, then build up to my puppy staying longer and longer between rewards.

What matters even more is that I change what I reward with. I often switch to environmental rewards. When my puppy, or my adult dog, checks in with me on a walk, instead of giving them a treat I'll say "go on then", and off they go to explore and have more sniffs. Instead of a treat for a recall, I might produce a really, really exciting toy and play with them.

With my gundogs in particular, I build value in balls. And I don't just play a traditional game of fetch. That throw of a tennis ball is the reward for an amazing recall. That's where the sock comes in. The dog who's desperate to grab something and carry it is telling you exactly what they'd work for.

Your puppy might not be excited about balls or toys at first. That's fine. I build value in them first, so I have other ways to reward my puppy. Access to the environment and saying hello to another dog can all be rewards too.

These rewards are trickier to use than food, and it takes a bit of practice to get them working for you. Food is really, really easy to use, which is exactly why I start with it. It gets your puppy learning while you build everything else.

If you have a puppy, save this.
If you know someone with a puppy, send it to them.

22/08/2026

Nero started this chase. He’s almost 9 and Elphaba is 7 months.

He stops and waits round the corner to ambush her, and she’s stopped falling for it.

She also stole the toy he actually cared about.

Seven months old and she’s already learning how to work an almost nine year old dog.

Follow for common sense that makes life with a dog easier.

19/08/2026

Pair their name with everything awesome.

Before I put the food bowl down, I say her name. She gets excited. And I use it throughout the day with part of her daily food allowance - I say her name, and I give her food.

I don’t waste my time on sit and wait with food, at least not initially. What I want is a dog who is really, really excited to hear her name and runs to it.

I don’t say her name in vain.

If she’s doing something annoying and I want to interrupt it, she gets “puppy” or “oi”. I’m not using her name to stop something that’s annoying for me but brilliant for her.

That’s how you get a dog who gives up a stolen tea towel.

Follow for common sense that makes life with a dog easier.

Another dog comes into the park and your recall is gone. On lead, he either drags you towards them or plants himself and...
13/08/2026

Another dog comes into the park and your recall is gone. On lead, he either drags you towards them or plants himself and refuses to move until they get close.

Where has your biddable little puppy gone?

You expect puppyhood to be hard. Everyone tells you that bit. And then somewhere around six months, your puppy is toilet trained, the biting has stopped, you have got your house back, and you think: right. Nailed it.

Then at eight months he forgets his own name.

Welcome to adolescence.

There is no fixed timetable for this, which is the first thing people want and the first thing I cannot give them. It depends largely on the size of the dog, and sometimes the breed. Adolescence is the pivot between puppyhood and adulthood, and it arrives when your dog is heading towards social maturity, not on a date you can put in the diary.

Here is what is going on underneath.

We bring puppies home at eight weeks old. In the wild, loosely speaking, a puppy that age would not survive without his mother. He would stay with her and his siblings until adolescence, and then his brain would start telling him to loosen those old bonds and go and form new ones somewhere else. The theory is that this is nature’s way of stopping dogs breeding with their own family. It is not personal. It is a very old instruction, and your sofa-dwelling spaniel is still receiving it.

There is research on this. A 2020 study followed guide dog puppies and tested them on a cue they knew well, sit, at five months old and again at eight months. At eight months they were around twice as likely to ignore their own caregiver. They did it perfectly well for a stranger.

Your dog has not forgotten the cue. He is just declining to do it for you.

Meanwhile his brain is being rebuilt. Old connections pruned, new ones formed, the whole thing a building site with no completion date. And his instincts are arriving at the same time. Your spaniel discovers that hunting is the greatest thing that has ever happened. Your Labrador discovers that other people are amazing. Your Vizsla starts working further and further away from you, exactly as he was bred to.

So what do you do?

You batten down the hatches, and you do not stop training.

Adolescence is not the time to teach new behaviours. It is the time to make the existing ones ridiculously easy to get right. You find new ways to reward staying close. You stop setting your dog up to fail and then feeling let down when he does. And where you can, you make him think that coming back to you was his own idea all along.

It passes. That is the honest bit and the reassuring bit at once.

You do not have to do this on your own either. A 1-2-1 in adolescence is not starting again from scratch. It is finding new ways to make yourself relevant when the world has got louder, and working out what social maturity is doing to your particular dog. Spaniels hunt. Retrievers retrieve. Pointers and Vizslas do all of it, further away from you than you would like.

If you want proof that this happens to all of us: Napa passed her Gundog Club Grade 1 HPR at fourteen months. Obedience, controlled hunting, retrieving, recall. The ink was barely dry on the certificate when a swallow swooped past her, and I lost my dog for an hour in a secure field. Nothing I did made the slightest difference.

Her littermates’ owners had been telling me their recall had fallen apart. I had been quietly smug about it. I ate that.

If your dog is eight months old and pretending he cannot hear you, you have not ruined him and you have not failed. He is a teenager. Keep going, make it easy, and wait it out. And if you need some help along the way - get in touch!

And if you know someone with a twelve-week-old puppy who thinks the hard part is nearly over, send them this, so they know what to expect 🫣.

05/08/2026

Throw a puppy into a free-for-all and one of three things happens.

One - your puppy is fine. You got lucky. It’s the least likely outcome.

Two - your puppy rehearses behaviour you’ll spend months undoing. Rushing up to every dog. Jumping all over them. Learning that other dogs are the most exciting thing in the world - and you’re not.

Three - your puppy gets scared. Hiding under a chair. Trembling behind your legs. Learning that other puppies are bad news. This is how fear of other dogs can start - in a session that was supposed to prevent it.

Socialisation is not puppies playing with puppies. That’s the biggest misconception I hear, and it’s where a lot of problems start.

Real socialisation is teaching your puppy to live in a human world. New sights, sounds, smells, textures. Another dog they can see, and still choose you instead.

That’s Elphaba in the video. The recall is trained - but she can only hear me at all because the world doesn’t overwhelm her.

Exposure does not equal interaction.

Send this to someone who’s just brought a puppy home.

“My puppy hides behind me every time another dog comes near. Will he grow out of it?”I get asked this a lot, and I under...
21/07/2026

“My puppy hides behind me every time another dog comes near. Will he grow out of it?”

I get asked this a lot, and I understand why. At home they’re happy, bouncy, full of themselves. Then you take them out for a walk, another dog appears up ahead, and suddenly they’re a different puppy altogether. Tucked behind your legs. Or barking at the dog across the road. Some plant themselves and refuse to move. Some freeze completely. Some roll onto their back looking for all the world like they’re being friendly, except every muscle is tense.

And the advice you’ll usually hear is that they’re just shy, they need to socialise more, they’ll get over it, they’ll grow out of it.

Here’s the honest version, and it’s not meant to worry you or make you feel you’ve done something wrong: most of the time, fear doesn’t fade on its own. It builds.

This is the bit that surprises people. Every time a puppy meets something that frightens them, at a level they can’t cope with, the fear doesn’t wear off. It gets a little worse each time. It’s the opposite of how you actually help a worried puppy, which is to keep things gentle enough that they never tip into panic, and grow their confidence from there. It’s also why “chuck them in at the deep end and they’ll sort it out” is some of the most damaging advice going. A good puppy class is the opposite of that deep end - a calm, controlled place where a worried puppy only ever meets as much as they can handle at a time.

Now, not every wobble is fear. Sometimes a cockapoo squeaking and pulling towards another dog is just desperate to say hello. The difference is in the body. A frightened puppy makes themselves small, hangs back, wants to move away. An excited one leans in, moves forward, loose and waggy. And it really matters which you’ve got, because that frustrated “let me at them” spaniel, held back on the lead week after week, is very often the reactive adolescent I meet a year later.

This is where puppy classes can really help. Not for the sit and the recall, though that comes too. A good puppy class is one of the only places you can watch your puppy around other dogs and people while someone who knows exactly what they’re looking at is standing right there with you. They can talk it through as it happens, and tell you honestly whether what you’re seeing is normal or something worth working on. And if it does need work, you’re already in the right hands. Sometimes that’s a small change within the class. Sometimes it’s a few gentle socialisation sessions to build confidence. Sometimes it’s a one-to-one. Either way, you’re not left guessing, and you’ve caught it early, while it’s still easy to help.

I’ll leave you with one puppy I worked with. At his very first session he didn’t bark, he screamed, and threw himself at the wall trying to get away from me. Genuinely petrified of people and other dogs. We started him behind a playpen, just watching, nothing asked of him. Then peering over it. Then a couple of puppy friends he decided were safe. He finished as an unstoppable little socialite. He would not be the dog he is today if he’d been left to grow out of it.

If any of that sounds like your puppy, that’s exactly who our puppy classes are for.

Know someone with a puppy? Tag them in a comment!

Link to book in comments.

14/07/2026

This is what a puppy class actually looks like.

Most people booking their first one have no idea what they’re walking into. So here’s ninety seconds of it.

Ball pits, tunnels, things that wobble underfoot. Puppies meeting new surfaces and new sounds and working out, with a bit of help, that new isn’t the same as frightening. Time off lead with other puppies, indoors, where it’s safe to get it wrong.

And if there’s one thing to take away from it - a puppy who looks at you is a puppy who doesn’t pull on the lead. A puppy who looks at you is a puppy who comes back when you call.

Classes run at Mapledurham, just outside Caversham, and Sulhamstead, just outside Burghfield.

Link in the comments if you’re local and want to know more.

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