Puppy Pals Cumbria

11/09/2026

🐾 We’ve been busy setting up for Alice’s Charity Dog Show! 🐾

There’s loads to have a go at — Parkour, Hoopers, Scentwork and a Gundog Scurry, plus our Tombola and, of course, the dog show itself! 🐶🎉

The weather may be planning to chuck a little rain at us ☔️😂 but we’re hoping it’ll ease off — and we certainly aren’t letting it spoil the fun!

Come along, bring the dogs, have a go at something new and help us raise lots of money for Alice’s Escapes ❤️

See you there! 🐾🐕

06/09/2026

There’s life in the old girl yet! 🥰

Betsy is 13 now, so our games may be a little shorter and adapted to suit her, but she still absolutely loves joining in.

This morning we played a simple searching game. She found her tug toy, had a lovely game of tug, then enjoyed a short bouncy run after it 😍

Older dogs still need opportunities to sniff, search, play and use their brains. We may need to adjust the pace, duration and activity to suit their bodies, but getting older doesn’t mean the fun has to stop.

Sometimes a few joyful minutes are all they need—and Betsy is very happy to demonstrate that 🥰🐾

05/09/2026

Next Saturday don’t forget to pop along to say hi and have some fun with your dog 😍

🐾 THE TIMETABLE IS HERE! 🐾

Alice’s Dog Show is getting VERY close, and we now have the full plan for the day! 🧡

Come along from 11am and have a go at:

🐕 Scurry
🐕 Hoopers
🐕 Parkour
🐕 Scent Work

No experience needed — they’re all just for fun, so come and see what your dog fancies having a go at!

🏆 Then at 1pm, the Dog Show begins!

We’ve got classes for the Glamorous Girls, Bestest Boys, sausage-catching superstars, gorgeous golden oldies, rescue dogs, puppies and trick stars — before finishing with Best in Show at 2.30pm.

And you absolutely do not need a perfectly behaved dog to join us. This is Puppy Pals, after all. We like the norty ones too. 😆

💜 Saturday 12th September
📍 Puppy Pals, Birkrigg Common
⏰ From 11am

There’ll also be refreshments, a tombola, parking and toilets — so come down, have a play, enter a class (or four!) and help us raise money for the brilliant Alice’s Escapes.

👇 Tell us in the comments — which class has your dog's name written all over it?

26/08/2026

🐶 IT’S NATIONAL DOG DAY! 🐶

Although let’s be honest… every day is Dog Day around here! 😂🧡

Today we’re celebrating all the wonderful dogs who make us laugh, keep us company, challenge us, teach us and bring so much joy—and chaos—into our lives.

We’d love to see yours! Share your favourite photo of your dog in the comments and tell us one thing that makes them brilliantly, unmistakably them. 🥰

25/08/2026

🎓🐾 Another round of huge congratulations — this time to our brilliant Progression teenagers!

Equal parts hilarious, enthusiastic and occasionally chaotic, these three have been an absolute joy to teach. 😂

They’ve been building on their foundation skills and learning to listen, think and make good choices even when the world is VERY exciting — no small achievement when you’re an adolescent dog!

They’ve all made fantastic progress, and their humans have worked incredibly hard too. We’re very proud of the lot of you! 🧡

25/08/2026

🎓🐾 Huge congratulations to these six little superstars, who have just completed their six-week Life Skills Foundation course!

Over the past six weeks, they’ve worked on all sorts of useful puppy skills, including focus and connection, recall, loose-lead walking, settling, self-control and making good choices around distractions.

They’ve all grown in confidence, learned loads and kept us thoroughly entertained along the way! 😂

A massive well done to the puppies and their brilliant humans for all the work they’ve put in between classes. You should be very proud of yourselves! 🧡

23/08/2026

🐾 Can your dog still listen when there’s something MUCH more exciting going on?

Recall, stop whistle, chase, toys, movement, distractions… this is where training starts to get really useful.

🐕 We can’t control what’s out there in the real world. Dogs, wildlife, smells, movement and all sorts of exciting things are going to happen.

What we can do is practise our skills around gradually increasing distractions, so our dogs learn that listening to us is still worth it — even when something else looks very tempting!

🎯 Build the skills first.
🌱 Add distractions gradually.
🧠 Practise making good choices.
🎾 And make coming back to you part of the fun!

Because the goal isn’t a dog who only listens when there’s nothing else going on. 🧡

👀 Want to know how we teach it? We’ll be sharing a how-to video soon, breaking it down and showing you how to start building these skills with your own dog. Keep an eye out for it!

18/08/2026

🐕 Be careful where you get your dog training advice from.

Being good at Instagram or TikTok does not make somebody good at training dogs.

📱 Social media is FULL of dog training advice. Some of it is brilliant. Some of it is outdated, misleading or potentially harmful.

And some of it is being made primarily because dramatic dogs, quick transformations and controversial opinions get views, likes and comments.

👀 A huge following doesn't make somebody an expert.

A beautifully trained dog doesn't tell you how they got there.

A dramatic before-and-after doesn't show you what happened between the before and the after.

And confidence on camera isn't the same thing as understanding behaviour.

🧠 So look beyond the content.

Do they understand how dogs learn?

Can they explain why they're doing something rather than simply telling you to do it?

Does their advice reflect current behavioural science?

Do they keep learning, questioning and developing what they do?

What happens when a dog struggles or gets something wrong?

🔎 And, importantly, are they transparent about their methods?

If somebody is giving you dog-training advice, you should be able to easily find out what tools and methods they use.

If they use food, toys and access to things the dog enjoys — great. Say so.

If they use corrections, slip leads, prong collars or e-collars — they should say so too.

⚠️ You shouldn't have to dig through somebody's content trying to work out what happens when the camera isn't showing you.

There are some absolutely fantastic trainers and behaviour professionals sharing their knowledge online, and social media can be a brilliant place to learn.

💭 Just remember:

A polished social-media presence tells you how good somebody is at social media. It doesn't tell you how good they are at training dogs.

🧡 Look for knowledge. Look for transparency. Look for kindness. Look for someone whose ethics align with yours.

You and your dog deserve that. 🧡

16/08/2026

🐾 THE TIMETABLE IS HERE! 🐾

Alice’s Dog Show is getting VERY close, and we now have the full plan for the day! 🧡

Come along from 11am and have a go at:

🐕 Scurry
🐕 Hoopers
🐕 Parkour
🐕 Scent Work

No experience needed — they’re all just for fun, so come and see what your dog fancies having a go at!

🏆 Then at 1pm, the Dog Show begins!

We’ve got classes for the Glamorous Girls, Bestest Boys, sausage-catching superstars, gorgeous golden oldies, rescue dogs, puppies and trick stars — before finishing with Best in Show at 2.30pm.

And you absolutely do not need a perfectly behaved dog to join us. This is Puppy Pals, after all. We like the norty ones too. 😆

💜 Saturday 12th September
📍 Puppy Pals, Birkrigg Common
⏰ From 11am

There’ll also be refreshments, a tombola, parking and toilets — so come down, have a play, enter a class (or four!) and help us raise money for the brilliant Alice’s Escapes.

👇 Tell us in the comments — which class has your dog's name written all over it?

15/08/2026

🧡 Sometimes it takes someone who only sees your puppy once a week to notice just how much they’ve changed.

🐶 When you live with a puppy every day, it can be really hard to see the progress — especially when you’re having a tough week.

🦈 And this week Bella's biting has been hard. Really hard at times. And while puppy biting is common, saying “puppies bite” doesn’t make it hurt less or make living with it day after day any easier.

Because I only get to see her once a week, I also get a different view.

🌟 Yesterday I could see changes that are much harder to notice when you’re living with her 24/7. She coped really well with me being there, spent much more time pottering about and entertaining herself, and there were significantly fewer bitey moments than I’ve seen previously.

That doesn’t make the difficult bits any less difficult.

It just means that both things can be true at the same time: this can be really bloody hard AND progress can still be happening.

🆘 Sometimes our job isn’t to turn up and teach a new behaviour. Sometimes it’s to support the humans, help them understand what’s happening, tweak things where we can, remind them of what they already know and help them navigate the tougher patches.

🧡 So Team Bella — you’re ALL doing really brilliantly.

😂 And after all that, Bella had a very necessary nap and woke up having apparently completed the next stage of ear development.