Seriously Dogs Training

26/05/2026

Before thinking 'how can I train this?', first think 'is it fair to ask this of my dog?'

The ability to change behaviour doesn't give us the right to do so, without consideration of our dogs welfare.

Photo of snoozey dogs just because....and because it's unusual for these 2 to be in contact 😁

22/05/2026

Emotions infect backwards through time. So events which preceeded an unpleasant experience can become affected by the same negative emotion. Why does this matter when we are trying to address a behaviour issue? It matters because purely adding positive reinforcement into the environment in which the original aversive experience happened will probably fail. This is why we will usually start addressing an issue in a different environment. Sometimes this can be seen by clients as 'avoiding' the issue, which is far from the truth...we are purely changing the environment to make emotion change possible before gradually moving back to the original environment.
A recent example of this is a lovely young labrador that I have started working with. He has become reluctant to get out of the car at his normal training venue, probably due to being startled by a loud noise shortly after leaving the car. He has even picked up on cues that this is a 'training' situation (training vest etc). His lovely owner is committed to working through this to help him learn to trust her that it is safe to leave the car. So she has started training in a different venue, doing a different activity, not even putting training vest on. At his first session he was very worried about leaving the car, once he did manage to get out he had fun with some no pressure training. Second session he was still worried but less so, managed to exit the car more quickly, we played some games of 'get in the car...get out of the car' then again went and did some fun training. I'm looking forward to the day when he is completely relaxed and enthusiastic about leaving the car for training.
Sometimes we have to back pedal on our long term goals in order to move forwards. Sometimes we have to shift environments to help our dogs, rather than being single minded about confronting an issue head on in the original environment.

17/05/2026

Hoopers Course Running Sessions, Sun 7th June and Sun 12th July, 10am. A chance to have fun and test your skills over a course/train course sequences. £15 per dog payable on booking. At Buckland Farm, West Buckland TA219LN. Please contact Teresa to book 🙂. Everyone welcome, you don't need to train with me to come along. Depending on numbers booked, and the weather forecast, I may spilt into 2 groups for working.

10/05/2026

Another fun morning at hoopers course running. As usual I was caught up in the session and failed to take photos/videos 🙃. Once again it was great to see teams achieving more than the human part of the teams thought was possible when they first walked the course 😁. Some really lovely clear rounds. Well done everyone 👏.

29/04/2026

On the Motivation Course we talked about trying to spend 10mins a day doing something which our dog wants to do...no agenda from us, no list of behaviours to work on, no expectations of our dog. Just time together, just time being involved with what they chose to do. Dogs understand 'give and take', especially with sports dogs we expect to 'take' a lot. Mog has always loved observing everything from the garden, as he's got older this is still an important part of his life. So here we are just sitting together in the garden. Teasel joins in but mainly because she hates to be left out of anything 😂

12/04/2026

A lovely, busy weekend. Yesterday was the last session of the Motivation Course. I've loved running this course, it's been great to step back from a list of required behaviours and deep dive into what each individual dog on the course actually 'wants '. All the dogs on the course were very different... it was lovely seeing them develop, and their humans gaining a better understanding of how to work with their dog. If you might be interested in joining this course please get in touch as I will be looking at running it again. This morning was hoopers course running. The weather gods were kind to us, so we managed to work out on the grass. Well done to all the teams who took part, some lovely work, and as always, lots of fun. There are still a couple of spaces left on the 10th May session, so if you would like to join us get in touch🙂 .

28/03/2026

Sorting out my shed 😂. Tunnel bags to fit hoopers tunnels (80cm diameter) looking for a new home. Collection from Wellington. Don't want anything for them but would be lovely if whoever has them makes a small donation (at your discretion) to a dog charity of your choice.

09/03/2026

Hoopers Course Running Sessions, Sun 12th April and Sun 10th May, 10am. A chance to have fun and test your skills over a course/train course sequences. £15 per dog payable on booking. At Buckland Farm, West Buckland TA219LN. Please contact Teresa to book 🙂. Everyone welcome, you don't need to train with me to come along. Depending on numbers booked, and the weather forecast, I may spilt into 2 groups for working.

01/03/2026

A lovely morning hoopers course running today 😀...made even better by the weather being kind enough for us to work outdoors. Well done to all the teams who took part. Video of Alison and Bracken demonstrating beautifully that hoopers is about flow rather than speed 👏.

22/02/2026

This is such an important topic and one we tend not to talk about...sadly it's one of our dogs life stages and we are all going to have to face this at some point. This podcast is great. If any of you are at this point, I'm sending you love and strength 🥰

In this heartfelt episode, Emma and Kirsten sit down with certified dog behavior consultant and trainer Helen St. Pierre to talk about one of the most emotional — and important — chapters of life with our dogs: their senior years. We explore how to support aging dogs as their needs change, from ...