Reinforcement strategies are one of my absolute passions when it comes to dog training; thinking about what to use, and when with each dog. It's a rabbit hole I went down nearly a decade ago, when it became clear that what I was doing with Ripley wasn't working. I talked about this in another blog post - Tug Isn't The Be All and End All . With Peak, I’m now having to consider a much more specific issue: what happens when the potential reward becomes too high stakes? Peak is a dog with BIG toy...

When you’re looking for a trainer, behaviourist or other pet professional, I think it’s worth thinking about a few things. How do you feel after working with them? How does your dog feel? And here’s an important one that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: what happens when you ask questions about their approach, or even say 'I don’t want to do that'? Anybody on my email list will probably recognise the subject line 'Boundaries'. Some of you may even have received that email more than...

I don’t think I could get up from a chair these days without saying the word 'right' and slapping my thighs. I am very definitely British 🙈 My dogs have definitely noticed.