Cumbria Dog Training

The blog has been a bit quiet and I don't know why as alot has been going on! Lewis arrived a week ago for a month of training with me, he is a lovely Collie who just needs to be taught some manners and also needs to learn that the post does NOT need help coming through the letter box! Another new arrival is staying for just 1 week of training, I call it having a tidy up.... her owner has done the training with me and while he is away I am putting in the finishing touches. She is a lovely little black lab called Jussi and she is having a lovely time making new friends. Prospetive clients have been visiting me and my guest dogs in the view of boarding their dogs with me here. This is great as I can put their minds at rest that their pet is going to be very well looked after with me, they leave feeling very happy that while they are away on holiday there dog will be having a good time too.

For the last few days I've had Gracie home boarding with me. She's a West Highland Terrier who unfortunately had a fear of other dogs ......... or  did. The first evening she was very wary. At every opportunity she was under the chair or in the corner, but I'm afraid this wasn't going to help her conquer her problems. So out she came - only to have Honey introduce herself ! And little by little, with playtime happening inside and out, we now have a far more confident little dog. She is very happy running around with the others and certainly knows what her legs are for ! I just hope this confidence is here to stay when she goes back home. Janet

I thought for once I would "toot my own horn", so's to speak, as to my training yesterday. Throughout the day I was busy, dealing with basic training, sheep chasing and behaviour work. And it was the last of these that I was most proud of. The owners arrived with a large German Shepherd who had a habit of lunging at other dogs - not something any dog owner wants to experiance ! Two others had tried to stop this from happening, including a former police dog handler - but nothing had changed. Thankfully it was third time lucky with me. With Paul and Fran walking past and around me with different dogs - big, small, quiet, yappy! - I managed to solve the problems very quickly. And in the owners hands, their dog behaved just as she had for me. So apologies for boasting a little but this event made me feel particularly satisfied. Janet

Life is never dull. Having met Fran for lunch a couple of days ago, I decided to opt for the British favourite of fish and chips. I should have gone with soup! Somehow I  managed to get a fish bone lodged in my throat and as a result had to stay overnight at the Cumberland Infirmary, where I was knocked out before the damn thing could be removed !! Some wit had put the bone in a small tube and wrote on the side "Nil By Mouth - Do Not Swallow" ! Jack went back to his owners two days ago - only to disgrace himself on his first full day home. This morning I paid a home visit to try and determine what had actually happened and to make this potential bruiser realise just where he stands in the pack ! At the moment, I have my long term friend (no longer "guest"!) Spike staying and a new arrival, Gracie, who is boarding with me for four nights. But enough dog talk. I'm off to puree my dinner. Janet

Having achieved all I could with Ellie, her owners and I decided it would be best to return her to own home and for me to make a number of home visits to see if all my training had paid off in the environment it’s most needed. Our first visit took us to the vets in Appleby, a place which Ellie knows and where she would become over excited and a bit of a handful. Her owner was wished “good luck” when, on a previous visit, she had said she was going to have her dog trained to become a much calmer animal. So it was a real joy to be there and see such a different dog! Her owner was thrilled to see Ellie behaving in such a calm manner and this continued around the town, as we were met by people young and old. Not wishing to be left out of “the new me” category, Jack has continued to impress! He is such a calm dog now who takes notice of Paul’s commands as well as mine. I say this because I believe it’s important he doesn’t respect just one person – me. The last thing I want is for him to i...

Having recently enjoyed a real change in the behaviour of Jack, I asked Paul to take him out today, both on and off lead. It was a real joy to hear that Jack is fast becoming a reformed character. No more attempts at trying to pull arms out of sockets or of jumping at the first person he sees. We now appear to have a dog who does as instructed and who has certainly turned a corner. Despite his stubborness I always believed that this would happen and that underneath is an absolutely lovely dog.............who, by the way, has now found his water wings! And as for Ellie - what a lovely and loving dog who has grown on confidence. More on this later but for now two hastily taken pics of her in action earlier today. Janet What's Ellie running after ?? Of course !!

What has happened to the beautiful weather of a couple of days ago? But whatever the weather the dogs are out and today Ellie, another training girl who is with me for a month decided that it was time for a swim even in the rain! She looks as if she is drowning but trust me she isn't she seems to swim vertically!   "Is it cold Ellie? " Wait for me!! I can honestly say that all my guests are now sound asleep in their beds after having extra for their dinner, what shall we do tomorrow...........

Taking time out from my training and joining my daughter Fran on one of her training sessions with Hugo and of course our supervisor Honey!! Hugo is with Fran for at least a month for her to train him to be a working boy in the field and maybe trialling too. He is a lovely boy and is enjoying his stay with us.

Jack's training is going so well that we can now progress our training to different areas to teach him that it applies to every where not just places he knows. So today we walked through open fields which had different smells, distractions and the river Eden!! By Jack's reaction I don't think that he had been in this situation before, I think he thought it was a big puddle!! He dipped a foot in and realised that it was wet and then ventured further and absolutely loved it. I threw a ball in for him and unfortunately it sank but Jack could see it and before he knew it his head was submerged and he came back up looking rather bewildered!!! Lets just say by the time we had walked home he was ready for his bed.