Carl Cooper telephoned me with regard to booking a dog training class with his four month old Akita, Billy. I informed him that a suitable course was due to start the following week and that he was welcome to attend. He reacted in a somewhat surprised manner that I had suggested that he attend and said that he had been told that dog training should not start until at least six months of age by
Playtime for your dog should be great… but what if? By Lez Graham
Playtime is great for you and playtime is great for your dog, but only if approached in the same manner as everything else you do with your dog and that is with you monitoring the play and taking control as necessary. Playtime involving other dogs can go wrong in other ways, not only could it lead to your dog learning to ignore you because he was having such a good time… There’s just something about
Don’t touch the dog… regardless of how cute that dog may look, don’t touch him. By Lez Graham
Dogs have simply got to be one of the most touchable animals on the planet, especially as a species, humans tend to be touchy-feely, reaching to touch, hug and pat anything we can get our hands on. However it’s rarely appropriate to touch a dog that doesn’t belong to you unless you know the owner and the dog really well, and never, a dog that is tied up… Today we mourn the passing of a
The Changing times of the Dog… by Lez Graham
Owning and living with a dog is one of the best things that life has to offer and I know when my dogs aren’t around, the house feels empty. But dog ownership and relationship with our dogs has changed. We live in a culture of fast lives which brought with it fast food and convenience stores and lost time to ‘just be’. As part of this change in lifestyle and culture, the dog, whether it
Labrador, Cocker Spaniel, Weimaraner, Pointer, Red Setter What have they all got in common? They’re gundogs… by Lez Graham
In this series of three articles, Lez Graham, author of the bestselling Pet Gundog series of books and DVDs, introduces you to the psyche of the gundog and what it means to live with one. This first article is all about understanding the breed and what makes a gun dog a Gundog… So what was it about the gun dog breed that did it for you? The cuteness of the spaniel with their big fluffy
Dog Surprise – The unknown quantity
Our dogs often respond behaviourally to different stimuli and locations and the resulting behaviour can be quite a shock or surprise to the owner. One could say that our dogs have secret behaviour waiting to spring on us so we have to stay watchful at all times! Dog ownership is something that many of choose to do – and once we’ve had one dog, most of us continue to do so for life. Owning dogs
Dog Rescue, Training and Behaviour by Sara Munke
Dog rescue, dog training and behaviour are not words that most people would normally expect to see in the same sentence. However, for the staff at Chilterns Dog Rescue Centre rescue, behaviour and training go hand in hand, in order to achieve a happy outcome for the dogs in their care. The Chilterns Dog Rescue Society (CDRS) is a registered charity which was founded in 1963. It is based at Ashley Green near Chesham in
Talking to your dog by Lez Graham
or should that be “Sorry, were you talking to me?” The voice is one of the most powerful tools we have when training our dogs and yet it’s one of the most misused and wasted. Because, unlike with hand signals, your dog doesn’t have to see you to know you’re giving it a command, means you can give your dog instructions when you’re out of sight… When we talk to our dogs, whether that’s around
Dog Walkies by Ross McCarthy
Dogs and walking go together like jelly and ice cream; when you get a dog; even people who know very little about them seem to instinctively know that you must walk them. Every day, come rain or shine all across the country you will see people out for a stroll with their canine companions. For most dogs, the walk is the highlight of the day (second only to feeding time!). With my own dogs, they
Dogs Rule Okay by Colin Tennant
A Bundle of Bad Behaviour Last week while at my desk thinking about the days canine behaviour consultations and going over the advice I had given the owners about controlling their pets in this or that situation, I realised that not only did most of these despairing owners need advice on how to control their pet but that some of these same pets, full of character and of exceptional intelligence, had learnt more about human