Speak! Our Pet Blog
Shaping for good behaviour – Karen Phillips
Lots of people come to agility classes in a last ditch attempt to provide their dogs with an outlet for boundless enthusiasm they are struggling to contain at home. Agility is without a doubt a fantastic way to give our dogs extra mental stimulation but often classes are only once a week, so what else […]
Stop! Don’t teach Your dog bad habits – Karen Phillips
When bringing home a new puppy one of the exciting things is that you get to start with a clean slate. Often we begin with all the best intentions teaching our puppies everything the correct way with the goal of ending up with the “perfect”, well behaved dog. This, of course, is easier said than […]
My Favourite Dog Training Books – Karen Phillips
As a dog lover and someone who gets great enjoyment from training my dogs, I get really excited when someone releases a new book or article on dog behaviour. To get the very best out of my dogs requires me to have as great an insight as possible into how they think and to understand […]
Put a positive spin on anxiety – Karen Phillips
Last month’s article was about how dogs can form both negative and positive associations with something, or even someone, based on a good or bad experience that they have had. Bad experiences can create anxiety in your dog which may escalate if you don’t recognise it and work with him to alleviate what he is […]
Clicker training tricks with dogs – Karen Phillips
Back in the late 1990’s I was fortunate enough to be introduced to “clicker training” by one of my agility friends. At the time, most of us were still using choke chains along with correction based training methods; not because we enjoyed it, rather it was the accepted way of dog training at that time. […]
Boomerang dogs, getting them to retrieve – Karen Phillips
One of the interesting topics that have come up for discussion on the Better Pets and Gardens Facebook page is how to teach a dog to retrieve. Dogs tend to come under three different categories; those that love toys and naturally want to bring them back, those that aren’t interested in toys at all and […]
Dog Sports for Active Dogs – Karen Phillips
As a dog owner I’m constantly looking for things to do with my dogs that are both fun and stimulating. Having mostly border collies, a walk around the neighbourhood can get boring and although the beach has always been a favourite option the weather conditions aren’t always suitable. So what else is there to do? […]
Digging Dogs. I don’t dig them! Karen Phillips
A lot of questions that I get on Facebook each week are from owners desperate to find out how to stop their dog from destroying their backyard. This can include digging holes in a favourite garden bed or perfect lawn as well as pulling and then chewing up plants. The biggest problem for us is […]
Controlling my ‘full on’ puppy – Karen Phillips
When I’m ready to bring a new puppy into my home, one of the characteristics I look for is a “full on” personality and a desire to go hard all the time. This is because I do agility with my dogs and the more “up” they are, the more suited to agility they tend to […]
Training Puppies to be Calm Indoors – Karen Phillips
Having two puppies at home, a four month old and a twelve month old, has been challenging to say the least. My quiet evenings in front of the television have been shattered as the puppies won’t leave each other alone whenever they are together. I could just have one outside and one inside but what […]
