Keeping it in the family

With day courses, training lessons, residential training dogs and boarding dogs starting to put a strain on us, we have asked our eldest daughter Rachel to join the business - something she did with a huge smile on her face !filling up my days from dawn to dusk, Rachel is very capable of working with dogs, be it training or walking on the hills, though her main work is being a Reiki Practitioner working with animals.
Her first role - and with the blessing of his owner, has been to train the basics to a 5 month old Miniature Schnauzer who goes by the name of Henry.
Proof of her ability to train has been demonstrated over the past 2 weeks since Henry arrived. Hed become far too big for his boots at home with no respect for his owner, whose hands he would bite !
However Rachels calm but firm approach has seen this little lad change from a thug into a dog who fully respects her and the commands she gives. At 5 months of age theres still much he has to learn but he has made a brilliant start. Well done Rach !

"I love you Rachel"!

Meet Henry

A day in the life of ..... Janet finished late this afternoon working with two dogs, one of whom was aggressive towards other dogs. It was interesting to see how she dealt with them, from the moment they were brought out of their car, hyper and with tails in the air, to the moment they returned, calm, tails down and altogether much better behaved.
The "aggressive" one became very passive when introduced to three other dogs ..... no doubt realising just who was on the other end of the lead ! (Paul)

Janet in full flow

Paul and me have often mentioned that we should keep some sort of record detailing a training dogs progress as it stays with us, and now having decided to do so, the lucky dog we have chosen is Bonnie !
For obvious reasons we cant say too much about her background, other than to say her socialisation was very limited and sadly she appears to have missed out on being walked.
But she is making up for it now as she progresses with the training. Paul and her have really hit it off and after a week of being with us she has learnt to sit, to stay at a distance, and to walk to heel on a slack lead. But best of all she has learnt to have fun ! Paul had to encourage her to run as he held the 25 ft lunge line, which was quite fitting as Bonnie decided to run around him just like a horse. But as the pics show, shes also found that a rubber ring can be fun. She has so much more to learn but she is a lovely girl, wanting to please which makes training her really enjoyable and rewarding. Watch out for future posts on Bonnie !!

Bonnie

Toddle Cottage. Home of a melancholic Clumber named Annie.
"Cheer up Annie, you could be on the floor with the rest of them !"

Annie

Before any dog boards with me I need to have them stay on a 24 hr try out, so as to see if basically they like us and we like them. I dont want a highly stressed dog staying with me .... but there again, I dont particularly want one who puts their feet under the table too quickly - or on it !!
Meet Sage, who Paul caught as he came inside having taken a couple of snaps outside. As you can see, she was in no rush to get off !

Next visit well lay new carpets for Sage

OK, every family has a wally, but in this case its a Charlie. Can you see where the lad is watching Jet from?

Where is Charlie ?!!