This sweet wee boy is Teddy. He can be very uncertain of unfamiliar people and tends to react with lunging and barking to keep them away. He's a soft-natured boy who loves cuddles from his family and they would love him to feel more trusting of people he doesn't know. I think this is something so many of us feel when we live with sensitive dogs who react towards people. And on top of that, we often feel acutely embarrassed, because we don't want anyone to think badly of the d

Some dogs will snaffle up a pill wrapped in a bit of ham like it's their favourite treat. Some might even take the pill without it being wrapped in something - think Labrador: "If it looks like a bit of food, I'll eat it!" Whippets, however, are a whole nother story. They're often not all that bothered about treats unless they're in the mood. And they can sniff out a bit of medication from several houses away! They're also expert spitter-outers. Lily will gleefully suck all t

Listen. Listen. And listen a little bit more... Sometimes we get caught up in doing things a certain way and we can lose sight of what our dogs are telling us. Olly is a lovely little old boy - 11 years old and can be anxious about other dogs on walks. We started-off working with Charlie, his reactive little brother, but we realised that we needed to raise Olly's confidence levels so that both boys are able to be calm when they see other dogs. Olly is doing really well on wal

TO TREAT OR NOT TO TREAT Most of what we ask our dogs to do is very "un-dog" stuff. From walking calmly on a loose lead, to not chasing another dog's ball, to ignoring a crisp packet on the pavement: none of this is natural dog behaviour. Dogs are curious - their brains are programmed to investigate. If we want them to control the urge to investigate, we need to make not-investigating feel as good as investigating. LOOSE LEAD WALKING IS A BIG JOB Walking calmly near us on a l