I shouldn’t have to say it, but DON’T take training advice from a preschoolers TV show. If you have a preschooler, or your kids were born after 2012, you may have seen Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom. It’s from the makers of Peppa Pig and it leaves that irritating pig in the dirt, it’s way better in my opinion (however my mind have finally snapped…..) If you’ve never seen it (lucky you!) it’s about Elves and Fairies living in the Little Kingdom. The Elves all live in the Great Elf Tree and the fairies live in the Little Castle. You have King and Queen Thistle, with Princess Holly and her twin sisters (which are surely based on those twins from the shining), with Nanny Plum providing the comic relief. Then you have all the Elves, with The Wise Old Elf in charge of the hard working elves who hate magic. Ben Elf is Holly’s best friend and they have lots of fun together even though they’re very different (do you see the moral of the story?!) Bet you wish you watched it now! But what does that have to do with dog training, I hear you cry?? I’m getting to that bit. It’s a favourite in this house, Thea loves it and to be honest, it has enough jokes aimed at the half crazed parents to keep me entertained too. One episode is called ‘Gaston Goes to School’. Gaston is the lady bird who barks like a dog, that Ben Elf rides. No, I’m not on drugs, it’s all true! In the episode, King Thistle decides that Gaston needs properly training because he jumps up, chews King Thistles slippers and generally just doesn’t listen. Sound familiar? I bet we’ve all met dogs like that! So King Thistle, Ben and Holly go to Miss Jolly’s Training School to train Gaston. Miss Jolly is a Tally Ho type Elf who rides a snail called Trigger (honestly, stay with me, I’m getting to the point!) and is a bit of a dog whisp- err I mean insect/mollusc whisperer who shouts, corrects and bullies the little insects into doing as they’re told. Tut tut, Miss Jolly, tut tut. I’m guessing she’s a fan of that moron on the tv with the goatee. She bullies Gaston into not eating her shoes then declares ‘GASTON IS NOW TRAINED!!’ Is he?? When King Thistle takes him home, Gaston runs in the castle getting muddy footprints all over and eats the Queens slippers. Oh dear Gaston. What went wrong?? Well, firstly Miss Jolly did absolutely no training with him then declared that he didn’t need and more training/non-training!! What sort of message does that send to the next generation of dog handlers and owners?? Training is something that requires lifetime commitment and dedication. To train a dog requires you to guide him and show him what you want him to do, not just shout him down when he’s doing something wrong. Luckily for Thea, she has me to tell her the right way to interact and train our collies. She will grow up knowing how to handle a dog safely and to train the kindest way. She’ll move on from Ben and Holly in the next few years and I’ll have her watching Steve Mann, Victoria Stillwell and Zak George to see how it’s done! And if she grows up to prefer cats, I may need a bit of time to adjust to that absolute betrayal 😉 Luckily for my clients, I ALWAYS train as I walk, little and often. I reinforce the basics plus introduce other things like focus, self control, tricks and more! I keep owners informed and updated on the things we do so that they can do the same at home. Why not check out my Adventure Walks and my Turbo Training Walks to see exactly what I do. There’s also a plethora of videos on my Facebook page to watch too. It’s probably a little more entertaining than Ben and Holly! Thanks for reading folks (and please don’t send me complaints that you’re now addicted to watching those Elves and Fairies!!)
“It’s a collie, innit?” A magical animal!
I hear those words all the time. Yes I own collies but that’s not the reason I hear it at least once a week!
Put down that f*cking flinger!!
Here’s a story all about how I inadvertently ruined my beautiful collie Brae with a ball flinger. I crippled her and made her crazy obsessive with the ball, so much so that she will not go for a wee or a poo if there’s a chance of a game. I have to tell her to go (usually several times!) before she’ll squat to do her business.
Where Did it All Begin??
This year mark 9 years of being in business! That’s the longest I’ve stayed in any job! However those of you who run your own business will know this is more than just a job. It’s life and it’s a very large part of who I am. So where did it all begin? Check out this video to get a little insight on how Born 2 Run came about and why I left a well paid job at the PDSA to become a self employed Crazy Dog Lady! In future blogs I’ll go into how I actually have 3 origin stories, as I built my business up 3 times over the last 9 years! Let me know what you think and thanks for checking it out! Tam.
Using Treats During Training
One of the most annoying things I hear while out walking is ‘Oh you’re bribing the dogs to sit and wait, no wonder they do as they’re told! A statement like that tells me that the person with the dog spinning wildly on the end of a lead, barking and lunging (while mine all sit and focus on me!) knows very little about dog training and that they don’t understand how it works.
Born 2 Run Pet Care – Premium Canine Adventures
Does your dog deserve an adventure while you’re at work or busy with the kids? Does he run off to play with other dogs, chase squirrels or ignores you? Do you feel guilty leaving your dog home alone while you’re at work? Does he bark, chew or have other undesirable habits while you’re out? Do you have a young dog and you’re not sure how to help him become a well balanced and social adult? If you said yes to any of those, then we can help!
Kids & Canines
My Kids and Canines page is here to help you have a harmonious balance with your furry and not so furry kids! So if you share your life with kids and canines and you want to understand them both a little better, then sign up for weekly emails where I help you negotiate the choppy waters of life with kids and dogs! Learn More Sign up to Emails
Where Have I Been?
Well guys, I’ve been right here, however my musings and stories have been moved to emails. You can now subscribe to my emails and receive guides on puppy socialisation dos and don’ts, teaching recall, inside info on looking for a dog walker plus priority on services and discounts! What’s not to love?? You’ll get all the guides plus my weekly emails sent on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If you’d like to join the growing list of Born 2 Run subscribers and get the goodies before everyone else, you can sign up here Sign Up Here Hope to see you all on my list! Tam.
You all know what I do do, but do you know what I don’t do?
Almost all dog walkers will endlessly advertise and write about what they do for you and your pets. Which is great, as when you’re looking for a trusted person to walk your precious pooch or to look after your pampered puss when you go on holiday, you need to know what exactly you’re getting. However, it’s sometimes good to know what you’re notgetting too. So here’s some of the things I don’tdo. Drive a van covered in logos advertising my every movement. I’m not knocking anyone who does have their van covered in their logo and details. I used to have one myself and it’s a very powerful advertising tool. However nowadays I have a small apprentice (my daughter!) to chauffeur around so I swapped my beloved van for a car. I decided against putting a logo on the car as there have been so many reports recently of thieves targeting dogs in dog walking vans and houses that have dog walking vans parked outside. I’m now anonymous, so on lookers won’t immediately know a house I’m visiting for cat visits is empty or that I’ll have dogs with me. Pack loads of dogs into my vehicle to walk a large group. I’ve never been one to transport large numbers of dogs to walk them. I’m insured to walk up to 6 dogs at once, but it isn’t often that I take that many out all at once. If I do, you can guarantee 2 or 3 of those dogs are my own. With client dogs I tend to only walk 2-4 together, and generally that is 2 dogs from the same household. I don’t believe dogs do that well in huge groups and I like to be able to comfortably manage dogs. I don’t like my attention split in so many different directions. That’s when mistakes happen and dog poo gets missed! Walk any large dogs or dogs with ‘issues’. Nowadays I specialise in small and medium dogs and dogs that are fine to socialise with other dogs. I’ve been in business over 7 years now and there was a time where I would walk any dog that came along. I made a lot of mistakes, I didn’t trust my instincts and I am now paying the price. Years of walking dogs that pull like trains has totally done my back in. So much so that I now have to pay endless pennies for a chiropractor to torture me in the name of healing. Walking reactive dogs and not trusting my gut instinct resulted in me getting a mauling from a dog that has left me with permanent scars. I feel I’ve served my time and can now be mre selective in the dogs I take on. Lets face it, I’m not getting any younger and I need my joints and back in working order!! I don’t believe dogs are pack animals. Now this one won’t come as a surprise to anyone who is up to date with the current findings on how dogs evolved and their behaviour, however I can imagine a lot of people will think I’m a poo bag short of a pocket full for saying it. They’ll say ‘but dogs are closely related to wolves, how can they NOTbe pack animals??’ Well that’s a long answer, but basically dogs are not wolves. They are as far removed in their habits as we are from chimps. When you see your dog and bitch raise puppies, then take them out to bring down a moose by working as a team, then I’ll sit and listen to your argument. Until then I’ll believe that dogs are just social creatures that like to have human and maybe some canine company. So there you go. Now you know what I do do and some things I don’t do! Comments arewelcome, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Cheers for reading folks!
Understanding Anxiety in Your Dog
Many dogs suffer with anxiety or anxious behaviour. Sometimes this can be frustrating for owners and stressful for their pet. Below is a helpful infographic from the folks over at ReedAnimalHospital.com
