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Saga, Teenage Springer Spaniel, practicing recall skills Do you remember when your puppy used to come flying back every time you called? You probably felt quite smug about it. All that recall training was paying off. You had cracked it. Then, a few months later, you called their name and they briefly acknowledged that a noise had occurred somewhere behind them before carrying on with whatever they were doing. You called again. Nothing. You may as well have started speaking fl

When I was a kid, I loved playing with Barbies. I had a couple of Sindy dolls too, but I never thought they were quite as pretty. I used to play with a couple of other girls and, although technically we were all playing the same thing, we actually played very differently. They liked to divide all the clothes up equally and then spend the afternoon changing their dolls' outfits. I needed a theme. My Barbies were going somewhere. Maybe they were going to the beach, going on hol

The other day I saw a post in a spaniel group asking people to recommend breeders who had working or show Cocker Spaniel puppies available. Working or show. Either would do. And it genuinely stopped me for a minute. Because if you are looking for a puppy who is hopefully going to share your life for the next 12–15 years, surely one of the most important things to work out before you start looking for breeders is what sort of dog you actually want to live with? Working and sho

Spaniels can be sensitive dogs. I know. They can also be actual dicks. And if you currently live with a spaniel who has just disappeared through the house with a shoe, a tea towel or something they absolutely should not have, you might be questioning the sensitive bit. But when we talk about sensitivity, we don’t necessarily mean a dog who is quiet, timid or easily worried. A dog can be bold, busy, confident, determined and an absolute pain in the arse while still being incre

A couple of weeks ago, a 19-week-old German Shepherd puppy was killed by a pit bull type dog. The puppy's owner was also bitten, and under the Dangerous Dogs Act the police attended and the dog was euthanised. It was an utterly heartbreaking situation for everyone involved. But what really stayed with me afterwards wasn't just the incident itself. It was the conversation that followed online. People who had seen videos or read accounts of the incident were saying the dog had

People often ask what makes our training different. The answer isn't really about dogs. Years ago, I was running an equine programme in a prison. Every week, my horse Scarlett would stand by the gate waiting for the lads to arrive. She knew some of them always brought her apples. One day, one of them stopped, smiled and quietly said, "No one's ever been happy to see me before." I've never forgotten that moment. It wasn't really about Scarlett. It was about what she made him f