Blog.
Dogs Digging and Why they are not Bored.
I am a member of several Springer and Sproodle facebook facebook groups. It keeps my mind alert to all the problems everyone has with their dogs and I offer what I hope is sensible dog listening advice to help them. Last week one issue stumped me and I had to wait for...
Which dog bed is Best?
I talk alot about sleeping when coaching families in how to do dog listening. When I send my puppies off to their new homes getting them to sleep is the number one priority but sometimes we also just need some practical common advice too! I have made 24 years of...
New Dog Food for my Springer Spaniels
We gave our dogs an unusual food this week, this is what happened...Do you know what your dog would have done? The Wolf, the Bloodhound, the Gun Dog and their freshly caught Trout! I have three Springer spaniels with the same parents, born and brought up the same way...
Trust and Toilet Training : Jess a Sproodle Puppy
Jess is one of my Sproodle puppies born on Muie Croft in 2023. I am using her as an example for how dog listening allows a puppy to trust us so toilet training is achieved naturally. Training a litter is easy. I keep their space the right size so as soon as they can...
Puppy Power – Cuteness
The Power of Puppies is CUTENESS. Absolutely adorable. Its their super power and we need to know how to Combat that Cuteness so they stay relaxed. Families have been waiting so long to get this bundle of fun home and all you want to do is stroke and cuddle them. You...
Crate or not Crate your dog?
To crate or not to crate your dog? I don’t remember crates ever existing when I grew up. When we came back from Zimbabwe in 2010 we were used to our dogs standing in the back of our pick ups, in the bush, noses to the wind. It wasn’t until Lupin started living with us...
Meeting Dogs Safely in their home.
Dogs aren’t naturally disposed to a whole load of new people coming and going in their home. Many dogs struggle with it. People usually apologise on their behalf as their dog jumps up at the strangers thinking the dog is actually friendly and excited to meet them....
Scottish Highland Croft and new Dornoch home
When Nick bought the Scottish Highland croft in 2021 we knew the old house was in a terrible state of repair. However, we had successfully finished our Seaview home and felt confident we could take on another project. We used my inheritance to buy the croft , you can...
How to be safe when walking your dog
What do we need to do to be safe when walking our dogs. There has been some terrible incidents reported nationally recently. It’s a wake up call to us all to be more careful and to be safe when walking our dogs. It’s a pressure cooker out there with more people owning...
Safe Space for our Dogs
Dog Listening is humans changing our body language so the dogs understand us. However, the correct use of our home to create safe spaces for our dogs also massively helps. We can use physical barriers to do the teaching for us. These are some of the problems that can...
Be the Elephant!
When I teach Status to families I use this story from many years ago. When we behave like this elephant we elevate our position in the family so the dog relaxes more. It was my first Christmas in Africa and we flew to Namibia where, in the middle the tour, I sat for...
Dogs pulling on leads
This is usually one of the key problems a client comes to me with: How can I stop my dog pulling on the lead? The solution for me right now is to stand still. I kept three puppies from Lupins final litter. No problem I thought with my dog listening skills. Hmmm… I do...
How to Help dogs be Calm
Calming our dogs naturally. Watching our dogs using only peripheral vision quickly has the effect of helping ours dogs to be calm naturally. Watching our dogs affects us, it makes us happy. We have them in our life to enjoy what they look like. We love watching their...
Historical Rogart – Rocks and Nature around Muie Croft
To get context and knowledge about Muie Croft before starting on any development, we read a book from Golspie Library called Rogart, The Story of a Sutherland Crofting Parish by John Macdonald. It is a book of verbal social history put to paper on the history of...
Springer Spaniel Puppies 2021
You can make as many plans as you want but sometimes life just gets in the way. I wanted to have my last litter with Lupin in the safety of our gorgeous renovated home in Seaview on the Isle of Wight. I had designed it specially to have puppies and had a fabulous stud...
Granite makes me happy!
My favourite subject at school, the one I got the highest marks in - Geography. My favourite topic at A'level was physical geography and within that glaciers. Its weird what we get drawn to, I have no notion why, and never reflected on it. I grew up on the Isle of...
The Turning Point – Knepp
In my fiftieth year, 2020, The Timberlakes who I first got to know in Bulawayo recommended I read Rewilding by Isabella Tree. Nick and I were aware of Knepp Estate, we had seen pictures of Charlie from when they started on his grand family estate, and we both thought...
The Move: Thank you Ben Fogle ‘ New Lives in the Wild UK’
Nick and I used to watch Ben Fogle flying all over the world to these remote spots for his TV Programme New Lives in the Wild. I used to feel so smug: Off Grid - tick ; Remote location - tick; Wild animals on our doorstep - tick; Challenging environment - tick; Peace...
Meeting other dogs safely and calmly
We learnt the hard way how not to meet other dogs safely and calmly! When two dogs who either don't know each other at all, or its been so long they have forgotten each other meet it can go horribly wrong! This is the way you should do this in your home safely and...
Preparing to walk a puppy
Everyone thinks walking a dog is natural and easy...it is the hardest thing to do successfully with your dog. Done wrong it can lead to a huge amount of stress for you and your dog. I advise all my puppy owners to get behaviour at home perfect first - sleep, toilet...
Working from Home with a Lockdown Puppy
In our new normal, everyone now has a dog and is working from home. Happy Days you thought.. I can finally give a gorgeous dog a home because I am around all day. However, during lockdowns, you have no choice but to work from home all the time. Not so good when...
9+ Month old Puppy Problems
My last litter Sproodle owners have hit the 9+ month Protege stage when the dogs challenge us for leadership of the family. All of them have read Jan Fennells book and were given a Canine Communication tutorial when their dogs were puppies, but several have reached...
How do I get my dog to behave itself?
Its the HOW do I?...not the What or Who that is important when considering buying a dog. The first questions I see from people thinking about getting a dog is ...What is the best bed? What is the best lead? What is the best bowl? What is the best shampoo? What should...
How to buy and raise a dog successfully
I breed Sproodles and interview prospective owners in depth before offering them one of my dogs. This is what its like from an owners perspective. Tracy bought a lockdown puppy from me in 2020. Reggie’s Story by Tracy After years of promising our daughters we would...
My dog is a Fussy Eater. How to feed your dog successfully.
This is the simple version for feeding a dog that has no behaviour problems but has started to be a fussy eater. For complete success for your dog, Dog Listening is an holistic method that covers FOUR KEY areas in a dogs life to make them be the best companion, and...
How to stop your dog pulling on a lead
Everyone naturally thinks dogs love to go on a walk. Nearly everyone has problems walking their dog on a lead. Here I explain why and how to prevent it happening. I have recently been working with owners who have dogs about 1 year old who are stressed out of their...
Plan for Success on your Dog Walk
I used to walk my dogs selfishly and thoughtlessly. Now I plan each walk carefully to maximise its success and enjoyment for all of us. Before it was really as much about us getting out to enjoy the seaside or the woods. Of course I told myself it was for them and...
How to lead the dog walk
When I teach dog listening I want to teach the whole family. For dog listening to be truly successful, for the dog, every person in the family has to lead. This is often the hardest part! I am usually dealing with the one person who does the feeding, the cleaning, the...
Dog training mistakes and how to learn from them
As I left Jan Fennells house on the first day of the foundation dog listening course I started crying and could not stop. I was crying for my dogs and all the mistakes I had made that had made their lives worse. I was still crying the next morning but went back for...
Puppy Toilet and Sleep training
Week 1 basics - done alongside Canine Communication. We have been making sure the puppies go outside six times a day. Our routine is let them outside at: 7am feed them and leave them to run around for max 30 mins. 10am 30 mins wee & play 12.00...
How do I stop my puppy Biting us?
Inside the bundle of cuteness is a puppy with Teeth and Claws that are perfect for biting and scratching our delicate skin. They are still very young and learning how to behave in your house, its up to you as owners to teach them. These are specific issues raised by...
F1 and F1B and F2 Sproodles.
Cross breeds of dogs, terms F1, F1B and F2 set up to confuse the best of us! Here I explain simply what they mean. They are terms that have become common with the breeding of doodles, sproodles, goldendoodles, cockerpoos, cavapoos, springerdoodles, labradoodles....the...
Dog Listening is the answer to your Dogs problems
I was lucky. I had a problem with a dog and literally the next day a neighbour showed me Jan Fennells book so I immediately found the solution. Monty Roberts, the horse whisperer, had changed my world as far as horses go and then he told me Jan would change everything...
Breeding Sproodles
It was a bit of a spur of the moment idea that made me breed sproodles. We had brought back, from Zimbabwe, to the UK our black labrador and maltese poodle. The black hairs all over my cream carpets inside made me swear never to have a dog that shed again. The wet and...
Socialisation and development of Puppies within the litter
I follow the advice in the Puppy Listener by Jan Fennell for the socialisation and development of my puppies in the eight weeks we have them. First 10 days: puppies are blind and deaf and totally reliant on the mother for food and defecation. The mother leaves them...
How to Buy a Puppy
I have lost count of how many telephone conversations I have had with people desperate to buy a puppy who say they just can't get one. I am a hobby breeder. It is not a source of income, I have puppies because I love raising them with Lupin my Springer who is an...
How to Get your dog to eat all its food
Food is fundamental to our lives. I learnt this by living in Zimbabwe and Zambia for ten years! I think many British people only learnt this in March 2020. Remember the worry you felt when you did not know where your next meal might come from....and the evidence of...
What you need to do before your puppy comes home
The anticipation and joy when preparing for a new puppy to join your family home is tremendous fun. This is to help you along on the right path so that they feel right at home as soon as possible. Everything I explain will help the puppy to relax faster and respond...
Why is my puppy behaving badly?
Puppies are so cute and it is very hard for us to remember they are dogs...they are DOGS not babies. Nor are they little live teddy bears to stare adoringly at and cuddle all day. This is naturally what humans do because we are hard wired to do this for our own...