It might not get hot often in Britain, but when it’s hot it’s HOT. And that can make looking after your dog pretty difficult. You can’t walk them in case they get heat stroke or their paws burn on the pavement. But if you don’t walk them they go stir crazy and bounce off your walls. Which leaves you worrying they’ll overheat anyway…

Puppies chew on everything. Their toys, your cushions, your shoes, your table and chair legs, your hands and feet… Living with a puppy often feels like living with a chaotic landshark intent on destroying everything for absolutely no reason at all. But there’s always a reason, there’s actually 5 different reasons puppies bite. And understanding why your puppy is biting is the key to reducing their biting and enjoying their puppyhood.

Getting to finally take your puppy out for walks is super exciting. It’s also super confusing. Your puppy needs walks to keep them fit, socialise them and stop them getting bored. But your puppy is also growing rapidly and it’s important not to over-exercise them. So how much exercise is too much?

You’ve come home after another long walk with your teenage dog hoping this time you’ve finally tired them out enough that they’ll sleep. But instead they seem even more hyper than they did before the walk and instead of relaxing they’re doing laps of the house and literally bouncing off the walls. They might not be tired but you are - you’re exhausted from walking your dog for longer and longer every day and spending hours chucking balls for them to fetch.

When people hear about enrichment for dogs their response is often ‘wait, I have to do MORE with my dog, but I don’t have enough time’. We all have busy lives and our dogs are supposed to reduce our stress, not add to it and make us feel guilty that we’re not doing enough. And if you look up how you’re supposed to give your dog enrichment you’ll probably find an honestly ridiculous number of, often expensive, products to buy.

No dog is perfect. We all have things we wish our dogs would stop doing. Your dog might be pulling on-lead, not coming back when you call or jumping up at visitors. Or maybe they’re stealing and destroying your stuff, digging at your carpet or eating things they shouldn’t. You could just punish your dog to try and stop the problem behaviour. But that’s going to affect your dog’s welfare and damage your relationship with them. And it’s not going to deal with the root cause of the behaviour so it’s unlikely to work long term.

Choosing a dog trainer is confusing. Especially when every single trainer seems to use different training methods. It’s hard to trust any professional when you can easily find another who’s saying the exact opposite. Unfortunately dog training is an unregulated profession so anyone can say they’re a dog trainer, even if they’ve got no qualifications, experience or skill. That’s why you’ll see so many different opinions, a lot of them come from trainers who are quite literally making it up as they go along. Other trainers are relying on myths that were debunked over 20 years ago or are using methods that are proven to harm your dog and your relationship with them.

Every summer we're all given warnings about the dangers of walking our dogs in hot weather. Dogs can quickly overheat and get seriously ill walking while it's hot and the risk is increased for young puppies, older dogs, toy or giant breeds, dogs with thick coats or flat faces.

But just telling you not to walk your dog doesn't help if your dog will go stir crazy and destroy your stuff without a walk. Luckily, there are some easy ways to occupy your dog's brain in hot weather.