We all want to be able to let our dogs off-lead to run free. The most relaxing and most adventurous walks are when our dogs have the freedom to explore without being restricted by a lead. But to be able to let your dog off-lead you need to train them so you know if you call them they’ll come back to you. Otherwise those relaxing walks become incredibly stressful as you watch your dog create chaos and worry whether you’ll ever be able to catch them.

You’ve brought your dog home and you’re dreaming of your perfect life together. Lots of lovely long walks, evenings snuggling on the sofa watching TV and the odd trip to a café or pub together… You know that to have that dream life you need to train your dog. But you’re not actually sure what you should be teaching them…

If you’re struggling with your dog pulling on-lead you’ve probably seen some very conflicting advice about what equipment to use. Some people will tell you that putting your dog in a harness will teach your dog to pull and there’s no way you’ll ever train your dog to walk with a loose-lead if they’re wearing a harness. These people will probably tell you that the only way to train loose-lead walking is with a slip lead or prong collar (I do not EVER recommend you use either of those). And then there are other people who tell you that buying the right harness will instantly stop your dog pulling.

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?

There’s nothing better than calling your dog and watching them joyfully run back to you. To know they’ve not only chosen you over all those distractions, but they’re actually excited to get to you. If that sounds like a pipe dream then don’t worry, there’s one very easy way to improve your dog’s recall: play games with them.

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.

‘FENTON, FENTON. JESUS CHRIST, FENTON…’ We’ve all seen the video of the labrador chasing deer while his human desperately tries to call him back. But what we’re all not super keen to admit is that we’ve all had our own Fenton moments. Luckily most people’s don’t involve a massive herd of deer (and aren’t recorded on camera for our eternal embarrassment). But we’ve been Fenton’s human, panicking because our dogs are completely ignoring us while running towards people, dogs, wildlife, livestock, traffic…

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.

We all dream of those lovely, relaxing walks with our dogs where they walk calmly next to us. But if you’ve tried training your dog to walk calmly on a lead you’ll have found it’s harder than it looks. That’s because those exciting walks come with lots of distractions for your dog. There’s so many things to see, hear and smell and it’s really hard for them to focus on walking with you when there's so much other stuff happening.