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.

Bringing your new puppy home is an exciting day. But it can also be a very stressful one. Suddenly everything is real - you’re now responsible for this tiny, furry baby and it’s very normal to start to worry whether you’ve made a big mistake. Being prepared before you pick up your puppy and having a plan for their first day in their new home allows you to relax and focus on building your relationship with your new best friend.

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.

So you didn’t do much training with your dog when they were a puppy…? Maybe you had no problems with your puppy’s behaviour. Maybe you didn’t have enough time to dedicate to your puppy’s training. Maybe you wanted to get the support of a trainer but didn’t have the money. Or maybe you just kept meaning to get around to it and you just kept putting it off. Whatever happened, you got through your dog’s puppyhood and it was kinda going ok…

You’ve chosen your puppy and you’re fizzing with excitement for the day you get to bring your new best friend home. It feels like all you’ve got to do now is wait. But there’s so much you can do right now to make your first few weeks with your new puppy go as smoothly as possible.

They’re not, I promise.

If you’re struggling with your dog’s training or behaviour you’re probably wondering if you’ve got a dominant dog and what you’re supposed to do to fix that. Some trainers will tell you that any problem behaviour is because your dog is ‘dominant’, ‘doesn’t know their place in the pack’ or ‘doesn’t see you as their leader’. These trainers think the solution to everything from pulling on-lead and ignoring recall cues to severe aggression and separation anxiety is that you need to ‘be the alpha’ or ‘teach your dog to respect you’. But the truth is that dominance is a complete myth and has no relevance in dog training and behaviour.

After weeks preparing for your puppy, they’re finally home. You’ve bought all the cute toys, chosen their adorable first collar and EVENTUALLY everyone’s agreed on your puppy’s name. You had an amazing first day with your puppy. They’re sweet and cuddly and playful and perfect. You’re way more in love than you ever thought possible. But now it’s 2am. And your puppy’s been crying for hours. You’re feeling exhausted and you’re starting to wonder whether you’ve made the worst mistake ever…

One of the first questions many people ask when they start training their dog is ‘when can I stop using treats?’. And I completely understand why. A lot of people have concerns about the cost of constantly buying dog treats, whether their dog will become overweight and the impracticality of always carrying treats. We’re also all told by society that dogs should respond to trained cues ‘just because they’re told’ without expecting rewards.

‘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…