Training Hub | Pawsitive Life

Experts in positive, modern training for dogs and puppies

Puppy training

During our 6 week puppy class, we give you the skills and confidence needed to interpret your dogs needs and behaviour to help build a better relationship with them.

We focus on teaching the owners and the dogs to work with each other to build a strong bond that lasts a lifetime.

Pawrents and Pups benefit from small classes, individual coaching, post session emails, a tailored fun and welcoming approach.

We are purely positive and our mission is to help lead the way in force free and "tool" free training and with good, consistent communication between you and your pup and you'll see them grow from week to week.

Amongst teaching you how to train the basics through to recall, we want to help you understand:

How to properly socialise your dog, helping you with common mistakes.
Why your dog may have "selective hearing"
The currencies of a dog and how to use them properly.
The "ladder of discomfort".
What is meant by "working distance" and how to use it.
How to understand your dogs body language.

Please note that session 1 is without dogs as it's an important introduction to positive force free training and how to get the most out of the 6 week sessions for you and your pup.

Booking pawtal

1:1 Training & Behaviour

Need some extra help with specific skills, training or behaviours, such as separation anxiety, resource guarding or struggling with loose lead walking or recall? We can help.

1:1 training sessions start from £40 and can be carried out at your home or at our training hub.

If you would like to book through our pawtal, please select your preferred date and the team will be in touch to arrange a convenient time and location.

Booking pawtal

Training Workshops

Check out our upcoming events and training classes

We regularly post updates to our schedule on Facebook, so follow us to stay up to date (and enjoy our feed of happy, thriving dogs)

Booking pawtal

Advice on dog socialisation

Dog socialisation is one of the most important opportunities you can give your dog. Dogs should be socialised throughout their lives to make for a happy and healthy pooch. Our doggy day care is dedicated to nurturing social development and providing a safe and fun environment for all our dogs.

Benefits of socialisation:

Builds Confident Dogs
Prevents Dogs Being Reactive
Gives Your Dog Freedom

Having a well rounded, confident dog gives you the benefit of being able to take it with you wherever you go. Whether it’s on holiday, to the local pub or joining you when visiting friends. Knowing you can trust your dog to behave makes being a dog owner more enjoyable.

Although socialisation can help deter negative behaviour in dogs it doesn’t always stop it completely. Expert dog training is always on hand to help with any behavioural issues you may be experiencing with your dog.

A well socialised dog is

Happy, calm and confident around other dogs and people
Able to read and understand other dogs body language
Able to regulate emotions around other dogs and people, without becoming frustrated, boisterous or anxious

Helping your dog with socialisation

There are a few common misconceptions when it comes to socialising dogs:

Thinking that letting a dog who is persistent, wanting to non stop play around other dogs is good for tiring them out or teaching them how to play. When this happens, the over aroused dog struggles to read the signs from other dogs, including when they want to stop playing. This can cause frustration in the excitable dog and reactivity in the dog who wants to be left alone.

Of course dogs need to learn the signs of no from another dog, but if the playful dog persists, it can be a sign of overwhelm because they don't know how to calm or read other dog behaviour. Sometimes a dog that wont stop playing isn't just excited and having fun, they could be stressed and it's important to recognise these signs to help them calm and settle, and that being calm is a nice experience.

It can also be tempting to distract dogs who are over excited by a situation or environment, with more exciting things such as toys. Whilst this may appear to take the dogs attention away from the first thing they were focussed on, it doesn't allow the dog to process what's going around them and regulate their emotions and response to it. By giving them a more exciting thing, it keeps them in a state of overwhelm.

Make sure to ask any doggy daycare about this as whilst it might look like fun to us if a dog is constantly playing and being given toys all day to keep it from becoming frustrated, this will not help the dog rest, calm and settle in new environments, or even at home.

As a Pawrent you can practice "screen saver" training just about anywhere, to help your dog calm and settle around exicting things.

Puppy socialisation

When it comes to puppies, there are key stages to dog socialistion and it starts with the mother and litter.

After the initial 3 weeks of life:

Puppies will start to learn they are a dog. The most important part of this stage is that the pup is kept with his littermates and mother during this time period.

The social play that occurs during this stage is key. The puppies will showcase playful, aggressive and often sexual behaviours between themselves, with their mothers telling them when they have gone too far. This natural dog behaviour is needed for them to understand who they are.

At 7 weeks:

The secondary socialisation period begins when a puppy is ready to leave its mother and littermates to start a new life. This is typically around 7 weeks old.

Puppies are very curious and it is now they will learn how to react to humans. By socialising your puppy to as many different types of people you will be giving it the best start in life. Once first vaccinations are given you can also start exposing them to different environments outside of the home.

Between 7 - 12 weeks:

Good socialisation is key however its crucial not overwhelm puppies and let them go crazy with other puppies or dogs, without helping them calm as this can lead to anxious or boisterous puppies and dogs.

At Pawsitive Life we are open about the fact that puppy parties which allow puppies to all go crazy and play in an unstructured and unsupervised way, are detrimental to the socialisation and well-being of the puppy and can lead to fear and reactivity, or frustration when not able to play.

If you would like advice on how to socialise your puppy in positive, healthy ways please get in touch to find out about our Puppy Training Classes or Puppy preschool

Why we love screensaver training

Pawrents often ask us what they can do to help train their dog in between doggy daycare, puppy classes or training sessions.

We recommend screen saver training for helping dogs with socialisation and habituation, which is confidence with dogs, people and in the environment, sounds, smells etc.

Screen saver training may seem boring to owners but it's crucial for puppies and dogs as it gives them opportunity to absorb and process stimulating and exciting situations, at a distance and pace they are comfortable with, rather than going by the owners time and schedule.

An example of screen saver training:

Take your dog to a park bench and let them sit and watch the world go by. It's important to keep distance and not let other dogs or people come up to your dog, the emphasis here is on letting your dog remain calm and take it all in without reacting or getting distracted. If your dog starts to become excited, create more distance between your dog and the thing they are reacting to, and praise when they calm their self.

This very simple training tool improves socialisation and helps dog regulate their emotions in exciting situations.

Make sure to praise and reward your dog for doing nothing and not reacting. This is the desired behaviour you are working towards and as positive trainers, we always encourage to work towards the desired behaviour, rather than give constant cues and focussing on the undesired behaviour.

This type of positive training and focus on socialisation is at the heart of what we do at Pawsitive life daycare and training hub. Please get in contact if you would like to know more.

The 4 types of enrichment

Social

Social enrichment is the practice of promoting contact with other dogs and animals.

Mental and Physical

Physical and mental stimulation can be achieved by playing sports, such as agility or fetch. Doing regular dog training, teaching good dog behaviours such as “sit” or tricks like “shake” and providing things like food puzzles where dogs have to work for their treat.