Here is Suzi's story, an On The Ball student, recalling her previous dog training experiences and what joining On The Ball has done for her relationship with her dog Dave. I always grew up with dogs but I never trained as such. I’ve known Dave my rottie/staffie/GDS cross since he was a day old and…
Many people are pre-programmed to walk their dog three times a day, and at specific times. Do you recognise the scene? Action prompting to go out. Doing laps around the lounge or barking at the door when you pick up the lead. All these behaviours are actually stress inducing for your dogs from the frustration…
Hannah and Sam share their training journey at On The Ball with their nearly 2 year old Lurcher Noodle. Noodle came into our lives at 10 months old as a rescue from the RSPCA. He was full of life and a complete live wire! Having recently lost our placid 14 year old Greyhound, we knew…
Calmness is a concept that a lot of dog owners struggle with. But I want to assure you that dogs CAN be trained to learn how to be calm. There really is hope for EVERY dog. In my previous blog 'Can you teach a dog to be calm?'we talked about some key management steps you…
Calmness is a concept in dogs that some find easier to master than others. When your puppy or dog is overtired, excitable, and won’t relax, we can often think that the only way to tire them out and get them to sleep is by taking them for longer walks, or playing for longer. Does it…
Some people have never ONCE taken their dog to training. That might be because they think their dog doesn’t need training, they think it’s expensive, or they even think that dog training is just a bunch of ‘useless’ tricks. I WANT YOU TO SHARE THIS BLOG WITH THEM! If we want to make sure our…
Socialisation is something of a mystery to a lot of new puppy owners. The term socialisation actually means ‘the activity of mixing socially with others’ or ‘the process of learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society’ So, how do we apply such a broad meaning to our dogs and puppies socialisation?…
The weather is improving, the sun is shining, the heat is rising and you are loving life right now! But let’s make sure we don’t forget about our canine companions! In the UK our annual average temperature is 14 degrees, so when we have a heat wave, or random days of temperatures soaring into the…
It’s fair to say there are a lot of people who have never taken part in any dog training. Some people think that their dog just doesn’t NEED it. But why? These are just some of the things I hear. Even your super chilled and confident dog needs some dog training and I’ll explain why.…
Many dog owners go through struggles with their dogs. Whether it’s a puppy, an adolescent, or even an older dog that you have had for some years. Those struggles can range from ones you face as a new puppy owner with toilet training, teething and sleepless nights, to owning a reactive dog that pulls on…