Training

Why Is My Dog So Interested in the Cat’s Litter Tray? Right, let’s have a frank chat. I once walked into the utility room to find my terrier, Pip, snout-deep in the cat’s litter tray, looking up at me with what I can only describe as a face of pure, crunchy bliss. The cat, looking […]

Is It Scent Marking or Just a Potty Accident? First, we need to be clear on what we’re dealing with. It’s easy to assume your house-trained dog has forgotten their manners, but urine marking is quite different from a full-blown potty accident. Urine Marking is about communication. Your dog is leaving a small calling card, […]

Why Does My Dog Stand On Me? Unpacking 9 Common Reasons The other morning, I was stood in the kitchen, still half-asleep, waiting for the kettle to boil for that first essential brew. My border terrier, Pip, trotted in from the garden, took one look at my clean walking socks, and promptly planted both muddy […]

The Great Cuddle Conundrum There I was, sat on the sofa with a cuppa, rain lashing against the window after a particularly soggy walk around Kinder Scout. My dog, smelling faintly of damp earth and happiness, was curled up beside me. I was giving him a good scratch behind the ears—the sweet spot—and in return, […]

From Independent to Inseparable: What’s Going On? It was a Tuesday. A particularly damp and dreary Peak District Tuesday, the kind where the clouds seem to be sitting on the roof. I was trying to get a bit of work done, but my concentration was shot. Not by the rain drumming on the window, but […]

The Ancestral Echo: A Peak District Prelude The other evening, a fox barked somewhere out on the moor. It’s a sharp, almost unsettling sound that cuts through the quiet of the Peaks. Before I’d even registered it, Fern, my live-wire Spaniel, was at the window, her head tilted. Then it started: a high-pitched, wobbly ‘ar-oooo’ […]

Decoding Your Dog’s Under-the-Bed Habit The other night, a proper Peak District thunderstorm rolled in. The whole house was rattling. I did a quick headcount of the board of directors: Buster the Lab was flat out, dreaming of cheese, and Margo the cat hadn’t moved from her post on the radiator. But Fern, our whirlwind […]

Decoding the Canine Cuddle: Why Your Dog Chooses You for a Chair The other day, I’d just got back from a particularly squelchy walk across the moors. Fern, my high-octane Spaniel, was caked in a frankly impressive amount of mud. Before I could even get the wellies off, she’d launched herself onto the sofa and […]

From Puddle-Jumping Passion to Proper Profession It was one of those Tuesdays. The kind where the rain is coming in sideways across the moors, and you can’t tell where the sky ends and the bog begins. I was out with my own board of directors: Buster, the Labrador, whose entire life is a relentless quest […]

From Muddy Paws to Peaceful Naps: Why We Bother with a Crate The other day, after a particularly squelchy walk up Mam Tor, I returned home with what looked like two mobile peat bogs. Buster, my Lab, was thrilled with his muddy makeover. Fern, the Spaniel, was vibrating with a mixture of rain, wind, and […]