Tag: dog training
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A Dog Friendly Bank Holiday on Romney Marsh, Without Overwhelming Your Dog
A Bank Holiday weekend often means making plans, getting outside and enjoying some extra time with our dogs. Here on Romney Marsh, we’re lucky to have beaches, countryside, cafes and plenty of places to explore. From Dymchurch and Greatstone to Dungeness, Hythe and the villages in between, there’s no shortage of dog friendly adventures. However,…
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Why Does My Dog Jump Up and What Can I Do About It?
If your dog launches themselves at visitors, scrambles at your clothes or bounces up when you walk through the door, it can feel as though they’re being rude on purpose. You might even wonder whether they’re testing you. However, most jumping isn’t “naughty” in the way we tend to mean it. It’s usually a normal…
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VARK, Not BARK: Dog Trainers Need to Understand How Humans Learn Too
As dog trainers, we spend a great deal of time learning how dogs learn. We talk about reinforcement, association, motivation, timing, environment and whether the piece of cheese in our hand is actually more interesting than the spaniel disappearing into the undergrowth. All very important stuff. However, there is another animal standing at the end…
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How Does a Dog’s Nose Work? Scentwork, Sniffing and Hot Weather
Scentwork is often suggested as a good alternative to walking when the weather is hot. That makes sense. It can be done indoors, it doesn’t need lots of space and a dog can enjoy using their nose without racing around or covering miles. However, scentwork isn’t a magical hot weather loophole. When it becomes extremely…
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Sharing Your Lovely Words Without Feeling Like a Show Off
I’m very lucky to receive some truly lovely reviews from the people who bring their dogs to SkellyWAGS or homes I visit. I read and reply to every one of them. I appreciate every one of them. Occasionally, they even make me feel as though I might know what I’m doing. Then comes the difficult…
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Puppy Classes in Kent
Our 6 week puppy course covers all the basics to get you and your pup off to a flying start. The course covers all of the basics such as recall, sit, wait, down, loose lead walking and more.
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The Dogs Came First. Every Time.
July 2026 has officially entered the record books. It was England’s driest July on record and its second warmest, while here in Southern England it was both the warmest July and the driest month ever recorded. Those figures probably won’t surprise anyone who spent much of the month checking the temperature, looking hopefully at rain…
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Why Is Sniffing So Important for Dogs?
You’ve left the house with your dog, planned a decent walk and perhaps even imagined returning home before the kettle has completely forgotten about you. Then your dog finds a particularly interesting patch of grass. They sniff it from one direction, approach it from another, investigate the neighbouring lamppost and then return to the original…
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The Dog Training Questions Everyone Asks – And Where to Start
If you’ve ever typed “How do I stop my dog from…” into Google, you’re certainly not alone. In fact, I’m fairly sure the words “stop my dog” have been followed by everything from pulling on the lead to stealing socks, barking at the window and disappearing after a squirrel. Many of the most common dog…
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SkellyWAGS Adventure Dogs
A New Adventure Every Week! Beginning August 2026 What if your dog’s next training class wasn’t about getting everything right? What if it was simply about having fun, trying something new and building confidence along the way? Welcome to SkellyWAGS Adventure Dogs a brand new weekly class where every session is a different adventure. Designed…
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Life Skills Workshop. Why do we not call it Obedience training?
The main reason is because we do not like the word OBEDIENCE and what it implies, the same as why we use the word CUE instead of COMMAND. Although only words they still have an association to them, as a human I would rather be asked to do something instead of told or commanded to…
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Loose Lead and Recall
We began our newest 4 week course at the weekend centred around better lead walking and recall. Lead walking and recall may not seem that well connected so why do them together? Well the honest answer is that they like all things dog training require focus from our dogs, however it is a two way…
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How Scentwork can benefit your dog.
Here at SkellyWags you may have noticed we put a lot of energy into telling anybody that will listen about the benefits of scent work for our pet dogs. scent work is used in lots of our 1-2-1 consults, puppy and life-skills classes and obviously our scent work courses. Why is scent work so good…
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National Institute For Canine Ethics Canicross Webinar
Last night I had the pleasure of presenting to The National Institute For Canine Ethics members about all things canicross/canitalk and the benefits for your dog and you. As always my trusty side kick and the brains of the outfit Bert stayed close, but i think he lost interest when he realised the harness was…