One of the scariest parts of training recall is being brave enough to actually let your dog off-lead. You’ve practised calling your dog in your home, garden, on-lead in the park and maybe you’ve even hired a secure field. Your dog really needs more freedom to be able to explore and burn off their energy. But going from having your dog on a normal lead to letting them run free completely feels like a massive step you’re not sure either of you are ready for.

Tug is my favourite game to play with my dog (and her favourite game to play too). But unfortunately it’s kinda developed a bad reputation, with a lot of people worrying that playing tug will make their dog aggressive. If that’s you, don’t worry. There’s absolutely no association between playing tug and dogs developing aggressive behaviours.

One of the most common struggles people have when training with treats is what to do when their dog won’t eat them. While some dogs are super treat-motivated, others are much less bothered or won’t take treats in certain situations. If your dog isn’t a super hungry labrador who will gobble down literally anything you put in front of them, you might wonder whether training with treats is ever going to work for you and your dog.

Just like people, dogs get bored. If your dog spends most of their day at home with nothing to do, it’s not gonna be a surprise when they’re begging for your attention, destroying your furniture and bouncing off the walls. Walks are great for physical exercise and to give your dog a chance to sniff and explore beyond your four walls. But for most dogs, their walks are less than 2 hours a day. And that’s not everyday. Sometimes you or your dog are injured, the weather’s too bad to walk them or you’ve got a super busy day and they’ll have to have a shorter walk.

One of the biggest difficulties most people have when training is getting their dog to do anything without a treat right in front of them. Often when you’re teaching your dog a new behaviour you’ll show them what you want with a treat. But then how do you get rid of that treat? It’s completely impractical to have a treat in your hand every time you ask your dog to come back when you call them or you want them to walk calmly on-lead. That’s where a marker word comes in…

You’ve brought your sweet new puppy home. And now you’ve got to socialise them to teach them the world isn’t scary. Socialising your puppy can feel like there’s a ticking clock. You’ve only got a few short weeks when they’re in their socialisation period and less likely to think new things aren’t scary. But for most of that time your puppy won’t be fully vaccinated and so they can’t walk on the ground in public. You want to do the best for your puppy, but it’s really stressful and confusing to know what’s best when you feel like you’ve got to choose between risking your puppy getting ill or developing serious behaviour problems.

Let’s be honest: teenage dogs can be a nightmare to walk. You dream of relaxed walks with your dog trotting calmly by your side. But instead you’re dragged towards every single dog, person and tiny bit of rubbish your dog sees. You spend the whole walk desperately trying to get your dog’s attention but it’s like they don’t care that you exist. They’re only aware you’re on the walk with them because you’re a weight on the end of their lead stopping them from having fun.

Trick training is an amazing way to keep your dog’s brain active, entertain them when you can’t walk them and build your bond with your dog. And as a bonus you can show off how cute and clever your dog is to all your friends. There are an almost endless list of tricks you could teach your dog so you’ll always find a trick that suits you and your dog’s skills and personalities.

Most dogs will have an operation at some point in their lives. Whether that’s being neutered, recovering from an accident or being treated for an illness or joint issue. And you’ll usually have to restrict your dog’s exercise after the surgery to allow them to heal properly. How long that will last and how much you’ll have to restrict their exercise will depend on the operation. Small operations like neutering are usually on-lead walks for 1-2 weeks but if your dog’s broken a bone or needs orthopedic surgery they might be confined to a crate for months.

We all want to be able to let our dogs off-lead to run free. The most relaxing and most adventurous walks are when our dogs have the freedom to explore without being restricted by a lead. But to be able to let your dog off-lead you need to train them so you know if you call them they’ll come back to you. Otherwise those relaxing walks become incredibly stressful as you watch your dog create chaos and worry whether you’ll ever be able to catch them.