Author: Chris Howles

Eastside Tails

How to stop another dog pestering you

Over-friendly or threatening. What to do if an unwelcome visitor suddenly joins you on your walk.

The scenario I am about to describe is a common one often discussed in social media, books and blogs. Let’s bring together some of the more effective coping strategies for a dog pestering you. You cannot replicate a genuinely unpleasant encounter in training. Nor should you try to because you are inviting stress and potential danger. And every scenario has subtle variations and shades. So the only way you are going to find out which, if any, work, is when you try them in real life!

The scenario is this. You are walking your dog in an open area and you are both startled at the sudden appearance of another dog off lead, owner far away, who wants to bother your dog. We will call the other the dog the stranger. Now, the stranger might be displaying aggressive body language or vocalisations that could escalate quickly into Fight mode. Or the stranger simply could be over-friendly, trying to engage in play that is not balanced – let’s call it bullying. Either way, this is dog pestering!

The common thread here is that the stranger is apparently not going anywhere, and your dog is not happy about this. Your dog is either going into defensive fear-aggression mode. Or displaying signs of stress and submission: “I want you to go away now please”. Or even wanting to escape entirely and bolt. Fight, Faint, or Flight.

In future posts I will be talking about dog body language. The signs and signals our dogs are so adept at displaying (and that we are often so poor at reading). And what uneven play looks like. But here I simply want to help with the question:-

“What do we do to make the other dog away?”

With the sparkier encounters, your own adrenaline will suddenly flood you as well. You are unlikely to have clear-thinking nor time on your side to diligently go through your checklist! So it’s worth rehearsing in your mind what you might try in these scenarios in future. That way, at least one might spring to mind in the heat of the moment. Or you may be able to try a series of them: one may not be enough. So, what do we do?

1. Be aware of your surroundings

The first thing is environment management. You will never avoid a conflict every time, but you can certainly reduce their frequency if you … look up! Walking the dog is supposed to be fun and relaxing, and we want to keep it that way. But just like being out and about with the kids, an enjoyable walk is not incompatible with simply being aware of your surroundings.

Your dog walk should be about them – it is for your dog’s benefit and you are responsible for their welfare. So you can help them be safe and make the right choices and respond to you by keeping potential trouble at a far enough distance. If you have doubts about the appearance of the stranger in the distance, proceed with caution. Or simply head off in another direction.

2. Put or keep your dog on a lead

This can be controversial, and is actually not a clear-cut mantra. If the situation warrants it and your dog wants and simply has to defend itself – rather than bolt – which it cannot do properly on a lead, there is an argument for letting them go. And when you are the stranger’s target.

But most times we are commonly talking about either playful bullying or “arms-length” sparring. And for this I would say keep your dog on a lead or if possible, put them on a lead. How you do the latter deserves a post in itself, as your dog is unlikely to be staying still or listening to you. But if you can, do it. You will be more effective as a single unit, linked with a lead. If you can’t or still have some distance to work with, use your powers of recall to get yourself and your dog moving away in the other direction (see below).

Try to keep yourself as calm but authoritative as you can.

Don’t give your dog a further reason to panic or be stressed. They read you like a book! So if they weren’t unduly worried to begin with, they soon will be.

3. Call out to the other owner

It could be you are dealing with a stray, of course. But if you can see the stranger’s owner, engage with them immediately. “Can you call your dog back please!”. We all know the most common reply: “Oh he’s just saying hello or wants to play!”. To which your answer is always: “Well my dog doesn’t!”. Or “There is a reason my dog is on a lead.”

One riposte I heard was “He just wants to sniff his bum! We are socialising him!”. So they are implying they are being responsible, and you aren’t, because you are stopping this admirable intention. Not okay! Your dog is not their training stooge. And above all:

Socialisation is about helping a dog learn what is acceptable behaviour in any environment, not being out of control in that environment.

Anyway, take whatever ridiculous excuse is thrown back at you in your stride! And insist politely, but repeatedly if necessary, that they call their dog back. In my experience, it is more likely the stranger will have poor or zero recall. The owner’s embarrassment at this will further escalate their attitude towards you. Don’t take it personally – keep laser-focused on you and your dog’s welfare. That is our sole purpose here. It’s all the matters.

4. Try to remove yourselves from the situation

Always your go-to priority. Do what you can to keep your dog moving with you in the other direction, quickly but calmly. But avoid excessive pulling and dragging. This will only add to your dog’s tension and naturally increase their tendency to push forward. You are both vulnerable with your backs turned. You will both be mindful anyway of what you are trying to leave behind. It’s only natural. But if it is possible,

increase the distance so you are no longer perceived by the stranger to be a threat or a play-thing worth bothering.

If your dog is a wriggler and there is potential to escape their harness or collar, you are going to have to stand your ground, however.

5. Try to put yourself between the stranger and your dog

You will already be thinking to yourself easier said than done. But you have to try. This will be easier if the stranger is six feet rather than two feet away, and is bully-playful rather than aggressive. But try putting your dog quickly in a Sit-Stay. Ideally behind if not beside you will help, if it is safe to do so. Immediately create a barrier between your dog and the stranger. They may circle which will break your dog’s Sit-Stay but you must pivot yourself to maintain this barrier.

6. Command the other dog

No matter how poorly trained, this will actually work more often than it doesn’t. Be confident, stand tall, raise your arm theatrically as you loudly command: “SIT!” or “STOP!”. Or Down. Or GO.AWAY. If Sit doesn’t work, then try the others. At the very least, the stranger should be genuinely surprised and this will buy you more time (is that the owner finally getting closer to us, I see?).

This may create a long enough pause for the other owner to get their dog on the lead. Or for you to keep repeating the command until they do. (Notice I am deliberately using the word “Command” here, as opposed to a Cue or an Ask. You are not being aggressive or abusive. But in this instance there should be no doubt that you are ordering the stranger to do as asked.) Keep your hand up in a Stop signal.

7. Try throwing treats behind the stranger

Scatter the kibble as they say – it’s raining treats! Just behind them so they have to turn their back. Then throw further away. This gives you more time to purposefully set off in the other direction. And hopefully for the owner to arrive on the scene. Treat motivation will be lower in an aroused dog, but again the element of surprise may work. This may be enough to stop the dog pestering you. But now the stranger is following us for the treats, I hear you say. If that happens, then we have something to work with! They are putty in your hands. You can now all march off, treat-scattering away to your side, to the embarrassed owner and meet in the middle.

Not recommended….

Picking your dog up
Trying to grab hold of the other dog

There are too many variations of dog pestering to cover all the bases in this one post, and whilst these two ideas may work in specific instances (tiny dogs, and an over-friendly stranger + consenting owner spring to mind), I would not recommend these are your Go-To strategies because they could get you into trouble.

A Perfect World

When you see another dog on a lead, there is a reason.

And frankly it shouldn’t matter to you why! The considerate dog walking code is to either put your dog on a lead. Or at least ask the other owner if they want you to. Or you can ensure your off-lead dog is well trained enough to not bother them. Let’s co-operate to lessen dog pestering.

One: It’s polite and considerate! We are helping another person and their dog. This is good!

Two: Your dog should never be off lead in the first place if it is not under control at all times. That, my friends, is now enshrined in Law.

I would welcome any comments on your own experiences and recommendations on this topic. Now, stop worrying and enjoy your walk!

training

Eastside Tails

Post author By Chris Howles
Post date May 3, 2023

Why dog training is great value

Training your dog with the help of a professional is an investment that will pay dividends for the rest of your lives

Pug dog looking at coins and small plant

Priceless. That’s a word that often comes up when a satisfied owner describes their feelings after our training programme. The walk being stress-free now, their dog coming to them when called, their dog being okay left alone when the owner has to go out. Priceless. It’s all about an emotion. Feeling good. Less anxiety about things. Dare I use the Happy word? And like all things emotional, by definition we can’t really put on monetary value on it, can we?

Why your dog deserves to go to school

Quantify something we must though, because trainers need to earn a living by sharing their expertise. Sure, you can take various shortcuts: a book doesn’t cost much, thousands of help videos are widely available and free, or of course you can skip any formal training and fly by the seat of your pants. Many people do. Good luck with that, by the way! Your dog deserves to go to school because it’s the only fair way for them to learn the rules. And for you to know how to help them. (Because a good trainer is training you as much as your dog, don’t forget.)

Just as most people would expect their children to be educated through some sort of formal schooling, so a lot of us recognise the need to have some professional help with dog school too. But for some, the cost can be off-putting, so I am going to try to debunk this.

What’s expensive, and what is not

Owning a dog is expensive. Period. Not owning one, need not be.

Cheeky answer! But true. The current times are difficult financially for many of us. Just the running cost of pet ownership has become too much for some and the tragic stories in the press about this continue. If that is your current challenge – just being able to feed your pet and ensure a minimum standard of welfare, I applaud you for the sacrifices you are no doubt making. But for many of us, baulking at the new price of Buddy’s replacement toy, we still go ahead and buy it.

Let’s consider for a minute how much you think you spend on your dog. Let’s rule out the initial cost of your dog, if it was not a rescue, and the up-and-running costs of beds, leads, collars, toys, bowls etc. None of those items last forever and must be replaced by the way, so a “running cost” should take account of this. Leads and harnesses should be replaced yearly to protect against wear and tear and equipment failure. Beds lose their shape and comfort after a couple of years. And so on.

How much does owning a dog really cost?

In 2022 the PDSA estimated here the minimum cost of owning a dog in the UK to be £5,000 – £12,000 over their lifetime, depending on the size and breed characteristics of the dog. This is the minimum, so only includes basic food and care but does include nominal vet insurance. It does not include any extras nor additional vet visits necessitated by accidents or illnesses not covered by insurance, if you have it, or below your excess costs. This was also before we recently had 10% inflation too, and I found myself going through their list, thinking I spend more than this on almost every category.

What about my dog? (skip this bit if you already know!)

Pen and back of envelope ready?

Here’s a quick exercise. If you have no idea how much you spend, it’s a good thing to learn! Be honest with yourself.

1. Jot down roughly what you spent on:

Getting your dog (Breeder cost, or rescue fee)

Initial running costs: bed, walking equipment, toys, food bowls, vets, microchipping etc.

Write down your total, keep this separate for now.

2. Jot down how much you spend every month (then x12) or on average across a year on:

Food (main)
Poo bags (please tell me you use them)
Treats (if any) and chews
Health maintenance (vets, boosters, flea/worming, accidents/illness, pet insurance)
Replacement equipment (leads, harnesses, toys, towels, coats etc.)
Professional services: grooming, day care, walking etc.

3. Multiply your total for 2) by your dog’s estimated life span and add in your total from 1). Are we £5,000 – £12,000? Or more?

So how much does training cost?

A couple of hundred pounds, usually. In my case, it would cost you £200 – £300 for a personal programme on average. Maybe £400 for a more complex behavioural issue. Maybe another £50 on top of this to buy a better leash and harness. The odd top-up session might cost, say £50 per time further down the line. Often, I have clients who come back for more, because they enjoy it! Otherwise, we almost always keep in touch. I’m always there for advice. Remember training is never over, but once you have the tools to know what to do, you will know how to keep your dog making the right choices for the most common situations. Seen in the context of everything else you spend,

A few hundred pounds goes a long way and with easy maintenance, can last you a lifetime

Let’s even take it a step further and say you went to town on the training, ending up spending £250 initially, and another £250 over your dog’s lifetime. £500 vs. £12,000+. So what does £500 buy you?

Why training is an investment

Training buys you:

Safer living and exercising
Boundaries for good manners to flourish
A calmer existence
Fun experiences, but under control

Mix these well, adding in our final ingredient: the emotional enrichment of a closer bond with your four-legged friend, and you arrive at…….

Priceless

But that’s what £250 or £500 buys you.

Training is about the day-to-day living with your dog. Allowing your dog to be a dog. But allowing them to fit within your lifestyle and boundaries.

Of course, there are no guarantees with training. And you have to put in effort yourself, whilst enjoying the fruits of that effort every day. But training is not something that comes off a shelf and magically fits every dog, your dog. But it will give your dog the best chance in life: to live life to its fullest, safely. And with you. And that much, you owe your dog.

ownership

Eastside Tails

Post author By Chris Howles
Post date April 3, 2023

Dog Time

Your dog’s internal clock and why it matters

Ever wondered how your dog always seems to know it’s dinner time or walkies before you do? What can we learn from this to help them along?

We all know it, “The Look”. Your dog’s eyes somehow become larger and puppy-like, the eye contact is razor-sharp, and she is trying to tell you something. You haven’t noticed the time, but your dog of course doesn’t know what absolute time is and what it means. All she knows is that her internal clock is telling her that dinner is over-due. It’s not just a metabolism thing either. Dogs love routines and structure. Their day is parcelled up into the rhythm of doing and not doing: walkies, sleeping, going outside, changing the room. To some extent we also have an internal clock. But perhaps our natural reliance on this has subsided with having other gadgets help us.

The Circadian Clock

All living things are guided by the natural rhythm of the seasons. When the days are longer and lighter, we tend to wake up earlier and sleep less and be more active. A generalisation of course, but it more or less holds true. Jet lag for example is when our circadian rhythm is out of sync. Things like our metabolism have adjusted to eating mostly at the same times, and however care-free some of us think our lives are, our days are still quite structured. Dogs in the wild will have behaved differently as the day is solely structured around finding food. With domestication the food is largely provided for them. So, whilst eating is still the most important event of the day, it becomes combined into the rhythm of other activities that make up the day. So

time itself becomes access to one resource of many: food, you, bed.

In winter days dinner time may still be, say, 5pm even though it is dark outside, and the afternoon walk a distant memory. In the bright afternoon sun at 5pm on a summer’s day, maybe with a walk still on the horizon, it’s feeding time regardless. Therefore, we know a dog isn’t taking its cues only from its natural environment. It’s because their own clock is telling them that’s the way it is.

It’s Dog Time

So, my own dog has a biscuit at 7pm, a good two hours after his dinner, partly to break up the evening for him to have something extra to look forward to. And partly a relic of intentionally never completely phasing out the late dinner when he was a puppy. I know it’s 7pm because my phone tells me it is. Or if I don’t notice, my dog will sure enough come to my side and look up at me at 18.59. I always thought he knows it’s 7 o’clock because it somehow feels like it to him. The fact that he is bang on though, every day, without exception, I find extraordinary.

Dog Time is relative

So, when we all lost an hour recently with BST and the clocks going forward, it only took him a day to adjust. One day. He was a bit bemused and bleary-eyed when he went out in the morning at what felt like an hour early, but he soon adjusted. The next day at 7pm, (which should have still felt like 6pm), there he was again at 18.59: “OK I’m ready for my biscuit now”. So, from this unscientific test, we can deduce the dog clock works in relative not absolute ways. Sounds like Stephen Hawking!

For him, the day starts with the walk, and from that, everything is subconsciously but very accurately measured. So, he had his dinner at 5pm, and he knows exactly what two hours later feels like to him. Dinner at 5pm (which should have felt like 4pm) made perfect sense. Because it came correctly after the afternoon walk. Which in turn was exactly 3 hours after I normally have my lunch, and so on. But the point is these intervals are relative, but at the same time very real. How he knows this, I have no idea!

But here’s the rub. On a day that is not a routine one, this should all go out the window, right? If the weather is terrible and the day’s walks are all at different times, for example. Or when I am travelling with the dog and feeding as well as walking times could be completely different from normal. He won’t know when it’s 7pm biscuit time, surely. There has been nothing that day to measure relatively against. But at 18.59, there he is. “Ready when you are, bro.” It’s one of nature’s mysteries.

Clockwork Training?

And what are the implications for training? When we start training our dog, they start to learn not just the thing being trained, but also its context. By this we mean literally the physical location and the time. It’s called contextual learning. And that’s fine at the beginning because we all have to start somewhere. If you are training your dog to walk nicely on the lead, this will often be along the same section of pavement. Or always in the garden, and usually at the same time of day. In time you will find your dog naturally starts to walk better in this particular location. Not so well at other times or in other places.

This is why it’s important to break things up – trying the exercises in different locations, adding distractions, and so on. But what is often missed is we should try to also do this at different times, to mimic real life. Every time we do a real-life (i.e. not training) Recall for example, there is usually one small but very real element of surprise to your dog – she was not expecting it. So before she starts to learn 3 o’clock is always training time (and by implication other times it’s okay to pull on the lead), remember we need to keep surprising our dog when training.

It’s difficult for us because our own lives can be busy enough. But wherever possible, it will help you to set aside your 5 minutes a day at different times, even if you can only occasionally manage it, because

we want our dogs to learn something, not the context when they are supposed to do something.

We’re working against Nature in a small way, up against the dog’s powerful internal clock. But that’s okay – a lot of training is un-natural in this way: not pulling on a lead is the best example. It’s not remotely “natural” for a dog to do this. But it’s possible of course to teach them that it can feel natural. So if you can, mix it up, surprise your dog, and break out the training treats when they are least expecting it!

A Dog Day

For everything else, we are coming back to the R word: routine! If your dog doesn’t have to worry about when the next meal or walk might be, you will be helping to nourish a calmer environment. And keeping them regular will keep you happier!

ownership

Eastside Tails

Post author By Chris Howles
Post date February 27, 2023

Interview with a Dog Groomer

This month we ask Charlotte Taylor of Hair & Hounds in Dunmow all about what it’s like to be a professional pet groomer.

Ever wondered what makes a dog groomer tick, or what goes on behind those hallowed doors when you drop off your pooch for a haircut or a bit of TLC? My dog is always so relaxed, happy and looking smart when I collect him from Hair & Hounds, so Charlotte was the natural choice for me to ask all those burning questions…

DC: Hi Charlotte! So what made you decide to be a dog groomer?

CT: I have worked with animals all my life, coming from a farming family and surrounded by animals of all shapes and sizes. Dogs were the next step for me to get into.

What would you say are the most important character traits for someone in this business?

You need a keen interest in animals, a sense of humour, to be calm and patient and have a strong spirit.

Do you have a favourite type of dog to work with, and why?

I don’t have a favourite breed. They are all so lovely in their own right. But I do have a soft spot for the older dogs, “OAPs” – they are so calm and love the attention they receive and they run around like puppies again because they feel fantastic!

What’s the most challenging or unusual request you have had?

The most unusual request I’ve had was a teacup micro pig called Penny. She came in twice a year for a deep clean and ear wash. Unfortunately she is no longer with us due to old age. To be honest every groom is a challenge, you have a living, breathing animal on the table that could do anything and I have to be ready for anything or any situation that could arise.

And how do you go about handling a dog that doesn’t like being groomed or has anxiety issues or is just simply afraid?

My answer is PATIENCE. I never go bounding in with any animal nervous, anxious, afraid or even happy to see me, because they can turn just like that without any kind of warning. An animal that is put into a new situation can either like it or hate it. Dog/animal groomers have to learn to read a dog’s body language to determine if they are okay or not. I could touch one paw and it would be okay but touching a different paw could not be okay. So when I get a dog that doesn’t keep still and doesn’t like the dryer I slow everything down, talking to the dog, reassuring it, having lots of breaks and having lots of tasty treats helps! Sometimes I have to work on the dogs for several weeks so they learn to trust and tolerate the process.

Are other pets like cats or rabbits generally more or less challenging?

Rabbits and Guinea pigs are a lot less challenging as I find that they love the whole process form bathing to clipping the nails. Cats on the other hand are a different kettle of fish! Most of my cats have been coming since they were kittens so they are completely comfortable with water, drying, brushing, clipping and cutting nails. And then you get the cats that only come when it’s necessary i.e. matting of the coat, nails are too long and they are feeling uncomfortable in the first place. These grooms can become difficult to do!

Grooming room of Hair and Hounds Great Dunmow

The good people of Dunmow love you. But what do you enjoy most about your job?

Yes I love my job, I love making all the animals look and smell amazing but I love that I can make an animal feel good about itself and be happy. This job has its ups and downs – it’s a physical job and can sometimes be very emotional, not very glamorous and can be quite smelly! Some animals don’t always get the best start in life and I have unfortunately seen animals in a bad way from nails curling back on themselves to matting to the coat that causes skin sores and haematomas….

I can imagine. So the health aspect is really crucial?

Yes exactly, this is why it is important to get your dog groomed on a regular basis. A good dog groomer will check your dog over and if he/she sees something that isn’t right, they will advise to get it checked. We groomers see everything on an animal, we look at every inch of the body.

A really important link in dog care generally, then. So what would be your advice for someone looking to start a career in dog grooming?

My advice to anyone that wants to become a dog groomer would be:

1. Get as much experience as possible with all animals, not just one type.

2. It’s not all fun and games you will have to get your hands dirty.

3. Be prepared for any situation. Every animal is different, every groom is different.

Oh, and have the patience of a saint and enjoy your work. You can change the way an animal feels by doing simple or big things and they will love you for it.

Sound advice! Finally, as a dog trainer I have to ask this! In your opinion what percentage of dogs do you see that could definitely benefit from some form of training?

Puppies!!!! Puppies need training from the day they are brought home. Every day that pup needs to learn something new or old. Also socialisation is a huge factor, I don’t just mean meeting other dogs, I mean socialising in every aspect in a dog’s life, travelling in a car, meeting different people and animals, traffic noise. I have meet so many “lock down” pups and they have no experience of the outside world and what it can offer.

Couldn’t agree more. It’s the ideal learning time, though it’s never too late, however old the dog! Charlotte, thanks for your time!

walking

Eastside Tails

Post author By Chris Howles
Post date January 31, 2023

Recall treats – a low cost DIY recipe

Ever wondered what a fifty-metre recall looks like? Try making these low cost, healthy training super-treats, your dog will love you even more!

English springer spaniel dog being recalled running in field

This month we’re looking at higher grade training treats for when we need some oomph! And a recipe for something you can try yourself. Now, I know how frustrating reading a blog with a recipe can be – you have scroll to the very bottom to find what you really want to know: what is it and how do I make it? So I’ll give that part to you now, the Why comes after. Let’s get a disclaimer out of the way first. This does not replace a meal or a complete, balanced diet. I am not responsible for how you make or store it, and nor do I advocate you trying it without knowing your dog’s allergies. I am simply sharing with you something that works really well for me, and we’ll discuss super- treats in general.

This is a training treat that can be used for when you need a higher-value food to aid you for the really important training techniques such as RECALL. They are basically dog-friendly mini-hamburgers (5ml teaspoon size in fact) that you can easily make yourself, and unlike shop-bought, you know what goes in them – and it’s good stuff!

Teaspoon Burgers Recipe

Ingredients

1lb / 450g minced beef (ideally not extra lean, but 10% fat)
1 small/medium carrot, finely diced
1.5 tablespoons chickpea flour (or other suitable grain-free flour, or normal plain flour if you know your dog is okay with gluten)
1 egg

Time to make

About an hour: 5 mins chopping/mixing, 35 mins measuring out, 20+ mins baking. Allow a little more time afterwards for general faffing with freezing.

Method

Prepare a large or two medium baking trays with baking paper on them.
Mix up well all the ingredients in a bowl, resulting in a slightly sticky solid mass! (easier to handle when the mince is cold).
Now for measuring them out. This takes a little over half an hour and is the boring bit. Stick a podcast on, or sing to your dog! 20 minutes in-
Preheat the oven to 180C or 170C fan.
Fill a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon (5ml) or just use a small teaspoon – then thumb out flat side down onto the baking tray. You should have a small dome – thumb the middle down a little. Repeat until you have filled your tray(s). If there is anything left over you can save the mixture in the fridge for 24hrs.
Bake for 20+ minutes until definitely well done and cooked through (I usually end up doing 25 minutes because I’m paranoid).

Home made dog treats teaspoon size mini beef burgers

Makes about 96: allow to cool, keep them separate and freeze on trays, then bag up in batches to put back in the freezer.

Defrost thoroughly smaller batches as and when needed (overnight in a container in the fridge): use within 48hrs once kept in the fridge. If you have a large dog you can make fewer, larger burgers, by all means experiment with the portion sizing.

So why are these good? Other things are too

We usually train and walk our dogs with very small treats which are normally enough to do the trick with rewarding and which can be used with high frequency especially for short bursts of training. But we also need what I call a “Ferrari Food”: a high (taste) value, more substantial treat which we would use much less often, but for the really important never-fail situations, such as recalling our dog back to us. We need something so irresistible that our dog will always prefer it to whatever else is tempting them away.

So what else can we use?

Home-made or prepared things like cooked chicken are wonderful. Chicken is good. We like chicken. But it’s not cheap. Sausages are okay and very tempting for a dog, but their ingredients are a minefield so care is needed: they will often contain gluten at the least, or worse, certain spices such as nutmeg which are dog-toxic. So do check the ingredients forensically or ask your butcher for a complete breakdown. If your dog easily puts on weight, best avoided on a regular basis. Otherwise, good to go. Cubed cheese (not processed) is okay but only for occasional use: dogs find it difficult to digest dairy so I will only use this if I am caught short on a certain day. So please use sparingly. Frankfurters are the probably the best workhorse treat in terms of value. Beware some brands are not wheat/gluten-free if this is an issue for you, and they are of course processed meat, so I would caution against their long-term, frequent use. But dogs love them and their undeniable £ value and ease of handling makes occasional use, or short-term intense use for training periods fine, other things being equal. And who doesn’t like hot dogs anyway? Just siphon off a few for your faithful companion.

And what about fruit and veg?

Dog-safe varieties are always a good idea for a treat anyway, but for Recall I am afraid chicken will beat a carrot every time, and remember we are talking about something that’s irresistible.

Shop-bought treats

Like the home-made items mentioned above, if you have found something that works for you (and your dog!), then that’s good, I am not here to ask you to change. What I do want to do is share with you the problem I was having, as I know I am not alone.

Household budgets are being squeezed these days, I hear you. I was looking at ways to reasonably economize on the things where at least we have a little control, like our food. I used to buy the most expensive “recall” treats I could afford, because generally speaking you get what you pay for and the more expensive brands tend to be healthier (but always check!). I am a great believer in natural foods and minimum processing, and if I want to eat well, even on a budget, I certainly want the dog to eat well (in fact, he comes first!).

The problem?

Over £3 now for a 65g bag of something that is still processed to a degree, still using filler ingredients, and was lasting me, ooh, maybe 5 days? (3 days if we encountered wild animals or a discarded pizza on a walk, I was a posh vending machine). Trading down to cheaper brands for me wasn’t an option, so I researched and experimented and arrived at these burgers. I did not come across this exact recipe, though no doubt someone else somewhere has come up with the same thing. The bottom line?

Low cost

Including leccy for the oven, these come in at approx. £6 (Feb’23 prices) for 96 treats which last me for 3 weeks for a medium-sized dog. And that’s using good quality beef mince and a free-range egg, so you could do it a little cheaper than that. This will vary for you of course, depending on their use and the size of your dog, but a like-for-like comparison in my case with good quality shop-bought is it works out at half the price. I would guess they are no cheaper or not much cheaper than the lower cost brands, but those are so much less healthy, which brings us onto:

Healthier

Okay, we are not in kale territory here, but remember what we are up against. Beef mince of course has a good balance of protein, iron and fat your dog needs, in these smaller quantities, (and remember you are baking not frying, so some of the fat drains off). Carrots of course are a Good Thing: a rich source of fibre and vitamin A. The flour and egg are used for binding agents and in this small quantity are fine too, particularly if you use something like chickpea flour and good quality eggs. No meat processing or artificial additives are involved, and the ingredients are cooked from fresh. All good!

They work!

Oh man, dogs love them. An hour and a bit of my time every third Sunday is time happily spent, knowing the pleasure and results they help to bring. No chips please, keep it simple!

training

Eastside Tails

Post author By Chris Howles
Post date January 1, 2023

New Year, time for training!

It’s a great idea to get your dog trained, because you never know what life may throw at you

With festive eating and drinking gently winding down, there is nothing better than shaking off those cobwebs with a good winter walk with the dog. If you are fortunate to go for walks in a nearby local park – and lucky with the weather – you may have noticed how beautiful winter can be: trees and snow turn everything into a Narnia winter wonderland. Most dogs love frolicking in the snow and it’s always such a pleasure to see them enjoying themselves. I realise not all dogs enjoy these conditions – particularly if they are of mature years – just like us, really! And when the pavements and roads are icy death-traps, just walking to your car or taking your dog with you to post a letter becomes more of a challenge.

I recently had a training client who wanted their dog to learn some recall. OK, I said, what’s your dog like getting to the park with you in the first place? Turns out, he pulls like a train. So, before we look at the fun stuff in the park, we need to look at you guys moving as ONE unit, whether on or off the lead. If your dog isn’t noticing you when he is on the lead, why would you expect him to pay any attention to you when he has all that freedom when you do get to the park? So we need to rewind and look at walking along and crossing that busy road first. You get the picture. I could see how crestfallen my client looked – he hadn’t reckoned on doing “boring” (trust me, it isn’t) leash work, but reluctantly he agreed.

Well, we recently had a very cold, prolonged spell of wintry weather, and the road and pavements around here were ice rinks. And this same owner was so grateful that we got his best friend loose-lead walking before the Arctic stuff happened to hit us. He otherwise would have been pulled over onto the ice in no time. The moral of this is not to get your dog trained for this specific thing, like wintry conditions, but something more holistic. It’s a great idea to get your dog trained, because you never know what life may throw at you, and because with a trained dog you can get on with your life so much easier. Simple!

Now some people love the idea of it. Some of those will go as far as contacting a dog trainer or training school. That gets mentally ticked, and then they move on. We all do it, it’s called procrastination! We feel so much better about getting that cheaper insurance quote – vowing to do something about it next week, then completely forgetting about it until that pesky renewal kicked in. Some will even go as far as buying a book or watching YouTube. Sorted! And well done you. It may well be sorted. In which case, move on.

But the thing is, it’s not always sorted, is it. You see, you and your dog are individuals, both with unique character traits, mindsets, and ways of doing things. No book or video, however good – and there are also some very poor examples out there – is going to capture this and your particular quirks or situation. You can’t replace the unique dynamic of trainer, owner, dog. This is where one-to-one or 1-2-1 or personal – whatever you want to call it – dog training comes into its own. This is because

trainer, owner and dog learn from each other in a constant feedback loop

It’s all about feedback, in fact. I’m learning from you both at the same time you are learning from me. A technique that might work for one dog – and the breed here is irrelevant, because remember your dog is an individual – might be a disaster for another dog. So we adapt and learn. Next session we are all empowered to hone those skills just that little bit better.

With the start of a new year, the old cliché (because it’s true) kicks in: we take a breath, evaluate where we are and where we need to go, so to speak. And dog training should be high on that list. Investing a little time and money for a few weeks or months will yield a lifetime payback and reward: life with your dog can be so much more enjoyable. And yes, safer too!

dog training

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