Trio of Longhaired Weimaraner photos

Welcome to Confident Canine Essex

Welcome to Confident Canine in Essex – The home of the Holistic Gundog Specialist Welcome to Confident Canine, Essex. I am The Holistic Gundog Trainer and I specialise in positive, reward-based 121 training for gundogs. Gundog Training Recall and Loose lead walking specialist Confidence Building Reactivity – Barking and lunging etc How to raise your […]

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The Power of PAWS

oduction: We’ve all been there—you’re out for a walk with your gundog, and suddenly, they start pulling on the lead, excitement building, and before you know it, you’re speeding up too. It’s easy to get caught up in their energy, but what if I told you that the way we feel directly influences how our

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Longhaired Weimaraner Tugging

Failure, The Super Power

training your dog, it’s easy to get frustrated when things don’t go as planned. Maybe your dog isn’t picking up a new command, or they seem to be going backwards in an area where you thought they’d made progress. These moments can make you feel like you’ve failed as a dog owner. But here’s the

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Gundog Dummy

Where do I start?

Where do I start? Where do I start? Nina is a wonderful person and reignited the bond I didn’t even realise was weakening between me and my Goldie. As she was from a working background, Nina was able to tap into exactly what she wanted and what she needed, and my dog was instantly feeling

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It’s a shame

It’s a shame To listen to the audio version of this blog please click the button to the right > Click here It’s a shame Do you own a dog with issues? Not necessarily reactivity, perhaps your dog is always jumping, stealing, barking, chasing or similar? I will be focusing heavily on reactivity in this blog, fear based

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Award presentation for partnership

Not a battle of wills

Not a battle of wills Nina has taught me so much with my young Springer. Have now had six springers, all different and Nina has supported me with a number of challenges with our number six!! e.g. bad lead pulling having exhausted other training methods, very high bird prey drive, poor recall. After three visits

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Longhaired Weimaraner standing in the grass

My calling

My calling – the moment I surrendered To get help with training your gundog: Book your 121 here Gundog training – “For field & fun” I had a dog, my first dog, he wasn’t planned for me, he was the dog my daughter had always wanted, he was an incredibly intelligent and sensitive Longhaired Weimaraner

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Reactive gundog

Reactive gundog It can be hard work living life with a reactive gundog, but, imagine how much harder it must be for your gundog. Reactivity isn’t a choice, it is an emotional response that normally comes from fear (there can be other causes of reactivity but for the purposes of this article I will be

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Longhaired Weimaraner dog walking off lead with owner

Careful what you wish for

Careful what you wish for So today I saw a FB post, I see them all the time, they are really hard to scroll past because they are nearly always followed by tonnes of comments from people that are struggling with their dogs and loose leash walking, comments such as: Fantastic, where about are you

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Longhaired Weimaraner running back

Every perfect recall

Every perfect recall Get help training your gundog: Book your 121 here For testimonials visit our FB Page  5/5 Facebook Instagram Spotify Twitter Member of the PGG British Isles So, at the start of our walk, we cross a green, it’s next to the main road, do I think she will run off? Nope.

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Longhaired Weimaraner recalling on extender lead

Stop the blame

Stop the blame It is time to feel empowered again! I had an amazing weekend, the sun was shining, I love working with dogs and I had some amazing 121 clients to see! One particular conversation really got me thinking. It was with a fantastic owner who had been struggling to connect with her dog

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Scentwork images

Scentwork Testimonials

Older Scentwork Testimonials Get help training your gundog: Book your 121 here For testimonials visit our FB Page  5/5 Facebook Instagram Spotify Twitter Member of the PGG British Isles Get in the know. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing!

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Older Testimonials

Older Testimonials Get help training your gundog: Book your 121 here For testimonials visit our FB Page  5/5 Facebook Instagram Spotify Twitter Member of the PGG British Isles Get in the know. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing!

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Longhaired Weimaraner laying in doorway

My SOCS day 0 post

Day 0 – I am doing the 30 day challenge because as our puppy was entering our lives, our old boy, my heart boy, Kodi was leaving us, he died New Years day when little Rosa was just 4 months old and her training fell by the wayside as we grieved, I think this will

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Longhaired Weimaraner retrieving from water by Debbie Allery

Rewarding your gundog properly

Rewarding your gundog properly Rewards in dog training, contentious for many reasons but they certainly have their place! I know that there are many opinions on reward based training in the gundog world and everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. Many misunderstand reward based training as treat bribery but if done correctly this

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Longhaired Weimaraner competing on obedience off lead

The cost of confidence

The cost of confidence The cost of confidence is priceless! So, we have a young puppy, always happy and confident and up until a recent ear infection in one ear she was also happy to have her ears cleaned. However, upon her ear becoming inflamed she went from standing still to have it cleaned to

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German Shephard doing a scentwork indication

The tell tail tell

The tell tail tell Every dog is different and that is one of the things that I like best about teaching scentwork. There is no magic way for you to understand your dog and what it is telling you when it’s working or on scent, the only way to understand your dog is to take

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I want it all !

I want it all! Twice again recently I have had the age old conversation of doing more than one discipline/sport/activity with your dog. So many times over my past 10+ years in dogs I have been told I can’t do obedience if I want to do field work, I can’t take my dog tracking if

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Longhaired Weimaraner stacking childrens ring toy

Let your dog show you

Let your dog show you I did a blog some time ago about working with the dog you’ve got, it still stands you should work with the dog you have in front of you rather than the dog you wished you had however I’ve learn’t a lot since then and I’d like to update it

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Longhaired Weimaraner holding dumbell

Always Trade Up

Always trade up My youngest, homebred girl, has always had a great retrieve. Her first retrieve to hand was completed at 6 weeks old, clicker trained and to her just another game to play. Bearing this in mind, her retrieve is by now very ingrained. When she finds things or steals something her instinct is

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You can’t do it all

Someone said this to me just yesterday but it isn’t the first time and won’t be the last and its a phrase I will never ever understand, ‘You can’t do it all!’ Can’t I? Why can’t I? One good reason please? Just one will do me…. I can’t think of any and of my three

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Longhaired Weimaraner and her obedience winnings

What is success

I have an ideal follow on to my last blog from just last week ‘Competing – It is never perfect‘ It has been an interesting week. I recently posted on my personal FB page that I am giving up competitive obedience for now, possibly permanently, time will tell and it was interesting to see the

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Dog indicating on pot whilst doing scentwork

I can do that

Training for confidence I recently had a client join me for 121’s, she happened to choose Scentwork as her dog already loved to play ‘find it’ games at home so it seemed a natural progression. Her dog had recently had a traumatic experience and this had caused a loss of confidence in the dog and owner

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Tried and Tested

My clients already know this about me, its simple really, I dont recommend products, toys, treats and training that I haven’t tried and tested myself. Pet Remedy has not only worked for my dogs but for many, many dogs to whom I have recommended it. I am a stockists and orders will soon be easily

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Longhaired Weimaraner sitting with their owner

It’s ok to stop

Many of us dog owners are highly dedicated, I don’t mean in the sense of competing but in caring, loving and providing for our dogs. Some of that includes important things like daily food and exercise and some of that is also training time. Those who know me will know that I lost my mum November

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Nina and Faith at obedience show kindly taken by Debbie Allery

What is dog obedience

Many people use the term ‘obedience class’ to mean many, many different things, such as: Competition obedience – These should be about Learning and working with very precise movements and commands in order to later compete, usually in Kennel Club shows. Pet obedience – These tend to be about learning and working with general commands

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Longhaired Weimaraner Rhea at Crufts

Train without pain

I recently watched a post unfold on social media, this prompted me to write this short blog. So positive training, what isn’t it? Lets start with what too many people believe it is: Handing out to your dog an endless stream of treats Handing out those treats to bribe your dog to do what you

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Scentwork

Definition – Search: To try to find something by looking or otherwise seeking carefully and thoroughly. Scentwork/Search work is fast becoming popular, it is simple thing to teach and great fun for your dog. Scentwork isn’t about pointing your dog to the object or showing it where you are hiding it, the clue is firmly

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Dog Law

So many people remain unaware of the changes that took place to dog law recently. Please take your time to familiarise yourself it could save your dogs life. Changes include your responsibilites at home and also the fact that a dog now only has to be seen to be a worry for action to be

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Keeping hot dogs cool

Summer finally looks to be rearing its lovely head and its a great fun time of year for your dogs but remember to take care too as with the heat comes a few added dangers to consider watching out for. Exercise – Take your dogs out early or late since these are much cooler times

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Longhaired Weimaraner stacking childrens ring toy

Practice what you preach

I recently came across the website of a fellow dog trainer. On their page they mentioned something that drives me crazy, I never tend to tackle it myself (until now) as I dont believe in putting down other trainers down because I think thats cheap tactics. Instead I prefer to talk about and show people

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Dog being offered dog biscuit

What goes in

I dont normally blog about other things other than my dog here but I feel this post is most worthy. IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU FEED THE RIGHT FOOD FOR YOUR DOG ! My dogs are raised on a quality raw food diet and when I need to use a kibble (travelling etc) I feed a

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WCS 121 Training

Thank you for our brilliant 1-2-1 training session. We all got so much out of our time spent with you. We appreciate not only the specific training advice that we sought but all the other bits in between. We certainly have a lot to keep our clever WCS busy which is exactly what we all

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Pet Remedy

Nina suggested Pet Remedy to me as I had tried another leading brands Diffuser, Spray and Collar which sadly had no effect on any of my 3 dogs. I do think that the Pet Remedy Diffuser has made a difference in aiding to calm my dogs behaviour, along with other training tools such as a stuffed

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Pet Remedy mini spray

Hi, I just wanted to say that the spray worked brilliantly. To be honest I wasn’t really sure that it would work but for the first time ever he jumped in the car laid down and had a nap. Didn’t cry, moan or shiver. Highly recommend the spray to anyone with a dog that’s nervous

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Tailored Training

Tailored Training So good to see someone tailoring training to each individual dog and not applying a one size fits all protocol to every dog. Well-deserved success xx Angela C – SWF Get help training your gundog: Book your 121 here For testimonials visit our FB Page  5/5 Facebook Instagram Spotify Twitter Member of

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Fantastic session

Fantastic BAT session Just had a fantastic BAT session with Nina to help my boy – who had started to get wary of strangers approaching him after a traumatic experience. He responded amazingly well to the technique in such a short time. I feel we’re on the right road to solve the problem and give

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New addition

Nina was fantastic when advising and helping us with our new addition. Marley was having difficulties with separation anxiety and with adjusting to using a crate, especially as bed time. Nina introduced both us and Marley to a clicker and the benefits of using the device. She enabled to gain a deeper understanding of why

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