When people bring home a new puppy, they often focus on socialisation, toilet training and teaching basic manners. But one of the most overlooked pieces of the puppy puzzle is something much simpler: sleep. Puppies need an incredible amount of rest - most puppies require around 18–20 hours of sleep every day. Yet many puppies simply don’t get enough. Just like overtired toddlers, overtired puppies can struggle to regulate themselves. Instead of curling up and drifting off to

If you live with a busy, active dog — particularly a spaniel or working breed — you’ll know how important structure, clarity and impulse control are in everyday life. Working Cocker Spaniel on a Placeboard Placeboard training is a simple but highly effective tool owners can use to teach these skills in a way that makes sense to enthusiastic, fast-moving dogs. It provides a clear framework for learning, helping dogs slow down, think, and make better choices — without dampening

My first springer spaniel Murphy in Richmond Park retrieving a dummy. Let’s talk about one of the most common games people play with their dogs — fetch . If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll probably already know that I don’t recommend repetitive, high-arousal fetch games. But dogs – and owners – love to play it. So what’s the issue? And more importantly… what’s the difference between fetch and a trained retrieve? In reality, there is a huge difference between repetitiv

What the hell have I done? I didn’t think it would be this hard!!! Sound familiar? If you’re in that place with your working spaniel puppy I can relate!