Guest blog #6

It’s guest blog time! This month, it’s Katherine from Positive Canine Coaching.
 
Katherine and I met in a hotel lobby in New York 20 years ago. We travelled through America and across Canada together and have been friends ever since. She has always been an animal lover and three years ago she left her former career to become a canine coach. Here are her thoughts about human/canine well-being.
 
“Right now, getting some fresh air and being at one with nature seems to be on lots of people’s minds, especially if they don’t have a garden to potter in. I live in a first floor flat with my pooch, Zelda, so getting out and about is something we do on a regular basis. 
 
As a dog trainer, I like to walk my dog in quiet spots away from busy dog parks where you can guarantee there will be hundreds of dogs off lead and people throwing things to try and tire their dog out. I sound like I don’t like dog parks: I do, I just wonder when we started to call them dog parks; and it bothers me that people let their dogs off lead when they haven’t spent time training a reliable recall. 
 
I love dogs, big or small, and it’s one of the reasons I became a dog trainer (as well as to help the humans), but I am fully aware that not everyone shares my passion. When you have a dog, you want to be able to let them run, sniff and have a good time, but making sure you’re ‘present’ is so important. Being present means knowing exactly where your dog is and what they are doing all the time. If they are heading towards an unsuspecting person, you need to make sure you’re able to recall even if you believe ‘It’s OK, he’s friendly’. 
 
Not everyone likes dogs and some people are scared of them. Just because we adore our own dog doesn’t mean other people should and if your dog is not used to other people, they are not going to be particularly comfortable with that person either and may bark or even growl. 
 
If you need any help with training your dog, why not get in touch?”
 
hello@positivecaninecoaching.co.uk
www.positivecaninecoaching.co.uk
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