Would you like the peace of mind of knowing your dog walker is a professional dog trainer who knows how to get the best out of your dog?
Combining a countryside walk with added scentwork, fun K9 training games and urban agility all led by Kate Cert. WCC ADTI, an experienced and qualified dog trainer.
Exercising your pet gundog both physically and mentally while helping them to learn important life skills, so you can have a calmer, more confident and happy dog.
Having owned and worked with labradors, Labrador retrievers, labradoodles and spaniels my whole life, I know what makes these breeds tick! It is one of the reasons I now have a special interest in the gundog breeds and their crosses (Labradoodles, Cockerpoos). It also means I can ensure all the dogs on my group walks are carefully matched to groups based upon their size and similar play style.
Getting to understand your needs is important to me, all services start with a complimentary initial ‘meet and greet’. All dogs then joining group walks will be required to complete a 45 minute solo enrichment walk. This enables me to get to know your dog better and find out what motivates them so that I can assess which group walk will be most suitable and then integrate them safely.
If your dog needs to brush up on their recall training, then more solo walks may be necessary before joining the group and this will be assessed on an individual basis.
Once the solo walk is completed, and all has gone satisfactory, your dog will be ready to meet their new friends and join in the fun on our group enrichment walks.
Let the Sniff-Ventures begin…..
What makes our Gundog Adventures special?
I use my knowledge and skills as a dog trainer and qualified scent instructor to build fun training games into our walks. These games motivate your dog to listen and help to teach them to stay connected even when presented with all the other exciting distractions in the environment.
I include K9 games for hunting together, retrieving, scentwork and urban agility. As well as training games that will help your dog to learn a supercharged Dual WHISTLE RECALL.
Cortisol is a stress hormone and it is released when dogs are involved in strenuous exercise or repeated ball/stick throwing.
It takes 2 hours for cortisol levels to come down after fast-paced exercise. During this time stress is being placed on the body.
Sniffing games and moderate exercise activate something called the Seeking System part of the brain. It’s a part of the brain that is also responsible for the release of dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine increases feelings of motivation and reward and is related to enhanced memory. Serotonin enables brain cells and other nervous system cells to communicate with each other and helps with sleeping, eating, and digestion.
Simply put – dopamine and serotonin makes your dog feel good.
Walks are structured to include special places where we can stop and play fun training games that allow your dog to be a dog and create a safe outlet for natural predatory behaviours.
Sniff & Wagg Trails uses fear free and reward based reinforcement dog training, where your dog is motivated to carry out good behaviour with the promise of a reward. Once I find out what motivates your dog, I will use that to reinforce good choices. Rewards may come from food, toys, environment or social interaction.
All the treats I use on my walks and in enrichment sessions are 100% natural and contain no additives, grains, preservatives or other behaviour affecting nasties.
As well as having active time, we also love to slow down and to stop and play lots of fun scentwork games.
There are lots of amazing adventures a dog can have through their nose, from searching for catnip scented toys, small treats or tennis balls hidden in Autumn leaves or long grass, to ‘cheese trees’ or ‘sausage walls’.
And as these calmer activities help your dog relax we always ensure we also play one towards the end of our walks which will help lower your dogs pulse rate and arousal levels so they are dropped off home calm and relaxed.
We use the environment to our advantage, practicing low impact behaviours on different natural obstacles. Introducing some fun training to teach the dogs to put their paws up, climb on, crawl under or jump up.
Its a great confidence booster and helps the dogs to get incredibly fit and also helps to build their relationship with me.
Walks are planned for variety and include play, K9 games and enrichment activities to help with:
Recall
Focus & Connection
Impulse control
Frustration tolerance
Turn taking and good manners around food
Appropriate play with other dogs
* Please note, these are not ‘training done for you walks’ the games and activities we play will all help your dog to learn important life skills but are not a substitute for training your own dog.
After the enrichment walk is over, your dog will be returned home with the option for them to be left with a tasty Kong stuffed with high quality ingredients. Not only is this helping to keep them occupied for longer, but licking and chewing also has a soothing effect as it is associated with feeding and rest.
Attributes of Dogs Suitable for Group Walks
Pet gundog breeds (Labradors, Spaniels, Retrievers, flatcoats etc) and gundog crossbreeds (Labradoodles, Cockerpoos etc)
Dogs who can safely and reliably be let off their lead
Friendly around other dogs
Able to walk on a lead, alongside other dogs relatively calmly
Do not resource guard
Dogs who can commit to at least one fixed day per week
Price from £15 per dog
Included in this price:
Travel in a secure crate in our professionally fitted Sniff and Wagg van, to our chosen location which is always away from main roads where your dog can run, play, relax and sniff in complete safety.
A fun and interactive 50 minute small group adventure.
No need to worry about your hard work being compromised because I will be continuing any training you have been doing.
After the walk is over your dog returned home towel dried and water refilled.
Your dog can also have the option to be left with a tasty stuffed Kong to keep them occupied for longer. Just let me know on booking.
Access to a private ‘owners’ Facebook group where I share training tips and advice about all things ‘dog’.
Updates after every walk to let you know, how your dog is doing on their walks including photos and videos.
Access to our online client portal where you can make or cancel bookings and update you and your dog’s details, plus have access to all of your forms, invoices and receipts.