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Christmas is such a magical time—filled with family, friends, and more food than we know what to do with. But let’s be honest: for our reactive dogs, it can feel like a bit of a nightmare. All the noise, visitors, decorations, and changes can leave them feeling overwhelmed and on edge. If your dog finds…

Christmas is such a magical time of year, but it can also bring its fair share of challenges—especially if you live with multiple dogs. Between the excitement of visitors, the change in routine, and the added hustle and bustle, it’s easy for things to get overwhelming for both you and your dogs. But with a…

Welcoming visitors into your home should be a happy occasion, but if you’ve got a reactive dog, it can feel more like preparing for battle. Whether it’s barking, lunging, or just general chaos, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. The good news is that, with a bit of preparation and the right approach, you can help…

Living with a high-drive or reactive dog is a unique adventure. These dogs are full of potential, bursting with energy, and capable of incredible things—but they can also bring their own set of challenges. If you’ve ever found yourself feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or unsure of how to help your dog thrive, you’re not alone. Specialised…

Let’s be honest—no one likes going out in the pouring rain, and that includes many of our dogs! While the odd missed walk isn’t the end of the world, it’s important to make sure your dog still gets some mental stimulation to keep them happy and balanced. The good news? Bad weather is the perfect…

Lilly decided to have her babies 5 days early, and as you can appreciate that meant I wasn’t totally ready. She had 6 healthy babies, somewhat less than the 9 we expected. The birth was relatively straight forward, she handled it all marvellously, with me acting in a support role. What has been really interesting…

It has been a little quiet on here of late – I realise that. A few technical issues combined with a lot going on has meant you have been neglected a bit. So here is a catch up of what is going on at Fresh Start HQ. As some of you will be aware, I…

I had big plans for this year, this agility season I would be competing Spudley and Lilly for the first time. The last few years I have been working on their ringside skills, such as calmness when queuing, the vast number of dogs doing exciting running and jumping things, and not being worried by spectators.…

As you can imagine from the title of today’s blog, all has not been going as well as I should like in relation to my diet and exercise plan. There have been a number of reasons, or excuses for this. However I am not going to dwell on those here. Suffice to say, today I…

Despite deciding to withdraw Lilly from the Crufts qualifiers this year, I want to drive forward with the other elements of my plan. This plan included following a diet and exercise plan from V SHRED. It also included improving my fitness through canicross 3-4 times a week, and following the exercise plans in the programme,…