Jay Gurden

Those of you familiar with the person behind the page here at Good Guardianship will know that a new canine member of the family joined as a few weeks ago. She’s a beautiful Border Collie puppy called Freya, just under 6 months old, and a full sister to one of our other dogs, the gorgeous Rogue. She came to us much later than is normal for a puppy due to a health issue that required heart surgery. This also meant that she had to be kept very quiet during the time that most puppies are...

One of the words we see written most frequently when talking about puppies is ‘socialisation’ and how important it is for young dogs to be well socialised to grow into happy and confident adults. While socialisation is important, what some advice (and the ‘socialisation checklists’ that can often be found online) states is, sadly, a little problematic. The focus is often on having the puppy meet as many different people, dogs, animals, vehicles etc as possible. I have even seen it said that...

I recently took part in a zoom talk in the Dog Dilemmas Facebook group (if you’re on FB and interested in kind and ethical training and living with dogs come and join us, it’s a lovely positive group and a safe space to ask questions and talk dog!) on the topic of supporting your reactive dog. As part of the conversation the question was asked about mistakes that can often be made, and decompression was one of the first things that came to mind. One of the factors I often talk about in...