Wellies & Wax Jackets
Good dogs, difficult dogs, muddy dogs and the ones currently pretending they can't hear you. Training, behaviour, walks, countryside life and everything we learn from living with them.
Training · Behaviour
Recall can look brilliant in the garden and disappear completely the moment a squirrel, another dog or an interesting smell gets involved. The problem usually isn't that your dog doesn't know its name.
Read the story →Worth knowing
Why repeating a name across a field can teach a dog that listening is entirely optional — and what to do instead.
Read → CountrysideLeads, sheep, cattle, rights of way and the situations where even a normally sensible dog can become a problem very quickly.
Read → Real lifeWhy dogs often behave differently away from their owners — and what groomers wish more people understood before an appointment.
Read → WalkingNervous dogs, dogs on leads, excitable greetings and the small bits of walking etiquette that make life easier for everyone.
Read →Behaviour
Because dogs are very good at working out exactly who they're dealing with.
The dog that stands beautifully for the groomer, walks nicely for somebody else and suddenly develops selective hearing with its owner isn't necessarily confused. Often, it's learned which rules are consistent — and which ones are negotiable.
Why they do it →
Dogs out in the world
Dog owners, unfiltered
“She rolled in fox poo ten minutes after I'd collected her from the groomer.”
There are some battles you simply aren't going to win.
“He can hear a cheese wrapper from upstairs. Apparently his own name doesn't carry across a field.”
“I'm so sorry, he's never done that before.”
Narrator: he had, in fact, done it before.