Clever Canines

07/01/2026

2026 classes start tomorrow.

See you soon - Happy New Year

23/12/2025

Yesterday was another sad day for Clever Canines Alison and Adrian Thompson has to say goodbye to their lovely springer spaniel Molly aged 13.
Molly came to classes as a puppy as a friend of Alisons had gifted her a puppy training course - and they never left - Molly quickly got herself into the adult dog activities class and then moved on to the Heelwork to Music class - Her and Alison developed a lovely working partnership and they competed at in Heelwork to Music competition's and took part in our club demonstrations.
Molly was one of those dogs who once she made up her mind was not for budging - she decided quite young that she did not like me and tended to ignore me if she could - hey ho I respected her decision - and was pleased on the odd occasion when she greeted me.
She has a fantastic life with Adrian and Alison loved to bits, she enjoyed her walks, her specials and had a lovely happy retirement from competing.

08/12/2025

So sad to hear that Brian has had to say goodbye to his wonderful Bearded Collie Roddy.
Roddy has been a member of the Clever Canines family from a puppy and he continued to attend classes up to March of this year - when young Rains arrived and joined the puppy class.
He has been a member of the club for over 12 years and taken part in so many dog club activities.
He has been fun, frivolous, and a perfect treat thief 🙂
He was his own person - and excelled at making us smile.
He also joined us on our regular dog club Sunday beach walks and was with us on the 30th of November for his last one.
Bearded collies are a rare bread now and you really could not have found a more handsome one than Roddy - he was such good dog who got on with all dogs.
Brian he was a real credit to you and his breed.

05/12/2025

My other course is: The Positive Dog Trainers course run at Myerscough College

You can improve your dog training skills and train your dog in college every week - Yes you can bring your dog to college. If you do not have a dog you can work with one of mine.

The Positive Dog Trainers Course
About the course
This course is for those who are either already working with dogs in a training capacity or wish to work with dogs in that way - or want to develop their own training skills in order to train a dog.
Topics covered
Theories of learning - how dogs learn and what motivates them
Methods of reinforcement
Shaping behaviour .
Develop and deliver positive training programmes for a variety of canine activities.
Examine breed specific and how that affects the reliability of the training programme.
How long is the course?
This is a ten-week course - (1 evening a week) 6 - 9 pm Price £295 - great value for money.

What can I expect to learn from this course?
You can expect to develop knowledge and understanding of the skills required to train a dog using positive training methods, and develop your knowledge and understanding on various theories of learning in relation to dog training and behaviour.
Location: Preston Campus
Course length: 10 Weeks
Start date: Wednesday 14th January 2026

05/12/2025

Looking for something to do in the new year - here are details of my college short course running at Myerscough college in January.

These are dog friendly courses meaning - you can bring your dogs with your. Training and learning at the same time.
Its is really value for money and a great way to start off the new year.
3 hours from 6 - 9pm. Price £295
Aspects of Canine Behaviour - Part 1
About the course
This course has been designed to look at various aspects of canine behaviour and communication. It will focus on the dog as a sociable animal and its interaction in today society.
Identifying how dogs' behaviour can be interpreted by observations of the canine communication system. It will focus in part on aggressive behaviour examine the skills required to modify an aggressive dog's behaviour.
Topics:
Canine Communication
Identifying & understanding canine/ human communication.
The interpretation of how dog's communicate and our understanding of their communication system.
Understanding Canine Behaviour Problems including, common behavioural issues, identifying the problem, discussing the cause and examining programmes to modify the behaviours.
Canine Aggression - What is an aggressive behaviour - when does it become a problem. Identifying the type of aggression and what factors influence aggressive behaviour.
Location: Preston Campus
Course length: 10 Weeks
Start date: Tuesday 13th January 2026
https://www.myerscough.ac.uk/courses/short-course/animal-studies/
Click link to book your place - https://weaa.myerscough.ac.uk/webenrolment.aspx?page=~/additional/checkout_enrolFC.ascx&OfferingID=826824

Myerscough college- online applications and enrolments - Powered by ProSolution Web Enrolments

26/10/2025

Thursday the 30th of October will be our usual Halloween themed classes. With prizes on offer and a few sweets :)

There will be no classes the following Thursday the 6th of November - the day after fireworks night means people will still be letting of fireworks and we do not want dogs scared in the hall.

05/09/2025

Today was Muriel Travis's funeral - Muriel was a member of Clever Canines for many years and was always (despite being the oldest person in the club) the one to be on the floor helping me pick up equipment. She was always ready to help out and loved coming to classes with her German Shepherds Megan and then Poppy.
It was a lovely funeral and Sandra's tribute was full of all the amazing things Muriel had done thorughout her life. A lesson to take from hearing the tribute was stay busy - take part and engage with society - Muriel definitely did that.