Sometimes something has captured your dog’s attention so completely that your cue can’t compete. They aren't doing anything wrong and neither are you! It's actually useful information about what feels important in their world, at that time! 🩵🐾 #dogbehaviourawareness #nervoussystem #dogbehaviour #themischiefmethod #dogs

Would you like "A Little Weekly Mischief" in your inbox each week? This week I'm talking about the progress beneath the surface, whether in our gardens, within our dogs and within our learning too. If you'd like to subscribe hit the link; https://muttsandmischief.substack.com/p/a-little-weekly-mischief-56c #dogs #cookiepushersunited #doglearning #funnotformality #themischiefmethod #dogbehaviour

Heading into the week... Some of the most important growing happens where we can’t see it. As a gardener, I can water, tend and protect my plants, but I can’t see everything happening beneath the soil. Roots are spreading. Vegetables are forming. Nature is doing its work in its own time — and I may not know what the harvest looks like until I gently lift what’s been growing. Supporting our dogs can feel much the same. We can make thoughtful choices, offer safety, build trust

Box 🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants 🐾 (A little series combining my love of plants and pets 🌿🐶) Today’s tiny check: Box — also called boxwood or Buxus. This small-leaved evergreen is often clipped into neat hedges, borders and topiary. Very smart-looking. Ideal salad? Not so much 😅 Box contains naturally occurring alkaloids. If a dog eats part of the plant, it may cause vomiting, diarrhoea and tummy discomfort. Before anyone panics — many dogs live happily alongside box h

Progress isn’t always a changed behaviour. Sometimes it’s you recognising the early signs sooner. Noticing the hesitation. Seeing the weight shift. Recognising when your dog needs distance. Realising today’s plan needs changing. Your learning matters within the relationship too. #dogs #dogbehaviour #cookiepushersunited #gentlereminder #themischiefmethod

If your dog functions better when they’re further away from something, that’s useful information. Distance can change intensity, increase opportunities for observation and make other behaviours more available. We don’t have to repeatedly find the closest point a dog can tolerate. Sometimes creating more space is exactly what allows learning to happen. #dogs #cookiepushersunited #funnotformality #themischiefmethod #dogbehaviour #worthknowing

🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants 🐾 (A little series combining my love of plants and pets 🌿🐶) Today’s tiny check: Rhododendron — including azaleas. Those spectacular clusters of colourful flowers can brighten up a garden beautifully. But every part of the plant contains toxins called grayanotoxins, including the leaves, flowers and stems. If eaten, rhododendron may cause drooling, vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness, wobbliness, depression or changes affecting the heart and circul

One difficult walk doesn’t erase three lovely ones. One bark doesn’t erase twenty calm observations. One moment of fear doesn’t undo months of growing confidence. Learning isn’t erased every time life gets difficult. Zoom out before deciding you’ve gone backwards. 🐾 #dogs #dogbehaviour #cookiepushersunited #gentlereminder #themischiefmethod

Where learning happens matters. The sights, smells, sounds, surfaces, distance, people present and emotional state of the dog can all become part of the learning picture. That’s one reason “but they know this!” can be such a frustrating idea for both dogs and humans. Sometimes they do know it. They just haven’t learned that it applies here too. #worthknowing #dogs #dogbehaviour #themischiefmethod #funnotformality #cookiepushersunited

🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants 🐾 (A little series combining my love of plants and pets 🌿🐶) Today’s tiny check: Cherry laurel. This glossy evergreen shrub is an incredibly common choice for garden hedges. Those thick green leaves may look harmless—but cherry laurel contains cyanogenic glycosides. When the plant is chewed, crushed, wilted or digested, these compounds can release hydrogen cyanide. Thankfully, severe cyanide poisoning is uncommon in dogs. Most reported plant

We sometimes measure success by how independently a dog can do something. But needing a little less distance, slightly fewer prompts, recovering a little faster or seeking support before becoming overwhelmed? That’s progress too. Support isn’t something dogs have to graduate from to prove they’ve learned. 🩵 #gentlereminderaboutprogress #dogs #dogbehaviour #themischiefmethod #cookiepushersunited

Just because your dog is comfortable with one person, place or situation doesn’t mean that learning automatically transfers to every similar one. Different movement, distance, smell, location or context can matter. Categories are convenient for humans. Dogs experience the details. 🩵 #dogbehaviour #dogs #themischiefmethod #behaviourmakessense #cookiepushersunited

🌿 Tiny Toxins: Paws Off Plants 🐾 (A little series combining my love of plants and pets 🌿🐶) Today’s tiny check: Elder — the shrub that produces elderflowers and elderberries. Those clusters of tiny flowers and dark berries may be familiar sights in hedgerows and gardens. But they aren’t something we want our dogs helping themselves to. The leaves, stems, bark, roots and unripe berries contain naturally occurring compounds called cyanogenic glycosides. If chewed and digeste

Your dog absolutely smashed it. And it’s incredibly tempting to think: “Right! Let’s make it harder!” But you don’t have to. You can repeat the easy version. You can keep the same distance. You can finish while everyone is still having fun. You can let success simply… be successful. Learning doesn’t require us to continually test whether our dogs can cope with something more difficult. Repeated experiences of feeling safe and successful are valuable in their own right. There’

THE MISCHIEF METHOD™ — ADVENTURE ONE IS HERE! What if learning with your dog wasn’t about getting everything right? What if you could explore, experiment, change the plan, make mistakes, celebrate the unexpected and discover what actually works for you and your dog? Welcome to The Mischief Method™ — Adventure One. 10 weeks. One shared adventure. No perfect required. Across ten weeks, we’ll explore listening and observation, choice and agency, curiosity, connection, scent and

Something mischievous is coming… 👀🐾🔍 The Mischief Method™ — Adventure One 10 weeks. No obedience checklists. No chasing perfection. Just you and your dog learning to notice more, understand more, make choices together — and have some mischief along the way. And yes… there are Mischief Medals. 🏅 Adventure One is coming very soon. Fun, Not Formality — Building Connections Through Paws to Play. 🩵🐾 #themischiefmethod #funnotformality #cookiepushersunited #dogs #muttsnmisc

2am Dog Question “My dog can do it perfectly in the kitchen… so why can’t they do it on a walk?” Because learning doesn’t automatically transfer from one environment to another. Your kitchen and the outside world are very different learning environments — different sights, smells, sounds, emotions and distractions. Rather than thinking “but you know this!”, try asking: “Have we practised this version of the behaviour, in this environment, under these conditions?” Dogs aren’t

🏆 A rather lovely bit of news from Mutts & Mischief… I’m incredibly happy to share that Mutts & Mischief has received a @Quality Business Awards for Best Dog Trainer in Lincoln 2026, with an overall quality rating of over 95%. Awards have never been why I do this work, but I won’t pretend it isn’t rather lovely when the work is recognised. Especially because behind Mutts & Mischief are years of learning, teaching, advocating, questioning, adapting — and, of course, an awful

Behaviour Makes More Sense 🧠🐾 Prediction Error Sometimes, learning happens because something doesn’t happen the way the brain expected. That’s prediction error. A dog anticipates one outcome based on their previous experiences — but something different happens instead. That little mismatch between “what I thought would happen” and “what actually happened” can provide incredibly important information to the brain. And this is one of the reasons simply repeating an experience

🐾 2am Dog Questions: Does my dog know they’ve done something wrong? You know that look. The lowered body. The ears. The looking away. Perhaps quietly disappearing when you discover the remains of something that definitely used to be a cushion… It can look remarkably like guilt. But rather than assuming our dogs understand that they have broken a human rule, it can be much more useful to notice what they’re responding to right now. A change in our voice. Our facial expression