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

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

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

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

🏆 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