HSP Animal Solutions

Destructive Doggo? -Bordem Busters

When dogs get bored they can develop behaviours that are undesirable and even destructive. Barking, chewing, raiding the bin to name just a few. By giving our dogs things to do we can keep them mentally stimulated, saving us all a lot of frustration!

Scent games

Start off with a simple game of ‘guess which hand’ to get your dog into the idea of searching. It can be played anywhere and…

Magical Manes – Plaiting

Please note that there are affiliate links in this post, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase something through these links. See my full disclosure here.

There are many reasons to braid a mane, hunting, showing, maintenance, mane training or just to make your horse look that little bit smarter. No matter what type of braid you are doing ; Rosebuds,…

Meet The Pets – Pickett

Pickett is the newest addition to my gang, an 18 month old Indian ringneck. I have owned him for just over a year. Within this year I have learned several things;

Bites from small parrots really hurt!

Teenage Parrots are incredibly angry creatures

Patience truly is a virtue

If left unattended your bird will most certainly plan world domination

Teaching the angry teenage parrot…

Critter Care – Equine First Aid Kit

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The Equine first aid kit

With winter well and truly here it seems that our equine friends seem to enjoy getting into scrapes more than ever. I find that it’s a great idea to have…

Training Journal – Post 2

Well its safe to say its been a manic couple of weeks, with many equine casualties due to the weather. (Foot abscess central around here). Even one horrifically sad fatality after a dreadful field accident. I have been a little useless at filling out my training journal.

So instead of a session by session update for this post its going to be a slightly broader look at what I have been…

Meet The pets – Stella

Time to meet the Dragon! The third critter that I will be introducing is my 16 year old Welsh Section D Mare, Stella.  I have owned Stella for almost three years now, so compared to the others she is still a newbie!

Stella came into my life after a huge confidence knock with the horses. I had owned a thoroughbred gelding for 7 years, and though I loved him, he utterly ruined my…

Critter Care – Canine First Aid Kit

Dog first aid kit

Dogs are active creatures, and they often are presented in potentially dangerous situations. With cars on roads and many other risks it can be useful to have a good first aid kit around in case your four legged partner in crime has an accident.

There are a few thing to have on hand if you want to create a doggy first aid kit. Here is a list of things that could come…

Week 1 – Pickett

Pickett… Pickett is my Indian Ringneck…. also prone to aggression and not in the slightest bit tame.

The goal for my rowdy little bird is to be able to step onto my hand without me losing fingers. It is worth noting that Pickett tends to respond with aggression when he is uncomfortable. Tiny steps are crucial to his learning to keep things calm and positive.

The look of horror when…

Meet the Pets – Willow

Next into my life came Willow. Now six years old she was a little tiny bundle of fluff at eight weeks old when I first got her.  I had wanted a dog for a while.. I had my heart set on a springer spaniel… but as is often the way in life this wasn’t how it played out. I got a phone call from my sister to say that her boyfriend at the time had a friend with a litter of unplanned puppies…. If…

There are many things to bear in mind when constructing a training session. My preferred method of training is positive reinforcement, so a lot of my posts will be geared towards this. However, these tips and things to think about can be applied to any training situation. I also find that no matter what animal you are training, the same principles apply.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This week I have started by setting the aims and plans for both Willow and Pickett. In this post we will look at the 4 sessions I have done with Willow in her first week. I don’t train every day, although we do walk and practise what we have learnt. Four sessions in this first week were plenty to keep her busy.

Willows aims.

Willow struggles with being around other dogs, often…

Meet The Pets – Thimble

In this Series of posts we will be meeting my pets. It’s worth noting that they are all a little quirky, and the horses were all cheap and cheerful due to challenging situations and behaviours…. I seem to have a bit of a habit for collecting the cast offs!

Thimble is the first one of my pets that I am going to introduce to you as she has been with me the longest. She is a welsh…

About me – And The Blog

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

Hi Everyone, Welcome to Clickers and Critters. This post is to let you know a little about me, and why I decided to start this blog.

I am a girl from Gloucestershire in my mid twenties. I currently work in an equine hospital and horses pretty much make up my whole life (whether I want them too or not!). I live in a mobile…

Training Journal – What is it and why have one?

I have recently started keeping a training journal for my animals. Lots of people have never heard of such a concept but having started it, its really something that I would recommend.

You might be thinking, what is a training journal? Sort of self explanatory I suppose. In short it is a journal in which you record all of your training plans, goals and accomplishments for your pets. As…

Things I wish I had known before I started this Journey

I am 25… its taken me this long to choose what I wanted to do with my life. Is there anything that starting out on this journey has made me think about? Things that I wish I had known before? Ohh yes… plenty actually.

For one… I wish I had known how to study. It appears that school actually taught me nothing really apart from how to procrastinate. One thing is for sure, it has not prepared me…

Known by name – Teaching your dog its name.

Well done so far! You have taught your dog what the clicker is and now you are ready to go to the next step. Teaching them to respond to their name.

What you need:

Once again for this you will need your clicker and a nice supply of treats. Nice and simple with nothing fancy!

What to do:

Firstly, call your puppy or dog by their name.

If they turn and look at you then instantly click and treat.

I…