There’s no law that you have to take your dog out every day.

And if you have a reactive, anxious, fearful dog, you probably know this already. Venturing out into the battleground is too much if it’s being repeated constantly. After an outburst from your dog you need to give those hormones time to settle. Three days is the right amount of time.

Sometimes a vigorous game in the garden is the answer (especially if he’s had a fright recently). You can find some exciting new toys here to ginger up your games!

Sometimes a cuddle in the armchair hits the spot. Specially if you’re feeling under the weather, or you look out of the window and see horrendous rain and wind ..

A bit of training, some agility or hoopers or scent games will do a lot to tire your dog’s mind. He’ll love Hide and Seek, and so will your giggling children!

And as for walks - REMEMBER, your dog doesn’t need to be walked every day.

But you do need to have interaction and mental stimulation daily, and getting puffed out in a game is also good (for us too!).

What I do with my dogs

In the recent cold snap here in parts of England, we had snow and ice lying for five days. I can hear you over there in snowy countries, chuckling - but, you see, we have it so rarely that it’s not worth the money to gear up for it.

This meant that our local country roads were icy death-traps. I didn’t walk my anxious youngster, Yannick. I knew that if we met something he found alarming, he’d have me face down in the snow!

So I wrapped up well and we did lots of flirt pole games and Hoopers in the icy wastes of the garden.

If you’re feeling trepidation about taking your dog out, that it all feels too much like hard work, DON’T!

It’s ok. You have permission!

Enjoy your dog.

What’s a flirt pole?

It’s just a lunge whip with a teddy bear limb attached.

Here’s a video showing how I use it to exercise and amuse my dogs, all the while building huge impulse control!