Dearest community, please forgive my 'MIA' the last couple of days. My most precious girl, Nala, has been in end of life care for the last year, and passed away yesterday afternoon in the safety of her home, in the arms of the person who loved her the most in the world. I'm trying to navigate the loss of the very best 'dog teacher', a behaviour student could ever have asked for - she taught me so much about boundaries, about deep-rooted behaviours, about dog-on-dog conflict, about food resource guarding, and so much more. But most importantly of all, she taught me that even a dog with significant behaviour and physical impairments, can be supported. Can be beautiful. Can be loving. Can be the best comfort in times of stress. I am utterly devastated. I am broken. So, I ask that you all please bare with me as I may be a little less active in this space over the next few days. If there's anything really important remember you can reach out to @Clare Hudson Hill or @Vanessa Barber - our HGA tutors. I intend to be back on track for our next Live check in on Monday.

Thank you again to @Niki French for speaking with us this evening and sharing some of your amazing insights into dog enrichment, specifically ACE Freework! Everyone - what was one thing you learned from our conversation this evening that you feel will improve your relationship with dogs? Let me know in the comments below👇 It was such a lovely, and informative evening and was great to see so many of you join us! Look out for Niki's post on where to find her, where to purchase her book, and where to learn more - it's now on our community thread along with her FREE guide on 'Getting started with ACE Freework' ⭐ ALSO - who will be joining us on 2nd April to celebrate Niki's Awareness Day "Don't Walk Your Dog" - this is a day for you to spend time doing other activities with your dog besides walking! Let me know who is joining me for Niki's awareness day on the 2nd April!

Hi, I'm Caz. I am a force-free Dog trainer in Oxfordshire. My almost 14 year old working cocker spaniel, Rolo has been on quite the stressful grooming journey throughout his life. Unfortunately, like many guardians, I was blissfully unaware and It wasn't until I started my Dog Training course with PACT in 2022 that I realised how much he was struggling. It has taken far too long but we have finally found a lovely groomer who is flexible, kind and has given him the space and time he needs. In just a year (3 or 4 grooms), we have seen a huge improvement and I feel so relieved knowing he is happy. I have since been working with some of my clients and this groomer to help them on their own grooming journeys. It is some of the most rewarding work i've done and I would to do more of this type of work.

😁 Welcome to The HGA Community! This community is for passionate, ethical and holistic-inclined DOG PEOPLE who are desperate to raise dog industry standards, build confidence working with dogs, and learn wonderful ways to bond with dogs through the magic of holistic grooming 🥰 Please share a little about yourself with our beloved community below👇 To help, why not start with filling in the blanks: "Hi, my name is ____________ ! I'm from ______________ :) Here is a photo of me with my dog, _______________. I have joined this community because ___________________________"

I’m going to be very cheeky and assign you all with one last task before we finish up our Self Love Challenge, and this one is more about LISTENING We can naturally default to thinking more about what we eat and how we exercise when it comes to looking after ourselves. We can easily identify when we are feeling tired, or sad, or happy, or even ANGRY. But how often do we recognise our more vulnerable traits - those feelings that often have us feeling resentful, jealous, defensive, and perhaps at times, completely ignorant? In 2022, I came across a book that changed my entire outlook to how I had always coped with adversity - I’d had altercations with various well-known grooming gurus over my unorthodox approach, and it always ended the same: BADLY. I found neither myself or the other person wanted to admit defeat. Defeat… I sat with that word for some time. Because after reading the book, I realised that it wasn’t (or at least shouldn’t have been) about winning or losing. From that point on, I completely changed the way I responded to conflict. I faced my opposition with an open-heart, never assuming that they could teach me nothing. Since recognising more when my ego is beginning to take over - and being brave enough to face my vulnerabilities with humility and compassion - I’ve had less negativity in my life. I’ve been able to approach potentially confrontational situations a lot more calmly. Criticism has hurt me less, and I’ve grown a whole lot more for it. Because growth starts from within, right? We are all learning, making mistakes, making progress and, at times, taking 10 steps back. And that’s ok. I would love for you to all stop and take 20 minutes to listen to the person behind that life-changing book. After, let me know what you got from it 👇