Lucy, Poppy and Bailey Celebrate their Honest Hounds 1 Year Anniversary

Lucy joined Honest Hounds back in 2024 for some support with Poppy, her 3 year old Romanian rescue who was struggling with dog reactivity. Lucy has dived in head first, absorbing (and removing old) knowledge in order to meet Poppy’s needs and give all of them a better, happier life.

A little over a year ago we joined Honest Hounds. We first met Jess and Jessie on their Neutral Walk tour, joined the brilliant Grantham Neutral Walks, and haven’t looked back since!

I’ll be honest, at first it felt overwhelming. The amount of information and knowledge to take in (and in some cases, un-learn) was a lot. But we stuck with it. Reset rules meant crate training Poppy, and while she once ran and hid at the sight of a crate, we chipped away at it. Not to be dramatic, but that alone was life changing.

From there, we’ve continued to grow: joining social walks, having behavioural assessments, attending the Dundee retreat in March, becoming a Neutral Walk leader, and now taking the Science of Partnership Course.

We’ve gone from labelling all Poppy’s behaviours as ‘anxiety’ and avoiding stress, to really understanding her breed make up, meeting her needs, and approaching everything differently.

Over the past year we’ve also made some great friends who have all played a part in our journey.

And the results? Watching a once dog-and stranger-reactive dog walk calmly (on and off lead) in a group of 10+ people and dogs is pretty epic. Having a clear plan in place that works for anyone popping by, instead of scheduling the whole day around taking her to be at my parents so someone can visit for 10 minutes, feels incredible. And completing the conditioned relaxation course, which subsequently saw Poppy fall asleep upside down in a marquee full of strangers and dogs was pure magic.

Thank you to everyone, and to anyone who’s waiting to jump in, do it!