Breed-specific training
Every breed was built for a job.Train the dog you actually have.
A Collie herds. A Beagle follows its nose. A Husky keeps going. None of that switches off because the dog now lives in your house — and almost every training problem starts there. Pick your breed and we'll show you what to work on first.
By breed group
Seven groups, seven different problems
Breeds within a group were shaped for similar work, so they tend to go wrong in similar ways. It is the fastest way to understand a dog you have never met.
Sporting Group
Bred to find, flush, and retrieve game alongside a handler all day.
Biddable and eager, but the retrieve drive has to be given a job or it turns into counter-surfing and mouthing.
Hound Group
Bred to track by scent or run down quarry by sight, often far ahead of the handler.
Independence is the feature, not the flaw. Recall and leash work are the whole curriculum.
Working Group
Bred to guard, haul, and pull — powerful dogs that make their own decisions.
Start impulse control and handling tolerance in the first sixteen weeks, while you still outweigh them.
Terrier Group
Bred to go to ground after vermin, alone and undeterred.
Persistence is bred in. Channel it into games with rules instead of trying to switch it off.
Toy Group
Bred for close companionship and portability.
Small dogs get carried past lessons big dogs are forced to learn. Train the same syllabus, at the same age.
Companion Group
A broad group of breeds kept for company rather than a single working task.
No shared job means no shared shortcut — build the plan around the individual dog in front of you.
Herding Group
Bred to move livestock by pressure, eye, and constant course-correction.
The brain tires before the body. Skip the mental work and the dog will herd your children instead.
Not sure where your dog fits?
Crossbreeds and rescues rarely read the label. Start from the behaviour you are seeing rather than the paperwork.
Browse by problemBreed library
Start with the dog in front of you
Every guide opens with what the breed was built to do, because that is where almost every training question actually starts.
Labrador Retriever
Outgoing · Food-motivated · Mouthy as a puppy
Border Collie
Intense · Analytical · Tireless
French Bulldog
Comic · Companionable · Obstinate
German Shepherd Dog
Loyal · Serious · Discerning
Beagle
Merry · Nose-led · Vocal
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Affectionate · Gentle · Adaptable
How Pet XO works
An unusual amount of the site is free
Guidance first, products second
The guides are the point. They are published in full, free, with no gated course at the end and no sign-up to read them.
We stock a short list on purpose
Every item in the shop exists because one of our guides asks for it. A harness that lets you train a pulling dog, a long line that makes recall work possible — nothing that is only there to fill a page.
Plain English, no folklore
No dominance theory, no alpha rolls, no talking about a dog as though it is being deliberately difficult. Just what the breed was built for and what to do about it.
Training library
The guides we hand to every new owner
Free to read in full. No course to buy at the end of it.
The First Sixteen Weeks Decide More Than the Next Six Years
Socialisation is not about meeting as many dogs as possible. It is about building a puppy that finds the ordinary world boring.
8 min read
Building a Recall That Holds When It Matters
Most recalls fail in exactly one place: the first time the dog has a better offer. Here is how to build one that survives that moment.
10 min read
Loose Lead Walking, Without the Argument
Pulling is not dominance and it is not stubbornness. It is a dog that has learned pulling works.
7 min read
Equipment
The kit the guides actually call for
A short list rather than a catalogue. If a guide recommends a tool, you can buy it here — and if it doesn't, we don't stock it.
Steadyline Harness — Large & Giant Breeds
The same fit logic, built for a dog that outweighs you.
The weekly note
One training idea a week, worth the two minutes.
A short, practical email: one behaviour, why the breed does it, and the smallest change that shifts it. No filler, and you can leave whenever you like.