Jill O'Sullivan - Busy Bee Dog Training & Behaviour

Jill O'Sullivan - Busy Bee Dog Training & Behaviour Force free dog trainer and behaviour consultant covering Glasgow and surrounding areas. Positive reinforcement dog and puppy training in the Glasgow area.

Dog Trainer, Jill O'Sullivan has an ISCP diploma in canine behaviour, is a certified training partner with the Karen Pryor Academy and has professional memberships with APDT, ABTC, INTODogs & ICAN . Jill puts the emotional wellbeing of her canine (and human!) clients at the heart of all training.

19/06/2026

I love watching my dogs interact and play. The first black dog is Max, who's lived here for 2 months. Velma mostly acts like he's invisible. This appeared to be her first deliberate interaction with him. Velma is most likely to use this flirty style of play. Here it looks very relaxed and confident. Often she can use a style like this when stressed and fawning around unfamiliar dogs.

The 2nd black dog is Otto, who's lived her for 6 years. Velma and him are regular play buddies. The play varies in intensity but has a similar pattern of Velma jumping and biting at his neck. She occasionally does this with her brother she's known her whole life. This is definitely her feeling her most confident and safe.

Does your dog have different play styles?

I've been lucky to have Otto as my side kick for the past 6.5 years. He's helped dozens, upon dozens of reactive dogs le...
16/06/2026

I've been lucky to have Otto as my side kick for the past 6.5 years. He's helped dozens, upon dozens of reactive dogs learn the skills they need and hundreds of puppies develop social confidence.

I'm even more lucky that my partner lets me bring his dog, Louie, to work, too. Louie has steadily been growing in confidence and is becoming an invaluable member of the team. He loves hanging out with people and dogs and has a non threatening, no nonsense attitude that puppies and dogs find relaxing to be around. Already many dogs are learning greyhounds are not as scary as they thought.

Max is the new boy. Chaotic, inexperienced, full of beans. He's growing in skills and confidence every day. Over the next few months I'll get an idea of what he enjoys doing and therefore his role.

Having such a great team of dogs by my side means I can really help clients tackle their biggest challenges without solely relying in just bumping into the general public... As well as each dog, especially Otto, having specific skills that other dogs benefit from.

Why don't you offer puppy classes?At the start of my training career I did offer puppy classes but they didn't feel quit...
15/06/2026

Why don't you offer puppy classes?

At the start of my training career I did offer puppy classes but they didn't feel quite right for the majority of my clients.

Instead I focus on 1-1 puppy training. This lets me deliver the exact advice that people need in the location that they need it.

Got separation issues? I'll help you at home. Recall? We meet in the park. Leading walking down your street? Let's meet there.

1-1s are suitable for all puppies, regardless of their needs. Some puppies will find group sessions in a hall overwhelming. I don't want that experience for any puppy I work with.

AND it's suitable for all people and their needs too. Not everyone can cope with a hall full of lively puppies after work on a Tuesday evening.

Here's some of the puppies I worked with over the last month.

15/06/2026

The purpose of sharing these training plans is to highlight the diversity of behaviour issues and skills dogs need to recover from reactivity.

Firstly, these are very,very brief summaries of points from training plans.

So much more goes into helping these dogs and training plans constantly evolve as dogs behaviour changes.

It's also important to note that health, diet and lifestyle are also vital components of supporting a dog with behaviour issues.

I've shared this to help dog owners understand why getting the right trainer who is going to be compassionate towards your dog is vital. It's never about stopping "bad" behaviour. It's always about teaching dogs the skills they need to be successful.

09/06/2026

The white dog is my elderly doodle, Velma. 6 years ago when Otto came to live with us she developed severe resource guarding around chews and the water bowl.

Without a doubt, Otto would have taken her chew had she not seriously warned him.

My training plan involved teaching Otto to leave her alone and I added extra water bowls so he could drink safely. Obviously I used management to keep both dogs feeling safe too.

Apart from the odd growl her resource guarding stopped and Otto stays out of her way when she's eating.

Max has just moved into the house and he is a very similar dog to Otto. He's just as greedy as Otto but for whatever reason Velma does not show resource guarding behaviour towards him.

Max is a lot clumsier and high energy so to me looks more unpredictable, however, Velma feels safe enough around him to choose to share a bed with him while she eats her favourite chew.

This is surprising.

It's very easy with aggression to only look at how we changed to behaviour of the aggressor but so often the true solution lies in understanding how all animals and humans are behaving and how they are contributing to the aggression.

09/06/2026

So often, dogs get such a bum deal from us.

We choose to have them in our lives.

We choose to restrain them so we can take them exciting places.

We expect them to move at our speed and in the directions we choose.

We disregard their preferences, choices, social needs, natural desire to avoid situations, prevent natural calming behaviours.

We then call pulling on the lead we chose to restrain them with problematic.

✅️ The very least we can do is choose kind, compassionate and careful training methods rather than slip leads, grot collars, prong collars, corrections and tools.

08/06/2026

When it comes to loose lead training our dogs do sometimes need to learn the skill of walking at out speed in a straight line. However, more often, they can already do this.

Instead, the issue lies with the dogs inability to cope with the frustration of being restrained while being in an overwhelming, over stimulating or stressful environment.

The dog starts showing strong avoidance, or escape behaviours which results in relentless pulling.

These dogs need support on learning how to feel safe and able to calm down while in that environment and restrained.

Max hasn't experienced much in life. In the first video we were on our first day of our holiday. He was not coping with all the newness.

My role was to slow things down. Let him observe and self regulate. To expose him to new environments in smaller chunks. He also needed to learn, I'll help him feel safe and calm.

Once Max learns he's safe in new places, he just naturally wants to cooperate and it's comfortable for him to walk with me.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using food for reinforcing our dogs lead walking behaviours, but if it's not helping then it's time to look at their ability to regulate and calm down in the environment you want them to walk in.

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Glasgow
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