05/09/2023
This beautiful boy is Harvey π
Harvey gets very excited when he has visitors in his home. His wonderful family are working on teaching him calmer and more appropriate greeting behaviours
Promoting positive partnerships between humans and dogs through compassionate training methods
This beautiful boy is Harvey π
Harvey gets very excited when he has visitors in his home. His wonderful family are working on teaching him calmer and more appropriate greeting behaviours
This super sweet girl is Stella.
Stella has had some negative experiences with other dogs which has resulted in some reactive behaviour when she sees them in her environment.
Quite often when dogs are fearful of something, they will display behaviours in an attempt to create space between them and the thing they are fearful of. These are most commonly seen as "reactive" behaviours (such as barking, lunging and growling). When the dog displays these behaviours and it achieves their goal of creating space, the behaviours are reinforced and strengthened and can become more intense with time.
There are many different approaches to working with and modifying reactivity and the process is individual to each dog.
Stella's amazing family are working on activities that will ultimately:
β‘οΈ help her to feel safe around other dogs
β‘οΈ create new associations so she starts to feel more positive (rather than fearful) when she sees other dogs
β‘οΈ replace the reactive behaviours with more desirable ones
Lots of fun in our last fun foundations class today. Look at all this confidence β absolute superstars!
Our fabulous fun foundations graduates!
This pretty pup is Winnie π
Winnie is just hitting adolescence - and anyone that has lived with an adolescent dog knows how challenging it can be!
Winnie thinks it's a fun game to pick up items (socks are her favourite!) and then run away with them. Her fabulous family are working on teaching her to come to them and trade, as well as some boundary training. They're doing an amazing job at setting her up for success!
So nice to see darling Dash this morning - he absolutely loves his chicken! π
This delightful pair is Milo and Ruby π
Milo and Ruby have recently moved back into the suburbs after living a quiet rural lifestyle. They are both finding all the other people and dogs a little overwhelming, so their amazing family are helping them to feel more comfortable in their new environment and creating more desirable behaviours while out on walks
Our Fun Foundations class working on some place with duration and using a scratch board today β
This precious pup is Zyra π
Zyra has recently joined her wonderful family, and they are learning to understand and meet her needs and how to set her up for success through puppyhood and adolescence
This gorgeous girl is Gracie π
Gracie has a hard time when people and dogs are in her environment and communicates this by growling, lunging and barking. Her fabulous family are working on building her confidence, helping her to feel safe around the things she's afraid of and replacing those challenging behaviours with more desirable behaviours
Lovely little Cinders experiences some big feelings when she sees other people and dogs in her environment. Cinders wonderful family are working through helping her to feel safer and more positive about seeing others when she's exploring her neighborhood
Sweet little Lola demonstrating a fabulous 'paws up' in class today
A few of our little fun foundations participants working on some body awareness
Hello community members!
I am currently undertaking the Cert IV in Animal Behaviour and Training through the Delta Institute and I need some assistance from the community with one of my assessments.
I have created two surveys on two different dog-related topics and the information collected through the surveys will help to shape two community education sessions on these topics.
I would very much appreciate your help by completing the two surveys linked below. They are both short and will only take a couple of minutes to complete βΊοΈ
Thanks in advance for your participation!
Jacs
Body Language and Bite Prevention
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NZ7RCT7
Puppy Training and Socialisation
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/N6R2SRJ
This gorgeous girl is Woofington Von Barkalot (such a fabulous name!)
Woofington lives up to her name, and her wonderful family are working on reducing her barking and helping her feel safe and comfortable with being washed
This little love is Bentley π
Bentley's fabulous family are learning how to better understand his communication and work on building some engagement and recall skills
This sweet little soul is Jura π
Jura has recently been adopted and her fabulous family are working through how to make her feel more comfortable being left alone
This beautiful boof is Zeus π
Zeus's amazing and dedicated family are working on giving him lots of safe outlets for natural behaviours and teaching him to engage with them when there are other dogs around.
This beautiful girl is Darcy π
Darcy has learned to guard things she really likes, so her wonderful family are working on helping her to feel safe and teaching her to trade items that she values
Our superstar puppy class working on confidence building β
Tonight's adorable puppy school graduates π₯°
Socialisation is not simply just exposing your puppy to different people, dogs, environments etc.
Exposing them in a safe and positive way, encouraging focus and engagement with you, and building confidence and resilience are all key parts of socialising your puppy.
Some additional tips for exposing puppies who are not fully vaccinated to new environments/sights/sounds etc. include:
~ Taking them out in a pram
~ Driving in the car, parking somewhere and letting them watch the world go by from the car
~ Visiting family and friends houses
**CLASS NOW FULL**
Places now available for a 6 week foundations class! Classes are being held on Saturday mornings 9:00am from 15th July at Queanbeyan Showground Pavilion.
To book, please shoot through a message or email [email protected]
This handsome little boy is Monty.
Monty's guardian is working on teaching him important life skills and appropriate ways for him to communicate. They are a fabulous team, and Monty the superstar picked up training incredibly quickly!
We have been a little quiet lately due to adjusting to some big life changes. However, we now have a new name and some new services to offer!
Happy Hounds Behaviour and Training is now open for training consultations. Please note, consultations are limited and currently only available after standard business hours and weekends.
Some behaviour problems we can assist with include basic training, common behavior problems (destruction, barking, mouthing etc.), reactivity, resource guarding etc.
We will also be opening up some group training classes in the near future. These will be advertised here on Facebook when there is availability.
For any inquiries regarding behaviour training consultations, please send an email to [email protected]
Places are now available for a 4 week puppy training course starting 01/06/2023, for puppies aged 8-12 weeks.
Classes will be held on Thursdays at 5:30pm in Duffy (address provided upon booking).
To book, email [email protected]
We control almost every aspect of our dogs lives, so it is important to incorporate as many different opportunities and choices as possible in our dogs daily activities.
Meeting our dogs needs improves quality of life and promotes mental, physical and behavioural wellbeing.
Listed are some tips for helping to meet your dogs needs (this list is far from exhaustive)
I had the pleasure of meeting handsome Jimmy today.
He loves to use his mouth so his wonderful family are working on teaching him some more appropriate behaviours. Jimmy will also be learning to create some more positive feelings and associations when seeing other dogs out on his walks so he can live his happiest life π«Ά
Canberra, ACT
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Lots of fun in our last fun foundations class today. Look at all this confidence β absolute superstars!
Long, but important post πΆ I caught this little clip of Koda on our walk yesterday evening, and thought I would share it to show the importance of allowing our dogs (especially those that are anxious) the choice to just observe and process things in their environment. The video highlights a few things: - How subtle a dogs body language can be - How we can create conflict by trying to ask something of our dogs when they want/need to do something else - Leash pressure, and how it should be taught to be a positive experience In this video, two dogs appear from a side street ahead of us. Koda becomes alert and focuses on the dogs. Koda is reactive, and in this moment I chose to ask her to engage with me as I wasn't sure if the dogs were going to turn and walk towards us - in which case I need to move away to create more distance. I also instinctively want to have control of the situation, and of Koda. The video shows her ears were twitching in response to my verbal cues, but she wasn't disengaging from the other dogs. Because she can hear me and is not overtly reacting, she is not yet over threshold, however she is not disengaging because she is (likely) just trying to observe and process the sudden change in her environment. I then decide to add some gentle lead pressure. This is not a sharp pull/jerk/correction, it is an even and gentle tension. She responds to this well and turns back to me which she is rewarded for. It is important to note that we need to teach our dogs that lead pressure is positive and rewarding, as lead tension can unintentionally communicate that the sudden change in the environment (i.e. dogs appearing) is concerning, and tightening the lead can (and often does) actually trigger reactive behaviour. After watching the video back I noticed a lip lick when she responds to the lead pressure. I sought some peer review, and learned that it is possible she is conflicted between wanting to observe/process the dogs, and wanting the reward that
I was working with Sunny on some basic cues and engagement today when I spotted someone coming towards us with another dog. Sunny gets very excited when he sees other dogs and has some pretty big reactions. I practice playing "find it" multiple times on our walks when there are no distractions around to get him familiar with the exercise - and here it is put into practice with a huge distraction approaching. This is the closest another dog has been to us and Sunny was so engaged in sniffing for the treats that he didn't even notice them pass π
Loose-lead walking progress with Sunny the superstar β We had ALOT of distractions out and about today and it was a challenging start for Sunny, so a fair amount of time was spent just in his driveway building the expectation for polite walking through repetition and reinforcement. We then ventured just a little way up the street and were able to achieve walking up and down a pathway lined with grass (a big challenge for a lab who loves to use their nose!). Sunny still gets lots of sniffing time while we're training as it's such an important outlet for our dogs, but he's learning to go and sniff on cue so that he still spends time engaging with me and defaults to walking politely rather than pulling and lunging his way through every walk.
Beautiful Sunny did so well today β We've gone back to basics this week to really set the expectation for walking nicely on lead. True to his nature as a Labrador, Sunny LOVES finding tasty surprises on his walks, but when this happens he forgets his manners and will lunge for anything that smells good. We came across some empty salami packaging today which he found very interesting, so we used it as a training exercise - walking back and forth (at a distance) and rewarding him for remaining engaged with me. Staying at a distance from the exciting smells sets Sunny up for success by preventing him from practicing the unwanted behaviour (lunging), and allowing me to build the more desirable behaviour through repetition and reinforcement . . #positivereinforcementtraining #walkandtrain #labrador #forcefreetraining #canberradogtraining
Pattern Game (featuring Sunny) Pattern games are fun, simple and repetitive exercises, and they are a great activity to have in your training toolbox! You can quickly engage your dog in a pattern game in many scenarios such as: πΆ when waiting somewhere (e.g. the vet) πΆ to calm your dog after a stressful encounter πΆ to re-stabilise your dog when they haven't responded to a cue (instead of repeating the cue) πΆ when introducing distractions at a distance πΆ to prevent your dog from fixating on something in their environment πΆ to strengthen your relationship and build engagement in all different environments This is an example of a pattern game introduced to sunny today. It's a back-and-forth motion which gives them an outlet for chasing and sniffing, but also builds engagement by marking and rewarding (with the treat toss) when the dog orients to you. You can build on this by: πΆ waiting for eye contact before marking and tossing the treat πΆ waiting for your dog to return to you before marking and tossing the treat πΆ moving away from your dog when they are getting the tossed treat, so they need to travel a further distance to get back to you before marking and tossing the treat πΆ introducing a station in front of you (such as a mat) and mark and toss the treat when your dog puts their front paws on the mat. Then build up to all 4 paws on the mat, sitting or lying down on the mat
Quick tips for loose-lead walking! β Condition a marker, such as a clicker, or the Word "yes!" β Have high value rewards. Kibble won't cut it when you're competing against a distracting environment β Mark and reward good choices. Allowing our dogs to make choices increases confidence, and strengthens the learning process β Stop if your dog pulls ahead. No need to pull or jerk the lead, just stop and wait for them to make a good choice which you can mark and reward (use that opportunity to re-position them). They quickly learn that tension in the lead means no forward movement β Deliver rewards when your dog is in the desired position e.g. beside you (the more you reward in the same position, the more your dog will move to that position) β Mark and reward all behaviours you want to see more of (such as a 'check-in" ) β Let your dog sniff! If you provide them with the freedom to sniff, pulling to sniff will decrease (you can put this on cue with further training) #dogtraining #forcefreetraining #looseleadwalking
ππ¨π¨π¬π-π₯πππ πππ₯π€π’π§π A short video demonstrating how I use two different markers and reinforcers to help manage pulling on lead. When Sunny pulls on the lead, I simply stop and wait for him to make the decision to loosen the tension in the lead and/or re-focus on me. When he makes this choice, I will either: πΆ Mark it with "good", and reinforce his action with forward motion/sniffing (this reinforcer is generally used when he really wants to sniff something) πΆ Mark it with "yes", re-position him next to me and reinforce with a food reward In this video, Sunny was getting a little overstimulated with the environment, so I decided to re-position him back to walking alongside me and then continue to reinforce the position with food rewards. Towards the end he offers a wonderful voluntary check-in - I mark and reward just about every voluntary check-in as this helps to build engagement. The more you reinforce a behaviour, the more they will offer or practice that behaviour π
I caught a little head turn just as we were approaching the road, so I marked it. Benji's perfect response bought me a little time to check that the road was safe before we crossed. Sighthounds love to scan their environment, and it's common to have trouble getting them to engage while out and about. Building a really solid positive association and response to a marker is one simple strategy to have in your toolbox to use when you'd like your dog to engage with you
Sunny's first walk today included delicious treats, lots of sniffs, some happy hops and a splash of rain! A delightful outing for the both of us π€
Gorgeous Mr Dash At the end of today's walk his Mum quietly ducked away, and Dash and I walked just a few houses down the street, played some "find it" in the grass for a few minutes and then went back home. It was our first time alone, and while he was a little unsure he coped very well and checked in with me for reassurance. I also removed his collar today and he remained completely relaxed and comfortable. Some really wonderful progress with this absolute star β
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