The joys of dogs who don’t do excuses.
Today’s class will be at 3:45 to try to avoid some of the heat. We will work on the come around heel position and some emergency stops. See you all there! Please let me know if you’re not able to come due to heat.
The Stop. A must learn for every dog. Regardless if a pet or a working dog. The stop can save a dogs life.
We all have that unwanted behaviour our dogs do that we just can’t stop because it makes us laugh too much.
How can you not love the smartest little dog named Merlo! Learning an awesome new skill of go around.
Ever get that feeling you’re being stalked?
When you introduce your dog to pressure and how to overcome it, your dog not only build resilience but you can become much more gentle in your touch.
Scent games are not only fun, but enriching. And the best part is any dog can do it!!!! Young or old, big or small, no matter the breed, your dog can learn to chase odour!
BRACE YOURSELF, incoming dust bunnies and aching shoulders…
Malinois teach you to multitask.
Throw it, but don’t touch it…
We all know the joke of the dog who brings you the ball but won’t let you take it to throw it. It’s funny when it’s someone else’s dog but no so much yours. Two main reasons I find this happens is 1) The dog doesn’t understand the game or 2) The dog has a possessive personality.
I address both these in the same way with Moxie as both were evident and here is how.
First I started by just throwing or kicking a ball for her she goes and gets it. This built her enjoyment of chasing the ball I never competed against her for it, if I went to pick it up and she rushed it, I walked away. We do not compete for the ball this is a cooperative game not competitive. When you put fight into getting the item you change the goal and the rules of the game.
On the side of building the game we did a lot of social bond building, she learnt to trust me and we built a relationship. You can’t play a cooperative game with a dog who doesn’t trust you specially if they are possessive and think you might steal their ball. How Moxie plays fetch with other people is different to how she plays with me because of the risk of combative behaviour for the ball.
So once she got the idea she would walk around with the ball and I waited, I didn’t force her to give up the ball, when I saw her place the ball down I would mark with a good girl. If she took it back and ran off all good I you take it we’re not playing that game. But if she let me approach it I would kick it for her. I didn’t bend down to grab it with my hands, this is combative body language, it conveys stalking behaviour. She slowly learnt she puts it down I will kick it. I slowly increased the expectations you have to bring it closer and closer for the game to continue. This is how I have other people play with her. She puts it down and you kick it.
She is now building her trust and we are advancing more to put it in my hand. I don’t take it from her she has to put it in my
I was working with Moxie on the unforced forced fetch when I realised Zero was no longer sleeping and was sitting next to me doing this. How dare I be doing training without giving him the opportunity to work.
I’m such a bad dog trainer and here’s why…
In the dog world there is so many different opinions, what tools you should use, how you should do every little thing. But here’s the thing, as long as the dog is happy, well cared for and is no risk to the public, then how you achieve that or live with your dog shouldn’t matter.
A big argument in the dog space is the use of certain tools and this one is on the other side of the fence, I swear no matter what you use you’re doing it wrong in someone’s eyes.
So here is the thing, I am totally for the use of a well fitted harness (Zero is in a Non Stop dog harness fitted by the amazing staff at Spot On Nutrition in Churchill) and the use of a Flexi lead (tape one not the cord ones). But here’s the conditions, the right tool for the right time on the right dog.
To use these tools your dog should be pretty close to off lead reliable. You should have a variety of appropriate verbal commands and a very light touch lead communication system. If you don’t you run a very high risk of injuring yourself, your dog and those around you.
The commands I used on this walk are
Wait - Like in the video it means stop advancing and wait for me to catch up. In some situations he will come back to me like in the video for a check in. This is used for when he moves too far away, I see a possible issue ahead such as another dog or wildlife.
Come On - This is for when he’s stopped to have a sniff and I have walked past him. This tells him he needs to catch up.
Leave It - This is critical for this sort of walk so that if your dog sees food, wild life, another dog/person you can tell them to leave it alone that is not an option right now.
Directional - Teaching your dog left and right can help them continue a walk when you come to a Yeet intersection. While this isn’t necessary as you can just ask them to wait. It’s a fun bit of training.
Nope - This is a marker for wrong decision. Similar to the leave it comman
So how is your dog getting fed tonight?
Tonight Zero got his entire dinner outside by hand during fireworks. This is only Zero’s second new years so I want to cement what I started. Which is bangs aren’t scary.
The key is to link the bang is followed by a reward. We don’t want to distract him I’m not asking for a behaviour I am allowing him to look around and notice what is happening but I am showing him that those things bring good things.
If your dog struggles in situations like fireworks please seek professional help NOW to help desensitise your dog for next year.
Just remember training should be fun. Your dog needs to destress after training or even just going for a walk (yes for some dogs going for a walk around the neighbourhood can be stressful rather than relaxing) this is Zero my bulldog in the middle of a training session. He was showing signs of being hot so I offered water and poured some over him as he likes to swim when hot. He decided that mud rolling was a good option (yeah the people at training found it hilarious, me not so much as he had to go back in my car after this but it’s about what makes happy when training). I always want my clients to remember to play with your dog or let them enjoy what they enjoy when they have been Stress Stacking. Destressing your dog is how we build happy, healthy, balanced dogs. Training is important but so is enrichment. Just like you have work you also have hobbies and downtime fun, your dog should too. A tired dog isn’t a happy dog, a destressed dog is a happy dog.
Incase you didn’t know, a dog’s brain is predominately wired for scent. There is even hypothesis that dogs dream in scent (not images like us).
Studies have also shown that dogs with aggression have a decrease in aggressive behaviour when taught to use their nose. Others have shown a calming affect as well.
The best part of nosework/scentwork is that you don’t have to rely on other people. You can do it anywhere. And any dog can do it. Your dog doesn’t have to be fit, or have a long nose, they can be young or old. It doesn’t matter. You can tailor it to any ability.
My bulldog loves to use his nose, he always has, so why not do what he loves?
Here is a short video of him where I had hidden an odour in the tree for him to find. You will notice he sniffs around and his stillness is his indicator to say “In front of my nose is where it is”.
Some dogs also become so obsessed with the finding of the odour they actually find the act of the search more rewarding than the reward you offer! Seriously! My boy loves food and if I give him some to keep him busy while I hide the odour again he doesn’t finish it all which he would never leave a crumb any other time.
So if this is something you would like to learn feel free to message.
Some dogs it takes a bit to win over. I’m not here to train lulu but if she wants a bit of connection who am I to say no to that cuteness?
Lulu isn’t one to enjoy training she’ll come for free treats but if she thinks you are going to ask her to do something she will run off and have nothing to do with you. Such a diva.
But today she saw something she wanted to try. She didn’t like following a lure when I first met her. She’s stand there and acts unimpressed that I moved the food away. But I’ve grown on her and with a bit of patience and hands off approach she’s willing to connect with me. She’s really getting this spin down and enjoying herself and making us all cry tears of joy.
Lexi is perfecting her directionals. We’ve changed it up to challenge her even further to help her get an even clearer picture of what right and left means. Her reward is only in one tub and that’s the one her mum tells her. So once she understood the directions she knew where to find her rewards. This is just giving her another version of what right and left means.
