Calm Canine Handling

10/05/2023

Come join us!

On May 21st 9.30am at the Manjimup Heritage Park / in the main grassy area for a 1hr pack walk.

This is just a casual walk for anyone to join. Depending on numbers on the day we may spend 10-15mins doing some structured movement patterns to settle the pack before enjoying a stroll 🐕🌳😄

I only ask that everyone keeps their dogs on leash & respects each others space (maintain at least 2m from other dogs).

Can’t wait to see you there 😎🧡🐾

03/05/2023

Hello Manji Pack!

I’m stoked to be coming home for a couple of days and would love to see some familiar faces, and extra bonus if they come with a fury friend
😉🐶

So I’ll be hosting a
Free Community Pack Walk
on SUNDAY MAY 21st

LET ME KNOW BELOW
if you’d be interested in joining ✨🐕

Ps. You don’t have to have a dog to tag along
🚶‍♀️🚶

22/01/2022

Wow! What a wonderful evening full of laughs, memories & friendship.
Thank you for joining me to celebrate all that has been and for all that is to come.
My Manji Pack will always be in my heart 🧡

18/01/2022

We are in our LAST week as Calm Canine Handling 😢🐾
Which will soon be known as the Active Paws Pack with Renae!
Go give her a follow to keep up to date with the wonderful Manji Pack 😁

Introducing my new venture Active Paws Pack 🐾Hi guys, for the past 8 months I have been working for the brilliant Ellie Rhodes at Calm Canine Handling. During this time I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time soaking up Ellie’s knowledge of dog psychology and have now developed a skill set of leash handling as well as various techniques that promote calmness and direction.
I have loved and owned dogs my entire life and now I am lucky enough to work with them.

As most of you know Ellie has been offered an amazing opportunity at Holistic Hounds - Exercise and Training. As Ellie is moving away to pursue her dreams, I will be stepping in and taking over most of the dogs from the Calm Canine Handling Pack. I am incredibly grateful to Ellie for this opportunity, Ellie has spent years building this wonderful business and I am so lucky to be able to step in and carry on with the amazing Pack she has created.

We all know that Ellie is irreplaceable, hence I have created a new business; Active Paws Pack. We will continue to offer dog walking services and fulfil your individual dogs needs. Currently we are fully booked, however we do have a new Active Paws Pack team member who is in training and may be able to take on dogs in the future.

Looking forward to everything this new adventure brings!
Renae 🐾

08/01/2022

Come join us for dinner at the Timber Park! Everyone welcome 🧡🐾🥰

05/01/2022

Time is quickly running out! If you would like to learn more about your dog and how to have a fulfilling relationship book in now!

- loose leash walking
- recall
- guest greeting manners
- reactivity
Etc
Available Monday-Friday
Manjimup & Surrounds
(weekends considered)

31/12/2021

BUSINESS CLOSURE

Bittersweet news…

I have had 8 amazing years of dog walking in Manjimup, 2yrs of full time “work” as Calm Canine Handling.

However January 2022 marks the end an era…
My dog & I will be moving to QLD to work with
Holistic Hounds - Exercise and Training

I am sad to leave but excited for this new chapter of growth!

Private Sessions available until 21st Jan
Message to book your spot 🐾

Walking & Training program close: 21st January.

I am leaving you in good hands, my current employee Renae will be taking over the majority of dogs.
Not accepting new dogs at this time as I’ve left her with a very full list.

Once again I am so grateful for all the support and kindness I have received from the Manji community. Love you guys 🧡🐾

Happy New Year 😉 🧡

30/12/2021

24/12/2021

Merry merry Christmas to my Manji Pack!
You guys all rock!

22/10/2021

Two weeks back with the pack and I couldn’t be happier, even with the amazing Manjimup rains 🤩🌧🌧

09/10/2021

Memories from my time with the HH pack. I took this photo on my last morning. Belinda sent me out for a solo beach adventure with 4/5 members of her personal pack!

Here we have Kaia, Ziggy, John and Kai.
There is nothing like migrating with a pack of dogs who are all in tune and willing to follow you. These pups taught me many lessons 🤩🐾

07/10/2021

🟢 Now offering Private Training 🟢

Are you struggling with your dog or wanting to get your puppy off to the right start?

Calm Canine Handling is now offering in-home consultations. My “training” is founded in an understanding of dog psychology and communication.
Mentored by Belinda Schrader, head trainer at Holistic Hounds, for 4 weeks, I’ve gained confidence & increased skill set in a variety of training scenarios.

I can coach you into becoming a calm and confident leader for your canine friend.

🟢 Whether you’re struggling with: 🟢
•leash pulling
•lack of recall
•nuisance behaviours /barking/digging/. jumping
•anxious or fearful
•reactivity to people/dogs

I will provide you with the core principles to build trust & respect with your dog.
Along with the ability to use simple strategies and tools to guide your dog into a balanced joyful state.

Message now to book in your session,
I can’t wait for you to join the CCH Pack

Ellie 💚🐾

18/08/2021

Wednesday Adventure Day with the Holistic Hounds Pack! We had 17 dogs out today venturing through the Pine forests! To see more go to Instagram stories! 🐾❤️

16/08/2021

Renae getting her packs all walked on her birthday! The weather treated her with some beautiful sunshine and lots of sweet pups!

14/08/2021

Another great week with the pack now off to join a new Pack!! 🐾🐕🐾🐕

11/08/2021

Check out Moby having a blast with the flirt pole where I add in structure so we don’t end up with an obsessive & over excited dog = mentally & physically fulfilling.

The two Rotti boys did fantastic today walking around the oval with lovely loose leads 🤩🤩

And the lively Missi enjoying a evening bike ride 👌🏼❤️

10/08/2021

Hi guys,

I met these guys a couple of months ago and they told me what they were planning. I think it is a fantastic initiative. They train dogs and people to work with sheep. This will be really good for those with working dogs who are on farms and those living in town. Give it a go!

08/08/2021

Last weeks crew 🤩🥰

08/08/2021

🎉Very excited to Announce my upcoming trip! 🎉

In 6 days I’ll be flying out to the Sunshine Coast to complete a mentorship program with the amazing Belinda at Holistic Hounds!!

Belinda runs her own Dog psychology and training business on the sunny coast where she teaches people and rehabs dogs! She uses her own pack of 5 dogs to help assist her and also takes large packs out for adventure trips!

Back in 2019 Belinda completed Cesar Millans fundamental Dog Psychology program and met the Man himself!
I am so grateful and excited for this opportunity to learn from the Holistic Hound Pack!
I can’t wait to share the journey with you all!
🥰🥳
Checkout Belinda on Instagram

29/07/2021

So grateful for my amazing employee Renae!
She is doing a fantastic job and loves every second of it!
She possesses a calm & confident demeanour making her a natural Leader!

This was her first time walking all three pups together, so we made sure that all dogs were in a calm state going down the driveway before leaving. To do this I had them walking up and down until we had a successful rep - start the walk with the energy you want to maintain throughout.
If you start excited then it’s harder to ask for calmness when you need it.

We also used my dog Luna, as a distraction to practice our handling skills and calmness around excitement.
Which was a fantastic opportunity for the 3 pups to practice calm pass bys and for Luna too!

Luna and I are working on OUR 😂 dog reactivity, she’s made so much progress but we have our off days, so to able to utilise my CalmCanine Pack to create controlled scenarios helps us both grow in confidence.
Go girls!! 🐾🐾🐾

29/07/2021

What a Day!!
70km/h wind gusts and some amazing rain!
Finally a really Manji Winter!!
Here’s a few snapshots from my walk with Paddy, we hung out and played some games undercover and got a quick minute in the “sun” before the next lot o rain hit!

24/07/2021

Some great videos from during the week 🌦🐾

24/07/2021

Introducing your dog to a gentle leader, halti or figure 8 with the slip lead can cause a lot of frustration for the dog and the handler!

I know because when I first started I would just put the halti straight on and head out for a walk without taking the time to consider how the dog felt.
I didn’t realise I had to teach them what the tool meant I just assumed the tool would do that for me 😂
This resulted in the dog constantly throwing their face on the ground and resisting all pressure with the leash.

It’s unnatural and a weird sensation for pressure to be felt across the dogs face which is WHY as with any tool YOU have to TEACH the dog what the pressure means.

And we need to make sure we are feeling calm and confident. If we become frustrated and unsure our dogs won’t receive the lesson very well.

Here’s a a basic video showing you how I first introduce the figure 8 to a dog.

22/07/2021

Missi had an unexpected visitor during our walk today.
He came traipsing over carrying a box of shapes. Classic lab
I grabbed a leash and got him to join in, then we put him back into his yard 😂😂
This is why carrying an extra leash is always a good idea😄

21/07/2021

It’s always a beautiful day to be out with the dogs ❤️🤩❤️
And we LOVE Tigers Oval, it’s the perfect place with minimal to moderate distractions. Plenty of space to create distance from any triggers. A nice big car park perfect for practicing our leash skills and obviously lots of grass and bushes for sniffing & impulse control 😂🐾🐾

16/07/2021

Happy Friday Pack! We had some beautiful sunshine today with the pups 🌤
They all enjoyed getting muddy and splashing in all the puddles we could find!

13/07/2021

Fun in the sun (30mins of sun) with Luna and Paddy!

13/07/2021

Fun in the sun and the rain with this lot ❤️🐾

12/07/2021

Sunshine and wild weather today! 🌦🐾⛈

09/07/2021

So so PROUD of these two pups today!
Checkout their impulse control (self control) while we did some fun agility!

This is something we have worked up to we didn’t start like this as it would of been too much of a challenge!

But today I knew they were ready for it!
And I was very impressed with their efforts 🤩

09/07/2021

Rainy days! Sometimes we beat the rain but definitely not today! 😂

07/07/2021

I had a blast working these two today!
Due to the rain we stayed home and had fun working on the patio.

This video is showing you a small portion of our time together where we worked on Sarge and his leash biting.

Spatial pressure is a natural form of communication with dogs and all creatures!

No words needed, set your intention of what you want to happen and move with that energy 👌🏼🐾
I hope you enjoy and find it helpful

06/07/2021

My pup Luna loves her sessions with Mel! She was having issues with her back leg collapsing occasionally on her and now she’s doing great!
Her spring is definitely back in her step! ❤️🐾

05/07/2021

Even p**p duty is an opportunity to teach your dogs some patience!

This is for safety reasons and for some basic manners. We don’t want the dogs pulling us over while we’re getting up close and personal with their waste 😂

The dogs need to be seated or standing calmly, we use the leash to help guide the dogs. One of the cavs tried 3 times to walk off and sniff so we just bring them back before carrying on with the job.
When calmness is achieved it’s time to pick up that lovely warm p**p 💩

Then we carry on with our relaxing walk! Great Job Renae!

05/07/2021

Another beautiful rainbow day! 🤩🌈☀️❄️

05/07/2021

IMPORTANCE OF PLAY
Play time is something I have overlooked in the past.
I became hyper focussed on only working on our main problem - dog reactivity.
All our time together was very structured and all about staying calm and focussed (trying to).

Forgetting that to be able to achieve this I needed to provide Luna with an outlet.
She doesn’t fetch and became disinterested in tug as our reactivity worsened.
I became lost in the world of playing so we just didn’t do much of it.
So why play?
- builds your relationship
- Fulfils instinctual needs
- Practices impulse control, rules & boundaries = Structure!
And a time for FUN
Taking a moment to let loose and just enjoy each other’s company does wonders for your relationship. Who knew hey!

Thanks to the guidance from she was able to teach me how to build Luna’s play drive up.
It took A LOT of work!
Luna disconnects from me in a millisecond when a distraction presents itself.

In the beginning it would take me a good 5mins to get any real interest, then she’d get distracted and it would take another minute for her to really engage.

This disconnection is what was happening when a dog was present on a walk. She would forget all about me and ignore any of my attempted direction.

The play is small part of what we are working on with our reactivity but a very important piece!
The more repetition we have of bringing the focus back on us vs distractions then the easier it will be with her bigger triggers.

The play sessions also help release any frustrations by allowing the dog to run, chase and bite - all natural behaviours that need to be fulfilled.

A time and place for everything.

Most of the dogs I walk love to play but can get too intense so for them, we do more interruptions and practice impulse control throughout the game - more so than I do with Luna as I’m trying to build her play drive up.

How has play helped you and your dog?
Is this something you’re working on?
Would love to hear your thoughts? 😊