Team Hund - Dog Training & More

11/08/2021

Keep those noses busy during lockdown! Been working our way through the scent course, here’s Frank practicing his passive indication.

09/06/2021

Lockdown Restrictions are easing for Melbourne, hooray! What’s the first thing you will do?

03/06/2021

Benefits of Melbourne lockdown - finally able to catch up on some training. Working with Sammy on finding cut up Kong pieces in the wall. Next step building duration of the indication!

22/05/2021

Caught up with little Juneau today, learning her first cues for dog sledding.

11/05/2021

Scent work coin indication - Sammy working on duration.

09/05/2021

Great spending some time with little Kali today!

06/05/2021

Great evening for a run by the creek. Training up for the first race of the sledding season!

30/04/2021

Luckily we stopped caring what the neighbours might think a long time ago 😅

13/03/2021

Great morning meeting the local Greyhound crew in Footscray. Thanks for organising!

21/02/2021

So good to be back at training! Someone really missed agility.

03/02/2021

Make sure your pups are on regular tick prevention - brown tick in particular. Looks like canine ehrlichiosis has spread to SA 😞

A deadly dog disease which is spreading rapidly across northern Australia has now been found in South Australia.

02/02/2021

Spending some quality time with Frank after Sammy got to come to training in the morning.

18/12/2020

Spent some time with little Juneau yesterday and couldn’t resist a quick post-training Christmas pic 😁

14/11/2020

Went out for our first hike in months yesterday. To break up the routine of ‘easy, stop,right, left, wait, leave it, on by’ etc we always try to incorporate fun elements into our walks. ‘Paws on’, jumping onto or over (safe) things such as logs breaks up the walk and also makes for interesting pictures!

09/11/2020

Lifting of the 25km travel limit for Metro Melbourne means more places to explore! Frank is certainly excited at the prospect of heading back to some of our favourite sledding spots.

03/11/2020

Life is better with sand on your nose.

28/10/2020

Great summary of what to look out for in dog play.

👀 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿? 🤪

👉🏽 Most people have experienced a dog that was playing fine one minute and then is either scared or lashing out the next minute.

🐕 Usually it looks like the play turned sour out if no where. However, there are a few ways you can identify if your dog is about to say “I’ve had enough”.

➡️ Dog play can be such an awesome experience for your dog from a social and biological level. What is important to consider is that not all play is the same, in fact there are many different elements to dog play that need to be considered.

🐕🐩 𝗗𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲?

👉🏽 Some dogs like bitey bitey face, some like you chase me, I chase you, others prefer gladiator style.

✅ What is important is that when two dogs come together, they have similar styles. What a Bulldog likes and a Sheltie likes are likely to be different and to avoid offending each other, it’s better to pair dogs with a similar play style.

⏸ 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀?

👉🏽 It’s important in play to ensure the dogs have adequate play pauses. This means both dogs give each other a breather every minute or so.

✅ This allows the dogs to reset, not become too over stimulated, catch their breath and decide if they still want to play.

⚠️ Without play pauses, the game can turn sour very quickly when one decides they have had enough.

⚖️ 𝗜𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻?

👉🏽 If you have one dog constantly being bulldozed to the bottom, it’s probably a sign that the play isn’t even.

⚠️ Dogs that are constantly pinned down with no chance of getting up, can develop frustration, and in the words of Jay Jack:

🤪➕😤 ➡️ 🤬
“𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 + 𝗙𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 = 𝗙*𝗰𝗸 𝗬𝗼𝘂”

✅ Both dogs should have a relatively fair playing field and take turns at being the winner.

🐕🐩🐕‍🦺 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱:

👉🏽 Some dogs play lovely in a group, but for a lot of dogs it can be the component that turns the game south.

⚠️ It’s hard for a 3 player game to be even, because it is likely that one dog will be ganged up on by the other two.

✅ Aim to only have a 2 dog game and try to engage the other dog. There may be an opportunity where the original two have a play pause and the third dog can opt in.

👀 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻:

➡️ The most obvious sign is that one dog will try to get away or seem disinterested. If this occurs, and the play mate doesn’t pick up the signs, it’s time to intervene.

🌪 If one dog gets the zoomies and a bunch of dogs start chasing, it’s important to be mindful that when the adrenaline rush finishes, the zooming dog may look back and go “Oh sh*t!”.

✅ It’s important to intervene and break that cycle before it gets to that point. This can be done with a recall to hand.

🐕 The biggest aim of play is that your dog has a good time. So if they aren’t, you need to advocate for them and help them out.

⚠️ Otherwise you risk a confidence hair cut or potentially fun that turns into a fight.

📸 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗱𝘆:

27/10/2020

Dog Trainers are back at work in Melbourne today. Good luck everyone!

31/07/2020