Hudson& Keira
My two beautiful GSDs - Keira and Hudson at play.
Of course they had to play around the poo bucket 🤪 making my video look a little unattractive!
I could tell they were about to initiate some play and usually it’s Keira that does something to egg her brother on 😝 they don’t play for long, or often, but it’s fun to watch when they do 🥰
What about sharing your dogs at play, or even with yourself, as don’t forget play with handler is so important to build lovely value in handler however letting our dogs play with similar suited temperament dogs is also fun but shouldn’t override the play that owner/dog gets to do together.
Obstacle
OBSTACLE CLASS -
Look at Willow go, 3 legs and she can fly over the tall ramp !! Dogs are incredible !!
So lovely to see Willow back in a class, it’s been a long time 🥰
Obstacle
OBSTACLE CLASS - Sunday 3 Nov
What do they say? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again !!
Hugo second time mastering the A-frame. Good work !! 👍🏻
Sally
STAY/TRAIN - Sally
Sally seems to be super hyper vigilant, she has always been a slightly insecure girl and at one time wouldn’t really go for walks and if she saw a person working out the front of their home etc she would baulk and try to avoid and pull, or just put the brakes on.
She had come a long way, with the owner saying this didn’t occur anymore, however she seems to have regressed and maybe it could be a ‘fear period’ as initially,
during her stay, if anyone moved towards her, or she saw them at a distance she would bark and sometimes low growl.
Yesterday I just walked her about my property whilst hubby and some tradies working, they had been instructed the day before to ignore Sally and don’t try to interact with her.
She did a great job, even with my husband walking towards and by her and the others moving about.
She even wanted to sniff and follow my husband !
Socialisation is always an ongoing process and dogs can go through ‘fear periods’ at different ages, when it seems suddenly like your dog is spooked and worried about things that they were okay with and not overly concerned about. However, I didn’t want to push things with Sally as I don’t want to put too much pressure on her if she is going through this period. I generally like to go back to good solid basics and if needed, tighten up structure and keeps things all nice and calm, with little amounts of socialisation/exposure, but would prefer to wait and try again in a week or few weeks, as it can take that amount of time for our dogs to recover and get through their fear periods.
I don’t want to keep taking her out and trying to desensitise her if it’s a ‘fear period’ as believe it’s not all that productive and could be more detrimental to the dog’s further development as they mature.
Take your time and be patient if you notice and feel that your dog might be going through a ‘fear period’. No rush, worth taking a few steps back wh
Sally
STAY/TRAIN - Sally
Sally is definitely a girl that has found it difficult to settle on a mat. She’s a little hyper vigilant and also been looking to get to me for affection and attention.
She needs to learn that mat time is just calm time and she doesn’t need interaction or affection from the human. Just chill and relax. Teaching still is often so much harder than doing active training.
However, every dog deserves to be able to ‘switch off’ and doesn’t always mean crating them.
This is definitely something that is covered and worked on in my Polite Manners classes along with other impulse control exercises.
Also, this can be taught via 1-1 training sessions too !
OBSTACLES
OBSTACLE CLASS - Sunday morning
I wish I had taken a before and after video. Little Walter about 6mths old at his first obstacles class. He didn’t look this way when he started the morning class. He was very unsure and hesitant and needed help to guide and coax him through this first obstacle - up and down planks.
This was him at the end, albeit a little tired, as mum needed to help him at one stage 😝
I love this class for dogs, they become far more settled and concentrated, or they become more confident about themselves and what they’re doing and overall just love doing things.
Go Walter !!!
OBSTACLES
OBSTACLE CLASS
We had Walter, Boris, Bill, Archie, and Robbie. Just realised all boys expect Robbie 😝
These doggies did an awesome job this morning. It was the first time for 3 of them and although they were, at first, a little unsure and hesitant within a few rounds of the course they all did so well. It’s so lovely to watch them blossom and grow in confidence levels and see them thinking.
After we finished the dogs did a lovely job of just hanging around one another but not needing to interact, just ‘socialisation’ the best way for them all to enjoy the time chilling after working.
Looking forward to next weeks class ! 👍🏻
Hudson training
HUDSON
Had some friends around Saturday for a bonfire arvo/night and decided to do a wee bit of training with Hudson.
Working him on drop/stay and getting him to hold this for longer and longer periods of time - duration work. He also was working with distractions, people he would love to go say hi to and a tug toy thrown out near him.
He did a great job, very proud of him and he got his release from drop/stay to his toy with ‘get it’ ! This cue is to release to an indirect reward, the toy on the ground. Hudson grabbed it and brought to me and we played tug.
Axel
AXEL - STAY/TRAIN
Axel did a lovely walk yesterday, learning to walk on the right, instead of left, not pull and walk a little slower, as his owner needs him to do so. After the walk we worked on drop/implied stay.
The cue/command word is ‘relax’ as this is the word the owner has chosen to teach Axel to drop and hopefully relax ! Worked Axel on duration, keep in the drop position until told to do something else. In this case, I released him with the work ‘okay’ some people might use ‘break’ or ‘free’. This means Axel is now allowed to move and no longer needs to stay in the drop position.
He did well overall.
Keira
It was Keira’s turn to enjoy a 1-1 walk with me. It was a lovely late arvo stroll.
I hadn’t noticed until watching this video back that my girl is ‘pacing’ as she walks. She did seem to be bouncing along whilst she walked 😝
Have you noticed how your dog walks ? Check it out !
If you’re not sure what ‘pacing’ is, it’s when the dog moves both legs on the one side at a time, which isn’t as normal for a dog to do. They usually move diagonally with their legs. Front left and back right and then vice versa.
Axel
STAY/TRAIN - Axel
Although Axel knows how to mat pretty well, I’m just going to be tightening up with the expectations around it. Also, working him with some distractions, as yesterday he barked and got a little worked up with people moving about.
Nice work Axel !!
Axel
STAY / TRAIN - Axel
Axel is here for some help with a few things, mainly trying to build up some confidence and being able to be more settled and not over react as quickly to people.
Also, to just tighten up on the basics.
