💥 Confidence building activity 💥
This activity gets your dogs nose working and helps build on noise conditioning and confidence building. By placing food or treats in tubs and covering it partially with items, we can encourage the dog to explore this using a sensitive area like their face and find some goodies while doing so. By doing so, they will be developing some resilience to the noises they are making while looking for the food and will gain more and more confidence they longer they are doing it. Roo had done this once before and I felt she was pretty comfortable so I added even noisier items like bottles and cans but you can leave these out intially if your dog is brand new or a little more timid around these items. You can always build on the level of intensity of the activity each time you do this. Use something you know your dog will work hard for like Chunkers, chicken, liver treat etc. I am just using Roo’s kibble here as it’s easy and she absolutely loves it but will try something else next time.
Save all your recycling items this week and then give this a go on the weekend! Tag me if you do! 🤓
**Ensure your dog is hungry before doing this and that you do it on a surface like grass or carpet so that if they knock something out of the tub, it doesn’t frighten them. 😁
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#confidencebuilding #puppytraining #enrichmentfordogs #dogs #braingamesfordogs #dogtraining #sydneydogs #sydneypuppy #sydneypuppies #dogactivitytoys #dogbowlsareout
It was a big day for the foster babies today. I introduced sleeping them individually instead of 5 pups on top of each other in one crate like they are used too and it’s safe to say they handled it like champs.
This is to prepare them for when they go back to the #animalwelfareleague in 10 days time (🥺😭) for their vet work and to find their forever homes as they will need to be adjusted to being separated from their siblings and this will hopefully make their transition into their new homes a little easier on them all.
Prior to this new experience, they had had a big play outside and had all toileted so I was hopeful that they would feel sleepy and comfortable to have a day nap in separate crates. Success!!
(Two of the pups are still in together as one of the little darlings is still a tiny bit needy and I didn’t want her to go from having four puppy pillows to none so I transitioned her to having just one friend and she coped beautifully).
These guys have soft blankets, a rolled up blanket like a sausage that they can snuggle into and the crate covered, all things that can make them feel more comfortable when transitioning their sleeping situation. They have also been having a warmed up wheat pack but I don’t use it during the day when it’s warmer but that can also help a create a more positive crate experience if your little one is struggling. A toy they can snuggle into and a clothing item that smells like you can also be very beneficial when introducing or changing the crate set up ☺️🥳🤩 #fosterwin
The little piggies had their afternoon tea outside today and they also had big kid bowls to eat from for the first time! They are still very uncoordinated with eating and usually end up wearing more of it than eating it but it’s so good for their development to start eating solids and learning to chew and eat slowly so they don’t choke. They are getting better at it each day and it’s safe to say they love their food 🐷
You will want to make sure the sound is on for this one! 😍
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#rescuedog #rescuepup #rescuepuppy #rescue #rescuepupsofinstagram #rescuepups #puppygram #puppytrainer #puppytrainer #puppyraising #puppylife
Adolescent class fun yesterday progressing STAY
Yesterday’s adolescent class practiced stay with added distractions and movements. Often dogs can ‘stay’ because we make it easy for them by having our hand outstreached, maintaining eye contact and repeat the word stay, so they usually can make the easy choice to ‘stay’ but if not set up like this, the dog could then fail to perform this command. To ensure the dogs are capable of ‘stay’ even in a distracting environment, we are adding in movements like star jumps, kneeling on the grass, going out of sight and turning our backs on the pups so that they learn that the word ‘stay’ applies, even when their owner is doing some really weird stuff!! 🤸🏻♀️ This gives them the skills to perform stay in high distraction environments and to develop the impulse control to be successful while doing so! Well done Bluey, Asha, Elsie and Winston! 🤩
The second adolescence class was working on obedience commands such as ‘sit’ from in a ‘drop’ position which isn’t all that natural for the pups to do, and also a ‘stand’ position from a sit. Both tricky commands to get but all managing some great progress ! 🐶🐾
Back to back adolescence classes on Saturday and what fab groups!
In this video the 1pm class was working on ‘stay’ under distraction such as weird and wonderful movements from their owners which is really great impulse control training for the little ones to not jump out of their ‘stay’ to see their favourite people 🐾
Saturday’s adolescence class perfecting ‘stay’ while in the presence of other young pups that are moving around - a very hard task for them to achieve but everyone did so well! We also tackled loose lead walking and some trick training 🤩
Our first adolescence class back from our COVID-19 class hiatus went off with a bang! ☄️
What a great group!! We learnt ‘place’ which is so handy when needing your dogs to go to a particular spot to sit on such as the scales at the vet. We taught going from drop to sit which is a bit more unnatural for the dogs to do, but a good skill for them to know how to do and will make them more bodily aware. We also refreshed our tug of war skills ensuring that the pups only bite the tug toy on YES, and they must give the toy back on GIVE, this develops the dogs impulse control which all teenage puppies need a lot more of in their lives 😆
Excellent work from everyone for week one!
Get in touch if you are interested in booking your teenage pooch in for our August course!
In Tuesday’s adolescence class, we started learning ‘place’ which is where our dogs are learning to take themselves to a particular spot that the owner cues towards. This is a great one to teach as we will often need our dogs to hop onto something like the scales at the vet clinic, or sit on the floor boards instead of the rug at our friends house. By implementing this cue, it will take a lot of the confusion out and allow our dogs to know exactly what we need of them. Give it a go!
Dog Training and Behaviour
