Engage Veterinary Behaviour and Training

Molly - labradoodle - about 18 months in Feb 2024 More shaping games to build confidence in learning - Part 2 Targeting, feet in a box, go around a cone I could more easily and quickly lure Molly onto a platform or around a cone, but the target behaviour is not my main aim (see Part 1)

Molly - labradoodle - about 18 months in Feb 2024 Shaping games to build confidence in learning Targeting an object on the ground with her paw Molly was a very anxious dog when I first met her, and anything that looked like training was stressful to her. Molly gradually learned to trust me, and we found a food reward she loved (peanut butter). This took months to want to eat food. I introduced shaping games when Molly was keen to interact, eat food, and had learned a marker word "yes" - meaning "come to me and get food. And if you repeat what you think led me to say "yes", then I will say "yes" again and you can get food again" I wanted to do shaping games with Molly to build her confidence that she was allowed and actually rewarded for "trying things out" and she was not going to get into trouble if she was wrong. I wanted Molly to learn that her behaviours matter - and give her a fun and appropriate way to "make me" give her rewards. I wanted Molly to learn to interact with the environment and objects around her and not be scared of them. Here I am marking ("yes" ) and rewarding Molly for small approximations of a behaviour I have in mind. I could more easily and quickly lure Molly onto a platform or around a cone, but the target behaviour is not my main aim. If Molly was to try something creative that I didn't have in mind, then I definitely would have marked and rewarded that. The aim is attitude and not perfection. I started Molly targeting an item on the ground with her paw. This behaviour can then blend into "going away" from me towards a target. I then progressed to other objects to target and other objects with other behaviours - see video 2.

Early "chin" training with Louis my groodle pup Very useful for body handling at the groomers or vets, an easy fun trick to build your relationship, a calming focussed behaviour and also a useful behaviour for a mouthy juvenile/adolescence as an alternative behaviour to mouthing

Louis - Beginning Scent work My 5month groodle is learning to search the pipes for food. I am doing this for fun and hunting/foraging enrichment. It is also a great rainy day activity, or a mentally stimulating way to provide breakfast in the morning before leaving for work... (though I LOVE training and playing with my dogs, and so have quite a few activities I can do with them). I have the pipes already from my previous dog. Cardboard boxes or something else would work as well. I started with hiding one of these bases with food in the house for Louis to find - just like a dinner bowl. It also shows the 101 uses of teaching a stay on a platform. (I don't use the word stay though). Louis has this down pat. I will probably teach Louis to search for an odour later on - but it is not a priority. I want him to really enjoy hunting and searching for food, and getting directly rewarded when he finds it.

Body handling for grooming and husbandry Louis has just turned 5 months old, and is 18kg now! Louis has a lifetime of grooming and eyes/ears/nail care ahead of him. I want to prepare him to tolerate kind patient handling and stand on a grooming table with minimal need for restraint. Louis has not liked hands reaching towards his head from when I first brought him home. I have gradually taught him to tolerate this, by breaking this down into small steps and building his trust. Great food does help Louis see some benefit in his head being handled! In this video Louis is getting Prime100 roll cubed and mixed with kangaroo mince - yum! In this video I am using "chin" as a predictor cue that I will reach for his chin and tilt his head up, and then he waits still for a click or a "yes". This means he is released from the behaviour and a treat will come. In other scenarios we are practicing "chin" as a cue for Louis to put his chin in my hand. See other videos. "Good' means to keep doing what you are doing, as does my "wiggly fingers" This is not the only grooming practice I have been doing... - nightime treat time involves a reaching hand and then a touch or scratch to the head - tabletting treats - scratching his ears and face when he is cuddling with me - he loves this - teaching him to love jumping on and standing on a table and waiting there - teaching him to get into the Booster Bath of his own accord - teaching him that when he is tethered he remains in that place - and other little pieces along the way....

Louis 14 weeks Shaping Paws up on a big box Using different learning pathways My aim is for Louis to be thinking and trying out things (...and maybe put 2 front paws on the box) with shaping games I wanted to experiment - and I quickly brought my dog Ava in to show him >>>and Louis imitated her And then later I stood on the box >>>and Louis imitated me!

Louis 14 weeks – learning patience and house rules at breakfast. “Wait calmly behind the baby gate without jumping up or barking, while I prepare breakfast, and wait for the predictable cue of the clicker, that means food is now coming” Every day my puppy is learning – and I need him to learn to behave in the house the way I need him to behave when he is a big groodle adult boy. I want to achieve this with clear, consistent guidance and support him through his learning while we strengthen our bond. I adore this little man!!! I want to teach Louis what TO DO and not become frustrated – while also gradually helping him tolerate some frustration. I have a multi-dog household and it is especially important for me to have some physical boundaries in place quickly , so that my older dog is not hassled by Louis, and so that I can interact with each dog individually and give them the one-on-one attention they deserve. To wait patiently behind a barrier when something you want is on the other side is an important life skill. Louis practiced lots of jumping up on barriers as a puppy with his siblings as would be expected, and... he is mostly poodle – so he does have a good bark! I know that patience is difficult for little emotional brains, so I have done various steps preparing Louis for this. *Initially I didn’t expect patience, but I didn’t want Louis to rehearse jumping up and barking – so I gave him food quickly, so he didn’t need to wait. *I taught him that he needed to sit before the playpen gate was opened to release him. *I taught him to stay on a platform as I moved away from him, and I would come back and reward him *Louis received lots of rewards for sitting *I bent over when patting him with hands low, and so didn’t encourage jumping up *I played lots with Louis with toys – tug and fetch, always keeping the toys low, and he gets lots of attention from when his 4 feet are on the floor – he doesn’t need to jump up *We have

Louis - my 14 week groodle puppy showing off his great baby gate manners!

***Louis habituation and desensitisation at home*** Vacuum, thunderstorms, aluminium cans, plastic bottles, ramps, metal walkways, metal surfaces, tarpaulins, Booster Bath, big boxes, shell pools, kids on tv, dogs on tv.... I have been busy "socialising" Louis at home, and also in the big wide world. I am taking Louis to two different puppy classes a week in different locations, with the same great trainer who will keep the puppies protected from negative experiences while they learn to be around strange people and puppies. Louis also goes out to concreted shopping plazas and lots of car rides. But there is SO MUCH that I can do at home. Louis was a little over sensitive to new things for his first 4 weeks or so. Especially sounds and adult people, but also new places and new objects (or the same object turned over - such as a chair on its side). Except thunderstorms - we have had about two thunderstorms a week and he always gets a food party and he seems to enjoy this. I had to take exposure very gradually and carefully in these weeks. But now Louis is seeing novelty as an opportunity for food, social interaction, play and the joy of exploration. Louis is growing in confidence at a rapid rate - just like his legs!

Louis - 11.5 weeks - socialisation Socialisation - "introducing the puppy to the things he will encounter during his life, at the puppy's pace, so he grows in confidence and is not afraid of people, dogs, and other things he will encounter....different environments, strange/sudden/or loud noises, moving vehicles/bikes, different surfaces - slippery modern floors, stairs, different animals, people in different clothing...and the list goes on. I want my puppy to have positive experiences and gain in confidence quickly. Although positive associations are most easily formed early, before 12-14 weeks (sometimes less in some breeds such as the German Shepherd, and longer in sociable pet breeds)... and so I don't want to waste this precious time... I can only go as fast as Louis tells me... Although Louis is up to date with his puppy vaccination schedule, I cannot be entirely sure that he is protected from horrible and potentially deadly diseases such as parvo, because the maternal antibodies may have interfered with the early vaccinations. Thus I am taking a calculated risk of exposing Louis to the world in the safest way (not at dog parks, public parks). I feel that the benefits of increasing Louis' confidence around people at this early age when his brain is most flexible are too important. Louis was a little concerned of being in a moving trolley - though he has had lots of experience with being at heights at home - the heights didn't move at home! He quickly accustomed to it, but he was much more confident on his own 4 feet where he can control his approach to people and things. Louis LOVES children - and seeing little kids at Mitre 10 is the greatest reinforcement for him and will help him feel that it is a great place to visit. Thank you Mitre 10 Kenmore for being so helpful!!!

Louis - my 11 week groodle - Station/platform Look at his tail wag! Station/platform training is so important and so useful in so many ways. I have found so many benefits for my past dogs and for clients. I have numerous home made carpet topped coffee table size tables and now I have some smaller Cato boards. Here the platform "training" is building confidence in Louis that "he is in the driver's seat, doing stuff and getting rewarded for it". (I use my human brain to set up the situation so that Louis is choosing to do what I also want him to do!) Instead of describing all the benefits, I will link to a great post I saw from Lighten Up Dog Training recently in the comments.

Louis 8 weeks First harness fitting (verdict - too big!) This video shows me luring Louis' head through the harness neck loop and NOT reaching the head loop towards Louis and over Louis' head. We sometimes complain that the new puppy invades our space and jumps up....but then we invade their space and pick them up and reach towards them and put different things on their body... Puppies and dogs are really tolerant of us humans...and sometimes they aren't.... And we can be quite scary looming over and reaching into their personal bubble... I take things slowly when first introducing a harness (or any equipment I will add to their body) I have not shown the prior steps of teaching Louis to follow some food in the hand as a lure. And I also put the harness on the ground and let Louis sniff it first. Louis practiced following a food lure for the first few days he was home. This was also a great way to bond with my puppy! I just used the puppy kibble he was eating at his breeder home in a cupped hand. There are so many things to teach my puppy so that he knows how to navigate life in my household. I use food strategically. That doesn't mean that Louis misses meals. This also doesn't mean that Louis always has to "work for his food" Strategic food also means his food being put in the playpen with an open gate so that he builds positive associations with being there.