Adaptive K9

👉 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚… 💦 Harley has some serious obsession with the water, with a lot of work we now have good general control in this setting as he knows he can express drive with me instead. But he still struggles without elsewhere to put his excitement. 🧠 Today we changed gears, asking him to use his brain and think about something new in the presence of calm water. 👏Keeping arousal low and his thinking brain on in this setting is hard, he’s done well! #adaptivedogs #thinkinghard

🐾 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴… Training a dog not to pull on the lead means taking the 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 to show them what you want. This is about practicing the walk, not going for a walk. It’s more important to practice what you want then to cover a lot of ground. This can mean in the initial stages, your doing a lot of back and forth and that’s fine. #adaptivedogs #dogtraining #dogtrainer #leashmanners #looseleashwalking #trainyourdog

𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀… The Queensland government has announced that they are considering banning the prong collar. As someone heavily invested in dogs and who wants the absolute best for dogs and their owners, this is disappointing at best and dangerous at worst. When deciding wether or not to train a dog using a prong collar, I am considering not only the dog itself, but it’s owner, their abilities, their emotional state, the environment which the dogs live in and their prior history. 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭. 👇 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹? ✅ It is a tool that allows for precision in communication and is dynamic in its use ✅ I can teach the dog how the tool works to both guide them towards behaviours I like and to stop behaviours I don’t ✅ It allows the handler to develop confidence handling a dog they may feel physically unable to handle without the use of tools like this ✅ Dog’s are generally not bothered by the tool. Not nearly as much as strangers on the internet who have never used one tend to be 𝙄𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙪𝙨𝙚. It’s easy to hold this collar up and say it’s horrible,

🐕 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 🤔 As all good dog trainers should strive to do, I always try to train the dog (and the person) in front of me. Sometimes though, what this is isn’t always obvious at first. I’ve had Howie almost 4 years now, I took him on as an adult and I knew he had some generalised anxiety and specific issues with some environments. To be honest, I thought we would get further with these issues with less work than it has taken, maybe I was naive. Howie has regularly challenged me with his softness. While this part of his temperament is invaluable in some of the work he helps me with, often it can feel like I have to hold his hand through situations that are not objectively difficult but are difficult to him. 𝙒𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙞𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨. Howie can easily become overwhelmed by his options and his food drive, he looses clarity, becomes hectic and gets stupid. I get frustrated, he picks up on this and becomes anxious, which means he loses more clarity and becomes more hectic. I planned to do more shaping with him during his recovery from his 3 knee surgeries, but his thoughtlessness in how he moves his body stressed me out as I didn’t want to risk injury. Today I decided to pick up his slip lead to revisit a behaviour we have worked on and off with, his rear foot target. The lead allowed me to block him spinning tightly to reset himself and ensure he backed up. The guidance through the lead gives him information and this has been well developed in his obedience, today we used it to give more clarity to this exercise. The added input of tactil

🍁 This morning we showed 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗹𝗲 a couple of different pictures with new dogs. 🐕 We first introduced Howie because he is calm, gentle and predictable. Maple warmed up to him quickly. 🐾 Quinn is a more difficult dog to be exposed to, she is less predictable in her movements, more active and more likely to put pressure on a dog. She’s a good step up and allowed us to explore further exactly what makes Maple feel unsure about new dogs and which techniques will help her work through her feelings. 👌 Today was a win, go Maple! #adaptivedogs #dogtraining #dogbehaviour #dogtrainer #behaviourmodification #behaviour #caninebehaviour #obedience #puppytraining #happydog #rescuedog

⚽️ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴: 👉 Develop it as a reinforcer 👉 Develop your relationship in a new way 👉 Biologically fulfil your dog 👉 Encourage engagement from your dog 👉 Develop confidence in new environments I have been able to see glimpses of Storms playful side for some time but have ruffled to get him to relax enough outside the home to express himself freely. This week it finally came out! We had an awesome game of personal play at an oval which I managed to get on video. Hopefully this is just the start of something! 𝘎𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨!

🏊‍♀️ 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗮 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗹 🩺 Mika is rehabbing from shoulder and elbow surgery and part of her exercise routine involves swimming as it is low impact and a great way to rebuild muscle 🌊 While Mika is comfortable swimming in larger bodies of water, the steep sides of the pool make her apprehensive and she can get panicked if she doesn’t feel like she can get out 🐢 Today we went slow and steady, gradually building her confidence of both how to enter and exit the water using the step. With much success! 🐾 Mika has very dedicated owners who are putting in the work to make sure she recovers well from her surgery, now they have one more tool to help them out. ❓ 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘮? 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰?

🐕 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 🏋️‍♀️ Just like physical fitness, your dogs training will require some maintenance to keep them responding consistently. 🐾 Today I worked on tidying up Quinn’s drop stay. This is a behaviour I rely on heavily however have fallen into the trap of asking for it a lot without reinforcing it a lot. I frequently use my drop to set up for other training which in time will devalue it, today was about fixing that up after noticing a few slip ups in the last few weeks. 🛑 I knew she would make some errors in this session and I’m okay with that. Quinn has done enough training to know that me calling her out on errors is is how I guide her towards success. 👉 Today we worked on out of sight, increased distance, long duration and we worked the last half with the treat pouch beside her to ensure she’s working for me not the food. All stuff she’s capable of but a little out of practice with.

🐕❤️ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝗢𝗢 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 I often meet people struggling with their dogs behaviour in the presence of other dogs Sometimes this can be due to a fear of the other dog, however, often it is because my clients dog has a skewed perception of where the most value 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 is in that situation. 👉 If you have spent a lot of time allowing and encouraging high arousal, uncontrolled play with other dogs without also developing your obedience or your dogs value for you alongside this, you are likely to experience problems. 👉 If you relying on other dogs to entertain and exercise your dog, you are likely to experience problems. 👉 If you are allowing your dog to interact with every dog they come across, you are likely to experience problems. ❔ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲? 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑔. Really, develop a meaningful, deeply satisfying and fulfilling game with your dog. This is not only great for relationship, exercise, stimulation and biological fulfilment but it also makes an excellent reinforcer and can be used diagnostically in some situations. Then teach them this game can exist around other dogs and eventually, that you are the better option! 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘥

🐕🐏 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝘀. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘺. 👌 I love herding breeds and find them to be some of the most fun and willing training partners. However it is often their intelligence, athleticism, drive and ease of motivation which can be their undoing in an underprepared home. 🏃‍♀️ Often people are under the impression that their young working dogs needs wide open spaces and lots of exercise to be satisfied. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵… 🧠 Owning and fulfilling one of these dogs is less about providing large amounts of aimless, undirected exercise (this can actually contribute to problems) and more about finding ways to challenge their body and mind. Keeping these dogs happy is about ensuring they are stimulated both mentally and physically. 🧩 They are more work than the average pet dog because they are not the average pet dog. The inherent drives and instincts in these dogs makes them easy to motivate and therefore very trainable. However these same instincts of left undirected can manifest into outward behaviour, often as reactivity, car chasing, bike chasing, herding/nipping other dogs etc. 🎾 For the above reasons, owners often direct their busy dogs energy into the ball, playing endless games of fetch. While this activity isn’t itself bad or detrimental, using it as your only way to exercise or stimulate your dog can lead to problems such as obsessive behaviour or physical issues later in life born from thousands of hard stops when reaching the ball. 👉 𝘔𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴: - 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺. - Be present and engaged with