Freya had an assessment tonight for the Agility Club of Victoria and has been accepted and will start training in September. What I was happiest with was her zero reactivity. Agility is a very exciting environment for most dogs but she wasn't reactive and barking like crazy or focusing on the other dogs. It's taken an incredible amount of work to get her calm and neutral around other dogs. We did a lot of work with Chiara at Point Cook Dog Training teaching our dogs to settle and be calm like in this video where Freya is focused on me, in a drop and ignoring the other dogs who are warming up. We start agility at Point Cook Dog Training in May, Freya is class 2 in obedience and we'll also do more agility at Werribee Dog Club, so lots on until September. Keep training your dogs, keep working on them. Train them on walks, train them throughout the day, every interaction with your dog is a learning opportunity.
I would say 90% of the dogs I pet sit are an oodle mix.
But lately it's been all about the sausage dog.
Mango the puppy is ready for the hot weekend ahead. She came to me a bit timid and hesitant of other dogs and unsure. She's now zooming around, playing and much more confident.
Recall is definitely one of the hardest things to train. I think my dogs are doing very well at it here at the dog park. BUT this is asking them to recall from a sit/stay at the top of the dog park and I've got roast pork.
They would never be this motivated to recall if they were both playing with each other, sniffing something amazing or excited by other dogs playing in the next ring. That is the TRUE test of a solid recall, when they leave their friends or that delicious smell.
So, we keep practising. I never let them blow me off when I recall. If I call them over and they don't come, I go and get them and then reward them when they reach the spot, I wanted them to come to. I used long lines so that I can move them back to me on walks if they ignore me. I pick my recall moments carefully because I don't want them to think they can just ignore me and keep doing what they are doing and get away with not recalling when I ask.
My dogs get a LOT of training. They go to Werribee Dog Obedience Club each week, they go to private training with Chiara at Point Cook Dog Training, I train them at home.
Training is never done because a dog is a certain age, or they know how to do something. It always requires repetition and reinforcement throughout their life and of course delicious high value rewards like roast pork.
Lovely 7 month old Mango cooling off after her morning walk.
This is a counter conditioning session with my dog Freya (black one).
She is terrified of the vacuum. Unfortunately my groomer has a dryer that looks exactly like my dyson, so when he went to dry her she was terrified of the 'vacuum' now being pointed at her and blowing air on her. This also led to a fear of men (my groomer is male) and possibly a fear of grooming. So now I have to fix all this.
First step is to put the vacuum in the room and feed her lots of treats when she is close to it. Happy to say this is the closest she has ever been to the vacuum. Usually she goes outside or hides in her crate.
I'm also playing vacuum cleaning and hair dryer dog desensitization sounds to her off YouTube at times throughout the day (my ipad is next to the vacuum). This way I can control the volume as she gets more confident.
I'll be feeding her meals next to the vacuum and it will be in the lounge room so she sees it all the time and learns to simply ignore it.
Once she gets comfortable with that, we start the process again this time with the vacuum on.
I've also got to do the same with a hairdryer, there is one on the floor in the lounge that she is learning to ignore. It isn't a threat, it is just there.
I've also got some clippers, the same process with those. Her learning to see them, then having the sound on, then running them over her body while giving her lots of treats.
With men, I'm asking that they just stand near her and again, lots of counter conditioning by feeding her treats.
No forcing her, she must want to do it herself.
I'm confident I can fix all this over time. It's just about desensitizing her to these objects and counter conditioning to help to reduce her fear of all these things and their sounds.
I took Lester to dog school today at Werribee Dog Obedience Club. Lester already knows how to sit and stay and walk at heel. But put him around a group of 50 dogs at dog school and he loses his mind, and he can’t focus. His first reaction is fear that other dogs will harm him, so he goes into attack mode if a dog comes too close. Then he’ll spend about 30 minutes of the class looking around on high alert and keeping a close tab on what other dogs are doing around him.
In the last 5 minutes of class he’s usually exhausted and therefore focused enough to focus on me and do the exercises. I don’t take him to dog school to learn how to sit, stay, heel and come. I take him to be around other dogs and to socialise him.
Werribee dog club is the best place to socialize your dog. All other dogs are on leash and there is an unspoken rule that you don't let dogs meet (unless you agree). Dogs learn that other dogs won't rush them, won't sniff their butts and won't get into their personal space.
Lester goes to learn that other dogs won’t hurt him and that he can be around other dogs without feeling threatened. In time he will calm down and work and focus for me. Today was very mentally challenging for him. There was a lot going on and he was very tired after the session. Small steps for him to gain confidence and trust in other dogs.
The happiest I've seen dogs is when they are free and they can run ♥️
The stop-sit is a useful command to teach your dog. I like to walk Freya on a long leash for her sniffing walks but to keep control she will instantly stop and sit on command - when crossing the road, when nervous children pass by, when we see another dog, when a car backs out of a driveway. It's basic dog manners and keeps her brain working on walks by throwing in a bit of obedience.
If you have a very food oriented dog like this puppy Frankie, get a blanket and fold bits of kibble throughout the blanket. Your dog will smell the food and have a great time rifling through the blanket to find their kibble. This is a mentally enriching activity that satisfies a dog's love of sniffing while using their brain. Frankie doesn't get his food in a bowl, he loves the challenge of searching for it.
Is it my fault she won't eat her kibble 🤷😅
Buddy goes home tomorrow after being with me a month. Going to miss this little dog. Such a beautiful boy.
