Working Beldan, a young mastiff cross at Happy Paws, luring him into his basic obedience positions using food as the motivator and the reward.
As you can see, he is extremely food motivated 😂🤣.
Every dog needs a job 😎
Working the dogs on calm behaviour and holding the "down" during the group class at The Doghouse last Sunday.
Very impressed with how calm Brandee was in class this week. The calmer she becomes, the more she is able to focus on what Lynne wants her to do. Well done you two 😁
Working Boogie over the challenge course and through his obedience drills yesterday at The Doghouse.
The focus now is on less pressure to achieve the positions required, remembering to "be as soft as we can be, but as firm as we need to be".
Happy Paws volunteer Ashley working Lucy around the challenge course.
Lucy loves to work and play. The reward for working here is the interaction with Boogie afterwards. This opportunity to play with a large, intact male dog helps the dogs to work through any reactivity or anxiety issues they may have when meeting new dogs.
Henry the basset hound being tested on holding the "down" with the other dogs providing the distractions.
I love how Boogie manages to get Nutmeg in trouble even while lying down exhibiting calm behaviour 😂.
Lying down calmly in the face of distractions is such an important skill to teach your dog.
Last Sunday we pushed the dogs out of their comfort zones by putting them in a "down" in the centre of the room and walking the other dogs around them slowly, to test how the dog reacted to the distractions.
Boogie was first to have a go. You can see at the end of the video that he was close to breaking from the down, so we finished before it became too much to resist, as it is very important to have the dog be successful and not fail. As soon as I stopped filming I "jackpotted" him with a full handful of treats. This elicits a dopamine spike in the dog's brain, making sure that the behaviour it has just performed is a truly memorable experience.
I'm sure if there were martial arts for dogs, Boogie has a black belt in lying down 🤣🤣.
Every dog needs a job 😎.
Puppies are like sponges for the first few months of their lives and it is important to instill as much training as possible in their lives as possible, in order to teach them how to behave in their human families.
One of the first things we teach them is to follow food held in the hand into different positions that will come to play a major role in their obedience training. This is called "luring".
This short video shows Lucy, a young Rottweiler/Kelpie cross at Happy Paws learning how to follow the "lure".
She is a lovely pup, full of energy and a desire to work.
Every dog needs a job 😎
More video showing owners working their dogs on basics, making small, incremental adjustments to the performance of these behaviours, while learning to focus regardless of the distractions.
Boogie still working on his "down stay" 😊.
Group class worked on individual goals yesterday.
The dogs all know their basic obedience so now it is a case of making small adjustments and fine-tuning the positions, all of which is now attained by gentle leash pressure into the positions, then marking and rewarding when the desired position is reached.
My goal for Boogie was to have him hold his "down" off leash for the hour long class, without breaking.
Lynne working Brandee on her loose leash walking and staying on "place" during the group class at The Doghouse last Sunday.
I posted a video a few weeks ago of a dog out at Happy Paws being put through his paces by one of the volunteers, to highlight their training and to show what a great addition they could make to the right family.
This video shows another of the volunteers, Ashley, working Regan around the challenge course. Regan is another dog who would fit right in with a family wanting a great dog. He leads well, does all his basic obedience behaviours, loves humans and gets on well with other dogs.
I get called out to people's homes all the time to "fix" problem dogs where generally the problem is a lack of training. Here is a dog that has had consistent obedience training for over 2 years now and just needs to go to a loving home and live his best life.
If you're looking for a great dog, or know of someone who is, take a trip out to Happy Paws and check out the dogs there.
Jackie puts Louie through his paces during the group class at The Doghouse last Sunday.
Brooke and Henry working through some fundamentals during the group class at The Doghouse last Sunday.
The patience and consistency that Brooke has shown with Henry's training is really starting to pay off now. Basset hounds can be quite independent and stubborn, so to see how well Henry is doing is awesome.
The first few months of training a puppy is hard work, but once those fundamentals start to set in and become part of everyday life for the dog, things start to get easier and you can really start to enjoy life with your furry friend 😎.
Fiona and Pippi working on technique during the Group class at The Doghouse last Sunday.
Group class at The Doghouse yesterday was all about risk versus reward ie: risking pushing the boundaries of certain behaviours we teach our dogs in order to get the reward of better/longer obedience in that behaviour.
As owners/leaders it is up to us to recognise when and how to push ourselves and therefore, our dogs, out of our comfort zones, in order to grow.
