Woofton Dog Training

08/02/2024

It’s here! It’s back! Get in while you can!

The Frustration Masterclass is /hands down/ the best money I have ever spent on educational content. Not only is it a steal of a deal with a tremendous amount of content for a low cost, but that content will absolutely blow your mind.

If you are a person that considers themselves a dog trainer in any way, shape, or form, you need this course!

💥 The Lighten Up Frustration Masterclass is now O-P-E-N ! 💥

How I wish I'd known all this sooner.

Ten years ago, I started learning about dogs.

I spent £££££ on courses to help the dogs at the shelter where I was a trustee and a dog walker. I had a bunch of dogs in foster, and a director who kept putting me on the phone to people with dog problems. I was basically running around with my hair on fire, trying to put out other people's emergency fires too, all while being herded by collies & malinois, jumped on by big dogs and even hu**ed from time to time.

So what did I learn in those courses?

I learned all about fear and anxiety.

That wasn't such a steep learning curve, if I'm honest. A background in psychology helped a bunch with that.

And I learned a lot about aggression. Helpful, if you want to avoid getting bitten on the arse.

I learned about dog training. If I'm honest, this was the easy bit. You don't teach Shakespeare on Friday afternoon to teenagers for twenty years without having some serious skills.

And the people whose courses I bought, they all mentioned frustration. It's not like nobody was talking about it at all. I thought I had it covered.

The thing was, it was always mentioned and never really addressed. It was always an add-on, as if to say what you do for fear & anxiety will also work with frustration.

And nobody explained that frustration not only fuelled the worst cases of aggression or bites - or that a whole range of diverse and seemingly unconnected behaviours were driven by frustration. Or that shelters and agility rings alike are chock-a-block with frustrated dogs. Or why so many training situations added to frustration.

Or HOW these things were all connected.

I developed a bunch of intuitive and instinctive wisdom - skills on the floor, if you will.

What that meant was I worked out what was successful and what wasn't through trial and error, without really understanding why some stuff worked and some stuff didn't.

What I didn't have was a thorough, systematic understanding of so many things...

⭐ WHAT causes frustration

⭐ WHAT does it look like in dogs - beyond biting people on the arse or barking at them

⭐ WHAT kind of canine behaviours are fuelled or created by frustration

⭐ HOW so much of what we do worsens frustration, even if we mean well

⭐ WHY great dog trainers seem to instinctively channel frustration and HOW

⭐ WHAT frustration tolerance is and why we even need to bother teaching it

⭐ WHY so many of our 'high drive' dogs struggle with frustration in particular

⭐ HOW frustration develops

And, the most important, the overaching goal.... how you tackle it!

Solutions, please!

Those are some pretty big gaps in understanding to have.

Don't get me wrong... I kind of knew frustration. I'm not a gibbering fool. You don't spend 8 years in a shelter where most of your dogs are big old units without learning some skills on the ground, nor living with a bunch of adopted dogs of your own.

But when I look back now, I realise I barely knew it at all.

So, if you want to REALLY know frustration, if you want to be SURGICAL about it... if you want to see it, solve it, take it off the table for good... the Masterclass is NOW open!

💡You can book your place today. It opens on the first Monday of September and sales will stay open until the end of September. There are payment plans if you want them - nobody should have to get into debt to get learning. Plus, my intention was that it would be the best value ever. If it's important, it's important, right?

💡There are 6 modules covering EVERYTHING: ethology, neurobiology, behaviour, training, development, solutions. Those are divided into smaller sessions of between 20 minutes to 2hrs. There are video materials in each session, and a transcript. And subtitles. And quizzes. And summaries. And flashcards. And case studies. And references. Because we don't all learn the same, do we? It's taught how you learn so you don't quit. PS there's no tests. But if you want a test, I can sort that for you... I know some people LIKE tests and need a finish line to aim for! You do you. I'm here to help you learn. You're not here to have to adapt to how I teach.

💡You get lifetime access, because there's nothing worse than losing access when we know that the best way to remember stuff is to revisit it. And because you just remember that one thing you want to come back to some three years later, but you've lost access and it makes you grrr. Also, each year the masterclass runs, I give you the lowdown on how research has developed over the last year, so you get updates that add to your skills, rather than staying stuck in knowledge from thirty years ago.

💡 There are also 12 weekly LIVE sessions so you can get answers to the things you really want to know from a person who's made frustration her focus for the last four years (me!) and who simply couldn't let it rest.

💡 There's case studies, examples, video analysis - all the practical stuff to help you move theory into real-life practice with a bunch of dogs who need us to be at the top of our game. A frustrated dog is not the kind of dog you can mess around with, and so we need to be at our best so we don't make it worse - and also because they need it more than the ordinary dog on the street. They deserve us to be our best.

💡 It's your one-stop-shop. The course is unique. There's NOTHING like it out there. Let's face it - how could anything do in an hour, in three hours or in a day what's included in the Masterclass? PS If you want a short course on frustration, I have one of those as well. It's just four. For those who want the headline figures and aren't ready for the smorgasbord of frustration.

💡 It's designed to be a conversation, not a firehose of information. I'm not some distant instructor who created something and then disappears when you've got a question you want answering. So it's both professional and informal. You do you. If you like to just inhale content and can't be bothered with the social side, or you want to ping me the odd WhatsApp or FB message, you can absolutely do that. And if you like chewing things over with other human beings, you can do that too.

The Frustration Masterclass for dog trainers, behaviour bods and dog nerds is NOW open.

Send me a direct message if you want the link or stick "I NEED DEETS, Emma!" below.

07/31/2024

Scatter feeding is, and always will be, one of my top recommendations for dog owners looking to add a little something to their dog's daily routine. It is beginner-friendly and easily scalable in both space and difficulty-- what's not to love!?

These days my old boy Kodi has been enjoying a daily scatter in the grass while the Canadian weather allows. Scatter feeding encourages low-impact movement, allowing our senior dogs some physical exercise without overdoing it and risking injury. What is your favourite use of scatter feeding?

If your dog is energetic and over excited, scatter feed them. Use their meal if they have kibble and it will motivate them or some tiny bits of smelly food cut as small as possible then throw them all around your garden. It will use up their energy and make them unbelievably happy at the same time. Plus it will give you a little space too.

03/31/2024

I hope everyone had the chance to enjoy some fresh air and downtime this weekend ☀️

Happy Easter 🐇. He's not ready to go pro just yet, but he's a keen searcher Woofton Dog Training 🥚

03/23/2024

Coming up this Monday!
One of my favourite people is treating us to a “pay what you can” evening discussing empathic strain, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout (with all proceeds going to everybody’s favourite husky rescue!)
I hope to see you there!

Chasin' Tails Dog Care Center is hosting Marlene O'Neill Laberge in a Paw-some workshop! visit https://www.chasin-tails.ca/events to sign up! 100% of the proceeds go directly to us to help as many huskies as we can🐾💙

01/17/2024

REGULATION IS NOT A SYNONYM FOR IMPULSE CONTROL

I knew that writing a course on impulse control would bring ethical and philosophical thinking - as well it should. So many people don't like the notion of control. It feels deeply uncomfortable.

It can be tough to get our heads around the fact that sometimes our motivational systems have to change tack. Sure, you might want that tasty bush there Mr Zebra, but eating has to take second place when Miss Lion is bearing down on you with a hungry look in her eye.

Being able to temporarily put aside one desire for another involves inhibitory processes. Stop one. Do another.

It's also part and parcel of mammalian life. Living in a social group is a cost-benefit exercise from an evolutionary perspective. Social groups are good for us social mammals and they bring us many benefits. They also mean that we can't go around beating everyone else into a pulp just because they happened to chew their food with an open mouth or they got busy with our current flame. Being able to inhibit our behaviour is an important and necessary part of that.

Regulation is kind of a nicer word, isn't it? It doesn't come with the jackboots and khaki trousers we associate with words like control.

What we can't do, though, is assume these are synonyms for each other outside of general chat. Sure, in those terms, who cares? We regularly play fast and loose with words and their meanings. It's just chat. We're humans.

In psychological terms, regulation is a MUCH bigger field than impulse control, and inhibition has a much broader use than impulse control. It's important that we don't just switch to saying "self-regulation" as if this is the same as impulse control, just a prettier word.

Regulation involves lots more than simple control. It involves active processes, replacements, alternatives. It involves *doing* things as well as *not* doing things.

I think it's also important to truly understand what it means exactly. It's not just an excuse to rebrand processes because we don't like what someone called them, especially if we're just going to carry on doing the same thing.

For instance, if we're going to say 'I'm teaching self-regulation in my dog-training classes' simply because it invites less criticism from our friends who don't like the word 'control' or 'impulses', but we're simply going to teach the same things we were always teaching - especially those that are simply from obedience classes - then we've missed the point. Regulation is not an opportunity to sanitise our language because we don't like the other words.

It's also a bit disingenuous. We have to be able to justify what we're doing.

I, for instance, have no qualms justifying why I teach some things like 'leave it!' or teaching dogs not to pull on the lead and occasionally to walk close to me in a heel position.

I have no problem doing this. It helps the clients I work with and it helps the dogs they live with.

One of them before Christmas came with a dog who'd been operated on six times to have textiles and stones removed from his stomach. Teaching a 'drop' and a 'leave it!' as well as some proper impulse control stuff is important for that dog.

I'm not a silly 'slippery sloper' who's going to say that he'll die if we don't teach him this in the same way that some trainers who justify the use of abusive tools say that it's their way or the animal dies, as if there is no alternative.

At the same time, there are dogs who do need to be taught to leave socks alone and to work through a programme using positive reinforcement & differential reinforcement for replacement behaviours, because following your impulses isn't conducive to a long life or a healthy life. I'm one of those people who are on a journey to do that in the least harmful way I can with the dogs I know.

For instance, I used to teach drop with toys going dead. I don't anymore. This can be really frustrating for the type of dogs I work with. I then used trade, but this never worked with guardy dogs who knew that you literally had nothing to crown what they already had. Now I mostly use Chirag Patel's method of building strong habits to recall and empty your mouth without even thinking about it. Added to a 'leave it' when it's too tough for the dog to make a decision that won't predictably end at the vet is quite useful. It's a journey.

Teaching dogs impulse control in itself is useful. I do it all the time and I'm happy to justify why I do so. It's important. It's part of being a social animal and part of an ecosystem.

I wish there were words for it that weren't quite so ugly.

However, I'm not about to start calling it self-regulation or regulation, when that's something much bigger and much broader. Impulse control is only one facet of self-regulation. I *also* teach regulatory skills and competencies. That's even more important than impulse control.

But I'm not going to pay lip service to regulation and misuse it simply because I'm afraid of the conversations I might have to have with people about words like 'control' or 'impulses'.

We need both to be healthy and to grow emotionally and psychologically.

But they're not synonyms. Not exactly. Not in terms of what they entail.

And I think clarity and precision is important. I especially think it's important if I was planning on doing the same old stuff and just relabelling it because people are asking questions about our relationships with dogs and how we support them in living in our world.

These are tough conversations we have with ourselves, but they're important ones.

After all, thinking about these things and thinking about what's right for our dogs is exactly what "ethical" means. When we make choices based on that thinking, we can't go far wrong.

Keeping ourselves on a learning journey and questioning everything is just about the best way to do that, if you ask me.

12/22/2023

If happiness isn’t a collection of cards signed with dog names, I don’t know what it could be.

Happy holidays, friends 🐾

12/07/2023

WHEN REGULATING YOUR BODY HELPS REGULATE YOUR MIND

Some dogs who struggle with impulse control struggle with the right strength or size of behaviour for the moment.

For example, when aroused, they often pick behaviours that are much bigger than they need to be. They barge through spaces. They knock people over. They barrel over their friends.

Instead of being able to control how much intensity they put into a behaviour, they seem to have a faulty volume dial on their actions.

This is often why I ask about loose-leash walking when I suspect a dog may need screening for impulsivity. Dogs who struggle to control the strength of their behaviour often struggle to walk on lead. It's a little alarm bell for me in the same way as alarm bells ring when a person tells me their dog destroys all their toys and I end up digging out a frustration & impulsivity questionnaire.

Dogs who struggle, despite a lot of teaching, to walk with us may struggle for lots of reasons. Big person, small dog... Big dog, small person... The dog may also be struggling with mobility. A trot can sometimes be much easier than walking.

But dogs who struggle with the volume button on How Much Behaviour is needed don't just struggle with loose lead. They often struggle with their relationships too.

For example, they're not just happy to see you. They're Happy with a Capital H. So Happy they'll headbutt you and break your nose. So Happy they'll jump up and kidney punch you. So Happy they'll bowl you over. So Happy they might just have to grab you or your stuff because they can't keep the Happy in.

But that's also true of fear responses too. Instead of growling or even barking, they might go right for the big behaviours like snapping or biting without warning.

Whenever I see behaviours that were disproportionate to the situation, then I am likely to go investigate impulse control in other areas. Sure, if you've been out of town for three weeks and your dog hasn't seen you, then big behaviours make sense. But if your dog struggles to cope when you just went to put the bins out, and kidney punch you in joy on your return, then it's not simply motivation that can be stoking that behaviour, but a lack of ability to modulate their behaviour too.

Behaviour is not just about activity. It's also about the ability to modulate it appropriately.

So, these little clues give me reasons to check out a dog's ability to control their body.

It's often not surprising that the dog really struggles to do that. It's almost like they're not quite aware that they get to choose how much effort to put in.

One thing really helps dogs like this. It's a weird thing and it's netted me a lot of strange looks when I've suggested it to clients: movement control games.

Why would a dog who can't walk on lead without pulling like a frantic steam train benefit from learning to control their movement?

Why would a dog who keeps getting into fights with another resident dog when they both try to go through a door together benefit from proprioception exercises, movement puzzles and a big focus on learning that NOT moving nets rewards?

Well, I ask... is it your opinion that they're doing a good job of that right now?

Honestly, within two or three weeks, it's like a lightbulb comes on for the dog. Simple, simple exercises, both static and controlled as well as dynamic, seem to work magnificently to lay the groundwork for less impulsive behaviour. That, in turn, pays dividends in their relationship without really teaching them directly what to do.

Just as an example, one family I was working with recently had some issues with their dogs. Mum would often be relaxing on the couch with the older dog, and the younger one would come in, bouncing like Tigger, bouncing on to the couch and causing a fight.

Was their older dog guarding the couch, they wanted to know. The older dog was always seen as the instigator, since they always started by growling and snapping.

So was their older dog the one with challenges?

Well, maybe. But what helped massively was teaching the younger dog some movement control.

Think of it as ballet or yoga for dogs, if you will.

Why would that resolve a squabble over the couch?

Because when the younger dog seemed to have that lightbulb moment that, 'hey! I control my body!', instead of consistently getting into fights with his canine big brother, he came in with moderation, was able to wait by the couch and ask to come up. That way, his guardian could keep him on the other side of her. Problem solved.

Impulsive behaviour can often be insensitive to consequences. That means both rewards and punishments. The younger dog in this situation would have struggled to wait for a biscuit. He also was paying no mind to the fact that every single time he made like Tigger on the couch, it ended in a fight where he ended up getting injured.

There's many ways to teach dogs that they control their bodies. Proprioception, Ttouch groundwork, cavalettis, movement puzzles, agility, hoopers and targeting are my main go-tos. It's like watching the world suddenly make much more sense to the dog.

And yes, it helps with loose leash walking too.

In fact, when my girl starts to pull, I know she's not regulating herself well enough to cope with whatever next happens, so we stop mid-walk and remind ourselves that we control our bodies. It's almost as if she says, 'oh yeah! That's right! The brain does mean I can turn down the volume a bit!'

Without us understanding this, we can often end up selecting approaches to teach loose lead or interaction that fuel frustration, like asking for stillness which then ends up doing nothing more than squashing down a bunch of pressure on our coiled springs of dogs, and we then end up with much more explosive action. It's a great way to teach dogs to struggle even more on the lead, in fact.

Or, if they're jumping all over guests, trying to insist on a sit or a stay on a mat can be a great way to add anxiety to the situation too.

Truthfully, if we can't find ways to teach dogs how to regulate their movements, when we're the ones sending people into space and designing nanotechnology to do surgery, then why are we expecting our dogs to take responsibility for their movement themselves?

It always feels weird to see movement control & regulation as a way of building up social skills and smoothing ruffled fur after a long period of fighting, but it is often a real game changer, I promise!

12/03/2023

In case you've forgotten, Indiana was the dog's name.
(And also the name of the real-life dog owned at the time by George Lucas - a malamute who was the inspiration for Chewbacca in Star Wars!) lifewithdogs

12/02/2023

A bit of a Saturday ramble I'm afraid. Bear with me.

Times have changed and slowly but surely our society is breaking down the walls that we built around ourselves. We thought we needed to protect ourselves by keeping our emotions secret, just concentrating on producing a product: stoic, rigid and unchanging.

Nowadays we are much more driven to embrace individuality. Not just embrace it, but search for it. Suzanne Clothiers elemental question "who are you?" springs to mind, as it often does in my work now. We are becoming less concerned with dictating who our dogs are, finding success in obedience and unemotional stoic beings. Success now is about how far our dogs can grow into their own capabilities, into their own emotional worlds, into their own perfect souls.

Some of us are still judging this change in work ethic. Claiming that it's creating dogs that are "out of control", unmanageable and ugh, 'dominating'. To think that these innocent beings are conniving against us is, to those who have really spent the time to search who they are, so alien that our faces still somewhat contort when faced with that nonsense. It still leaves me a little bit speechless when clients tell me previous "professionals" have painted such a bleak atmosphere that you can't love on your dog as it'll encourage him to take over your house, and then the world 🙄.

Are boundaries important? Heck yes. But not because without them the dog will take over the world. Boundaries are important in keeping all beings feeling safe. Boundaries keep things predictable, known, understood. But in our compulsive need to set down boundary after boundary with our dogs we've forgotten to take time to listen to their own.

What your dogs boundaries are is a huge part of who they are, how they experience their emotional world. Busting through those boundaries and punishing them for needing them is brutal and unrealistic for an emotional being. Your dog has emotions, just like you. That's an unavoidable fact. We need to run with those emotions and embrace their individuality. Not whip their souls for daring to be honest 🐾💜

11/30/2023

11/28/2023

Dogs and sunshine: just what the doctor ordered.

05/21/2023

 Here’s to our rescues, for they are very good dogs indeed 😘🐾

05/17/2023

Please take a moment from your day to appreciate this happy, soaking dog enjoying her first swim of the season 🐳☔️

04/22/2023

Nap days… they’re good for everyone!

04/17/2023

Look, ma, I made a meme!

Our dogs live with a lot of "should"s in their lives, things that humans expect dogs to know how to do without much, if any, effort on our part.

Don't jump on Aunt Ethel, don't eat cat p**p, don't bark out the window.

And the truth is, some of these ARE non-negotiable. It's a good idea to teach your dog that it's not an option to jump on your 88 year old great aunt. It's a good idea to teach your dog a solid leave it so that they'll stop eating random animal f***s on your walks.

But a lot of our expectations are there just because society says they should be. Make your dog walk next to you on walks, don't feed your dog "table scraps", don't let your dog put their paws up on you, and on and on and on it goes. And honestly, a lot of these "should"s are based in decades old pseudoscience that is no longer relevant (hello, dominance theory!)

If you really don't want your dog to walk in front of you at all on walks, or to put their paws up on you gently to say hi, I want to ask you this: is that what YOU want, or is that what you think everyone ELSE thinks your dog should do? If that's really what you want, then work on it! But don't let other people decide for you what your dog should and shouldn't do.

03/25/2023

When it comes to enrichment it’s time to start thinking outside of the food toy 😜

Reminder: Enrichment Isn’t ONLY Food Games 🧩

Lately, I’ve been talking a lot about non-food based enrichment. That’s because when it comes to enrichment, food games take the Internet by storm. After all, feeding our dogs in fun ways is not only super exciting for our pets, but also for us!

While ditching the bowl is a great way to add variety and novelty into our dogs’ lives, it may have owners of non-food motivated dogs scratching their heads on what to do.

I’m here to remind you all that food based enrichment is only a SLIVER of the enrichment that’s out there for your pets.

Let’s talk about some general tier examples, shall we? (Also, please remember that enrichment is a very large blanket term- so some of these instances may apply to multiple sections!).

SOCIAL 🐕
👉🏻Taking your dog out on a play date with other dogs that you trust.
👉🏻Taking your dog over to grandma’s house with you for a visit.
👉🏻 Interactive play with your pet (such as tug, fetch, etc).

COGNITIVE 🧠
👉🏻 Puzzles and games that provide problem solving at different levels of complexity.
👉🏻 Barn Hunt or “find it”.
👉🏻 While many problem solving games are food related, in many instances you can also swap food for scents and toys.

ENVIRONMENTAL 🌲
👉🏻 Providing a nice warm bed for your dog to lay on inside.
👉🏻 Providing elements in your yard for your pooch to explore, such as dig pits, snuffle opportunities, etc.
👉🏻 Having toys and chews available for your dog at home (when possible).

SENSORY 👁
👉🏻 Auditory enrichment (such as music or leaving the TV on when you leave the house)
👉🏻 Providing window access or a spot for your dog to watch the world go by.
👉🏻 Olfactory enrichment (ie sniffing games, foraging activities)

OCCUPATIONAL 📚
👉🏻 Enjoyable training, tasks and jobs. Example: Giving a herding breed the opportunity to herd.

What are your dogs favourite non food based enrichment activities?

PS: If your dog mainly enjoys food based enrichment and isn’t keen on other types, that’s also okay! Enrichment is about following your dogs lead and modifying accordingly ❤️ Never feel badly for knowing your pup best!

Find more at: www.instagram.com/bindisbucketlist

03/19/2023

A lot of dogs want you to know this -

Instead of a fancy collar and bed? They’d rather have a fenced in yard - even if it has to be small and home made - so they can have off leash time to dog and dig.

Instead of daily neighborhood walks? They’d rather you drive to a dirt road and put them on a 30ft line and let them zig zag and smell as long as they like

Instead of twice daily meals in a bowl? They’d rather have food through enrichment activities that stimulates their brain and their nose.

Instead of basic obedience training? They’d rather have purpose driven training that feeds their genetic make up and needs AND helps them survive and thrive in todays world.

Instead of a human wanting something from them? They’d love a human wanting to understand them better.

Instead of focusing on perfect “heels” and “stays”? They’d love to learn how to be resilient and less stressed and cope with the outside world and our expectations.

Instead of harsh punishments and corrections? They’d prefer proactive management and rewards for good decisions.

We can’t change everything about the lives our dogs are forced to live with us in, but we can make these kinds of changes and see a huge improvement in their quality of life and wellbeing.

-Helen St. Pierre

03/17/2023

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit