Jackie Pritchard Dog Training

21/11/2024

21/11/2024

Not training related at all.
Just thought the world needed a bit of positivity today 🐾❤️

Your dog sees through to the places you hide, the parts of you even you don’t always want to look at. It’s not just that they sense how you’re feeling—they seem to see beneath all that, into the things that drift beneath words, into the quiet wishes and half-buried fears you keep locked up tight. They know what you carry, even when you’re not sure yourself.

There’s a kind of understanding in their eyes that’s hard to put a finger on. They’re not reading the face you show the world; they’re tuned into something deeper, something you didn’t even know could be seen. They notice when the weight you carry feels lighter, or when it’s heavy enough to bend you, and they don’t pull away. They stay, steady as ever, as if they know that being there is all they really need to do.

Your dog doesn’t need the story behind the look in your eyes. They just take it all in, holding a warm space for all of it—the good, the uncertain, the things that don’t make sense. It’s as if they’ve carved out a place in your heart, a place that holds them just as much as they hold you. And in that soft understanding, you find a comfort no other human can offer. You see, your dog just knows. They always have and always will. Always by your side. Always with you in the brink of greatness or on the edge of darkness. They're always there. Never missing a moment. Always giving you love no matter what it is you're going through.

R.M. Drake 🌸from the book Dog People

Artist Credit : Jeanie Tomanek

20/11/2024

Are you sometimes at a loss of what to give your dogs for a treat or stuff into their Kong? Here’s a lovely infographic that you can post on your fridge as a reminder. FYI, my dogs love almost all of these and their number one favourite is blueberries 💕🐾💞

Tired of seeing infographs of foods your dog can't eat?

Here is a nifty printable infograph of some awesome foods found in your refrigerator that they CAN eat! :D

Created by Rodney Habib

19/11/2024

Trainer Tip Tuesday:

19/11/2024

Thank you MacRae Sheepdogs for this wonderful post 🐾❤️

Whether you have a dog that is pushy, sensitive or an even keeled team player, it’s important to recognize as his partner, our job is to guide and teach, not bully or have an agenda.
Key to helping him reach his full potential is having a teaching mindset.
This includes more understanding and less correction.
More consistency and less expectation.
More listening and less imposing your will.
More patience and less ego.
Even with stronger dogs, it’s about consistency and an intuitive method.
We get asked thousand of questions about dog training and probably 90 percent of the answers are reflected back on the handler.
We as humans want so badly for the problem to be something other than ourselves, that we sometimes allocate blame elsewhere. But if we’re humble enough to look at ourselves, our mindset, our method, our commitment to continue learning and be honest with ourselves, we’ll often find the answer.
For myself, many of the most valuable lessons in life I’ve learned from my dogs. macraeway.com

19/11/2024

ARE YOU MANAGING?
Are you managing your dog’s environment to prevent or improve unwanted behaviour?

As people, we tend to prefer and look for the more complicated solutions to problems. This tendency is termed “complexity bias” - the tendency to prefer complicated explanations and solutions instead of looking for the simpler ones.

Surely a complicated, time consuming, detailed solution has to be more effective, superior, impressive, or correct?

Complexity bias is so relevant when it comes to changing a dog’s unwanted behaviour. We often get so stuck on trying to modify behaviour through counter conditioning, desensitization or detailed training plans when sometimes the simplest solution to the problem lies in simply managing the environment.

Dogs will do what dogs do – when an opportunity arises to help themselves to food left on a table, to bark at the gate at anyone passing by, to have a drink from that big water bowl at the perfect height, that we call a toilet, to running off with irresistibly smelly dirty underwear, to rummaging through bins in search of anything that may or may not be edible, to running out an opened door in search of adventure - the list is long - dogs will be dogs.

Parents of little children use management all the time without giving it much thought. Baby locks on cupboards, covers on electrical sockets, valuable or dangerous items put far out of reach, fences and locks around pools, etc.

We wouldn’t just train a toddler not to stick their fingers in an electrical socket, not to open cupboards, not to touch a hot plate – it’s far safer, simpler and logical to first manage the environment, to prevent potential incidents.

The same principle should apply to managing a dog’s environment to prevent unwanted behaviour.

The more a behaviour is practiced the more difficult it is to prevent. The more a behaviour is rehearsed the better dogs become at it.

Preventing the behaviour from happening in the first place by using management is the logical, simple and effective way to address it.

Be a good manager – it’s far less stressful, for both us and our dogs.

18/11/2024

Management is a critical part of behaviour modification because it prevents the old behaviour being rehearsed and allows a new desirable behaviour to replace it.

When it comes to behaviour, what is repeated (and rewarded) will be what becomes the habit; behaviours are built like muscles - the more they are rehearsed the stronger they become. This means when training a new behaviour, or habit, we need to make sure the old behaviour can't be practised and allowed to become stronger. This is called behaviour management. 💪

Trying to train a new behaviour without managing the old behaviour is like starting a race 10 laps behind your competitor - you are never going to catch up. Every time you reward the new behaviour, the old behaviour is still being rewarded at another time, and has a much larger reinforcement history, due to the constant repetition it has previously acquired. To actually make progress we need to stop our competitor running until we are the one who is several laps ahead!

This can be seen most clearly when we look at something like recall. To manage the behaviour of running off, we want to put our dog on a long-line (attached to the back of a harness), this means they can't rehearse and get rewarded for chasing the squirrel, bike, small child etc. The behaviour of 'running off' is already established as extremely rewarding for the dog. If it was a savings account it may have thousands of pounds of rewards in, whereas coming to us may only have a hundred or so. To actually be able to compete with the previous behaviour, we need to make sure no more rewards (or savings) are going into that account, and plenty is going into the new behaviour we want the dog to do, until they find it to be the most rehearsed and rewarding option and will choose it on their own. 💰💰💰

If you are ever having trouble changing your dog's behaviour, it could be they are still getting the opportunity to get rewarded for the old one. If you 'manage' that behaviour so they don't get rewarded for it, you will have a better changing in promoting the new behaviour as the better option!

17/11/2024

If you are struggling with teaching your dog loose leash walking, try this. Works like a charm for most 😊

17/11/2024

Agree!

I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble but dogs aren’t pack animals. They’re still social animals but not pack animals anymore…

Many dogs would prefer being “only dogs” and many other dogs definitely need to have a buddy. It really depends on the individual dog.

Next time you want to get another dog, ask whether your dog really wants a friend.

15/11/2024

Very cool!

15/11/2024

When we change our perspective from “I’m taking the dog for a walk” to “ I’m going for a walk WITH my dog”, everything changes.
❤️🐾❤️

Walk with me; don’t just walk me. Slow down and see the world as I do. I know you’ve got things to do, places to be. But out here, with the ground beneath our feet and the sky above us, there’s a whole world worth noticing.

The autumn chill is in the air today, crisp and full of new smells. It’s different from yesterday, and different from the day before. Every day is new. The leaves crunch under my paws, and I stop to breathe in the rich, earthy scent of them. To you, it might just be a pile of leaves, but to me, it’s a story—one I can’t help but dive into, nose first.

There’s a squirrel somewhere nearby, I can sense it, darting up a tree, its tiny heart beating fast. And the wind carries whispers of things far away: a family cooking dinner, the trace of a cat that passed by early this morning, and the faint perfume of flowers holding on to their last bit of summer. It’s all here, swirling around us if you just take the time to notice.

You tug on the leash, eager to move on, and I can tell you’re thinking about something far away from here. But when we walk, truly walk, you and I can be in this moment together. Feel the cool air brush against your skin, let it wake you up. Notice how the sun filters through the branches, casting shadows that dance on the pavement. Hear the crunch of the leaves beneath our steps, like a secret rhythm just for us.

To you, it might be just another walk, a daily routine to tick off the list. But for me, every step is an adventure. Each scent is a clue, each sound a piece of a puzzle. When you walk with me, really walk with me, you’ll see it too. The world is bigger than what we’re rushing toward. It’s right here, in the small moments, in the quiet spaces between your thoughts.

So, slow down. Breathe. Let the chill fill your lungs and the colours fill your eyes. Walk with me, don’t just walk me. See the world as I do, if only for a little while. It’s all waiting for you, just beneath the surface.
Natalie P
2024
Picture created with AI
❤️

14/11/2024

Great tips for raising a puppy. Some pups are more challenging than others but nevertheless, this is great advice for all 🐾❤️