🌟Learn loose lead walking in your own time and from the comfort of your home
My new loose lead walking online course is now available!
Over 4 weeks you will learn:
- Why dogs pulls
- Growing greater engagement with your dog
- Lead strategies for every situation
All learning is delivered through engaging games, providing loads of fun on your training journey.
The actual value of is course is £120, but as I want as many people as possible to benefit from this, I am offering it for £40!
Or you can get the online course + an initial consult with me for £120!
Sign up here: https://pawsitivityrocks.newzenler.com/courses/loose-lead-walking
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #dogs #doglovers #trainsandtransform #looseleadwalking #onlinelearning #onlinecourse #gamesbaseddogtraining
Have you got a dog that charges out the door and looses focus on you as soon as you're out the door?
I've been spending some time working on Nico's doorway manners as he also has a tendency to just pull out the door and be too focused to be going on that walk than paying attention to me.
This means a lot of reinforcement with me, opening and closing the door and rewarding the right choices.
Very often, us opening the door has become a cue to go, because we haven't reinforced another verbal release cue to rely on. It's not something we would necessarily think about until we have the problem and then it makes sense!
But teaching a release cue not only help with doorway manners, it helps overall in creating a dog that doesn't charge up to things, but can show self-control and make the right choices - whether that's for food, another dog, a toy or people.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #doorways
Just some confidence work with my anxious Bonnie practicing some two feet up.
It took us weeks to get her confident to place her paws up on something, but now she has nailed it 😊
Check out my confidence and socialisation workshop starting in October.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #socialization
#confidence
Your dog may recall without distractions, but can they recall with distractions around?
It's always important to level up our recall and increase the difficulties and challenges to really proof behaviours.
If we don't progress, we regress - so if you think your dog has mastered something, think about how you can level it up!
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #recall
Active calming activities can be especially beneficial for dogs that struggle with reactivity, are hypervigilant or anxious.
These dogs usually suffer from a much larger stress bucket fill with a bucket that can easily overflow, so having regualr calming activities and plenty of time to rest and sleep is vital to reduce that stress bucket fill.
Active calming activities can include:
- long lasting (natural) chews
- filled kongs and other toys
- snuffle mats
- lick mats
- and more... Anything that gets your dog chewing, sniffing or licking
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #calmness #keepcalm
Is this you?
I see this so many times, and yet owners wonder why their dog is selective on their recall - it's just now valuable enough!
Imagine you had a friend that calls you regularly to visit, and you end up just sitting at a table doing nothing. Eventually, when your friend calls, you may already start to predict 'Oh no, not that again!'.
Now imagine, every time that friend calls, you end up doing something really fun. Now, every time your friend calls, you will be excited and think to yourself 'Oh, what are we going to do today?!'
That is exactly what it is like when we are recalling our dogs - our dogs needs to feel like when your fun friend calls - they need to feel excited to comeback to you, because they never know what fun awaits them at the end.
But if all we give them is a boring sit, then can you really blame your dog for saying 'Nah, not today'?
#dogtraining #dogbehavior #gamesbaseddogtraining #theresagameforthat #trainandtransform #recall #recalltraining #dogs #doglover
Scentwork is very enriching for dogs so I try and incorporate it into our days through various activities:
👃Scatter feeding
👃Natural sniffing on walks
👃Scentwork games
👃Mantrailing
Why is scentwork so good for dogs?
Mental stimulation
Scent work can help dogs enhance their natural ability to sniff things out. It can also help them develop a stronger focus and ability to disengage from distractions.
Physical exercise
Scent work can help burn off excess energy without requiring a lot of physical exercise.
Bonding
Scent work can strengthen the bond between you and your dog. It can also be a fun activity to do together.
Calming
Scent work can be calming and relaxing for excitable, nervous, or reactive dogs. It can also help relieve anxiety.
Confidence
Scent work can help build your dog's confidence.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #scentwork
#scentworktraining
Nobody's perfect!
My dogs are far from perfect, and neither am I!
But what is important is that we have the ability to reflect and identify where things may have gone wrong, so that we can learn from our mistakes and do it better next time.
Sometimes, we just lose track of what is important, because we are so focused on one thing that we forget the other things that matter.
Here, I am talking about a situation in our previous class where Loki decided that my students where more important than me; but instead of taking him out of the situation because it was too much for him, I persevered to demo to my students - but he ended up rehearsing what I didn't want.
When I got home, I realized, I didn't make the right decisions for him - lessons learned!
So when he came to class this week, I made sure to set him up for success - he was kept on lead, I had higher food rewards and I helped him to disengage from my students by bringing him in to demo games that exactly help with that.
#dogtraining #dogbehavior #trainandtransform #dogs #doglovers #thereisagameforthat #reflection #nobodysperfect
Off lead freedom is more than just recall.
It's a dog that knows to make the right decisions and a dog that likes to hang out with you - so you don't have to use your recall in the first place.
If you want to learn more, why not join our Life Skills Workshop next month!
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #offleadfreedom
Best way to hold a lead if you own a reactive (or any dog) to prevent injuries.
Don't wrap it around your hand.
Don't carry it over your wrist.
Don't just loosely hold it.
Carry it over your thumb in a fist. This absorbs a lot of the shock from sudden lunging and help you remain injury free. It also keep your dog safe, as the lead won't just suddenly slip your hand.
Believe me. I've been there and done that and carry the permanent marks of not holding my lead correctly.
Keep yourself and your dog safe - be a responsible dog owner.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #dogleash
Does your dog struggle with the unexpected?
Does your dog get offended when you reorganise the room or something appears that shouldn't be there?
Then they probably struggle with novelty.
It's common in dogs who lack confidence that they struggle with things that are novel, things that are different from the picture that they know of and are comfortable with.
The change becomes a threat, something to be worried about and some dogs may run away or cower in fear, others will bark and lunge.
This is where games like a novelty surprise party come in. Through play, we can grow our dogs' confidence around a variety of different things - Novelty.
And we can approximate situations and things they might find scary in real life, like the man in the high vis or that hoover.
We can let them see the opportunities rather than the threats.
Optimism is a way of life.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #optimism #novelty
Novelty - it can often take us by surprise and we may think that our dogs are being ridiculous for making such a drama over a bit of novelty.
But it's important information for us, showing us where our dogs are really at in terms of their confidence and flexibility.
Just a few days after this video, on our walk in the park session, Nico ended up having a total meltdown over someone kiting at the other end of the park.
The kite was such novelty and so worrysome to him, that all he could do was bark at it, even when moving him further away, he could not disengage until I managed to get behind some cars to block the view and figure of 8 walk him to settle him down.
Following that, because there was no way we could avoid seeing the kite again, I had to make sure to keep his full engagement, playing games and making every glance at the kite a positive outcome. It was hard, but we worked it through and it became a little easier for him to manage.
It's important information, even though in the moment, we probably feel many things other than thankful for that information.
I was so embarrassed over his reactions but now my students have seen that my dogs are not perfect, I have the same struggles, and working through it sometimes is not pretty and quite stressful.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #novelty #anxiousdog #fearfuldog
Responsible dog ownership!
These days, I am seeing too many irresponsible dog owners, particularly as it relates to having dogs off lead, when they really don't possess the skills to be off lead - and that's when things go sideways.
As a responsible dog owner, it is on you to be supporting your dog and to be in control of your dog at all times to keep your dog and everyone around safe.
So when I see off lead dogs randomly running up to other dogs or strangers and not listening to recall, that's not responsible dog ownership, that's a recipe for disaster.
Mist importantly though, it's not the dog's fault - the dog acts within the skill set they have at that given point in time, and it is up to us to support them when they're struggling.
So if you have a dog that is struggling with recall, don't let it off lead in public places. If you have a dog that struggles with dog reactivity, don't take it to busy dog parks until you've grown their skills.
That is responsible dog ownership.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #ResponsibleDogOwnership
Hands up if you have a dog that struggles with their harness, or likes to play keep away when you go to touch their collar ✋
Your dog is not trying to be mean, or rebellious, but rather prior experiences have taught them that these interactions don't lead to a good outcome.
So we need to start changing those associations and make it a good deal for our dogs, so that putting on that harness, or having that collar touched is something joyful and fun - not something to be worried about.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #dogcollar #dogharness
As dog owners, and generally as humans, we have a tendency to only focus on the negatives, tell our dogs and people what they shouldn't be doing, instead of what they did well.
But in order to remove the things we don't want, we need to encourage the things we do want, and that's where capturing what our dogs do right comes in.
Capture when your dog offers what you want, whether that's walking on a loose lead, not barking when the doorbell rings, or ignoring the dog that just walked past.
Capture it - and your dog is more likely to repeat it.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat
Socialization is not:
❌ having to meet every dog and play with every dog
❌ meeting every person, and especially those people in high vis, those wearing funky hats, those with beards, etc...
❌ being handed around at puppy parties
❌ putting your puppy into every situation you think they'll ever need to be in in a short period of time
❌ a checklist of things you need to meet
What socialisation really is, is socialisation with life:
✅ People, dogs, other things are none of their business, and not important
✅ If they're uncertain at all, turn to their owner for support and help them out
✅ If things seem weird, ambiguous, or unusual, assume it's a good thing and ignore it
And how do we grow socialisation skills? Through games!
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #socialization
The the questions every dog asks themselves
Am I aware?
Is it important?
Is it good or is it bad?
These are so important to be aware of as we go through daily life with our dogs as they will directly illegal in the dog's arousal and level of reactivity.
Dogs that are hyperaware and dogs that consider everything their business go through life in a state of question overdrive, constantly assessing whether things are important and good or bad.
That's tiring!
And it directly impacts on our dog's stress bucket, arousal and thereby level of reactivity.
And this is where socialization comes in making all these events not important, or even nothing to be aware of.
Click follow to find out more and not miss any new posts.
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #confidence #socialization
Week 2 of our Confidence and Socialisation workshop and we focused on confidence in handling.
To many dogs struggle with handling, whether that's their collar or their harness, nail trimming or vet examinations.
But we can turn these into positive experiences and build cooperative and consent based care, making our dogs more comfortable that they do have a choice in what is happening to them.
Looking forward to Week 3 - Scent!
#dogtraining #dogbehaviour #trainandtransform #games #dogs #doglovers #theresagameforthat #confidence #socialization
