Lovely little puppy class today although keeping a close eye on everyone in the heat. No training that involves a lot of movement and access to plenty of water, with shade breaks when needed.
Important to remember this fairly sudden change in temp is a shock to our dogs system as much as it is to ours and heat exhaustion can come on quickly with little warning.
Extra special care should be taken with young pups, seniors and brachycephalic dogs 🌡️
Just the lovely Milo and Byron on our last puppy class yesterday so we decided to give them some off lead time. What a perfect representation of pups learning to be off lead in eachothers presence whilst interacting with their owners instead. Love it ❤️
A quick bit of impromptu training so thought I'd record it.
Rambo has a vet appointment for suspected Cushing's disease on Monday and is unfortunately having a fair amount of accidents in the house. He's also then stepping in said accident to walk it around the house.. safe to say my week has been stressful!
Whilst I can pick up his feet and put them in the bowl as I do with his back feet, I always prefer him to do the behaviour himself if possible and it saves me some effort in the future. Making this into a training exercise that involves food rather than force will also help to keep this a more positive experience for him.
Here I'm luring him until his feet lift off the ground and giving a 'gooood' verbal signal to keep doing what he's doing. I'll then mark with 'yes' once his foot is fully in and reward. I build up to asking him to wait in that position until I give the release word 'ok'. I'm also introducing a 'paws in' cue.
Excuse the terrible filming, not the easiest multitasking and a very near tip of the bowl a couple times there so I'd definitely recommend using a big square container!
I think we wore Lola out on her 1st basic training session today 💤
A little off lead etiquette goes a long way!
After this video, I asked the dog walker if Lottie was okay to go over as some of the dogs in the group approaching were on lead. She said yes, and so Lottie was rewarded with getting to have a chase around.
Recall is a work in progress and can be challenging, but using a combination of methods such as long line practice, preventing self rewarding, using distractions as rewards and consistent reinforcement of the behaviour you want, can get you amazing results.
Well done Lottie! 🙌
Few clips from Scotland 2023 🐾
Rambo unfortunately strained a muscle in his leg that has swollen up so now taking it easy. A stark reminder of his age and for me to be more cautious monitoring his activity levels. Difficult when as far as he's concerned, he's still a puppy 🙄
Bronson fell in love with the big open beaches and waves, his first experience as he is often so limited due to his reactivity so this was a very special moment for us.
I expect this may be our last holiday of this nature with the boys but they're the hardiest senior dogs I've ever known so maybe they'll still be up for it at 12 years young!
I now have my phone back after breaking it on holiday so courses (although delayed!) are being scheduled in now and messages will be sent out to those that have enquired. Will also post available spaces on any upcoming courses 😊
Managed to catch this little moment between sweep and bodie, I missed where they previously flopped over at the same time and had some lazy paw wrestling with eachother 😂
This was after a mad chase round the field together and shortly before it was back to wrestling!
Make your front door boring! 😴
Door dashing is a problem I see often and it puts dogs in potentially very dangerous situations.
If your front door is only ever seen as the portal of excitement (people entering, going out for walks etc) while any other time you're preventing your dog from going out then you are going to generate a lot of interest in that front door.
While I've taught my dogs a ton of boundary training at the front door and especially at the gate which is next to a busy road, I've also made sure to allow my dogs to follow me outside for mundane tasks such as taking the bins out or gardening. I would also make a point of going outside standing around doing nothing for a minute or so then walking back in. I'm lucky to have an enclosed front garden but you could use a longer lead for safety if open. More often than not, my dogs won't bother to come out with me anymore and never try to make a dash out anytime the door is open.
Remember door dashing is a self rewarding behaviour, management should always be put in place to prevent your dog from achieving self rewards (getting to run around the block and be chased) while you work on descensitising them to the front door/garden
Our first 4 week block of fun agility is complete! 🐾
Those moving on to another 4 weeks will continue sequencing obstacles together, removing lures and getting the dogs looking forward as well as progressing two of the trickiest obstacles - the weaves and seesaw.
We also have a new group of beginners starting their first 4 week block 🙌
Side note - I'm going to try and get some videos of me and bronson running the course, just struggling to find time down the field for me to practice with just him (and he is an old boy so we have to take it slow) but we had a breakthrough on the weaves today! Now working on running entry and speed. Unfortunately you won't see hurricane Rambo run the course as his balance condition just makes it too dangerous for him as much as I know he'd give it his all!
They're 11 in October but don't tell them 🤫
New puppy class has started! What an adorable bunch these guys are. I thought this was a perfect representation of the weather lately.. dark grey clouds, bright sunshine! ☁️☀️
Learning to chill in the presence of other dogs in stimulating environments is super useful to teach your dog. It can take some time, but it's well worth it!
There really is only one downside to outdoor classes.. unpredictable weather 🌧️
Cancelling classes for it to suddenly dry up and going ahead with classes for it to suddenly rain, while every forecast says something different! Call me a fair weather trainer but training in pouring rain is MISERABLE. I've done it a few times with groups and 121s and my experience each time is that owners aren't having fun or understandably listening as they're huddled under their raincoat hoods, dogs aren't focused and most look unhappy and everyone really just wants to go home and get dry.
Luckily these guys couldn't care less about the rain as we made the most of tonight's agility with some practice on jumps, weaves and tunnel but mainly just a good excuse to run around together!
Thank you for everyone's understanding recently with any chopping and changing and let's hope July sorts itself out and gives us some weeks of sun! (Or at least just rain in the daytime please 🙏)
Had to share this little Trevor update as very proud of him and his owners for the progress they have made with his lead reactivity. Training is never a linear process but what a difference! Well done Trevor and family 🙌
You can look but you can't touch 👀
Rambo is a big fan of the spicy fly. He was actually stung on the lip when he was about 6 months old and his face swelled the size of an apple. I've worked hard over the years on Rambo's Leave it but this is definitely a challenge currently as we're doing the garden and it seems to have attracted a ton of bee's (I think it's the old dog pee being unearthed from the stones we're digging up 🤢)
I'll give a Leave it prompt when it's particularly difficult for him to have impulse control such as when the bee is moving close to him. Coming fully away is rewarded with a treat.
Hopefully we won't have this issue for too much longer when the gardens finished 🐝
Dexter decided to spend his breaks from loose lead walk training running around the field with his travel water.. whatever makes you happy Dexter 😂🤷♀️
Remember this adorable little face from a few weeks ago? Loki was back yesterday having had all his jabs for his recall session and he has grown so much!
Looking forward to seeing him in the Progressors course 💚
I couldn't not share another clip of leggy Louie 🦘
Poor Alfie and Lottie were just trying to get some treats, I don't think they were expecting to be hurdles 😂
