mypawfectk9

26/11/2024

Think someone enjoyed their 121!

Some good progress made with this little lady; time, trust and patience paying off.

25/11/2024

In classes tonight and tomorrow....
...A lot of the time we want proximity and we reward close by. For dogs that lack confidence it is nice for them to have a safe place to go to, which is us.
However, we need to build their confidence away from us more importantly - so when we are not there, they are ok on their own four paws, so this is what weve been working on.

Rewarding away from us isnt just to build confidence in a dog - it is also to test true understanding. Can they complete a behaviour we ask away from us, and not necessarily in a particular 'reward zone'. This is testing their thinking skills and listening skills!

Class skills is all about thinking and problem solving!

25/11/2024

Enjoying my work with this guy! He’s certainly full of beans, and interested in making friends with all around… so recalling from potential friends is hard going!

However, with a mix of food and toys as a reward for engaging with mum and dad, plus catching his attention at that critical time there are signs of improvement!

23/11/2024

To bark or not to bark?

Any dog owner knows their dog has many different types of bark.

Obviously when dogs bark they are communicating something to us, we just need to listen to the type/tone of bark to identify how they are feeling, and react accordingly.

With the change in seasons, barking at hats, coats and umbrellas is normal, but this became a bit of a thing for this little one, especially to men dressed in black - he was unsure of the new silhouette.

So to add distance from the scary thing or to engage with it and reward for calm?

Depends on where your dog is at on the reactivity spectrum; if they cannot engage and calm then you cannot move closer because a dog that is too aroused can’t learn. The training will fail. So space is needed.

This little guy wasn’t that ‘high’ and he could learn, so mum engaging with the hats and coats and him seeing mum wasn’t scared - nor was the hat and coat!

…. so no stranger danger, meant a false alarm and he could relax.

Taking the lead in meetings when you have a pup going through a fear period can be tricky because you need to gauge whether to move in or to move away… and timing that reward is crucial!

Mum nailed it this week and here he is chilling out whilst mum has a natter with what was once considered ‘stranger danger’

21/11/2024

In some classes this week we’ve been working on some strategies for calm and disengagement.

One was the beginnings of teaching a ‘hide’

This can be used as a cute trick to get your dog to disengage and ‘hide’ from something.

Works well to support a nervous dog and given something to do whilst breaking eye contact to the trigger.

Step one.

19/11/2024

Modelling?

The dog on the left was extremely reactive to others just a few weeks ago, and her new guardian wasn’t sure how to help and support her through this time in her life.

This is the third session I’ve had with them.

Why am I walking his dog?

Well sometimes you need to model the behaviour the human needs to show and how the dog responds so the guardian can see what it should look and feel like.

💚 I am completely calm
💚 I am confident
💚 I am remembering to BREATHE!
💚 I am relaxed, my arm is loose the lead isn’t gripped like I’m on the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
…. In other words, I’ve got this.

And look how she reacts… happy taking snacks and just walking. Her guardian filmed this because he couldn’t believe it!

I think it’s also good that when you have a bad day, and you will, because training (and life) isn’t linear progression, that you look back and celebrate the good to give you that confidence boost to try again.

Focus on the good and mitigate the not so good.

Have a plan.
Have a strategy.

ENJOY!

19/11/2024

Happy Tuesday 🐾🐾

18/11/2024

Another great night at class!

I try to cover a real variety of exercises so there is something for everyone; but always open to requests!

We have three weeks left of this block, and still lots to cover. If it is something urgent, pop me a message and I’ll include it!

17/11/2024

What does mypawfectk9 training offer?

👍 Weekly classes at two venues
🙌 121 in your home training (evenings/ weekends)
🙏 Always contactable - call, text or email
👍 Workshops
🙌 Events and seminars

Weekly classes are Monday 6-9:15pm at Weeton Village Hall
Tuesdays Norbreck Scout Hut 1- 3pm
Workshops Thursday evening from 6:30pm

121s 3x sessions over three weeks (minimum) and then go from there depending on what is needed!

Accredited and insured
Reward based trainer - fear free! ❤️💙💚

17/11/2024

17/11/2024

Spacing filling fast!

17/11/2024

Are you as excited as Keeva for classes this week!?

6pm - socialisation (covering dogs and people)
Please also bring two toys

6:50pm - premack principal
Lead / recall and a leave cue and muzzle work

(If you have a muzzle please bring it)

7:40pm - calming games
Chin/ figure 8 / boundaries / muzzle practice
(If you have a muzzle please bring it)

8:30pm - recall with distractions
Please bring toys.

17/11/2024

What an absolutely stunning girl.

This consultation focused on this girls love for her stuff… she’s a bit of a resource guarder

👀👀 Quick - a dog is near my stuff👀👀

Being a Romanian Rescue we don’t know too much about her past life, other than being rescued from a kill shelter and brought to the UK.

It is no wonder that if she’s had a life on the streets she’s paranoid that dogs are after her stuff 💔

Whilst she will never ever want for anything ever again in her new home, we can’t communicate that to her, so her fear is real that she may lose it all once again.

So we are working on some techniques to build her confidence in giving her a place that is hers, some disengagement games so she can’t obsess over ‘stuff’ and lots of management strategies for mum and dad to prevent rehearsal of this issue.

Never ever punish a dog who resource guards
Never ever take things away from them.

You are reenforcing their belief that people/ other dogs steal, so she will be more vigilant and react sooner when 👀👀 go near her stuff!!

16/11/2024

Proud of this girl - after a poor start in life she really struggles with meeting other dogs. She hasn’t been socialised at all as a pup, and now everything is a bit overwhelming.

She needs some stability and some disengagement training. Confidence to see the dogs aren’t coming for her and that she can walk on by without getting involved!

She’s finding her paws, so needs structure and reassurance that other dogs are allowed at too 🤣🤣

She is doing so well though - lots to celebrate., but still a long road ahead.

Keep calm and keep moving.

Communicate to the other person so they no she’s a drama Queen - dialogue makes us calmer and therefore relaxed the dog.

Breathe.

See you next week sunshine ☀️

16/11/2024

Muzzle work?

After a bad experience, presenting an object connected with that memory (muzzle and vets) will naturally have the dog going into their flight or fight options. This guy is so terrified of the sight of the muzzle, that picking it up meant he hid under the table, and if he was more vulnerable and couldn’t get away (sat on the sofa) picking it up provoked head turns away and lip curls.

We began our training with a game of Reward Anything, random, Novel objects placed out on the floor to see if he was curious and would interact - erm no. He hid.

Throwing cheese to some of the objects finally encouraged a move in closer after about 30mins, but no interactions

This guy is extremely pessimistic.

Anything new or novel is viewed with distrust.

So homework this week is
👏reward anything game
👏 middle work
👏 enrichment by searching and working out puzzles to gain reward.

Focus is on putting his head into things!

Anyone who tells you to just grab the dog and out the muzzle on, or wants to begin with the muzzle isn’t doing your relationship any favours.

We want dogs to be consensual as far as possible. If he can put the muzzle on himself, then he will be far less anxious when going to see the vet in the first place.

See you next week!

15/11/2024

Doggies when to hydrotherapy today for the first time - they loved it!

Their individual personalities shone through today, cooper was amazing and just got on with the job, he was an absolute star 💙💙

Keeva worked out that she could stand on the side rails and didn’t have to do any work 🤣🤣 but then realised there was a ball in the water so motored on for 10 minutes until she caught it! 💚💚

Mist hates water, so she walked with her legs at 180 degrees trying not to get her armpits wet ❤️❤️

they are booked in weekly, so if you want to know more about it pop them a message and say ‘Laura recommend you’ - because I know how nice it is to get recommendations 🙏

14/11/2024

Enjoyed the penultimate lesson on our recall and loose lead deep dive workshop!

There is so much good to celebrate from all of you!

Two weeks to practice now before our final session!

Islay is loving her new toy as well courtesy of Designer Defeur 👏

14/11/2024

Keeva had a really good time meeting the students at Blackpool and Fylde College. Her assignment was to demonstrate how positive reward based training methods work. She loved showing off her tricks and even working with some of the students too💚💚

Keeva liked the reward bit, getting to eat the snacks and play with her toys - so I explained the science behind the dog training so she could carry on playing to the crowd.

Good luck to all with your paper! The questions you all asked were fantastic!