mypawfectk9

22/03/2025

‘I’ve tried to tire her out today so she should be good in class’


‘They haven’t had their tea so they are super hungry’

I hear this a few times in every class block from guardians of exuberant adolescents, and it’s not the best solution.

Setting a dog up for a great learning experience is the same for us - being tired or hungry is not the best start. so what is the best way to set a dog up for a great session?

🐾 They have been to the toilet - Consider nervous or excited wees here!

🐾 They have had their regular meal at their regular time, (but maybe slightly smaller if we are using lots of snacks in class). Sometimes people bring their dogs and they haven’t had their tea… this can be counter productive as the dog just wants the food and the learning is much much harder as the dog can’t work past the food and frustration builds.

🐾 Exercise - a normal amount for your dog. Just a nice stroll will suffice. Too much chasing or racing will fill your dog with adrenaline and make concentrating and learning harder. A physical tired dog won’t make good choices when it comes to engaging brain and making good learning choices.

New block of classes begins 28/29th April for 7 Weeks!

mypawfectk9 is run by Laura Gilmour; a positive reward based Pro-Dog Trainer. Fully accredited.

20/03/2025

This is a fantastic course, beginning again on the 3rd April. There are only 4 dogs per class so lots of personal 121 time so exercises are carefully watched with feedback and tailored to your position.

Dates for this block are

Thursday 3rd April 6:00-6:45pm and 6:45-7:30pm
Thursday 10th April
** NO TRAINING 17th April (EASTER)
Thursday 24th April
**NO TRAINING 1st MAY **
Thursday 8th May
Thursday 15th May 5:30-6:15pm and 6:15- 7:00pm
Thursday 22nd May

19/03/2025

Stolen from another page, but it makes me laugh and it’s true 🤣🫣

17/03/2025

Someone isn’t happy he missed class tonight!

Best sulky teenager impression goes to…

16/03/2025

Example of Class Work - New classes beginning on the 28th April at two venues!

'We are going to be bringing some elements together for the third week, so we are testing
*Recall
*Collar grabs
*Retrieve (value for toy)
*Lead work
*Proximity off lead too if you're up to that level!

Distractions will be added if required :)

Regards proximity and recall cues when we are out I have a few that you may wish to consider

@ Close - This means come into a heal area on my left and walk with me (on or off lead)
@ Side - As above but on my right side
@ Come in - off lead recall to my feet for a settle (horse or bikes going past for example)
@ Whistle for recall - Come back to me but I dont need you to do anything, like the Come in cue above.
@ This way - general changing direction - heads up basically that I am going somewhere else but I dont need you to come to me

You will be surprised at how much you say and what you think the cue means vs what your dog understands by the cue!
have a play today and feedback tomorrow!'

There are places available for April classes, pop me a message if you would like some more Information!

11/03/2025

Absolutely wore herself out in class today playing recall and retrieve games!

11/03/2025

These workshops have been super successful and always over subscribed!

Here is the next to book on running April through to May.
** No training Maundy Thursday and May Day weekend.

11/03/2025

Managing Expectations in training.

This is threefold.

• We have our expectations of our own training; time and capability!
• expectations of the dog
• and expectations for the environment and other people!

A lot of the time these three components are not balanced or are simply unrealistic.

We think we are going to do more training than we actually do, we expect the dog to respond in all environments faster than expected, and ignore all prior habits and learning and we expect other environmental factors not to impact on our training (how dare that cat sit on that gatepost whilst I practice my loose lead walking!)

We need a clear plan to manage the expectations

How much time are we actually training? Keep a journal on what the focus is and how long you trained for over the day. Short 1-3 minute sessions are enough!

How successful was that session? Did we time the reward correctly for example, did we mark the right behaviour?

We are looking for a 1% improvement each time – this maybe in a duration of a behaviour or ability to disengage from a distraction say.

If things haven’t work, why? What can you manage and control next time to get a higher rate of success? What elements can you make easier so we get some quick wins?

How does the environment look? Lots of distractions that are going to be too difficult at this time to work through?

Have our dogs needs been met before we begin training (a walk, food, toilet for example)?

Your mindset is also important. How do you feel? Low energy and frustrated – don’t embark on training, you will do more damage than good.

Id love to hear your considerations before training too and how you manage your expectations of your dog’s behaviour.

10/03/2025

Transitions between exercises and mood

When I talk about transitions in dog training I am referring to the end of one exercise and the beginning of another task. This is often when less desirable behaviours raise their head.

So why do dog’s find swapping or finishing an exercise so difficult?

It is often that we go from ‘working’ our dogs with cues and frequency of praise and reward, to nothing, and it is this that the dog finds confusing and frustrating.

The end of the game, and desire for the praise, the work and the reward to continue generates attention seeking behaviours or behaviours to reduce frustration like biting on leads, digging at handlers feet, vocalising or jumping up.

Going from working to not needs planning to teach your dog when the work/game is done and it is time to go off and do dog things.

Dogs are workaholics by nature and have been bred to target a task tirelessly, so when we’ve decided we’ve had enough and want to watch TV in peace – how are we communicating this to our dog?

An example through toy play.

Playing tuggy or fetch is extremely exciting and raises arousal levels through the roof. This is all fine of course as we are playing a game! The issue comes when we want to stop the game and settle down for the rest of the TV programme. Some dogs simply wont give in and will keep bringing you a toy to carry on the game, or they may nip at you, pull your clothes, jump up or bark at you. All of these are just ways of getting your attention and the dog burning through that adrenaline…

We need to manage this transition from game on to game off.

Have a word so the dog knows the game is over and put the toys away in the same place every time.

Use food to scatter or in a snuffle mat/kong/licki mat to bring arousal levels down.

Encourage them to settle on their beds and stoke them – calmly with long strokes from head to tail (this may well be too much for some and lead to more biting and nipping at first)

Anything that is licking, sniffing or chewing will release endorphins and dopamine and will naturally relax your dog, so have a snack pre-prepared for chillout time.

Dogs of course will learn to manage arousal levels as they mature and learn our routines, but pups and adolescent dogs simply don’t have the regulators or self control to go from crazy play to calm – this needs to be taught and re-enforced.

Have I ever taught my dogs to settle?

Yes and no.

They understand the idea of a boundary (mat) and they understand that good things happen when they are there. They can attend a training class and remain settled on their boundary whilst others work. We can go from game on to game off and a settle quickly and easily.

Have I used a boundary to get them to settle at night at home and relax? No. The reason is because my dogs get plenty of physical and mental stimulation through out the day. They are tired. Everyday is different with walks, games, training and activities. They get a lot of enrichment even through the food they eat as well as visitors coming to the home on a daily basis for one thing or another. So in-between these activities or in an evening my dogs naturally settle and relax as their needs are met.

In summary.

• You need to support your dog moving from one exercise to another to maintain good behaviour. For example, after working on an exercise in class and whilst receiving feedback ask the dog for Middle or a Down, or send to their mat.

• If you’re playing high energy games, you need to finish the game and calm things down before returning to stationary or whatever you were doing before

• Dogs will settle naturally if their needs are met – You cannot expect a dog to settle all evening quietly in the corner after a 45 minute lead walk and its been asleep home alone in the house for the last 8 hours! That is an unrealistic and unfair expectation on your dogs natural behaviour needs.

10/03/2025

Two years ago Keeva and I were at Crufts strutting her stuff on the magical green carpet

💚💚🤩🤩💚💚

10/03/2025

All Class this week are working on….

🐾 Settle, recall and retrieve to hand (please bring a toy and your mats)

🐾 Reward Anything (additional props always welcome!) for advanced group 1:50pm and 7:40pm

09/03/2025

2x spaces at 12 noon left now

08/03/2025

High drive dogs

Training a high drive dog is a joy. A dog who is keen to work and relentless to the task, but this can all become a bit much.

Frustration from dog and handler are all to quickly seen in these partnerships. Frustration to the task is often expressed in one of four ways

🐾 Suppression - withdrawing from the activity if there has been failure. So lying down for example, or going away sniffing. An alternative behaviour to what they have just failed to succeed at.

🐾 Regression - repeating what they did before that has previously worked. So if we were working on giving paw, but now asking for a nose touch, the dog may continue to give paw as that activity has previously worked

🐾 Persistence - keep trying to get the behaviour right by offering a plethora of behaviours, or to continue trying what we want but increasingly more frantic.

🐾 Invigoration - the dogs behaviour just becomes increasingly more intense as a response to frustration, the act of training and working is hyping the dog up further and further.

So what does your dog NOT need?
❌ More exercise
❌ Shouting at or a firm hand
❌ longer training sessions

What should we do?
✅ A clear plan of what we want to train in that session
✅ A dog that is in a relaxed state of mind to begin the session
✅ 1-3 minutes of training per session
✅ our 110% focus for that session
✅ A clear ‘off’ cue when finished like going to a bed.

08/03/2025

🐾🐾🤩 Sunday 6th April🤩🐾🐾

2 sessions with 4x dogs per session

Really good bond builder and fun workshop! All things play and toys covered!

Perfect for all ages of doggies

08/03/2025

Sunday 6th April

✅ 2x sessions available to book

🐾 4x dogs per session so lots of 121 focus

This is a really good workshop for all the bins building and play questions you have!

Perfect for puppies to rescues, as well as older dogs.

Work on some self control exercises, recall, over arousal and a reliable leave!

07/03/2025

Back to basics with some lead walking foundations today.

Adolescents hits and the desire to explore overrides ‘good’ behaviour.

Our young dogs are not naughty or being stubborn they are genuinely struggling with hormones and reward receptors in the brain.

So we need to go back to basics and make the learning easier for a time until we come out the other end to a more mature doggo!

Practice makes perfect!

07/03/2025

Massage day for my three with West Pennines Veterinary Rehabilitation.

They managed massage and watching agility at Crufts too! Thanks Tilly for keeping my three ni**le free 💚💙❤️