Ronnie's Before and After
🤎Ronnie
This is one of the very few transformations that I wasn't sure would even happen! Even just thinking about how far this lad has come genuinely makes me well up 😂
Ronnie overtook 1st place for being the most reactive dog I had ever met. He would bark and lunge at everything and anything, even things at a really significant distance away. A walk for Ronnie was the opposite of fulfilling, and we had to strip back to absolute basics and little to no walking before we could reintroduce it and show him the world isn't actually scary!
Ronnie's training certainly wasn't a straight or easy journey, he needed plan A, B, C, and D, he needed method and tool changes throughout, but these challenges made it all the more rewarding in the end. The difference in his walking before vs after is unbelievable (I promise it's the same dog 😂) and I am so relieved he and his family can finally enjoy walks as they should.
HUGE well done to Jenny, Andy, Lennon, Leon, and Ronnie for your tremendous hard work 🤎
#beforeandafter #dachshund #sausagedog #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #balanceddogtraining #balancedtraining #behaviourmodification #behaviourmod #obedience #generalobedience #obediencetraining #dogtrainingblackpool #blackpool #blackpoolbusiness #lancashire
Georgia's Before & After
🤎Georgie
Georgie began sessions at the beginning of the year after her owners could no longer cope with her growing strength, size, excitement and defiance when out on a walk. Georgie would pull on the lead regardless of the environment but it was worse when a dog was in view. She had a very strong obsession towards dogs that made it impossible to walk past them.
Georgie is a love bug and really enjoys the company of other dogs, but often would cross boundaries and play far too rough. She has a circle of human friends which she adores but would jump up relentlessly and cause lots of frustration for her owner, and at the same time she can be nervous around certain people and could show unpredictability and reactivity.
Georgie's owners are very outdoorsy and often take trips where their dogs can join them. Before training they realised how reluctant they were to book these sorts of trips due to worrying so much about Georgie's behaviour. Georgie took to our 1-1 sessions immediately after some initial nerves during our consultation and the rest is history!
Georgie walks to heel beautifully when asked, she can enjoy off lead time due to huge amounts of newfound trust built into her and her owners relationship; making recall successful and play time with dogs much less rude and over the top. Even the staff at her daycare have noticed a huge difference in her behaviour and how much more appropriate and calm she is with her dog friends!
A certain portion of our training focused on creating complete neutrality in Georgie in public settings, and we achieved this tenfold. They all recently came back from a trip to the Lakes and noted absolute and complete perfection from Georgie in pubs and restaurants! She did not move from her down position and ignored every single dog and person that passed.
Proud is an understatement.. I absolutely adore this girl and I'm honoured to have watched her develop into a wonderfully confident and well behaved dog. Her owners went ab
Charlie's Before & After
🤎Charlie
Charlie's owner contacted me due to Charlie having severe OCD towards shadows, and fear based reactivity towards people coming to the house. Charlie is a Covid pup, so many can relate to the latter issue!
This before and after is specifically just about his progress towards guests, however he has made life changing progress when it comes to his OCD too.
Charlie's owners avoided having people over for the most part, but when they had to it was extremely stressful for everyone involved. Charlie is deeply untrusting of new people due to a lack of socialisation as a pup (not something that could've been avoided due to Covid) and therefore was fearfully reactive. He has no bite history, however his permanent state of balancing between fight and flight made him unpredictable towards strangers.
Charlie was just missing some guidance, boundaries, confidence, and leadership. During our sessions we transformed Charlie's relationship with his owners into a far more trusting, understanding, and healthy relationship. His owners were taught how to effectively time affection, and we undid some bad habits to do with the front door without someone being behind it first.
This meant that when it was time for Charlie to meet a complete stranger again, everyone was ready and prepared and the results couldn't have been better! The after videos speak for themselves 😁
Well done Charlie, Mary & Steve for your hard work and dedication! Well done for refusing to be prisoners to your dog's issues. A lot of people could take a leaf out of their book..
#beforeandafter #springerspaniel #spaniel #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #balanceddogtraining #balancedtraining #behaviourmodification #behaviourmod #obedience #generalobedience #obediencetraining #dogtrainingblackpool #blackpool #blackpoolbusiness #lancashire
Jess' Before & After
🤎Jess
Jess' journey has been a remarkable one, not easy and straight forward by any means, but all the more rewarding for everyone involved!
Jess is a rescue dog, and has been severely reactive for most of her life. She's roughly around the age of 8, so when you hear the saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' Jess is a perfect example of how untrue that is. However, the longer a bad habit is practised, the longer and harder it can be to undo and form new habits. It's always worth a try!
In Jess' case, walks were not enjoyable due to her reactivity and pulling on the lead. She's not a very big dog but she's incredibly strong for her size. She would happily choke herself out with any neck tool they tried and a harness gave her even more strength to pull - that's what they're made for after all.
After teaching her how to walk nicely and with the owner instead of away, and then counterconditioning the sight of dogs to be a positive instead of such a huge negative, these became two key points in her progress. Before, Jess would lose her mind at the sight of another dog and had an extremely negative association, something that is hard to pinpoint the exact reasoning why with her being a rescue, but my guess would be a traumatic experience with dogs as her brain was hardwired to fight mode as a way of protecting herself.
Nevertheless, she has come on leaps and bounds throughout her training and we've got past every single hurdle that came about. Jess can now go for walks in public places, she walks beautifully on the lead and to heel, she can walk past dogs and have them walk past her, she disengages with or without a cue, and overall she is so much calmer being out and about and can actually enjoy herself without being paranoid.
Extremely proud of her and her owners for getting to this point! Well done Jess, Lisa & Wendy 🐾🤎
🤎Reggie
🤎Reggie
Yet another Fox Red Lab that makes me so excited for the day I get my own! Amazing breed through and through.
Reggie and his owners struggled with walking issues and an obsession towards other dogs. He would often stare at them on walks, and on more than one occasion, drag his owner across the road to a dog which was worrying for obvious reasons. He would also drag to sniff and mark.
The pulling wasn’t constant as it really just depended where they were and who they came across, but the inconsistency made the idea of a walk feel like a chore rather than a bonding exercise. There was a real disconnect between both dog and owner, even when Reggie wasn't pulling, there was just no engagement whatsoever and everything else was more exciting to him. He's extremely friendly and wants to love on everyone/everything he sees, but there's a time and a place for this. Teaching him to be neutral whilst walking past people and dogs was our main goal.
The amount of work his owners have put in to reach this end point is brilliant. Evenings and weekends have been spent doing their homework and really making a difference in their dog. Reggie has beautiful engagement on walks now, he has a release word for sniff time and has dramatically improved his neutrality towards other dogs.
He now has a strong and solid heel cue, dropping straight back to position when the cue is given if he gets a little ahead. His owners have worked considerably hard with his roadside manners too, meaning he is now patient, engaged, and calm before and during crossing the road.
The most impressive part of his progress to me was his ability to walk beautifully through a busy area of people, children, and dogs (one of which reacted to him), and remain neutral. He even managed a walk through Pets at Home with no dragging, this is something he really struggled with before due to all the smells! So unbelievably proud of him.
Well done Reggie, Ellie & Callum for all your hard work, dedicati
Alf’s Before & After
🤎Alf
There are 2 separate before and after videos in this, the first focusing on his outdoor behaviour (walking and reactivity) and the second focuses on his indoor behaviour (demanding).
Proud is an understatement of how I’m feeling about this boys progress. It has not been an easy ride for his owners to achieve what they have achieved! Before training Alf was just all over the place both physically and mentally. He made both life at home and life outdoors very stressful, embarrassing, and unenjoyable for his owners.
-Outdoors
Alf’s reactivity towards dogs was unpredictable and hit and miss. This made public outings very difficult. Being super active and outdoorsy owners, they love to take their dogs (Connie the Lurcher being their other dog) on their adventures and to dog friendly places. Alf made this almost impossible, as if he wasn’t reacting towards dogs, his other bad habits and hyperactivity caused excessive demanding behaviours.
He has humongous feelings, way more than your average dog, so he struggled to handle these feelings and would just resort to demanding barking and a lot of vocalising. This meant the quickest way to avoid public embarrassment was to immediately give him something to chew on, but this started a vicious cycle of inadvertently teaching Alf to bark for what he wants. This then became part of his daily routine, even at home.
If he wasn’t reacting or demanding, he would pull excessively on walks towards grass, anything he wanted to smell or anything he wanted to pick up and eat. Before training his owners had tried almost every tool under the sun to fix his walking and absolutely nothing had worked. For such a little guy he is incredibly strong! He never used to offer any engagement on walks as everything else was far more exciting to him. Alf has a very dominant personality, so for a long time they lived with the fact that it was Alf’s way or no way. This affected their relationship with him and vice versa.
Alf’
🤎Pepper & Drax
The beginning vs the end of Pepper & Drax’s 3 hour session. This is only the start of their training, they did brilliantly and their owners are so dedicated to bettering their understanding of their dogs and ensuring the safety of their dogs given this heinous ban that is approaching.
The family isn’t local, but they’ve followed me on socials for over a year now and decided to travel down to work with me since they’ve had bad experiences with trainers in their own area, and really wanted to make sure they were working with the right person.
Both dogs have different issues, Pepper for example being human and dog reactive and Drax being unpredictable and way too powerful for all the tools they have tried walking him with. Both dogs were prong conditioned on this session, taught the value of a heel position, and neutrality around people and dogs.
They left the session and started their journey home as 2 very happy owners and 2 very fulfilled, neutral and calm dogs. The owners have a lot of work to do in between now and our next session, but they now have the correct tools, guidance, training and education to do so confidently.
Well done Kim, JP, Pepper & Drax, can’t wait to see you all again in a few weeks! 😁
#beforeandafter #xlbully #bullybreed #bullbreed #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #balanceddogtraining #balancedtraining #behaviourmodification #behaviourmod #obedience #generalobedience #obediencetraining #dogtrainingblackpool #blackpool #blackpoolbusiness #lancashire
🤎Willow
🤎Willow
Willow the Cockapoo was suffering with severe frustration and reactivity towards dogs. She would completely lose her mind the minute she saw another dog on a walk and there was no calming her down.
If she wasn’t reacting, she was at the end of the extendable lead offering no engagement or check ins with her owner. This also made it almost impossible to control her positioning or give the owner any sort of chance to control the situation if they saw another dog.
The walking issues were also affecting Max (Cavalier) in ways. He’s a super friendly and social dog, especially towards other dogs, so his socialising had become none existent due to Willow’s reactivity. Max had also gained some weight and his owners were struggling to get this off due to how short and inconsistent walks had to be.
Willow is an anxious and sensitive girl, she was just in need of some structure, self esteem/confidence building and lots of guidance. She’s made wonderful progress since we started, she still has her moments and we figured out white dogs can be a trigger, but her overall confidence and her owners new ability to control the situation has improved dramatically. She’s had a lot of exposure, positive associations creating, and is very good at disengaging from a dog now once she’s seen it, instead of losing her mind!
Our final session on Stanley Park was met with a lot of tests and difficult moments, but she did brilliantly to handle how overwhelming this park can be. Willow’s general walking is now far more appropriate too, there is way more comfort and security being at her owners side rather than way out in front.
After the session her owner continued to walk around the park and messaged me to say they came across even more dogs and she did great! Max has even lost a few lb’s recently and is continuing to lose them now that walks are enjoyable and lasting far longer 😁
Well done Colin, Katie & Willow for all your hard work! 🐾
#cockapoo #bef
🤎Bruno & Loki
🤎Bruno & Loki
The boys had their final session last week, we had a big walk round Stanley Park and apart from a bit of staring at some dogs, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves (as did their owners!) since there was no stress, escalation or embarrassing reactivity.
As you can see from the before videos, Loki (Pomeranian) was super vocal and reactive towards dogs from any sort of distance away. Bruno (Shih Tzu) often joined in with barking at dogs and was much more unpredictable if other dogs entered his space.
All the barking and running around would just get them both even more hyped up, and in the past they have redirected their frustration on to each other in the form of minor fights, which could’ve resulted in detrimental damage to their relationship if left to continue and escalate. The before walks were also unhealthy in other ways, instead of enjoying their time outside they would just be focusing on who could mark (pee) the most, pushing each other out the way and even peeing on each others heads.
The boys and their owners now enjoy walks, whether that’s just on the streets or at more challenging open places. There is now no risk of redirection and their relationship will no longer suffer! Their engagement towards their owners is fantastic, both indoors and outdoors, something that was completely missing beforehand. Their owners have been for a walk around Fairhaven Lake recently and stated it went just as well as our Stanley walk! If you own or have owned a reactive dog, you know how overwhelming these type of places can be for your dog, so this is excellent progress.
Well done Bruno, Loki, Noreen & Louella for all your hard work 🥰
#beforeandafter #pomeranian #shihtzu #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #balanceddogtraining #balancedtraining #behaviourmodification #behaviourmod #obedience #generalobedience #obediencetraining #dogtrainingblackpool #blackpool #blackpoolbusiness #lancashire
🤎Puma
Puma’s owner contacted me to due to her concerns over Puma’s pulling on walks and lack of neutrality towards other dogs.
It was quite clear during our observation walk that there was zero handler engagement and their relationship was lacking respect. Although the pulling wasn’t horrendous, Puma wasn’t at full size or strength during this time so you can only imagine what the pulling would’ve ended up like if there was no intervention!
Puma is very friendly and playful towards dogs, but teaching her neutrality was essential due to her size. She does live with a Chihuahua which has helped her learn from the get go how to play with smaller dogs, but as we all know not every dog/owner wants to interact.
Her owner didn’t like how Puma called all the shots on walks. It was almost impossible to pull her away from areas she had demanded (and dragged) to sniff, or dogs she was passing and staring at. Puma’s sniff breaks are now met with patience, engagement and an all important release word. There is now no risk of dragging or impulsive behaviours.
Her loose lead walking is now beautiful and structured and she is so focused on her owner, it’s been lovely to see how much their bond has improved through training. Puma and her owners enjoy going to dog friendly pubs where they get compliments on their neutral, well behaved (and gorgeous!) dog.
Well done Puma, Nina, and Ricky! Now on to the troublesome Chihuahua sister Scrappy for her reactivity 🤣🤎
#presacanario #mastiff #beforeandafter #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #dogbehaviourist #caninebehaviour #caninebehaviourist #behaviourmodification #behaviourmod #obedience #generalobedience #obediencetraining #dogtrainingblackpool #blackpool #blackpoolbusiness #lancashire
🤎Digger
We began muzzle training Digger on his most recent session, this is so we can begin recall training in open settings and keep Digger and other dogs safe.
He won’t be approaching any dogs himself due to us using a longline, but we can’t rely on other owners to be responsible with their dogs. Digger can be unpredictable with certain dogs, and he will not appreciate getting rushed by off lead dogs, so this will allow him the freedom of recall training without any worry.
If you see a dog wearing a longline lead or muzzle - please recall your dog and do not let them run over without permission. The dog is wearing both tools for a reason - don’t be ignorant to this.
If anyone would like help muzzle training their dog - especially XL’s or any bully breed / cross, feel free to get in touch. It must be done properly and with voluntary actions from your dog to ensure it’s comfortable wearing one!
#australiankelpie #kelpie #herdingdog #muzzletraining #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #dogbehaviourist #caninebehaviour #caninebehaviourist #behaviourmodification #behaviourmod #obedience #generalobedience #obediencetraining #dogtrainingblackpool #blackpool #blackpoolbusiness #lancashire
🤎Nuba
Walks for Nuba and her family were stressful from the moment they left the door. Nuba’s reactivity to people and dogs was a serious problem and she hated every minute of being outdoors.
Because of this she wore a muzzle to protect herself and others, she has never bitten anyone before but her owners didn’t want to take that risk due to how severe her reactivity had become.
Three big reasons for her reactivity were insecurities, frustration, and an unhealthy attachment towards her owners, making her feel as though she had to protect them and make sure everyone else stayed away.
We worked on her self esteem and confidence, and transformed her relationship with her owners into a way more trusting, bonded, and healthy one. We conditioned her to a backpack to give her a sense of security too.
Her progress has been phenomenal, walking her with the correct tool and positioning meant she was no longer in control of making decisions towards triggers. The reactivity went first, but the stress stayed (ears back, tense body language) until we did a tonne of exposure in different environments and completely changed her association towards people and dogs.
Nuba now walks muzzle free, past people and dogs with zero reactivity. Her ears stay up, her overall body language is loose and relaxed, and there’s even been a few happy tail wags. Since she is nervous at heart, she can still get overwhelmed if dogs are approaching her space, but you can see on the very last video that she checked in with her owner when some dogs got close to the back of her instead of panicking.
We have been to places like Pets at Home where multiple people wanted to say hello, which she was absolutely fine with and enjoyed all the fuss.
A fantastic dog to work with, very dedicated owners that have put the work in, and an extremely rewarding case for all those involved.
Well done Nuba, Callista & Tyra 🤎
#beforeandafter #lurcher #sighthound #dogtraining #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour
