OH DEER 🦌 🦌 🦌 🦌
When four deer put your afternoon’s Puppy Playgroup to the test!
Did they pass?! 🤔
With flying colours 🌈 all six recalled & waited ✋🏻 patiently for the deer to scurry off!
Very proud Dog Trainer today 🌟
Ready but steady ✋🏻
Following on from our Riveroll Gundogs Workshop at The Scurry, Copper & Zinc worked on their steadiness to thrown dummies and releasing to their name!
We always love to train on our days off 🐶
Goodbyes are hard 😢
Today was our last day as a full group 💔 These 5 have been with me for a couple of years and they’re all family so it’s always sad when one of them has to leave 🥲
Rudi is moving and we’re going to miss him so much! We made sure his last day was the best with a windy hill walk, lots of cuddles and some yummy dog-friendly party rings 🍩
It was also Ralph’s 3rd Birthday today 🍰 ofcourse Rudi couldn’t miss his bestfriend’s birthday! Happy Birthday Ralph 🌟
Goodbye Rudi, we love you 💗
Aim is important when throwing dummies..
Room for improvement 😂
Duck 🦆 Duck 🦆 GOOSE 🪿
It’s not everyday that you get surprised by 50 geese on a stubble field 🌾
Train for the unexpected 🐶 Train in lots of different environments, contexts & for multiple scenarios!
That’s exactly what the Puppy Playgroupers train for.. EVERYTHING! Especially their Recall 🚀 Very proud of how the handled these surprise birds 😂
Puppy Playgroupers work on Recall, Release Cues & Check-ins
Puppy Playgroupers work on Recall, Release Cues and Auto Check-in 🤩
🏙️ City walking on Holiday 🌆
It cooled down in the evening meaning we took the dogs into Norwich City to visit Norwich Cathedral 🕍 A first for Zinc in a busy city and a rare event for Copper!
Is holiday the time to train new behaviours? Absolutely not! But it is the time to rely on those solid foundations you’ve already trained ✅
We will get back to everyone’s messages when we’re back in a week ✉️
Can Mantrailing help Behaviour? 🐶
Everyone meet Bobby 🌟 Bobby is a young adolescent Border Collie and his awesome pawrents have been working hard on his fear reactivity to people and dogs 🐶👨🏻👩🏻🦰
We discussed the benefits of Mantrailing for confidence building in fearful dogs; they soon came to an Introduction to Mantrailing!
Bobby took to it amazingly but once the stranger he’d trailed came into sight he went into defence mode: barking, lunging, full on panic, unable to eat, shaking! 😰
Things had to be MUCH slower for Bobby 🐌
Change of plans ⚠️ First, we had his mum hide and I trailed him (he knows me ✅) then we had his mum trail him to find me!
It was evident Bobby loved using his nose 🐽 it was naturally calming and something that gave him confidence and focus 🌟
The next few sessions were Bobby trailing familiar people; his dad and his auntie! He was doing brilliantly and really enjoying himself.
Today was the FIRST DAY since his introduction that he was able to trail a stranger! Not only did he trail beautifully, you’ll also see him choose to trail over reacting at another dog 🐕🦺
Yes he still reacted at Lisa but this was a mild reaction in comparison and a mighty big step for him; once the pot was lowered he was able to eat (miles better than when we first started!) You’ll also see by the end of the video he was able to eat from Lisa’s hand ✋🏻 and asked Lisa for treats as we walked back to the cars 🚗
I wish we had a video from the introduction to compare but at the same time I personally feel ‘before’ videos can be distressing and I’d rather my full attention on the dog I’m assessing than on videoing 🎥
If you ask Bobby’s pawrents they’ll tell you that the improvement isn’t just in his Mantrailing but in his everyday life 🥲 I’m so incredibly proud of them and the work they’ve put in to Bobby!
Go Bobby 👏🏻
Sun.. in September?! ☀️🥵
An unexpected heatwave meant a change of plans, a combining of morning & afternoon Puppy Playgroups and a great day out to Drumgley Dog Park ☀️
We had 8 Playgroupers which could have meant chaos 🤯 Chaos in heat is not a good idea as dogs are even more likely to overheat.. so what did we do instead?
🐽 Sniffing
😴 Relaxing
🐌 Slow wanders
🌚 Keeping to shaded areas
💦 Lots of water stops
🚿 Getting soaked down
What did we avoid?
❌ Running about
❌ Energetic playing
❌ High arousal activities
❌ Toy play
All pups managed to keep calm and cool which is no easy task especially in a group of 8 but these guys have been taught from day one that relaxing is just as important as excitement & fun!
How many spaniels could you spot before the recall whistle? 👀🐶
There are two types of spaniels..
Beau jumps whilst Lacey retrieves 🫣 innocent Ollie wants no part in the troublemaking!
Now that I found you 🎶
We couldn’t not share this awesome trail by Baloo & Therisa at our Trail Club on Tuesday night 🥾🐾
It may look simple but looks can be deceiving:
💦 The river in between the paths meant Baloo had to enter and exist his mispers scent pool to navigate the trail!
🆙 Two flights of concrete stairs and a bridge over the river which made the trail harder!
👀 Two junctions with a total of 6 possible directions!
They both did so well; I love seeing dogs work out challenging trails!
Mondays are our days off 😴
But they are also the days I dedicate to my own dogs whether that’s for training, hiking, playing or resting; it’s all about them!
Today we decided to train and thought we’d share some snippets of our searches:
🐶 Copper is working on his focus when searching in distracting outdoor environments
🐶 Zinc is building on her confidence & dedication to keep searching
This has been the perfect outlet for these guys today with Copper not being 100%, Zinc coming into that teenage stage and myself being ill 🤒
COCKERS ASSEMBLE ✊🏻
Who doesn’t love a slow-mo recall!
Zinc, Ollie, Beau & Lacey showing how amazing their recall is in a very distracting environment! 🌳
Bird watching 🦅
We always look odd at parks as we’re the only ones that actively follow the birds 👀
Why? They make for amazing distractions whether that’s for recall, sit/stay or in Zinc’s cause a stop whistle!
We like to get out training amongst distractions with young puppies as soon as we can because we want them realising that the funniest thing out there… is us 👋🏻
Now if she was struggling with this distance I can add in my management which could be a longline or create distance or expecting a easier behaviour from her but at the moment she’s doing pretty well ✅
Adolescence is round the corner though so we’re keeping an eye out for those changes in behaviour which will also mean a change in our training!
We absolutely love Mac’s enthusiasm for Puppy Playgroup today 😂😴
What’s she got to show me? 🚽🧻
As a trainer I like to be transparent and show that even my dogs (especially my dogs) are not perfectly trained robots 🤖 They’re dogs and (especially the spaniels out there) are brilliant opportunists! They do what is reinforcing to them; like stealing the toilet roll 🫣
Will I reprimand this behaviour? Absolutely not, she’s a puppy doing what puppies do 🐶Will I put management in place to reduce this happening! 100% - no more open bathroom doors! 🚽 Did I find it funny? Yes, yes I did 😂
A Spaniel’s perspective 🌱🍃
Fun little POV of our Puppy Playgrouper’s exploring The Scurry’s newly updated ‘The Flush’ field!
The long grass, new plants, trees, fence.. it’s a puppy paradise 🌟
Puppy Playgroup 🌟
Where play is training and training is play 🐶
It’s great having new visitors come visit our Puppy Playgroupers as we get work on our manners, confidence and train with distractions!
Huge shout out to Cockapoo Ollie who can be very anxious around strangers but felt confident enough to take good and get cuddles! Very impressed with his progress 💗
For those that don’t know The Scurry also have ‘The Scurry’ field which is equally as awesome are ‘The Flush’ ✅
