Calm the Pup Down Dog Training

12/12/2024

Kids and dogs at Christmas!

It makes sense why:

-Stress
-change of routine
-resource guarding
-over stimulation
-less space
-left alone more
-less exercise/over exercised

The list can keep going on, so how can we help?

Educate our children on dog body language (still space in next week's class)
Ensure supervision at all times
Be an advocate for your dog.

Feel free to message me any questions around this topic x

27/11/2024

We control almost every aspect of our dogs’ lives, it’s a fundamental truth we often overlook.
Yep, boundaries and training are essential to help our dogs navigate our chaotic human world.
But the answer isn’t micromanaging every moment to avoid an ‘out of control’ dog.

The opposite of “out of control” isn’t “completely controlled”.

Giving our dogs safe opportunities to make choices - like sniffing that bush or saying “no” to something that feels overwhelming, builds trust, confidence, and a stronger bond. It can positively impact their overall behaviour too.

When we give dogs a little agency, we empower them to feel safer and more connected with us.

Having a dog is not just about managing behaviour and training them to be robots, it’s about creating a partnership and respecting the individual you’re sharing your life with.

15/11/2024

Your dog’s not begging for my treats, they’re begging for your attention.

07/11/2024

The only daycare I recommend!

05/11/2024

I used to like fireworks when I was a child, but as I grew up I realise what I actually liked was to perform wildly antisocial behaviour without fear of repercussions.
If you too would like to be antisocial, but care about the welfare of animals, here are some suggestions!

Try:
Walking much slower than everyone else in a crowded shopping area, make sure to change direction at random

Eating six hard boiled eggs on a crowded bus

Walking through doors and letting them swing closed on people carrying bulky items behind you

Playing a podcast that contains a lot of white men laughing over a wireless speaker at full volume when in the queue for a supermarket checkout on a Sunday at 14:00

Taking a full take away meal to the cinema and eating it. Extra points if there’s bones you can loudly suck on

Enjoy!
✌️

05/11/2024

I went to visit my grandad, he is in his 80's.

He is suffering with various physical ailments bless his heart.

He was always an active man in his youth, the ability to do things for himself has reduced and mentally it impacts him.

He is on various tablets for the pain, but today, I decided to stop his tablets because he is just old.

We went to go out for a walk but he is slow, it's a pace that I find a bit frustrating being honest, so I take his hand and apply a bit of gentle pressure to pull him along a bit faster.

He struggled badly to get out of bed, a handrail would help him but I dont like the look of it on the wall, they don't exactly make the room look as nice.

I know he struggles but he is just old......

So many dogs go through this EVERY DAY.

Dragged along for walks they have " always" done instead of being walked at a slower pace or shorter distance.

Dogs not receiving the pain medication and professional support such as physio, myotherapy, chiropractic support because hey they are just old.

Dogs trying to get up and walk on slippy floors because rugs don't suit the room, or it's hassle washing them.

It's not OK to do nothing and write things off as " just old age".

Old age is not an excuse for allowing a dog to struggle and be in pain. Old age is not an excuse to not bother making adaptions and changes to our own expectations.

Having a dog of old age is a privilege, an absolute privilege, and we should cherish, adapt, support, and want to do AS MUCH AS WE CAN to make their golden years the best we possibly can.

Just like I hope most humans would do all they could to help their parents and grandparents feel comfortable in thier latter years and have as much support as possible , our dogs deserve the same thoughts and considerations.

31/10/2024

🎃 Happy Halloween 🎃

19/10/2024

Bolton and surrounding areas: planned fireworks displays in coming days and weeks.

If your dog is sound sensitive, make note of these dates as ones for:

🎆 Midday walks so they don’t need to go out later
🎇 Prepping your dog’s safe space ready
🎆 Getting some long lasting calming enrichment activities like stuffed Kong® or tasty chews
🎇 Closing your curtains before sundown
🎆 Cueing up your fireworks masking playlist
🎇 Dosing your dog’s situational medications if using them

Or getting out of Bolton full stop!

The nights are drawing in and bonfire night is almost upon us.

14/10/2024

Ever trained your dog to focus on you so hard that they actually hold their breath?
Like, they stop breathing and stare at you so intensely, you spend over an hour trying every way possible to get them to understand, "Take a breath," "BREATHE LIKE A NORMAL DOG, BARBIE!"

And then you start questioning your entire training setup(s), but then spend 10 seconds with another dog who does it immediately, and you're left thinking, "Wow, my dog is actually a robot. Who sent her?"

No? 👀 Yeah, me neither. 👀

Here's a short clip from the -OVER 90 minutes, spread across TWO DAYS-, where I tried to get Barb to actually breathe instead of:
🤖A Task? 🤖bleep blorp 🤖eye contact🤖 BARKING 🤖bzzt brrrpt 🤖BARKING🤖 nose touch 🤖bloop beep 🤖BARKING?🤖

Meanwhile, Henrypup?
Spent 30 seconds rewarding him for doing the normal dog thing of... you know, breathing. And he got it no problem.

I watched Leslie McDevitt do a biofeedback skills lab at the conference the other week, and the five dogs—including the Mali—learned to take a breath on cue so quickly and clearly that I could see it from a distance.
It made me, the fool, think my dog (who I’ve -actively avoided- trying to teach this protocol to because I didn't think she could handle it without frustration) would be able to do it too.
After all, it's just marking a very natural and normal thing we all have to do —breathing.

Over the years, I’ve built in more "active" nervous system down-regulation protocols for Barb, including nose work and behaviour chains for focus and heavily relying on TTouch, all of which I have to do *to* her or set up *for* her.
My latest attempt to teach her a passive indication (instead of an active one) during scent work has made me realise she doesn't do much that isn’t active in some way.

For her, it’s always about DOING A TASK rather than simply *being*.
In an extreme example as in her video we are DOING EYE CONTACT and forgoing breathing entirely.

Now, I’m not saying she’s not better at self-regulating nowadays, but I’ve had to work -hard- to build in ways for her to regulate her arousal through tasks that sort of hijack her nervous system.

This is why, if you work with me, we usually start with internal regulation skills. Once a dog learns they can self-regulate, they can experience the world in a less "ermagherd!" mode (technical term). Whether a dog is permanently "on send" like Barb, or just a little overstimulated by life, hitting that internal regulation skill is key. Otherwise, you end up with a dog who can do "behaviours" that give you physical stillness but not mental stillness.

Like Barb’s 🤖bleep blorp🤖 "eye contact!??!?" moment—she’s not thinking, just performing a well-rehearsed, rewarded behaviour.

Well rehearsed behaviours are useful for me, as her human, because it means I can drop food on the floor or have her around triggers, and she’ll default to a behaviour that stops her from gnamphing food or going Full Terminator™ at the trigger. But it doesn’t always work on the -inner- state—like "want that food" or "scared of that thing, must bark."

When a dog can internally self-regulate, they’ve got a higher tolerance to frustration and generally a longer fuse for when dealing with things they find exciting or frightening.

I don’t need to constantly ask for trained behaviours from Barb; they’re there for DEFCON 1 situations where I step in with my sensible human brain and help to get her out of dodge. But all the self-regulation stuff we have done means I don’t need to ask for as many behaviours as often: she’s better equipped to cope with the things that might usually set her off.

I’ve worked with loads of dogs over the years who were incredibly “well-trained”, what they couldn’t do on cue you could write on a bee’s bum, but they needed constant micromanagement from their guardians to get from A to B without exploding.
At the root of it, they couldn't internally regulate.
When we help dogs learn to self-regulate, many of their "problem" behaviours fade to the point where they’re no longer big issues.
Sometimes, training isn’t the solution—it DOES give us control if necessary and that is very important if we have a spicy or over the top dog, but if we don’t address the underlying drivers, this may be why progress stalls.

09/10/2024

I had a boss time at the petprofessionalguild conference this weekend just passed.

Met lots of fabby passionate canine professionals, watched some great talks and had good fun in the hands on workshops.

Sarah Fisher and Leslie McDevitt were there to educate us all on the wonders of pattern games and ACEFreework.

Dr Robert Hewings knocked it out of the park once more with the fascinating science of canine olfaction (smelling!).

I really enjoyed the loose lead workshop Louise Stapleton-Frappell presented, some great ideas to help with dogs who pull on lead.

PLUS I got to make friends with a malinois and do some Ttouch on a spaniel.

I came away feeling really affirmed with what I get up to with my clients, if you’ve worked with me I will almost certainly have gotten some ACEfreework in there somewhere and banged on about nervous system regulation.

I won a scent training book so I’m going to be experimenting with training Barb a passive indication on a scent so I can offer it as a brain game for her now her legs are going.

Really look forward to the next PPG conference in 2026.

30/09/2024

Aversive training methods work through causing an unpleasant or painful experience to a dog.

They work because dogs are inherently self preserving creatures and want to avoid the unpleasant or painful experience.

They do work.
There is no arguing that fact.
However, they work because they make the dog feel like crap in some way.
They usually work because they hurt.

We can’t avoid our dogs being hurt by life, s**t happens, but we can act to minimise the negative experiences they have, we are largely in control of that - especially during training.

https://eileenanddogs.com/prong-collars-appendix/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaakoDKGaRJJPUz17rjzk8j53neAsESlbNJPJuA5glwbERUZefkN6uh71Bc_aem_uAkJaDdWz0Ay5ASxmo9XEw

In a recent post about prong collars, I used mathematical approximations to compare the effects of a prong collar and a flat collar. Here is a list of other factors one would consider if doing a complete analysis. None of them mitigates the disparity in pressure between the prong collar and the flat...

22/09/2024

Smashing!

14/09/2024

Train for the moment, not in the moment.

When you learned to read, the first books you took home in the evening were about Biff, Chip, and Kipper, or perhaps a caterpillar with an insatiable appetite. You learned the alphabet, how letters sound when spoken, and may have used pictures and flashcards to help you along. Your books were chosen to match your reading age and personal progress.
Your homework wasn’t to read and answer questions about the family dynamics in *War and Peace*.

My brother is a professional triathlete.
Very fast, much machine.
He’s spent ten (10) years working on becoming a professional triathlete and spends most of his time, when not racing, actively preparing for races. This includes training in running, cycling, swimming, as well as cross-country, targeted weight training, and flexibility protocols. Not to mention adequate nutrition, rest, sleep, and bike maintenance.
He doesn’t just show up to an Ironman and run the thing with absolutely no prior work, hoping to complete it in 8 hours.

If you drive, you will have had many lessons with an instructor showing you how to put the car in gear, the right way to hold the steering wheel, “mirror, signal, manoeuvre,” and how to parallel park. They were still in the passenger seat with dual controls, just in case you didn’t check your blind spot and pulled into a dual carriageway with an artic lorry bearing down on you. You also had to complete a theory test.
You weren’t allowed to even apply to take your driving test until you’d passed your theory and completed a certain number of hours of practical training.

These are examples of how building initial foundations and improving over time, with gradual progressions, helps to create solid skills.

Reinforcement-based behaviour change is the same.
It’s a rehearsal for the real event—building the requisite skills prior to needing them. Putting a dog into a situation where they struggle to “behave appropriately” and expecting “reinforcement training” to work is a pointless exercise.
That’s not training.
At best, the dog will rehearse the behaviour you don’t want them to—for example, predatory chase or pulling on the lead.
At worst, you’ll flood the dog and cause dangerous behaviour or trauma—such as in reactivity cases where they are made to “face” their fears.

Learning is not taking place if a dog is in a state of high arousal due to fear or excitement—training is not occurring. Anything that alters behaviour when a dog is in that state is not teaching them anything, merely stopping them in the moment by adding a much higher aversive stimulus.

To effect long-lasting behaviour change, you must build foundation skills outside the environment where the dog’s problematic behaviour occurs. You may have to help them learn to self-regulate, teach them physical skills and behaviours you want them to employ in a situation, and drip-feed increases in intensity of exposure. Build a relationship of trust so they look to you for support. Let them rehearse until it becomes second nature.

Putting a dog into a situation they are not trained to handle and then seeing them “fail” at dealing with it is not surprising—because they haven’t been trained to deal with that situation.

This is not a failure of the training method; it’s the result of an untrained dog behaving like an untrained dog.

You must do the preparatory work before the real event if you want to see any change at all.

05/09/2024

🔥🔥🔥

⚠️ 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝑩𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 (𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒚) 𝑩𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒚

Yesterday, I received the following email from a researcher for the TV programme *Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly*:

"𝑀𝑦 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑠 (redacted) 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑉 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 ‘𝐷𝑜𝑔𝑠 𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 (𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑦) 𝐵𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑦’.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝐿𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑚.

𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦 10𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑜𝑛. 𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑔𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒.

𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠.

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛. 𝑂𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠!"

My first thought was to delete the email. I'm not a fan of Graeme Hall. I've watched a few episodes of his show, and in my opinion, he seems to make things up as he goes along, relying on outdated training methods.

However, I was puzzled. Was the “cravat” unwell, and they needed a stand-in? I'm a nobody – why on earth would they want to film me training a dog when there are so many high-profile trainers out there? Curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to give the researcher a call.

I'm still in shock as I write this. The researcher explained that they wanted to invite me to Lytham with my Border Collie to "demonstrate" to Graeme Hall how I would train my dog not to respond to a phone ringtone.

Graeme would then take my training method and use it to teach the Border Collie of the family seeking help – all while filming it for his TV show!

WTF 😳😳😳

I decided to dig a bit deeper and reached out to the force-free dog training community to see if anyone else had experienced something this bizarre.

It turns out that many trainers had also been asked to attend filming sessions to show Graeme how to train dogs before the cameras rolled. Most reported that they refused because of his methods, but a few had shown him and his team how to train a dog, only to be dismissed without any credit for their expertise.

I then did some open-source research on "The Country’s Best Dog Trainer," as the *Daily Telegraph* calls him. He has no formal training in canine behaviour or training. He’s essentially winging it with the help of whatever trainers are willing to show up and assist him.

According to his website, he charges £875 per session 🤔😧

Now I’m not someone who normally criticises other trainers. I prefer to let my clients decide if I’m the right trainer for them based on how I work with their dogs.

However, I couldn’t let this pass without making it public knowledge.

If you're looking for a dog trainer, please avoid this programme and this man. You have no idea whose techniques he’ll be using week to week, and given that most qualified and accredited trainers want nothing to do with him, the quality of training you’ll receive is questionable at best.

Instead, do your own research and find a local trainer who aligns with your own dog training ethics. Organisations such as The IMDT or APDT - Association of Pet Dog Trainers can help guide you to qualified & accredited trainers in your area.

𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒔!