Crazelpup Dog Training- by Jodie Forbes

24/08/2024

Today one of my biggest fears happened.

We woke up at 4:30, drove three hours in the rain to one of my favourite shows of the year. It’s a three day show, with camping, qualifiers and the most up-to-date equipment, with judges flown in from all over to set the best courses.

It was wet first thing, so I withdrew Bramble and Tulip from their runs. Prim’s first one was on grass and didn’t seem as slippery, and she ran it safely.

Then it was Willow’s turn, and she was flying. Her seesaw has been a big issue recently, but she did probably the best one she’s ever done in competition. Next was the dogwalk, and she turned slightly wide before it, but not bad enough for me to worry. Then I looked over my shoulder and she’s in the air, then crashing to the ground.

I felt sick. Watching the video back makes me feel even more sick. Seeing her back end slip, her flip in the air, smack her head into the side of the dogwalk and then hit the tunnel on the ground. I ran out, checked her over gave her a million treats and the kind judge let her do the dogwalk again quickly to make sure she wasn’t afraid of it.

Then I cried for hours. Jordan had tears in his eyes. People came over to see how she was. It was heartbreaking and I felt so guilty.

She loves agility, that’s partly why her fall was so bad, she gives 100% to everything. But I was the one who asked her to do this. I was the one who didn’t assess the risks properly. I ran her when the equipment was still wet. That, combined with sand clumped to her paws and that awkward approach was a recipe for disaster.

And it could’ve been so much worse. She hit her head, twisted her spine and her legs went in all directions. And somehow she’s walked away with just bruises and some hair loss on her forehead. It could’ve been so, so much worse.

We visited the show vet who gave Willow a full check over and then left. Hundreds of pounds worth of runs and camping, six hours there and back in the car, all for probably 50 seconds in the ring, but I literally could not face the idea of doing another run, I just felt sick to my stomach. Willow could’ve been hurt so badly and it was my fault.

She’s an agility dog, but more than that she’s my puppy. She is so important and valuable, and as much as she loves it, this sport is nothing compared to how important she is. It surprised me just how much I cried, she wasn’t really hurt after all, but it’s just reaffirmed how much this baby means to me. Even just a scratch is too much.

She’s currently home, asleep next to me on the sofa with her new toy, and as much as I wish we were still at the show, I’m never going to risk her like that again. Unless conditions are perfect, we aren’t running.

20/08/2024

Apologies for the lack of communication recently- from April to around mid September, my dogs and I are off competing in agility shows every weekend. As the season is wrapping up, it’s getting a bit more intense, and as much as I love it, I’m excited to have my weekends back, to not sleep in a tent in all conditions, to not have to use portaloos and not have my feet covered in blisters from the often 12+ miles of walking per day!

In the past couple of weeks, the girls have been excellent. Willow narrowly missed out on a potential Crufts qualification by getting the fastest time out of 200+ dogs at the International Agility Festival, just heartbreakingly knocking the very last pole down.

Primrose qualified for the Starters Cup semi finals at the festival, with the overall most points in both qualifying rounds!

At Dogs In Need show, which we just got back from, Willow made the Classic Tournament Finals and Tulip came 5th in the Championship Finals.

Bramble is still running at nearly 14 years old, and is doing amazingly.

Both Bram and Tulip are in Grade 7, which is the top grade, Willow is now Grade 5 and Primrose Grade 3.

They’ve made me so proud, it’s been an amazing season ♥️

28/07/2024

My girls have been incredible recently, over the past two weekends they’ve had six agility wins, every single one of them coming home with a 1st place!

That puts Willow into Grade 5 and Primrose into grade 3. Both Tulip and Bramble had champ yesterday and Bramble missed out on the final by just one spot, and Tulip two.

Such amazing girls! 😍

10/07/2024

Who did a tv shoot, two classes, a 1-2-1 and individually trained six dogs today?

This gal did (me not Bramble 😂)

Cream crackered now, but my girls have made me so proud as always. Looking after a teething, crazy terrier puppy and an adolescent collie that quite literally wants to tear me to shreds in not a fun way is always a bonus!

Little Bram was a total pro on set, as always, and nobody could believe she’s almost 14!

09/07/2024

Don’t trick your dogs.

They’re not stupid. They’re not goldfish (although goldfish actually have decent memory). They will remember and they will learn for the next time.

Picture this- your dog doesn’t have a good recall, and they’re off-lead. You pretend to have a treat to coax them back, they come to you and you grab them. Excellent! You win! Except, that will work a total of one times, because as you clip their lead back on, laughing about how you outsmarted them, your dog is learning that you are untrustworthy. There was no reward, and you ended the fun, so they’re not going to fall for that again.

It’s not just recall, but recall is the most prominent example of this that I see. There are only so many tricks we can play on a dog to get them back before they are suspicious of everything you try. They know that you lie to them, so why should they believe you?

The short-term gain isn’t worth the long-term loss of trust.

If your dog doesn’t recall, instead of letting them off-lead and inadvertently teaching them every trick in the book of how to avoid being caught, just keep them on a long line and train recall until it’s solid enough to work properly.

If your dog doesn’t like coming inside from the garden, teach it as a behaviour, instead of waving toys around and slamming the door behind them if they come to investigate.

If your dog needs eye drops, put time aside to teach them how to accept handling comfortably instead of springing it on them and making them wary of hands around their face.

If your dog steals something, don’t pretend to distract them for a second then sn**ch it away- instead teach a solid swap cue. It’s about being prepared for situations instead of jumping in headfirst and having to wing it.

And sure, there might be times when we do have to trick them, it’s rare but it can happen. The next step is to totally rebuild that trust and ensure it never happens again.

They’re dogs. They’re intelligent. We don’t need a GOTCHA moment, we should be on the same team. Every time you trick them, they’re learning, and there will come a time they’re one step ahead of you if that trust is broken too often.

29/06/2024

My amazing girls today 💜💛

Up at 4:30 and walked over 8 miles, I’m exhausted!

Primrose got a 4th place in Grade 2 agility with lovely contacts and weaves, just running around a jump, and Bramble did an incredible Grade 7 agility run and finished 4th in a big class. Really amazing for a dog that turns 14 in two months!

Willow had a fastest time with an unfortunate knocked pole, and Tulip said she’s not a fan of the prickly grass here and has made that very clear 😂

Very much looking forwards to an early night- all of me aches!

27/06/2024

Social media is full of idiots.

Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but in the dog world, no matter what you do, someone will be there to tear you down. Be it controversial like your training method to something that should really not be controversial at all, like muzzling a reactive dog, people will be poised to jump.

Not because they know better or genuinely care about welfare, a lot of the time, but because it gives a sense of superiority. Sure, that person is really good at training, but if we did deep enough we can probably find a crack somewhere. I know it, because when I was a kid I was the same.

Really, 99% of the negative comments I get make me laugh, they’re just so absurd and from people who have never met my dogs. However, occasionally they hit you at the wrong time- when you’re low on sleep or stressed, and they play over in your mind.

Last year, Willow had a freak accident where she got detergent in her eye late at night. I did exactly what it said on the packaging, rinsing her eye out with fresh water, and monitored it. It got worse and in the morning we went straight to the vets. She subsequently had many vet visits, I had to wake up every two hours through the night for over a week administering different types of drops, we drove to go to specialists. She was fine, but at the time we thought she would lose her sight.

I posted online about the dangers of detergent and the importance of acting fast, as I didn’t know how bad it would be, and the comments I got shocked me. People saying things ranging from ‘you didn’t take her to the vets because you wanted to save money’ to people saying I intentionally put it in her eye to get social media views. So many people lacked compassion and told me it was my fault.

With the lack of sleep and the stress that my puppy was unwell, plus that added guilt, it broke me. I cried a lot after reading the comments, and eventually just deleted them as soon as they popped up.

Generally, I can rise above it. But being told you intentionally hurt your baby is a lot to ignore.

I just wish people would understand that there is a human behind social media profiles. It’s not okay to say some things, especially when they’re outright untrue. We need to make an effort to be kinder, better people. Type it if you need to release some steam, then delete it. We are better than this.

24/06/2024

Recently, as I’ve discussed, I’ve not felt as in love with agility as I used to. It’s something that has been building for a while, and yesterday, after Willow won a class, I broke down a little.

It’s been probably 15 years since my first agility competition, with my first dog, Hazel. For years it was Hazel and her daughter, Bramble. Then Hazel retired and it was just me and Bramble for a few show seasons. Just me and my girl in my little Honda Jazz, travelling the country. We would travel four hours for three eliminations, often, but we loved it.

Then Tulip came along, when Bramble was seven. I expected her to overtake Bram when she retired, like Bramble did with Hazel, but Tulip never really liked agility, and Bramble didn’t show any signs of wanting to retire.

Covid happened, and it took a couple of our peak competing seasons. It took my last ever Crufts in the Young Kennel Club. It took Bramble’s youth. I hate that, in hindsight, I dedicated a lot of time pre-Covid to some boy who ended up wasting my time, instead of the dog who would never. I hate that I didn’t grasp at every opportunity, even if it meant waking up at 2am and driving across the country or sacrificing days off.

Because now Bramble is old. She doesn’t want to be, but she is. And I’ve got two collies, a whole different generation of agility dogs to the ones I started with. Bramble is pretty much retired, and she was my last link to Hazel.

I put so much pressure on the collies, because Bramble was perfect. I put so much pressure on myself, because I wish I had done more with her.

Every show I don’t enter her into anymore, I don’t get to think ‘we will do it next year’. If she doesn’t do it this year, she will never do it again. Bramble isn’t unwell and going to get better. She’s old. There is no getting better. Not running her at shows is physically painful sometimes, and every time we do a run for fun, because I’ll occasionally pop her in something, it’s marred by the fact it could be our last one ever.

My partner responded with, when I told him this: “I hate to be morbid, but that could be the same with any of your girls”. And he’s right. I’m struggling to enjoy running them, because they’re not Bramble.

Agility is different to how it was 15 years ago. 15 years ago, there weren’t dogs specifically bred for the sport, there weren’t collie crosses dominating all of the heights, and people could go far with their little pet dog who did fun classes. It’s so much more competitive now, and there are milliseconds between first and fifth place often.

The collies came along at a time when I’m more competitive, I know the sport well now and know how to shave off those milliseconds. When I first started, if I came home with a clear round rosette, I’d be over the moon. I don’t feel like the sport allows people to celebrate those wins anymore- it’s go big or go home. There’s little celebration for the pet dog who pootles around the course, and huge celebration for the purpose-bred Ferraris that annihilate it. That’s okay, it’s just different.

I need to stop comparing Tulip, Willow and Primrose to Bramble. They are themselves. I need to stop thinking about what could have been if Covid never happened, and instead be grateful Bramble is still here.

I don’t ever see people talking about this, but I’m sure I can’t be the only one that is struggling with it. Retiring a dog is so hard. It’s closing an entire chapter forever. There are new chapters ahead, but they’re different. Maybe not worse, just different.

21/06/2024

I am absolutely OBSESSED with the amazing photos Sarah Lake Studios took at our recent steeplechase competition! She’s an incredibly talented photographer, and here are just a selection of some of my favourites 😍

20/06/2024

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽️

19/06/2024

If you persevere, you get results.

This week, we’ve had some amazing breakthroughs. The first dog, Daisy, used to just sniff and run away when we started agility. She wouldn’t recall and struggled to focus, and every jump was to be avoided at all cost.

The second dog, Malaika, we had just about given up on her weaves. Every time we fixed an issue, another arose.

The third dog, Loki, is a typical adolescent male spitz. There’s a reason why most people don’t get shibas as agility dogs, he can be really tough to motivate and if he doesn’t want to do something, he won’t do it.

Fourth, we have Olive. Her mum nearly packed agility in a few times, and I can’t blame her. Lessons either consisted of her trying to escape (sometimes successfully, disappearing off into the woods), sniffing for animals or getting overexcited and biting her mum, resulting in lots of torn clothing.

Fifth and sixth are Lilly and Winnie. Their habit of breaking startlines and popping out of the weaves at the tenth pole had us tearing our hair out at times.

And then there’s Elsie, the boxer, who used to put all of her effort into jumping around and zoomies, so much so that she was exhausted before we even started, and we struggled to get any decent work out of her.

These dogs are just a handful of the success stories we’ve seen. Lola the Romanian rescue, who couldn’t go off lead in the agility area, because she would escape, who did her longest ever off-lead run yesterday and did so well I felt all emotional. Brian, the border terrier who used to be so chaotic and yesterday managed a long course and some lovely weaves (okay, he’s still chaotic, but it’s channeled the right way now!). Remy the vizsla mix, who was so scared of me in her first lessons that she would just bark, now racing round the courses. Zuki, the buhund who struggled so much with her focus, getting her first non-elimination at a competition this week… I could go on.

What did these owners do to get these results? They showed up. Week after week, they kept showing up. Even when it felt useless, like their dogs wouldn’t improve, they kept trying. They put the work in, and persevered. And every single person should feel so proud of themselves.

Keep showing up for training. Don’t give up, even when you feel like you’re at the breaking point, because often that’s exactly the moment things start to improve. Every single one of these dogs had these little wins this week because of their owners’ dedication, and equally, each of these owners could easily have stopped training when it wasn’t smooth sailing, and never seen how good their dogs could get.

The best part- they will only continue to improve from here. In a year’s time, these videos will be the ‘before’ product and they will have progressed so much more!

The best thing you can do for your dog is to show up. Just show up. You don’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to always get it right, you just have to be there.

17/06/2024

There’s a huge amount of sexism in the dog industry, even now. From certain training toys being labelled as ‘good even for children and women,’ female trainers constantly being undermined and us having to talk louder to be heard.

I remember when I used to train alongside another, less qualified, less experienced and less accomplished male trainer, and almost every new client would orient towards him when we spoke, would praise him for repeating what I had already said and would hand the lead over to him if we needed to work the dog. One even went as far as to tell me ‘a girl won’t be able to handle my dog’. Jokes on him, I could.

Even my current partner has noticed it. He’s pretty much a dog training newbie, having owned dogs his whole life but never participated in training. At shows, he has commented on how stallholders and people running have-a-go activities, manage rings and present over the mic talk to him first and assume he is the primary trainer, and how sexist it feels.

This is what we deal with constantly. The audio of this video is real- it’s a trainer explaining how terrible women are because we are ‘empathetic and caring.’

The majority of dog trainers I know are women, and most of the best, most revolutionary and accoladed ones I can think of are. It’s not about gender, it’s about skill, knowledge and devotion to improvement. If you think a man is better at this, simply because they’re a man, sit back down.

15/06/2024

Sometimes I don’t enjoy agility.

Seems like a crazy thing to say when pretty much all of my spare time and money goes into it, and it’s my primary earner. But there are times I just want to curl up and cry, to pack it all in for a free weekend. To actually have some spending money and be able to eat food without the guilt that it might affect my fitness.

This week, I arrived at the show at gone 1am. Every morning has been a 6am start. I’ve been sleeping in a tent that just about, until today, could stand up to the elements. It’s uncomfortable, the wind and rain is loud, and nights are freezing. This time last year, we were running this exact same show in a heatwave. Today my lips have chapped because it’s so cold. All my clothes are soaked through from the torrential rain, my bedding is damp, and to top it off, the tent blew down.

All for what? Neither Willow nor Tulip have had any award-worthy runs. Not even top three. It’s so disheartening putting your heart and soul into a sport and it not going right. Despite what people say about it always being the handler’s fault, it is, at the end of the day, a team sport. One of those team members is a dog. Dogs make mistakes, even if most of the time it’s the handler’s error, sometimes it isn’t. It’s putting a lot of faith into an animal that has never seen the course before, in an environment with so many variables. I’m tired. So are they.

Pushing so hard, when you’re physically exhausted, and the dog (perhaps our body language cued them?) missing jump 21 out of 22 on a gruelling 200 metre course. Gutting. Thinking you smashed something, only for other dogs to complete it in half the time with ease. Gutting. The high emotions mixed with adrenaline, physical weariness and lack of sleep makes everything so much worse.

There is so much pressure to get better and better. I want to get on an international team, it’s a life goal of mine. It’s so hard. Harder when you’re one it, too. So I’m going to keep trying, keep showing up, keep improving, even when I don’t enjoy it.

Some people won’t understand, and that’s okay. There’s no right or wrong here. It’s my passion, even on the tough days when I wonder why I even try. One day I’ll look back and be glad we didn’t give up.

But dog sports are hard, don’t underestimate it. There’s a long way up and partnerships don’t get there for free. It’s hard on your body, your bank account and your mental health. Yet we continue to show up.

My dogs have done well, even if the results don’t say so. I’m proud of them. We just have to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and keep going. Our time will come.

15/06/2024

This week I’ve been competing in the CSJ agility open, trying to get the Team England win on spot (although unfortunately we’ve missed our opportunity this time)

Camping in torrential rain with five dogs, alone, is interesting to say the least! Although it’s been surprisingly harmonious 😍

12/06/2024

10/06/2024

Happy birthday to Hazel, the dog who started it all ♥️

I miss you so much, you were the best teacher, sister and friend.

At this time, every year, I’d be baking her a birthday cake or organising her a party with all of her dog friends. I’m so grateful for the 15 years we had together, and the life you gave me ♥️

09/06/2024

This weekend I forgot to book a show, so we decided to have a weekend off…

Haha not. Weekends off are for losers and people who care about their mental health!

Instead, I dragged my poor boyfriend out of bed early on Saturday to do a Agility4All show which had Grand Final qualifiers. Annoyingly, Willow got the fastest times of all competing dogs in both qualifying rounds, but just had a single fault in both, putting her overall in 3rd place (top 2 qualify). A bit gutting but she worked so hard.

Then we went for a long walk around Cerne Abbas with all five dogs (did I mention I was dog sitting on my ‘day off’?)

Then we visited the Wimborne Folk Festival with Bramble and Willow for a few hours, and after that walked the dogs again. We didn’t manage to sit down until gone 10.

Then today, I decided that I’d spend my first Sunday off in over two months running a steeplechase competition. All morning, alongside cleaning the house, the van and mowing the lawn, we were prepping rosettes and building the course.

What was supposed to take two hours ended up taking four, because so many more dogs turned up than I expected, which is so amazing! I couldn’t be more proud of my students, watching each of them tackle the course was a real ‘my baby’s all grown up and saving China’ moment.

So many dogs did better than we could’ve even imagined, and we had several surprise clears from dogs that have never done so well before. So so proud 🥹

My little helper Lily came down to handle Primrose and they came 3rd with the fastest time but 5f, and afterwards she had another practise and totally smashed it (in the video). Who’d have thought a dog that was recommended to be put to sleep last year due to aggression would end up being a young kid’s perfect agility buddy?

I loved the atmosphere. I loved that people stayed past their own classes to support others. I loved how we all cheered the perfect runs and the hilariously imperfect ones equally. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by so many awesome people ♥️

Also big shoutout to Jordan who sacrificed his weekend off being dragged along to shows and having to spend the afternoon doing the timing, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. Having a supportive partner really does make a world of difference and is something I’ve never experienced before.

It wasn’t really a weekend off, but it was such good fun!

09/06/2024

I’m in love with these photos of us warming up before our displays at Dogstival!

This year we had 12 Crazelpuppers in the display, and we are already planning for next year- each year we learn and improve.

Totally love that we get the chance to show off our amazing dogs to the public, a variety of breeds and ages, but they all did so well 😍

06/06/2024

Let’s talk about safeguarding our dogs.

Yesterday, I saw a post about an off-lead dog approaching an on-lead and reactive dog, and the approaching dog being ‘attacked’. Although details may be exaggerated, it appears that attacks of this nature are almost a monthly event for this individual. Dog attacks are horrible, scary and often unpredictable, but when they happen so frequently, it’s time to reconsider what we are doing in order to safeguard our own pets.

In the past few years, I can’t recall a single time my dogs have suffered an attack. Willow was chased quite badly as a puppy, by a walker with multiple off-lead and out of control dogs, she was once bitten when queueing at an agility show, but other than that we have been lucky.

Growing up, when Bramble was young and I just had her and her mother, Hazel, attacks were far more frequent. I can recall more from my first few years of dog ownership than the past 10+ years. In fact, since having Tulip, my first reactive dog, I don’t think we’ve been unlucky enough to have had any big incident.

And that’s probably it. Some attacks are terrifying, unprovoked and totally out of nowhere, but many can be avoided with a little knowledge of canine ownership etiquette, body language and training skill.

My girls got in trouble more when I was new to owning dogs, likely because I allowed them to say hi to unknown dogs, I didn’t stop them approaching ones on lead, I didn’t recognise people jumping into the bushes or frantically scrabbling to put their dogs on leads as I approached, and inadvertently- accidentally- set the situation up to fail.

I walked my dogs in busy spots, with masses of other dogs around, I threw toys for them close to others, I didn’t recall them away, I didn’t consider what times might be busier to walk at, how narrow paths would be when passing others. I didn’t scan the environment and didn’t pay much attention.

Until I got a reactive dog, and suddenly all of the dangers jumped out at me. Walks were like a hazard perception test. Places I used to frequent, I wouldn’t touch anymore. We prefer quieter, safer spots. I pay attention, respect other dogs’ space and don’t take unnecessary risks.

I don’t want this post to sound like victim shaming, because I understand any dog can be attacked, even if you do everything right, but we have to play our part in keeping our dogs safe. If your dog is allowed to approach others that are on lead, clearly need space or are keeping to themselves, then it’s no surprise that they might be snapped at, reacted to or bitten. We have to do better at taking care of our own dogs and respecting others, and if our own dogs cannot be trusted, they need to stay on lead or undergo further training to ensure they keep themselves and others safe.

We owe it to our dogs to do our best for them. If a freak accident occurs, as they sometimes do, at least we can be assured that we did our best to look after them. However, if it’s a regular occurrence and you don’t reflect on the situation, you are only setting your dog up to fail and potentially get badly hurt.

05/06/2024

Another reminder to dog owners, and apparently dog ‘trainers’ too, that if an unknown dog is on lead it is not okay to allow yours to approach them. Ever.

If your dog does approach an on-lead dog and a scrap occurs, yours was the one out of control.

Reactive dog owners have it hard enough without people letting their dogs run over and interfere, it causes so much unnecessary stress to them and their dog.

Please use your common sense, compassion and abide by dog owner etiquette by recalling your dog or keeping them on lead around others if they’re unable to recall.

🎤👋

03/06/2024

I love my job. I really do. However, being self-employed isn’t always fun.

Especially alongside competing at a high level weekend after weekend. It’s a lot of pressure. Plus, essentially being a single mum to four very demanding dogs just tops it all off.

Last night, I woke up at 2am in a panic. I felt anxious about work, invoices, how I needed to mow the field, fill classes, that I’m behind on admin etc. I ended up lying in bed wide awake for hours.

I’ve never had sick pay. I’ve never had holiday pay. My ‘relaxing’ holiday last week, which consisted of nearly 30 hours of driving, climbing mountains and sleeping in a tent cost me several weeks worth of earnings, and now I’m a week behind on classes.

I love it, I really do, but it’s 24/7. The harder I work, the more time I need to spend in the evenings training my own dogs. Even now, I have a spare hour before bed, and instead of relaxing I’m creating social media content. It’s hard, if not impossible, to switch off.

With Bramble being unwell, it’s that much more difficult. She’s doing better now, but she needs to be up at least once in the night to go out for a wee. I’ve not had a full nights sleep in over a month.

Then waking up at 3am, travelling halfway across the country to compete in sports, usually coming home with nothing to show for it, feeling that constant pressure to do well, it’s a lot to deal with.

This isn’t to say I don’t enjoy my job, my hobbies and my lifestyle. I do. But it’s encompassing. There’s no free evening, no switching off, you miss a weekend of competing and that voice inside nags away, you skip a social media post for a few days and the algorithm forgets about you, you blink and six weeks of classes have finished and there’s not been a moment to readvertise them. All-the-while you keep ticking over because the moment you stop, relax for a minute, there’s the fear you will fall off and won’t be able to get back on again.

I love my job. Because I’m worrying about all this now, I’m overthinking everything, but as soon as I’m out in a field with the dogs, teaching, all the anxiety disappears. It’s energising. Working is the best part of the job.

And there are so many benefits that come with it, too. When the sun is shining and the dogs are working hard, I couldn’t imagine anything I’d rather do with my days.