Spaniels can walk nicely on lead.
Check Honey out here. A lovely wander into Westbourne during her Half Day Overhaul (more details on this soon).
Results can be achieved. Let me know when you're ready!
Look at the puppy!
Little Oakley's first Nosework class was one of the many highlights of our urban exploration of Bournemouth Town Centre. Here are a few things we worked on:
▪︎ 10am-11am group practised chilling in the town centre!
▪︎ 11am-12pm welcomed Monty to the group. He can be unsure of other dogs but slipped into the group beautifully - check out their walk back!
▪︎ 12pm-1pm practised indoor trailing - so had let their handlers know I had gone indoors! Nova demonstrates this beautifully by finding me in a coffee shop!
▪︎ Oakley in 1pm-2pm learnt to food search around his new friends in class, while we taught them to find people in Waterstones. Dollie smashed her first indoor trail!
▪︎ I got no videos of 2pm-3pm but they smashed their indoor searches too!
▪︎ Finally 3pm-4pm hung out in the Arcade in between searches, and did a beautiful walk back too!
As you can see, we focus on three core elements in classes- searching for things (obviously!), confidence building and socialisation for dogs with additional needs.
A fantastic set of classes, well done Team!
Interested? Single spaces are left on classes starting in April. Comment down below for details!
We had to improvise during Hoopers (check out my funky lean!).
Due to an equipment issue, we had to manually keep our Hoops up for our Hoopers workshop this month. But this worked out well!
A core issue a lot of the dogs face is being distracted by people - whether that's because people mean exciting things, or perhaps people are scary.
So we adapted the workshop to suit that. We focused on disengaging from people who had food or toys near the hoops from both an excitement and anxiety perspective.
Very few videos from today, but check Chase out working independently from his caregiver with people holding the hoops - this would've freaked him out a while ago.
The aim for any workshop we do is to help you and your dog in day to day life. We managed that today!
Well done Team!
This is a boring video. For Neville, that's amazing.
A super handsome Labrador, he massively struggles with anxiety around noises and dogs. He also can't be for long periods, especially after the loss of the other dog in the house.
His caregivers felt like it was an impossible battle to fight.
But here he is, sniffing in the presence of other dogs and relatively relaxed around a huge amount of noises.
This is due to the Sniff to Safety programme for anxious dogs, recently introduced in my behaviour consultations. It's the quickest way for building confidence and changing associations.
Neville's future is looking bright!
Well done to him and his family!
Can you spot what they're looking for?
At Detection Dog Club, we worked with some tricky scented objects the dogs had never searched for before, from gorrilla tape to sticky tape, cloth and cut up tea towel.
Nothing easy for these guys!
This is what the DDC is about - pushing boundaries to create robust, confident search dogs. We're well on our way with this group!
What a way to finish their block of classes.
As of now, Detection Dog Club is full! There are no spaces left. But due to demand, I'm opening up an exclusive waitlist for those that want to take their dogs to the next level. Once there's enough of you, we'll open up a second class slot.
Interested? Email me at [email protected]
Well done Team!
Reactive Roamers is about practical training in the real world. It's what your dog needs.
On the second Saturday of every month, we take people and dog reactive dogs on an adventure. The aim is to teach them the skills necessary to deal with day to day life.
In the first clip, Bailey and Lune (Luna is the sighthound in the background) are learning to trust people again. After a horrific set of circumstances, they became quite reactive towards people. Here we're using other attendees to teach them strangers lead to go things. For Bailey that's food, but for Luna it's about watching and understanding that nothing bad is going to happen.
In the second clip, we have three entire males all co-existing together. These dogs all massively dislike entire males, but we've practised skills and behaviours to reduce their reactivity. Great stuff, right?
In two hours we can accomplish incredible things.
The next Reactive Roamers is on Saturday 12th April. If you'd like more info, reach out at [email protected] and we'll go from there!
Nosework changes the lives of dog reactive dogs.
The spaniel on the left is Harley, who struggles with reactivity. We did a Half Day Overhaul last year and, as is common, moved him onto Nosework classes.
Here he is having his first interaction with Tesla, another Spaniel in his class. Very polite, very calm, and very quick.
This would have been impossible a couple of months ago. While Harley is so much better around strange dogs, making a friend? Not on the cards until today!
Nosework classes get the dogs where they need to be.
If you want your dog to overcome their reactivity, join us on Wednesdays or Sundays. Let me know if you want more details!
Let's talk about social learning!
A common theme of Nosework classes is dog-dog observation. Both from a reactivity/settling point of view (just learning to exist around each other is a vital skill), but also from a Nosework perspective.
My original tactic used to be isolation - having new dogs work outside of the main group before a slower integration.
But for the dogs who can cope, it actually works a lot better to have them try out some of the more advanced skills around dogs who have practised. In each clip, you can see that here.
Cleo the Spaniel joins in with a big clove search with her group, then Frankie watches Lexi the Beagle do some scentwork. Finally we have Rosie the Show Cocker Spaniel doing some indication work while the other dogs search.
The point of these searches isn't so much the searching, but the integration into the group. Next week we'll focus more on the actual Nosework elements.
But, for today, Highcliffe Castle played a great staging ground for making new friends and learning how to co-exist together!
If you've been desperate to find your dog a safe space to work around other dogs, and learn a great skill? You're in luck - Nosework classes are here!
It'll be your dogs favourite hour each week, promise.
Well done Team for a great start to your next block! A waiting list is available for Wednesday classes, with a single space left on Sundays too!
Email me for details ([email protected]).
Detection Dog Club was in full swing tonight!
Molly and Eric smashed their room searches, learning to work up high on balconies and navigate across difficult chair-based terrain!
Meanwhile, Bailey and Rosie learnt to do their first clove searches, and began to pair the scent with their sit behaviour.
It's our most focused class of the week, purely dedicated to developing the most robust Detection Dogs we can! All about the Nosework!
If you'd like more info on these classes, they are held on Tuesdays from 7pm-8pm at The Factory Space in Southbourne. Email me at [email protected] and I'll ping you some details, including an application form (as this class isn't for any dog!).
Well done Team!
Curious about our workshops? Listen in on our biggest reactivity/recall/loose lead walking/prey drive one ever!
Rather than just showcasing the incredible dogs in our Fizzy to Focused workshop, I thought I'd talk you through some of the exercises and concepts we were tackling. Over the course of three hours, the dogs smashed it!
Our workshops are designed to push your dogs to the next level - whether it's reactivity, loose lead walking, prey drive or recall you need help with!
I'll post a general list of the workshops we do in the comments.
Well done Team!
Introducing the DDC - Detection Dog Club.
All of my Nosework classes are inclusive and available to all dogs - but this one? It's a bit different.
The aim of our Scentwork classes at The Factory Space in Southbourne is the creation, development and maintenance of pet detection dogs. This is the class focused on the nerdy stuff - real life search scenarios, detailed training plans, intense searching.
It's simple really - if you genuinely believe your pet dog has the skillset to be a proper 'detection dog', then this is the class for you.
Check out Molly and Eric doing a room clearance. There are ten scented hides in total - five for each dog. Molly searches the left, Eric searches the right. They work in tandem, leaving no stone unturned. Top tier stuff.
We've just introduced Bailey the Rommie Rescue to Scentwork too, but no videos of her yet!
This is the level we're working at. This is the level your dog could get to.
We run these classes at 7pm-8pm on Tuesday evenings.
Interested? Email me at [email protected].
Only apply if you want the ultimate Scentwork experience, week in and week out. This isn't a class for everyone!
Helping you achieve your ideal dog. Reactive dog and Nosework specialist.
