K9guss

Professional Dog trainer and instructor for pets, working dogs and assistance dogs. I have trained pet dogs, gun dogs, Police dogs and assistance dogs.
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I have listed status with the Kennel Club to run training courses under The Good Citizen Dog Scheme at Puppy, Bronze, Silver and Gold level. My name is Andy Gussey and I have over thirty years of experience in dog training. I was a Police dog handler for 11 years training and working German Shepherd dogs and specialist search Spaniels. Since 2001 I have helped other people train their dogs; I have

listed status with the Kennel Club to run classes covering the Good Citizen Dog Scheme.I conduct classes for puppies, beginners and advanced dog handlers and I can schedule one to one sessions to help dog owners train and handle their dogs. I have worked with a wide variety of different breeds from Great Danes to Border Terriers and everything in between with a variety of training and behavioural needs. As well as my Police German Shepherd dogs I have always owned English Springer Spaniels, I love their energy and character. I was brought up surrounded by working gun dogs becoming involved in their training as soon as I was old enough and later working them myself. I now find myself to be the proud owner of a miniature Dachshund, full of character. I have also been involved in training a number of therapy, wellbeing and assistance dogs for a variety of purposes.

29/08/2024

K9guss can now be found on Instagram. How modern 👴

29/08/2024

Sending the dog back for a seen retrieve

28/08/2024

Getting your dog to stay while you throw a retrieve,before being sent is great control, better for their joints and a great first step to more advanced retrieving.

27/08/2024

Pepper demonstrating her retrieve over an obstacle on Bodmin Moor.

25/08/2024

Spent the day at Harlyn Sands, Cornwall yesterday where they were lots of barking dogs 🙉. The ones I looked at appeared to be barking to get a ball thrown, or to get their owners off their butts, which worked as that’s what the owners did! I would suggest the owners are rewarding a behaviour they’d rather not have! 😉 A fairly simple one to rectify, but people seem to accept it. Not necessarily great for everyone else trying to enjoy themselves on the beach though! 😉

22/08/2024

Around sheep is no place to have your dog off a lead, no matter how well trained you think it is. Dogs like to chase stuff, sheep like to run away. That’s a recipe for disaster. Don’t take the risk unless they’re your own sheep🐑 🐕

21/08/2024

Another beautiful walk around Derwent Water yesterday. A good dog doesn’t shake until after the retrieve is complete 🐕 I’ll spare you the pictures of me embracing my Wim Hom self and joining Pepper for a swim

20/08/2024

Patrolling Hadrians Wall, ready to repel any attacks from the North

19/08/2024

Yesterday we climbed 1900 feet to the top of Deadwater Fell. Views of Scotland to one side and England on the other. Sunny at the bottom, not so much at the top. Pepper had a cheeky wander into the heather and flushed a couple of grouse. That’s 16 miles Chip has clocked up in two days.

18/08/2024

Making the most of my summer break. Hiking with the dogs. Chip May have short legs but she’s fit as a butcher’s 🐕 As for Pepper, she can run all day 🐶

13/08/2024

I have new group classes starting on the weekend of 31st August - 1st September.
I have a few places available as follows:
Puppies - 10am Saturday or 3pm Sunday
Adults (over 6 months) - 11am Saturday or 9am Sunday.
Cost is £90 for a block of 5 classes. The course ends on 12th-13th October as there are no classes on 14th-15th or 21st-22nd September.
Family are welcome to join in or watch.
For further details or to reserve a place please email me at [email protected]

13/08/2024

A few pictures from classes last weekend. Congratulations to those who got their awards, including the Expert Searching award.
It’s really great to see the improvement everybody gets with their dogs. There’s some amazing stories within the classes. Dogs that were reactive that now aren’t or much reduced, no recall, to recall running free with other dogs, from dragging the owner along on the lead to beautiful off lead heeling.
Consistent training with the right guidance generally gets rewarded. That’s a wrap for classes until we return on 31st August. 🐕🐕

12/08/2024

Just returned from doing a talk about Police dogs and their training to the Norton Radstock U3A group. Even managed to get a friend with a professional search dog to do a demonstration Had a great time. Love doing these talks. Anyone part of a group that has guest speakers and would be interested in booking me in, email me:
[email protected]

09/08/2024

How well does your dog listen to you as opposed to anticipating the next command / action??

07/08/2024

Following on from my last post. If your puppy (or older dog) doesn’t naturally retrieve and bring the item to you, start really easy, don’t give the dog the choice of running off. I like to sit with my legs forming a V against a wall or similar. Lots of praise, don’t be in a hurry to take the article from the dog. Throwing it again is all part of the reward. Don’t do too many in a row. Finish on a high

05/08/2024

Getting your puppy retrieving as soon as you can is great for having fun and building a bond with them. It also occupies those razor sharp teeth and best of all will really help with recall later.
Top tips: Encourage them to bring it you you, don’t go towards them. Don’t be in a hurry to take it off them. Throwing it again is all part of the reward. Don’t do too many in a row, always finish with them wanting more.

02/08/2024

Don’t forget there are no classes this weekend. See you all next week

29/07/2024

I often get asked if family or friends can also come to classes to watch or join in. The answer is yes they are welcome. Jo wanted to know if she could bring her baby with her. No problem, here she is walking Chester beautifully to heel whilst pushing her baby in the pram.

25/07/2024

Saturdays 10am class, doing their off lead heel course

17/07/2024

Can’t get my editor App to work on the videos I took at last weekend’s classes, so here is Pepper doing her distance control. It’s getting better because I’m persevering. You can see how much she wants the reward at the end. That’s the key 🔑🐕

15/07/2024

A few pictures from Sunday’s classes

15/07/2024

A few pictures from Saturdays classes

05/07/2024

Full weekend of classes starting this weekend. We’ve got new puppies, adults, and nosework dogs as well as continuing Bronze, Silver and Gold Award classes plus home in time to watch England tomorrow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⚽️ 🐕🐕🐕

29/06/2024

I have new group classes starting next weekend.
I currently have space in a Scent Class at 2pm on Saturdays.
If I had a couple more new adult dogs or puppies I might also add another new class at 9am on Saturday mornings.
If you are interested private message me or email [email protected]
Class details are on my website www.k9guss.co.uk

17/06/2024

One of the keys to successful training is finding what motivates your dog so that you can use that as a reward.
If you don’t reward your dog why would it bother?
If you leave food down all day and your dog grazes, you over feed it (lots of people do!) or you feed it before you take it out food is less likely to be strong motivator for training.
If toys are lying around the house all the time, they will have less value when you are out and up against higher level distractions.
Remember there are different types of food and toy and some are way more exciting than others. In the photo Chip has selected her favourite.
If you give your attention away as soon as your dog gives you a nudge, barks at you, goes to the back door etc then your attention will be less valuable.
You control the dogs access to these potential motivators. Make them valuable and use them to reward the dog in training.
Not many people would go to work for free, not many dogs will train well without rewards.

14/06/2024

If you are struggling to train your dog to do something, down, stay, walking nicely, recall or whatever. You need to work hard to try to overcome that. Don’t give up easily. Find a method or system that you believe in and implement it. If things start going wrong or backwards return to the system. I’ve been training the stand and the down with Pepper for a few months (I hadn’t bothered before) it’s not come easily because like most spaniels, she’s a ready sitter. I’ve stuck at it and now started adding a little distance control.
1. How much do you want the behaviour?
2. Don’t give up.
🐕

09/06/2024

Congratulations to everyone who competed in the Search competition today. The winners and 2024 Champions are Sadie with Dewey.
2nd place was Kathryn and Lexi (who are also the reigning obedience champions)
3rd place was Amy and Nala.
Great effort by everyone.
🕵🏻🐕

07/06/2024

This Sunday the K9 Guss Search Championships are taking place.
The following dogs will be competing for the title. Dewey, Barnaby, Lexi, Nala, Parker and River.
Good luck 🤞🐕

Address

Keynsham
Bristol

Telephone

+447814252983

Website

http://www.K9guss.co.uk/

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Videos

Sending the dog back for a retrieve

Sending the dog back for a seen retrieve

Steady retrieve

Getting your dog to stay while you throw a retrieve,before being sent is great control, better for their joints and a great first step to more advanced retrieving.

Retrieve over obstacle

Pepper demonstrating her retrieve over an obstacle on Bodmin Moor.

Water retrieve

Commands

How well does your dog listen to you as opposed to anticipating the next command / action??

Puppy retrieve

Puppy retrieving

Getting your puppy retrieving as soon as you can is great for having fun and building a bond with them. It also occupies those razor sharp teeth and best of all will really help with recall later. Top tips: Encourage them to bring it you you, don’t go towards them. Don’t be in a hurry to take it off them. Throwing it again is all part of the reward. Don’t do too many in a row, always finish with them wanting more.

Heeling whilst pushing a pram

Saturday10am Classes off lead heeling

Saturdays 10am class, doing their off lead heel course

Distance control

If you are struggling to train your dog to do something, down, stay, walking nicely, recall or whatever. You need to work hard to try to overcome that. Don’t give up easily. Find a method or system that you believe in and implement it. If things start going wrong or backwards return to the system. I’ve been training the stand and the down with Pepper for a few months (I hadn’t bothered before) it’s not come easily because like most spaniels, she’s a ready sitter. I’ve stuck at it and now started adding a little distance control. 1. How much do you want the behaviour? 2. Don’t give up. 🐕

Sit and Down progression

Adding time and distance to your sits and downs should be done incrementally. Don’t move on until you’ve nailed the step before. Build solid foundations and go from there. As always “stay” and “wait” not necessarily 😉

Sit stay

When you tell your dog to sit (or anything else) how does it know when to finish? The words stay and wait are just English words and are not required.

Heel work

Bit of heeling with Pepper. I use a toy as a lure in the same way we use treats in class to get the focus. When you’ve done the hard yards you don’t need the lure to be visible anymore but I still reward at the end.

National Police Dog Champion 2024

Congratulations to my old dog section colleague Nick Dalrymple of Avon and Somerset who has just won the National Police Dog trials for the third time with his third different dog. To win it once with one dog is incredible. I can’t imagine this feat will ever be matched again. Here is PD Eva doing her chase and detain 🤛🐕

Recall training: With puppies take advantage of the fact that when they are really young they just want to follow you. Make coming to you fun and fun rewarding

Sit, Down and Stand puppy training

Puppy training sit, down, stand. Using a treat as a lure to get the puppy into position. No commands needed yet. Add them later. No corrections, only reward for getting it right.