Fudge was a superstar on her session yesterday. Being a spaniel, Fudge is ruled by her nose and *occasionally* forgets she has ears when she's found a pheasant 🙉
After preference testing we found that Fudge will work best for toys, particularly tennis balls! However, tennis balls weren't quite enough when compared to chasing pheasants. So after a bit of research we decided to work with her breed traits and teach her to retrieve a rabbit pelt ball. By teaching her that when she comes back we have a really good game with her "bunny" we've successfully managed to recall her from following her nose 🙌🏻
It's still early days but we will be back with Fudge and her owner in a few weeks to see how they're getting on. Does your dog struggle with recall? Drop us a message and we will be more than happy to help!
#thedottybehaviourist #dogbehaviourist #dogtraining #recalltraining #workingwithbreedtraits #spaniel #toysasreinfocers #positivereinforcement
Some beautiful loose lead walking from Penny today 🫶🏻 Not a slip lead, shock, prong collar or any other aversives in sight! Just positive reinforcement! Penny is a big girl and previously, was becoming difficult for her owner to walk due to her strength on lead. We've been working on her loose lead walking over time and just look at the results. We only use scientific based, positive reinforcement techniques so you can rest assured that your dogs welfare and best interests are our top priority, not just quick fixes to get results!
If you need any help with training your dog please don't hesitate to get in touch!
#thedottybehaviourist #positivereinforcement #beasnackleadernotapackleader #dogbehaviourist #dogtraining
We had a great session with Finn over the weekend too! His owners got in contact for help with his reactivity towards dogs and generally not listening on walks. They decided to book our bronze package to get to the cause of his behaviour and for practical support. On his assessment it was clear that Finn's underlying emotion was frustration. He's a very social dog and finds being on lead very frustrating which leads to him lunging, barking and growling on lead. This behaviour obviously can look aggressive which can be worrying for owners!
We've been working on his reactivity and gaining his attention back on walks. His owners have worked really hard and Finn is now able to disengage from other dogs and connect back with his owners (even if he does occasionally like to let everyone know he's here 😂). Well done guys!
#thedottybehaviourist #dogbehaviourist #dogtrainer #positivereinforcement #dogreactivity #behaviourmodification
Chester smashing his loose lead and reactivity training last week! Previously his owner would have been dragged across this field and if he saw another dog in the distance he would lunge and bark in frustration. Fast forward a few sessions and he's doing amazingly! He's still a work in progress but he's come on leaps and bounds from when we first met him! Well done Chester and his owners 🙌🏻
#thedottybehaviourist #positivereinforcement #dogreactivity #forcefreetraining #beasnackleadernotapackleader #looseleadwalking
Great session with Grom this morning working on desensitising her to the muzzle. We're working on muzzle training so we can safely introduce her to dogs and for veterinary handling. Grom is a rescue so we have little history for her. She gets very frustrated around other dogs which presents itself as lunging, barking and growling. We plan on muzzle training her so we can safely introduce her to other dogs eventually and to keep her safe if an off lead dog were to approach her on a walk. Keep up the great work guys!
#thedottybehaviourist #gsd #positivereinforcement #muzzletraining #themuzzlemovement #shaping #dogreactivity #dogtraining #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification
Training walk yesterday for this handsome boy 💙
#thedottybehaviourist #positivereinforcement #staffy #dogtrainer #goodboy #cheltenhamdogtrainer
Gunner smashing is loose lead walking on his training walk last week. Absolutely no harsh corrections to stop him pulling, a simple slow stop and encouraging him back to where I'd like him. Nice and positive, just how we like it!
#thedottybehaviourist #positivereinforcement #looseleadwalking #dogbehaviour #dogtrainer #solotrainingwalks
Let's talk about sniffing and why it's so important for your dog!
On Merlin's training walk the other day, we were working on loose lead walking, recall and calm behaviour around dogs. He's only young so can get tired and distracted easily. This is where sniff breaks come in, he naturally took his time sniffing in the middle of our session so I let him! It's so important to let our dogs sniff and decompress whenever they fancy, it helps to lower arousal levels and gives them a chance to reset while training.
I often get clients that mention their dog sniffs EVERYTHING and no matter what they do, they're constantly having to pull them away. My answer to this; let them sniff! Dogs will sniff to gain information about the world around them, decompress from a stressful situation, reset during training or use it as a way to manage their anxiety as a displacement behaviour.
It is important to remember that sniffing has a function and ultimately it's a GOOD behaviour! We can use it as a training tool to help decompress from stressful events by teaching a "find it" cue or use scent work. So remember, let them sniff!
#thedottybehaviourist #dogbehaviour #sniffing #letthemsniff #functionofbehaviour
Here's Jet on his first solo training walk the other week 🫶🏻 He's only 6 months old and is learning how to walk on a loose lead. Being a puppy he gets distracted easily so we use a high rate of reinforcement to keep him focused as well as plenty of sniff breaks. He did really well and we can't wait to see him again soon!
#thedottybehaviourist #positivereinforcement #looseleadwalking #learning #dobermanpuppy #cheltenhamdogbehaviourist #cheltenhamdogtrainer
A wholesome success story on a Sunday for you all! If you've been following us for a while you'll know we've been working with Luna and her owner for quite some time.
Luna is a rescue with limited history and we were initially working on her reactivity towards dogs with the hope of introducing her to another family dog in the future. We learnt that Luna doesn't know how to interact with other dogs and is very quick to go over threshold and become frustrated. After a few attempts at introducing the family members dog, we decided to try and change Luna's expectations of other dogs. Previously, because she's a frustrated greeter, meets have been quick to go to off lead. However, Luna lacks the social skills to read other dogs and struggles to regulate herself during play.
Introducing super Dot. We decided to use Dot as a calm older role model and reset Luna's expectations around other dogs. We started with several parallel walks on lead to show Luna that she doesn't get to be off lead with other dogs straight away and we positively reinforced calm behaviour around Dottie. Over the last 6 weeks under our gold behaviour package, we've slowly built up to being off lead in the owners garden as this is the goal for the family members dog.
As you can see it went amazingly, when we first met Luna there's no way she would be able to be off lead around another dog unmuzzled due to her frustration. She was still a little overzealous at points but is still learning to read Dottie's body language and did SO well! We will be catching up with Luna and her owner in a few weeks!
#thedottybehaviourist #dogbehavourist #dogtrainer #dogbehaviour #dogsocialskills #reactivedog #positivereinforcement #goldbehaviourpackage
The fabulous Ali the dally smashing her training. Ali rushes forward to the door when visitors come to the home. There is a baby gate in place but she will then become frustrated, resulting in barking and snarling A.K.A barrier frustration.
By breaking down her training into small manageable steps and then chaining them together we have been able to use the sound of someone knocking on the door as a cue for heading to her station and remaining there while her owner answers the door. Ali still has something to say about it, obviously! #sassypants. But this is a huge improvement from her rushing forward to visitors.
Keep up the great work guys 🫶🏻
#thedottybehaviourist #stationtraining #visitortraining #barrierfrustration #chainingbehaviors #positivereinforcement #behaviourmodification #dogbehaviour #dogtrainer
On Friday we also caught up with Nugget and his owner who absolutely smashed his first loose lead walking session. His focus was much hard to maintain whilst near long grass but it's a great start! With consistency and time I'm sure he will pick it up in no time at all. Watch this space!
#thedottybehaviourist #positivereinforcement #looseleadwalking #behaviourpackage
1-2-1 dog training & behaviour consultations in Cheltenham and surrounding areas. BSc (Hons) & MRes
