I’m having SO MUCH FUN teaching Maui some agility foundations 🤩 I’m amazed at how quickly he picks up things, and I’m learning to become a better trainer because of him too ❤️ weekly sessions and homework in between is going well so far 😊
Waffle’s reactivity session
Look at Waffle smashing his reactivity session today 🤩
We achieved a distance near another dog today which his owner was so happy with 😊 we had a varied session with lots of movement, “find its”, “this way” and general focus work - this was just a small snippet of today’s work 🐾
Note there is no need for nasty aversives, no corrections (yanking upwards with a slip lead), no standing in front of the dog or any of that “be the leader” nonsense - just the beauty of reward-based training and setting up a session and the environment to help the dog succeed, and guide them to make better choices 😎
Well done Waffle 🥳
(Big thanks to the wife Whiskers and Tails Devon for assisting with our little girl Kolo too, who always is the best stooge dog 😍)
Had loads of fun doing a recall session with little pocket rocket Winny in a local park this evening 😍🤩
What a beautiful day ☀️ Today I’ve been busy making some DIY hoops so I can do some more Canine Hoopers (@caninehoopersuk) in my own garden 🐾 🐕
Today’s reactivity session with Snoop, a reactive Daschund 🐾
Here’s a little snippet of Snoop’s reactivity session today 🤩
😎 This is only his second session! So this progress and being this close to another dog (and being able to be calm and disengage) is credit to the work his owners have put in since working with me.
It was so lovely to hear that walks are slowly becoming a lot less stressful for both Snoop and his owners, and awesome for me to see the progress made between session one and two 🐾🐕
Advice to dog owners who are looking to choose a dog trainer 🐶
Advice to dog owners who may be looking to work with a dog trainer, and don’t know where to start or what to look for! 🐾
Link to UK Dog Charter as mentioned in video: https://www.dogcharter.uk
🌟 This little superstar did so well this evening!🐾 This is Winnie, who today started learning that walking on a loose lead results in good things happening in the form of tasty hotdog 🌭 🤩 Look at her go! Our next session we will be doing recall work 💪 looking forward to seeing her again as she was such a star today 😊
🤩 This might not look much to some but this is some AMAZING progress which we made today! 🐕 I’m not one for before and after videos, especially if a dog is stressed or scared in any “before” videos. So I’ll describe it: when I first met Wilson, the front door would open and he would freeze, not wanting to go past the front door and on to the drive, or anywhere near the road. 🏠 Together with his awesome guardian, we taught Wilson a “target bowl” game in different contexts (in the house and garden) then gradually brought the target bowls out on to the drive.🥳Following my gradual and Wilson-tailored plan over the last few weeks, we’ve now been able to fade bowls out of the equation and we are now well on our way to Wilson not finding the drive and the road so scary! Super proud of Wilson today ☺️🐾
🤩 This might not look much to some but this is some AMAZING progress which we made today!🐕 I’m not one for before and after videos, especially if a dog is stressed or scared in any “before” videos. So I’ll describe it: when I first met Wilson, the front door would open and he would freeze, not wanting to go past the front door and on to the drive, or anywhere near the road. 🏠 Together with his awesome guardian, we taught Wilson a “target bowl” game in different contexts (in the house and garden) then gradually brought the target bowls out on to the drive.🥳Following my gradual and Wilson-tailored plan over the last few weeks, we’ve now been able to fade bowls out of the equation and we are now well on our way to Wilson not finding the drive and the road so scary!Super proud of Wilson today ☺️🐾
😍Little video update of the awesome Oscar I wanted to share with you all, to show how well he and his main guardian are doing with his training 😍
They are smashing:
🐾 Settle training
🦮 Loose lead walking
🐕 Recall
My aim is to leave clients in a place where they feel confident to continue the training which I teach them, so I love nothing more than receiving video updates such as these 😊
🥇 Massive client and dog win today!
Oscar is a dog who is usually jumping up on the counters, stealing food, in to shopping bags and in to the dishwasher (all things his owner said he does regularly).
Look at this little snippet of what we achieved today in one session 😍
A little bit of settle training achieved around the distractions of:
🧍♀️ Owner walking around the kitchen
🏠 Opening the fridge
🍗 Leaving items on the table
👏 amazing work by Oscar and his owner!
🗣️ Let’s talk counter surfing and begging for food…
💭I get asked a lot during consults “how do I stop my dog doing X” and a lot of the time my answer to that is “what can we teach them instead?”
🥘 One common problem is counter-surfing or begging around food. Dogs act in the moment and of course will attempt to take that food off the side, or “beg” for food. But have you taught your dog what you want them to instead?
🛏️ In this video example, I guide you through how to teach a dog to stay in their bed during food preparation times (and the same training can be done around human dinner times or other moments you dog acts “inappropriately”).
💰 As with all training, things need to be built up gradually. But the magic happens when we teach the dog that being in their bed is more rewarding than jumping up on the counters or begging for food - because they’re going to get paid for staying right there!
🐶 It’s so important to be consistent when implementing training like this in the house. Dogs will only return to behaviours which work for them, so if you’re trying to teach a dog not to counter surf, and one day they reward themselves by grabbing a tasty piece of meat from the side, the behaviour of counter surfing starts to become strengthened again.
🐾 In this training plan, what we essentially do is teach dogs that counter surfing / begging produces no rewards, but their bed becomes the most rewarding place ever! So over time their “go-to” becomes to chill in their bed, rather than counter surf / beg!
🐈 Shout out to my cat Elsa for some cameo appearances in the making of this video 😂
🐕🚶Here’s a short loose lead walking tutorial for you to try with your dogs! There are numerous ways to start loose lead walking but using food bowls like this is one of my favourites.
1️⃣ Stage 1 - place approx. 5 bowls down with one small treat in each bowl (we’re using small pieces of cut-up hot dog here). Space them out and allow your dog to walk up to each bowl. Do this in a low distracting environment such as your garden
2️⃣ Stage 2 - leave the bowls empty and walk your dog up to each one, but for this stage we are the ones to place a treat in the bowl when we get there
3️⃣ Stage 3 - once your dog seems to understand the game, stop when you get to each bowl and wait for your dog to look at you. Mark and reward the moment they do and place a treat in the bowl
4️⃣ Stage 4 - start to reduce the number of bowls and repeat stage 3, but also start to reward the dog for engaging with you and walking on a loose lead between food bowls too! You should find after the first 3 stages that they have slowed down and are engaging with you more - be sure to reward them every time they make these choices 🤩
5️⃣ Stage 5 - start to remove food bowls completely and reward loose lead walking every couple of steps initially. Change direction often and reward when the dog is by your side
6️⃣ Stage 6 - make more difficult by increasing the number of steps between your rewards, adding distractions, or going back a few stages and starting in a brand new location
This game helps to build engagement on a walk and sets your dog up so well to be able to reinforce them for being on a loose lead alongside us. But as with most training plans, it takes time and patience.
Lastly, a big thank you to the amazing Bee for being such a superstar for this video ❤️🐾
