Hels4Dogs

26/08/2024

😴 Sleep 😴

Is so important! Without it we can’t function properly and there are lots of things sleep helps with.

Appropriate sleep reduces risk of bite incidents because it allows for better emotional regulation, better mood and less of the tired mind set that can lead to escalation of aggression.

Processing of information and experiences, and learning happens during sleep.

How much sleep does your dog or puppy get?

22/08/2024

Important Post
(Trigger warning: euthanasia and death)

This is Huxley, a dog I hit the end of the road with. A dog that broke trust repeatedly, but also a dog that loved me and gave so much.

I’ve been wanting to write a post on this topic for a while and had a conversation this morning with a sensitive and strong woman that has catalysed me to write this.

In the force free community there is a strong message used in marketing and communications that implies an ability to cure or eliminate all behaviour problems. This implies that there is always something you can do, always something you can put in place, and crucially always something illusive that you don’t know about that you can do.

Now at some level there are always things to learn, always! But the idea that every behaviour concern can be fixed doesn’t equate to simply needing to learn more.

In my years of experience I’ve had my frustrations, my own fears that I don’t know enough or that I’m making the wrong decisions. But the reality is that many people are in the same boat.

Coming to the end of the road with a dog - your own, a clients, in rescue - is an unfortunate, harrowing, and deeply painful place to be. The options you have become fewer and fewer, the ability to stay safe less clear, and the feeling that you could always try things for longer, do more or try one last thing.

Dogs that do unsafe things live in a grey area of possibility. “If we just try this then we can maybe get here” “we haven’t done X protocol, we can’t make any decisions til then”. I found myself in this cycle a number of times.

The minutia of behaviours that we look at and scrutinise often don’t lend themselves to representing the bigger picture and prolong an outcome that is kinder and safer for everyone involved.

Some things to consider:
- is the trust broken?
- is there anyway you can see yourself or anyone else managing this behaviour for the rest of your dogs life?
- is the behaviour a legitimate risk that cannot be easily mitigated when taking into account human error?
- finally is quality of life or welfare for both dog AND person compromised?

If you need to talk about this topic, I’m always listening.

13/08/2024

🩷Lola Update🩷

This morning lovely Lola began her life on the long line. Lola had a complex history of being an imported puppy that was never sold, relinquished to kennels as a rescue with her littermates. She went to one home that wasn’t suitable, and has landed with her lovely owners who are prioritising helping her get her needs met.

Lola is a loving, social and active dog, who cannot be let off lead due to a high interest in livestock, cats and other wildlife. This could put her in a dangerous situation if she were left to make her own choices. This has lead to excessive lead pulling and more reactivity issues due to lots of tension. Her owners have been managing her so well but Lola needs some more freedom in her life.

🩷 access to secure fields and other dogs to play with while there has been a game changer.

🩷 introducing the longline and teaching her to raise and lower her arousal accordingly. Longlines are for decompression not exercise and running.

🩷 introducing some more durable and interactive toys to meet her chewing needs and to help with her higher stress levels.

🩷 finally just managing expectations of her and her owners has meant that everyone is beginning to learn and relax into a new rhythm.

Very very proud of Lola and her owner. A true example of how a few changes can make all the difference 🤩

27/07/2024

Welfare - what does it really mean to your pet

Good welfare is something I think everyone feels there pet has but if you critically assess the things you do with your animal based on some of the above factors, are you still sure.

There was a time when welfare referred to the most basic of needs, food shelter water etc. Nowadays it is so much more. Access to species specific behavioural outlets, feeling safe, being able to exist with their own species and more.

Animal and human welfare are not so different. We have other cognitive needs and complex emotional needs but so do our dogs.

My work prioritises welfare of person and animal, and really emphasises the importance of the animal in question feeling safe. That includes being free from punitive methods that are scary and painful.

If you work with me then you work with someone who takes a truly holistic approach and focuses on how everyone involved feels. You and your pet.

23/07/2024

Resource guarding is something all dogs do…Is it always a problem…no.

This video demonstrates how two very familiar and friendly dogs navigate one of the dogs telling them that they don’t want the other dog to interfere with their item.

Body language cues:

🥶 freezing. The dog with the item stops moving all together as a signal to the other dog to move away.

🐕 a very quick tail wag. Fluttering her tail around is a gesture of appeasement, saying “please please move away, we’re friends and I don’t want us to escalate”

👀 eye movement. Again as an appeasement strategy. When eye contact is broken the other dog moves ever so slightly away from the object and all that is good is restored in the world.

🪐 Space. The other dog adds a small amount of space as asked and the dogs feel a lot more comfortable.

There was no need for me to intervene here because these girls are great communicators. However, what if those things hadn’t worked?

⭐️ call the dogs away from the item.
⭐️ get up and move yourself away from the item and call the dog that doesn’t move.
⭐️ get the dogs to start engaging in another activity - you can use food - and go and retrieve the item at another time.

Disclaimer - these are just some suggestions, if you’re struggling with resource guarding towards you or other dogs please get in touch with a professional!

19/07/2024

Loose lead walking…why is it so hard?

Because it is a really complex behaviour to train and relies on so many different things being all perfectly perfect in order for it to be successful. It is heavily reliant on emotional state and sensitivity to environment and therefore is a tricky behaviour to just train and be done with.

Often behaviourists end up dealing with this “simple” thing because of how loaded it becomes for both dog and handler.

Some advice:

⭐️ Emotions: must be stable and in a good place for learning or performing trained behaviours.

⭐️ Reinforcer (reward): must be desirable enough and frequent enough for the dog to keep focus.

⭐️ Practice: must be done in all environments. And continued into adulthood.

⭐️ Environments: must be increased in difficulty gradually based on what the dogs decide are distractions.

⭐️ Expectations: must be adjusted depending on all of the above factors.

⭐️ Off days happen and training can fail!!

What do you find helps with your dog’s loose lead walking?

14/07/2024

Everyone who knows me knows I’m safety obsessed.

Dogs and people can be a really bad mix for one another without the right boundaries and sometimes we need to learn or err on the side of caution for things to be safest for everyone.

If your dog barks fearfully at visitors do not make them explore that person.

If your dog growls when they have a bone do not force them to share.

If your dog is showing signs of aggressive behaviour they are sharing an emotional state with you. Informing you of how they are feeling. They are not trying to dominate you!!

13/07/2024

Baby Buhund Apollo is a superstar 🩵
bu and his owner came to see me to talk through some ways we can help Apollo approach his environment and just help him find his feet in the world. It’s so lovely when owners come with a good idea of what they need to work on and have already put work in and some foundations in place. A key foundation for me is cooperative care work with a focus on specifically trained and conditioned behaviours that make handling a mutually acceptable thing.

🩵Apollo is doing so well 🩵

08/07/2024

The girls and I are back.

Make sure you book your follow up sessions. Make July the month you hit the ground running like Toph and her mates.

🏁 Not yet booked a consult or assessment? Now’s the time to start.

🎆 Noise phobia or fireworks an issue for your dog? We’re still in a reasonable time frame to make progress now before bonfire night.

🪶 Birds and prey animals an issue for your dog? Again now’s the time to start work before winter.

⭐️On the more serious side of things, if your dog has shown aggression, don’t delay starting to address it. We can work together and get things under control before they escalate further.

Don’t delay booking if you can, not because I want you to but because it’s easier to address behavioural issues the sooner they appear ☺️

05/07/2024

Toph says her holidays are going very well and she’s had the opportunity to taste many types of seaweed. What does your dog like to do on holiday? And if the thought of taking your dog on holiday is stressful get in touch ☺️

29/06/2024

Holiday time 🦭🦈🐠🐙🌊

I’ll still be posting some content but I’ll be quiet in terms of enquiries and responses to messages. Look forward to seeing you all when I get back and hitting the ground running after a much needed break 🩵

28/06/2024

💕Lola💕

Lola (GSP) lives with her good pal Norman (Viszla) and they get on like a house on fire. Sometime Lola can be a bit much for him and her owners to manage.

She is also struggling out on walks with predatory behaviours to pretty much anything not dog 🐶 we’re implementing a holistic approach to work on her response to other animals and to address her exercise regime to give her healthy outlets for her normal natural behaviours.

Pointing breeds are not for the faint hearted and her owners are doing a fantastic job, they just need a little boost.

If you need help with your pointing breed please get in touch, not only do I love working with them but I also love being able to share my knowledge with you 🩵

27/06/2024

We’ve been making good use of our time indoors because of the heat to do some training. Toph is a dog that does not need to wear a muzzle…ever…. But it’s good practise to train for any eventuality.

When I bought this muzzle it was soooo big for her but look at it now. Her smiling face through it says she has pant room, can breathe, can eat and just be comfy. She’s only just wearing it for small training sessions but she’s a real pro at this sort of thing so she’ll be used to it in no time. (That’s her natural talent at just being good at learning and not really minding equipment). If you want help training your own dog to wear a muzzle let me know 😃 I also have stacks you can try on ☺️

Don’t forget we get money off .muzzle.movement with our code HELS4DOGS 🩷

26/06/2024

Key tips for playing with your dog 🐕

It probably seems super easy but actually many go wrong.

We need rules to keep games fair and fun for both people and dogs, we need to keep arousal in a bit of a sweet spot and for the average dog that’s lower rather than higher - use scatter feeding, sniffing etc to bring it down. And we need a clear end point to games. Who likes to be left hanging - not me for sure.

On the flip side when choosing a game we need to make sure it’s one they like. If they don’t like tennis balls and fetch there’s not much point forcing it, you might put them off playing with you all together!

Hope these little tips help! 🤗

25/06/2024

Play is so important and has so many benefits to our dogs!



How do you play with your dog?

23/06/2024

Enrichment can be done whatever the weather ☀️🌧️

Here’s 5 enrichment ideas to improve your dog’s quality of life and getting them using their senses and putting their species specific behaviours to good use.

Let me know your top enrichment ideas below ⬇️

20/06/2024

Puppies - things professionals wish you knew

Love them or hate them they are tiny little learning machines that grow into big dogs with habits and behaviour built in puppyhood.

People will warn you about puppy farming but they won’t necessarily talk about genetics and the difference between a confident puppy and a fearful one.

People will tell you you need puppy classes and training but they might not mention that for it to work you need to do it all the time until your dogs is emotionally and mentally adult.

People have started to talk more about socialising dogs and not only introducing them to dogs. But they might not talk about prepping your dog for the situations that you want them to thrive in when they are older.

Puppies are a full time job and often like having a baby. If you need help get in touch.

It’s also possible for pups to have serious behavioural issues early on - in that situation assume your pup won’t grow out of it and please get some help straight away.

18/06/2024

📣Multidog households 📣

Is the thought of walking or taking more than one of your dogs out at a time very stressful? I can help with that.

I’ve had my fair share of stress with Bonnie and toph, where they both like to lead each other astray or decide they know best and chasing full pelt at a squirrel is a better choice than listening to little old me.

However, there are knacks and things that can really help with walking multiple dogs.

🐶 do the dogs have a base level of recall or does this need work before you try any multidog walks?

🐶 Are there groupings of dogs that are better suited to one another, are they going to give each other complementary energy/vibes or egg each other on and leave you wondering where your dogs are?

🐶 can they take it in turns off the lead? Can you create good habits one dog at a time. Just being in each others presence out of the house is a successful repetition of something you want to repeat.

🐶 are there ways you can increase engagement and can you do this safely. I.e balls, toys, encouraging them to stay closer. Can you do this with one of the dogs on a long line?

🐶 is it safe for you to use a long line with the dogs? How many and reasonably assess your handling skills. If not leave those dogs home.

Just some ideas or questions you should be asking before you attempt a multiple dog walk on your own.

This video features Bonnie, toph and iroh as pairs that thrive when walked together.

15/06/2024

Do you have a multidog household?
Does the idea of walking them all together fill you with dread or guilt?
Well I can tell you it’s no mean feat to walk more than one dog. Always having to know where they are, see what they’ve seen and also take into account each dogs behavioural needs.

Let me just say if you are experiencing issues with your dogs and you have more than 2 then you’re in the right place. My family have 7 dogs in total and I can proudly say that at the moment they all enjoy each others company and co-exist politely and in a really sweet way when they are all together. They have individual relationships and ways of interacting.

I can help you overcome, manage and improve the things you’re experiencing. Whether it’s that your dogs don’t get on, or if you’re experiencing resource issues, or you just want to make walks easier for yourself. I take a holistic approach and look at all aspects of each dog’s behaviour.

A little throwback this Saturday morning to last month and walking these three all together. Kris is spending a little time in Scotland with my parents at the moment enjoying the sea air.

13/06/2024

Vocab lesson 😅

Owners of dogs try so hard to use the correct terminology and try so hard to do the best for their dogs, so here’s a little extra scientific terminology for those extra dedicated owners to help take your understanding to the next level. It may also help you see why your dog exhibits certain behaviours in certain contexts.

These are some terms I think are really useful to understand if you are trying to embark on genuine behavioural and emotional change in your dog. Some you may already know, some you may not 🤗

Hope this is helpful, let me know below 💖

12/06/2024

⛔️Another boring video alert⛔️

Another environment, woodland. Notoriously difficult for predatory and “prey-sensitive” dogs like these 2 😂

The main aim of these videos is to try and demonstrate the reality of my time with Bonnie (code name 🐝) and Toph (code name 🫖). So much of social media is edited, only shows snippets of anything not just in regards to dogs or dog training and behaviour. You could say I chose this clip or this minute of footage and yeah sure there were parts of our walk which were rather higher in arousal or excitement but this is real, unedited and just us. But, this is a real 1 minute long video showing duration of a general desirable emotional state!

I also think to really demonstrate a general concept or attitude, or to show a dog has true generalisation of how they understand a behaviour or experience an emotional state then more than 30 seconds of footage is required. Any dog could suppress or do a behaviour for less than 4 seconds for a snippet in a reel.

I challenge you to post 30 seconds or more of footage on a behaviour that you think your dog knows really well!! Tag us!!!

This is here to show you that I get real long lasting results. Not just with my dogs but yours too 💪

10/06/2024

A weimeraner, 2 collies and a spaniel walk into a bar….Could be some kind of joke somewhere 😉

Watch the video, all the dogs are doing very different things in the same environment.

🦆 The Weimaraner is far away quartering on her own after scent. Hunting, alone which is what they are bred to do.

🎾 The Spaniel has a much similar agenda but does it much closer. They work with handlers at a much closer range to hunt point retrieve breeds.

🐑 the collies are doing circle-y things close to their handlers waiting for some indication of what to do. Working with their handler in close proximity. Of course collies do distance work but they listen close for those commands and have their circle instinct for rounding up sheep.

All dogs under control, all dogs doing their thing and having their predatory needs met!

thank you for the spaniel and collies in this video 😉

09/06/2024

I had an amazing time at the dog show today with - I was able to triage potential problems and sign post owners and their dogs towards appropriate training and behaviour services.

It wad a great day and these were just some of the gorgeous dogs we saw and helped 💜

08/06/2024

⛔️Boring video alert⛔️

Come on a walk with me and the girls 🤗 this was the vibe for todays walk. Some ball carrying, some sniffing, some treats - I still use lots of food with them because it makes their walk more enjoyable and I always want to reinforce what I see. Our walks are usually like this.

The walks we have are based on 4 (nearly 5 years) of training - starting the day I got Bon. The work I put into Bonnie and the skills I gave her dictated how successful the future we would have with Toph would be.

These sorts of walks and chilled behaviours are the result of a lot of hard work. I guess this post is about expectations if nothing else. If you want these walks then they may take years to achieve. If your dog is already battling a behavioural struggle then it may take longer or never be possible. If you want to stand a chance and are struggling…get in touch. There’s always things to do 🤗

07/06/2024

Find me at the ask the experts stand ☺️ details below ⬇️

📢FREE ADVICE!📢

Come and join me this Sunday, 9th June at the Pawprints Dog Rescue Annual Dog Show in Rugby where I will be available all day to answer your burning questions about dog training!

You'll find me on the 'Ask the Experts' stand along with clinical animal behaviourist Hels4Dogs and a veterinarian, and all of us will be offering our advice and expertise totally free of charge - though if you'd like to make a donation to Pawprints we'd be incredibly grateful 💜

The show opens at 9:30am and will be held at the Old Laurentians Rugby Club, Lime Tree Avenue, Rugby, CV22 7QT. There is also a fun dog show (with rosettes and everything) as well as trick training workshops, craft stalls, food, a gin bar and much more!

See you there 🐾

07/06/2024

Lots of focus is on XL bullies and their needs but I want to remind owners of all banned breeds that I can work with you!

I need to see your certificate of exemption and take a copy and see your proof of insurance but that’s it 🤗

If you need any support just get in touch!

05/06/2024

Do dogs have to have dog friends in order to be fully enriched?

My answer is no. No they do not. However…sometimes it’s more appropriate to try and meet this need if their other needs can’t be readily met all the time. If a dog can mix with other dogs it will lift their mood, help them remember how to interact with dogs, and give them a social outlet to help them cope in an environment that may be less than ideal for them.

For rescue dogs this can be a key factor to confidence building, learning, helping them simply be a dog. I have a real love of socialising dogs properly and today we were able to build calm social interaction between all the dogs in this reel.

Play is lovely, but it’s not always useful for dogs that are potentially moving into homes where they will be expected to walk past or be calm around dogs. Dogs can learn how to do these things and it was such an achievement to see all 6 of these lovely dogs thrive with their new pals.

Does that mean we should force our dogs to mix with others if they aren’t sure? No, we really shouldn’t. Our dogs are fine having the preferences they have. If they don’t feel like dogs are their jam then they’re not missing out.

This footage was taken on another important day spent helping my local rescue! Pawprints Dog Rescue have lots of dogs that can walk with and live with other dogs! Just get in touch.