Project Good Dog

13/01/2024

So we had a bit of leftover pizza… 🤭

At her 10 Hacks for reinforcement seminar, Jo Rosie spoke a lot about breaking behaviours to make them stronger. It essentially means finding weak points in our training by increasing the challenge; so that we know what to work on.

I think that today we successfully broke any semblance of precision and composure we had in our heeling 😅 but he sure as hell was determined to get that pizza!

10/01/2024

Lets see a few quick cycles of conditioned relaxation (or rather our version of it)!

Through conditioned relaxation, we try to create a repeatable pattern that helps our dogs to relax (the “eeeasy” cue), and to switch between different states of mind (“eeasy” to “alert” and back).

We could discuss at length whether Smejo is really “relaxing” or being calm in this video 🙂 . Probably not, these were very short bursts. However, he is able to achieve stillness and with my help, he would eventually truly relax.

I find this relaxation technique massively helpful. When world becomes a bit too much for Smejo, I can just sit down, take a deep breath, say “eeeasy” and he will let me guide him on his side and relax. We did this on loud car parks when travelling across half of Europe, we did this at busy training workshops workshops, in parks… It is priceless.

02/01/2024

Happy 2024 guys! One of my personal resolutions for this year is to share a lot more of our training and my thoughts. So, here comes a wrap-up post on what Project Good Dog (aka Miška and Smejko) has been up to in the past year!

2023 was all about embracing a flow-y rhythm in our training journey. We ditched the last attempts to follow linear paths and day-to-day plans which can sometimes overlook feelings and feedback. Instead, we adventured loads and pushed some boundaries in a thoughtful, but a lot more playful and flexible way. We loved the process, too. It seems that letting go of neat training plans and protocols was a good choice for the time being - Smejo is entering 2024 more confident, more level-headed and less anxious, I am a better (also a bit more level-headed?) handler, and together we are a better team.

Rather that sticking to just one strategy, we roughly alternated between two main approaches to easing Smejo's anxiety and reactivity - emotion change and emotion suppression. There was no grand plan to this, but it worked a treat.

Changing the emotion is The Big Goal to achieve, but it is bloody difficult to do well. The aim is to help the dog FEEL better about a trigger (usually by pairing it with something pleasurable), so that they can act better. Suppression of emotions on the the other hand is all about the ability to ignore external and internal distractions, THINK clearer, and as a result act better. It is usually built from basic obedience by progressively increasing pressure as well as motivation, a great relationship being a non-negotiable pre requisite. Suppression has a bad reputation because it supposedly only addresses the symptom, and not the cause of the problem. But do a bit of both, guided by the dog's responses, and the two approaches complement each other - suppression opens up a new window of opportunity to change emotions, and vice versa.

I was also trying to carefully undo some of Smejko dependence on my guidance (and lets face it, my urge to keep him close!) which I have been so meticulously building for the last two years. There has been more free time, opportunities to make his own choices and plenty of confidence building. We will be building up on this work in bit more structured manner this year, following the Braveheart book by Alex Lato.

We also experimented with "doggy mindfulness" - conditioned relaxation, Jo-rosie's dog yoga and body awareness exercises. We ended up practicing the bits and pieces I can confidently teach and Smejo enjoys. It is amazing to see how this training can steady Smejo's mind and open up a new channel for communication between us. It also thoroughly challenges me as a trainer. I never thought I would be trying to put facial expressions on a cue!

Last January, we joined a canicross club. To be honest, I was slacking it from July onwards, but it has been a game changer in giving Smejo an opportunity to be a in a group of dogs. In Summer we also started a new dog sport NOCA Dog Sport with our one and only Jordan Swankie! It pushed us to revisit obedience basics and nosework. We gave nosework a go shortly after Smejo joined our family, but it was not the right time. Back then, I just sucked at creating any clarity for him, and Smejo had no mindspace for it due to the emotional mess he has been in. But now? Oh boy 🙂

Another big theme in 2023 was silent and tactile communication between Smejko and I. It started with revisiting and cleaning up our lead communication thanks to Chad Mackin’s fabulous workshop. Who knew there was soo much more to long line work! Well, I didnt, but sure as hell am I glad I know now. Next I would like us to take this further by teaching tactile commands. The work on silent communication also continues with increased awareness of the body language "chat" between humans and dogs, but I have so much more to learn on this front.

We met so many amazing people and dogs on the way, and built beautiful connections.

And the best thing about 2023 for me? We were repeatedly complimented for the relationship Smejdy-boy and I have. ❤️

Bring on 2024, we are ready for ya!

08/08/2023

I have a backlog of like 5 posts, but I somehow dont have any new snappy training videos!

We have recently been enjoying a new level of communication ease and loads more off lead freedom, and that kind of stuff looks pretty boring on video. 🙂

So here is to boring looking leash drills, because good training shouldnt look dramatic anyway.

The gist of these exercises is to teach Smejko that good things from the direction of leash pressure.

17/07/2023

That is the Chad Mackin workshop finished. If I could only ever attend one dog traning workshop, I would probably want it to be this one. The amount of information was absolutely mindblowing, and all of it based on solid theoretical and practical foundations. No “quick fixes”, just good dog-centred training.

In the last two days, Chad demoed working through 6 behavioural cases - a mix of dog reactivity/aggression, idiopathic aggression redirected to humans and agitation/constant high arousal. All dogs made nice progress in their sessions towards a partial goal (you cant “solve” these cases in 1 hour!). We also discussed in detail Chad’s group socialisation protocol and worked through a group on leash exercise.

I am still processing all the information. Expect to see at least one more post with reflections!

On day 3, Smejko was already visibly tired, which also triggered a higher level of reactivity. He reacted to a few people moving around amd had a harder time recovering. On day 4, he returned back to his more relaxed and more socially-neutral self. He even managed to make a few human friends.

I tend to have high (unreasonably high) expectations of my Smejko. But this time, he really exceeded them all. It was a hell of a difficult environment for him - four 10-hour days among many new people and dogs with various behavioural problems. He did fantastic and I couldnt ask for more. And I am sure that next year, we will do better still 🙂

14/07/2023

📣 Day 2 of Chad Mackin’s workshop!

Today was all about practicing different aspects of leash and long line work. We learnt about measurable and subjective qualities of our communication with dogs throught the leash, and about levels of pressure. We also discussed leash corrections, which is something I dont really use in training, but find informative to hear about from trainers who use it sparsely and dispassionately.

Smejo has been on his BEST behaviour, to the point that Chad said that my problem for this part of the workshop is that my dog is “pretty well trained”. I am totally going to take that compliment and own it. 💅💪🤩

Not only has Smejo been working beautifully, he also settles among all the dogs and humans as if he never had any major problem with anyone. 🙄🤷🏼‍♀️ Okay, there was one small growl at a man, but that is nothing compared to the tantrum he would have had a year ago. I am very proud of my boy ❤️.

13/07/2023

That is day one of Chad Mackin workshop done! Smejo and I are knackered 😁 and I am happy to say that the little monster behaved exceptionally well! He looked like a well-socialised, calm dog 😉

Chad spoke at lenght about his leash training system, about the importance of cooperation and creating a conversation with the dog. He shared his thoughts on many cool topics from conflict, incentivisation and prediction errors all the way to human ego interfering in the process of training our dogs.

My favourite quotes from today:

“If you have to demonstrate your power, you have none.”

“Stubborness is just commitment to something we dont like.”

“Committing learning to memory requires emotional change.”

12/07/2023

Chad Mackin workshop starts tomorrow! I cant wait!

01/07/2023

Hello guys, I was quiet here for a bit as life took over posting on social media. We of course didnt stop training and having fun in the meanwhile! Last week, we returned from our rescue dog camp with Na konci sveta in Czech republic. I am still absorbing all of experiences and lessons learnt.

Before I put any coherent and hopefully helpful reflections into text, I thought I would at least share a few photos and a bit of info about Na konci sveta - the Slovak shelter where Smejko and Lusko come from.

Na konci sveta is a shelter in the very east of Slovakia, which is sadly a very deprived and isolated region. The shelter’s team of four people has already saved 1538 (!) dogs since 2019, plus many cats and horses. And no, that is not happy healthy village dogs being taken from the streets - these are mostly beaten, starving, ill or injured adult dogs and puppies (not to mention the psychological traumas they carry). It is not unheard of for Na konci sveta that someone hangs a platic bag with newborn puppies on their fence, or that they attend to dogs used as shooting targets or with thin strings tied so tigthly around their necks that it severes their windpipes over time. You get the picture.

Unlike many other shelters, these guys dedicate a huge amount of time to rehabbing their dogs before finding the best possible new families. They do everything from routine care, advanced physical therapies, basic obedience training, facilitated social learning and environmental training; all the way to agility, rally obedience, nosework etc with dogs who are in their care long term. Please give them a follow to see all the amazing work they do ❤️

15/05/2023

I promise he gets into the new crate eventually 👀 But that is not what this post is about.

This post is all about free shaping!

Free shaping is one of the many teaching methods we can use to train a new behaviour. It is a process of marking and rewarding little steps or increments that our dogs make towards the behaviour we want to teach them - without us humans gesturing, luring or manhandling them. All you need is your dog, a clicker (or just your voice), a prop if necessary and a plan of what you are going to mark for. You can free shape pretty much anything, as long as you can break the behaviour down into small steps.

Surely it is quicker to just throw a cookie into the crate?!

Yes, but the way we choose to teach our dogs a new behaviour can have a huge impact on the longevity and reliability of the behaviour, the energy the dog puts into it and his speed of response. Imagine you were learning a new phrase in a foreign language. Whether you learn it in school, overhear it in a conversation, see it in a newspaper or someone shouts it at you across the street will all impact how long you remember the phrase, whether you can use it in context, whether you can spell it and so on.

Plus, different learners can have different learning preferences. Those wiggly excitable dogs out there (like little Lusko) can greatly benefit from being taught through free shaping as it forces them to think about their movements. Dogs who are more “thinky” and dont offer quite so much movement can find it a bit frustrating to begin with. It is good to experiment with different methods for different behaviours.

This is a “real life” video of free shaping Lusko into the crate 😁 with added text to explain what is happening when.

08/05/2023

We werent prepared for this, but we do our best. We are a team. ❤️

06/05/2023

Training around livestock - teaching “you can watch”

When we got Smejo, he was yelling, screaming and lunging at sheep. This year, I have been trying to take Smejo at least once per week for a walk next to farms to teach him appropriate behaviour around livestock. I dont want to take any risks here, so he is on a long line and separated from them by a fence.

We started off by training obedience at some distance from livestock to get him used to their presence while he has a job to do. We then used the “look at that” game to teach him automatic check ins when he sees sheep (and it still needs some work).

Here, we are starting to incorporate some concepts from Simone Mueler’s “Predation Substitute Training”. He is a allowed to watch livestock as long as he remains calm and he is responsive to my voice commands. Watching livestock or prey is intrinsically reinforcing for Smejo - it is “visual enrichment”. He likes it, and as you can see, he learnt beautifully to control himself. As always, more work to do - but looking good!

I teach by rewarding even the smallest “good” behaviour, and setting us up for success. If things do go south, I would handle inappropriate behaviour by saying no in a firm voice and bringing him back on a lead. We would also go further away from the sheep or end the session there. Barking pretty much doesnt happen anymore.

13/04/2023

Thursday evening is Canicross time 🏃🏼‍♀️🐕‍🦺 Dundee and Angus Cani-Cross

10/04/2023

Flashy videos and the ugly stuff 😉

The video is from today’s afternoon in the city centre. He was awesome - Smejo’s obedience is 👌, engagement is🔥, our relationship is great, he has good environmental soundness, more confidence and so on.

Now that we have got the basics covered pretty well, it is time to look more closely at the remaining ugly stuff 👹.

Our biggest remaining difficulties are:

- dog reactivity at close distance, social skills
- guarding at home

We have a workshop and a camp coming up to look at dog socialisation and ironing out my handling of dog-dog interaction. 🦮🐕‍🦺

And as for the guarding 🫣… I guess I need to start organising more dinners and meet ups at ours to force us to work through it. Who volounteers to come over first? 😅

06/04/2023

04/04/2023

Smejo went to the bouldering wall with us today and he loved it! 🤩 I was expecting him to be a litte wary of all the people climbing walls, but he was nothing but excited to check it all out.

03/04/2023

Today we started putting together the head position and back end position for focused heeling. It is starting to look good methinks!! 🤩👌

03/04/2023

Three of our boys enjoying the sunshine today 👌☀️ How about you? 😻

29/03/2023

The match you have all been waiting for:
👹Dogosaur vs. Dinosaur 🦖

Can you see that look in Smejos eyes?! 😂

25/03/2023

There are many steps in teaching and proofing behaviours. The process is never really “done”, and that is the beauty of it! 🤩

Here is an example of Smejo dropping into down position on cue from heel.

It may look simple, but there are many skills a dog needs to acquire before he can do this, such as:
- very good verbal cue discrimination
- “multitasking” -> he is focusing on keeping a heel position AND listening for cues
- performing a behaviour without eye contact with handler (some dogs, Smejo including, find this challenging)
- understanding the criteria. If I asked for a dynamic behaviour, he would be expected to come back to heel. With a stationary behaviour like down and sit, he is expected to keep in position until released.

Happy training everyone! ☺️

20/03/2023

Today is International Day of Happiness.
What makes you happy? 🙂

16/03/2023

100%
If you want to change something, start with the human in the mirror.

‘Unless you change your behaviour your dogs behaviour won’t change’.

If you do the same things, walk the same walks, have the same approach and expect your dog to change, then it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at a dog trainer, the behaviour issues your dog has will NOT improve.

Change your behaviour first, meet your dog where they are at, rise to the challenge. That’s how you get long lasting behaviour change in your dog.

15/03/2023

Learning what “I am done” looks like. ✋🛑

This is a short session on head extension exercise for focused heeling. It is a really lovely session, but also one where I didnt quite read Smejo’s signals properly. 🥴

At 1:21 you can see the first small head shake. At 1:30 Smejo takes a second shake a sits down. Seeing that he keeps looking at me, I took it that we can continue the session (🤦🏼‍♀️). Well, from 1:32, his precision and focus goes downhill. At 1:50 he gives the ultimate ”mum, I am done” and I just try to end with a click.

Getting better at reading these small signals and stopping the session before frustration kicks in makes our training more efficient and more enjoyable.

Not that he needs a reason for not feeling like training, but I suspect that this was the result of him spending all his mental energy on not chasing a cat during our morning walk… 😀

10/03/2023

07/03/2023

Engage-disengage, Look at that (LAT), Automatic leave it - all these techniques refer to more or less the same protocol of changing the emotional response to a stimulus as well as the behaviour it elicits. In very simplified terms, it goes “see or hear stimulus -> mark -> reward” until it becomes “stimulus -> automatically look at handler -> mark -> reward”.

It takes time to complete, which is where most people go wrong. But it is very effective if time is not the issue.

Smejo’s default reaction to unknown animals is barking, lunging and potentially chasing and grabbing. There will be a mixture of emotions (not all negative!) and maybe some reflexes driving this behaviour.

What you can see in this video is us using LAT as we are passing by a field with two ponies and a horse. I help him out at first to remind him of the rules of the game, and then it is up to him whether he conjures some food and praise by automatically engaging with me instead of the ponies!

06/03/2023

Exciting news ‼️

Behind the scenes we have been working on something super exciting. We are bringing a new dog sport to Scotland which is open to all breeds. There is no bite work involved so please don’t ask. What is involved however, nose work, obedience, courage and agility, aka NOCA.

There is a lot of planning etc involved and we won’t properly open it up until 2024 due to all the work that is involved. However, on August the 27th we will be hosting a mini trial which will feature all of the events but in a much more condensed version. Numbers will be limited to make sure it runs smoothly. I got into dog training because I love teaching dogs to do stuff and I love encouraging owners to get out there and do something with their dogs. This is an outlet to do so. As you go through the levels you will begin to build a strong, satisfied and environmentally confident dog.

We will be starting a training class on Sundays specifically for NOCA trials and will be beginning to develop you and your dog to be able to proceed into the entry level trial next year. The classes will be capped to make sure we can give time to everyone who wishes to trial.

Please send Jordan a message on 07359158662 if you are interested.

This is super exciting and I’m excited to get it running 🐾