Best Behaviour

21/08/2024

1-1 training with this young boy , 3 weeks in and a massive improvement with lead walking and more importantly focus ! Looking forward to another session tomorrow evening

15/08/2024

Week 1 of our classes, lovely to see a couple of familiar faces back to further their training !

Anyone wanting to join us next week? Monday 19th August at unleashed dog parks in Pencaitland
Puppy class 6:10pm
Beginner/intermediate 7:10pm
5 weeks left on course
Handout available for week 1 so you can catch up before you join us

12/08/2024

Looking forward to classes this evening, still places available in both puppy and intermediate if you would like to join us later!

24/07/2024

Last night of classes, well done everyone 👏 you were amazing 🤩 hope to see some of you back for intermediate training in August! Enjoy the rest of the summer 🌞

08/07/2024

Sorry I forgot to post these pics of our last class. Well done everyone 👏

08/07/2024

Week 3 (last week's class) looking forward to seeing you this evening ☺️

08/07/2024

Classes will be held in the field called Tyne this evening (first field as you come through gates)

24/06/2024

Last week's puppy class 😍 first night meeting these cuties, looking forward to seeing them again this evening

10/06/2024

08/06/2024

Week 3 😊 well done to you all, look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday

08/06/2024

A dogs neck is a very delicate part of their body!

The neck and cervical spine contain the spinal cord, this is where the nerves of the front legs originate. Excessive paw licking is quite often misdiagnosed as allergies when it is in fact pain.

Putting stress on the neck can cause painful disc damage and shoulder problems

A dog has the same number of vertebrae as a giraffe (think about that before choking a dog)

One of the most important structures of the nervous system "The Vagus Nerve" originates at neck level and this controls life essential organs like lung, heart, stomach, and intestinal tract.

The Thyroid gland is located in the neck. If this gets inflamed the immune system trys to remove the inflamed cells.
The destruction of the Thyroid gland cells can lead to hypothyroidism

Increased pressure put on the Jugular vein can cause seizures
Ear and Eye issues are significantly increased

Being je**ed on a lead causes whiplash and bruising.

The epidermis of a dog is only 3-5 cells thick
A humans is 10-15 cells thick

So WHY would anyone want to use a noose ....sorry I mean a slip lead?

A well fitted Y shaped harness is the safest and kindest peice of equipment to use.

03/06/2024

4 Spaces available in Beginner ( over 6 months) puppy class is full

Puppy ( under 6 months )
Beginner/intermediate
Starts on Monday 17th June 2024 at Unleashed East Lothian in Pencaitland
Puppy class begins at 6:10pm 🐾 full
Beginner/intermediate at 7:10pm 🐾 4 spaces
6 week course every Monday evening
Course fee £120
Please PM for booking details

🐾Covering all basic training such as sit, lie down, focus, polite greetings, lead walking, recall, wait/stay, leave and much more!

🐾Also teaches fun and engaging games and tricks like, rollover, peekaboo/middle, touch, spin/twist

🐾We end each class with time for the pups to socialise with each other and people

🐾At the end of each class you will be given a paper handout which recaps the class and gives you things to work on at home

🐾Classes of 6 pups means lots of 1-1 attention and plenty of time to ask any questions or help with any area in particular

🐾Fun and positive reward based training

🐾Classes are run by Elizabeth Steward who has an Advanced Diploma in Canine Behaviour management ( provisional CAB member of the APBC) and with the assistance of Ailsa Cassidy (IMDT) you will get all the help you need with your pup to set you up for a fantastic future together!

🐾 1-2-1 training and behavioural consultations also available

🌟Please pm for more information🌟
!

30/05/2024

Week 2 and well done for braving the rain hopefully we get sunshine next week 🙏

30/05/2024

Just a dog.
From time to time people tell me “chill out, it’s just a dog” or “it’s a lot of money just for a dog.” They don't understand the distance traveled, the time invested, or the costs incurred by "just a dog".
Some of my proudest moments have occurred with “just a dog.”
Many hours have passed being my only company "just a dog", but not for one moment did I feel despised. Some of my saddest moments have been because of “just a dog,” and on those gray days, the gentle touch of “just a Dog” gave me comfort and the reason to get through the day.
If you also think “it’s just a dog”, then you’ll probably understand phrases like “just a friend”, “just a sunrise” or “just a promise.” “Just a dog” brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust and pure unbridled joy. “Just a dog” brings out the compassion and patience that make me a better person.
For "just a dog" I will get up early, take long walks and look forward to the future. So for me and people like me, it’s not “just a dog,” but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the memories of the past, and the absolute joy of the moment. “Just a dog” brings out the good in me and takes my thoughts away from myself and daily worries.
I hope one day they can understand that it’s not “just a dog”, but the one that gives me humanity and keeps me from being “just a human.” So the next time you hear the phrase “just a dog”, just smile because they “just don’t get it”.
“Just A Dog,” by Richard A. Animals.
Painting by Steve Sanderson

Credits goes to the respective Owner ~

22/05/2024

Have to cancel tomorrow loose leash and recall class due to the weather 😞 where has summer gone?

22/05/2024

Class postponed but will resume next week for week 2 of classes

20/05/2024

19/05/2024

First night for puppy/intermediate classes outside at Unleashed Dog Parks lovely to meet you all and can't wait to see you on Wednesday evening!

19/05/2024

Week 5 at West Barns village hall and we went outside for some recall practice on the grass. 🤩 Amazing work
Thank you for the photos Ailsa Cassidy the action shots are fantastic

13/05/2024

1-2-1 Dog Training
Dog Behaviour management
Puppy training classes in East Lothian

08/05/2024

Looking forward to outside training & workshops this summer 🌞 join us to learn some new skills, brush up on previous training & socialize your pups

08/05/2024

Clever pups ❤️

06/05/2024

Today our breed expert Carol Price looks at a very commonly misunderstood form of aggression in the Border collie breed.

ATTACK OR DEFENCE?
Understanding the lunge-nip reflex in Border collies

Although aggression is an issue that should always be taken seriously in any dog - and may have so many different triggers or motivations - often owners and, indeed, the wider public, may not always understand the difference between aggressive responses launched more offensively and deliberately in dogs, to attack, and those which the dog launches more instinctively instead, as a more primal kind of defence response. And the latter can be incredibly common in herding dogs like Border collies.

I call this behaviour in Border collies the lunge-nip reflex. It is a totally instinctive behaviour in the breed, frequently by-passing more conscious thought processes, and the reason it is there goes back to their earliest roots as livestock working dogs. For the dog must have the respect of the livestock they work at all times, and if they do not react quickly enough – in terms some immediate defence reaction – when challenged or crowded in by them, then they could find themselves either badly injured or dead.

Further, once livestock learn that a dog, if challenged by them, will challenge them back, they can become that much easier to manage.

ACTIVATING THE REFLEX
Once we understand, too, the direct connection in the collie brain between some deeper sense of mental pressure, or threat, and the lunge-nip reflex being activated, we can also appreciate why this behaviour so commonly gets deflected, in non-working or pet collies, on to alternative ‘threat’ targets. Like a stranger person, or dog or even cyclists and traffic. Anything actually that comes moving more suddenly into their head space, and is more mentally unnerving to their more primal thought processes and defence reactions.

When dogs are in more restricted spaces or situations – like cars - or tied up, or on a lead – such defence behaviour can also become even more likely or intensified, due to the option of escaping any ‘threat’ by running or fleeing being no longer available to them.

Lunge-nip defence behaviour is also predominantly a ‘warning’ behaviour, and thus will most commonly result in either the dog ‘air snapping’ or inflicting minimal injury on anyone or anything it nips. Whereas a dog with a greater intent to attack will bite far more strongly and do far more harm. The same is true of dogs who lack sufficient natural ‘bite inhibition’, or who have never had the chance to learn it.

THE EFFECTS OF MENTAL PRESSURE
Every collie can be different, in terms of how strong their lunge-nip instinct happens to be, and how readily or not this reflex will be launched by them. But the key at all times will be first, to recognise how prone your dog is to this kind of behaviour and second, to understand the things that are most likely to trigger it. Then organise your handling and training of your dog accordingly.

Given the direct link in the collie brain between building levels of mental pressure, or arousal, and how readily the lunge-nip reflex will be used, then clearly the aim is to try to keep your dog from entering this more ‘dangerous’ mental zone as much as possible. Be aware that mental pressure can come from many different sources for Border collies. From higher, or more excessive, levels of sensory provocation - particularly sound and movement (like passing traffic) - or emotional states like fear, anxiety, excitement or frustration. Or a sense in the dog of feeling crowded, hemmed in or cornered some way by others.

THE MENTAL THERMOMETER
It can also really help to start seeing your dog’s mind more like a thermometer, in that the higher the temperature rises, the more likely it is that lunge nip behaviours will follow. Whereas the cooler and calmer your dog’s mind, the less likely they are to occur. Then do everything you can to both attain and sustain that cooler mental state in your dog at all times.

This may also involve working much harder on your dog’s general ‘focus’ and ‘impulse control’ training (covered previously on this page) an well as a more gradual familiarisation with, or desensitisation to, sensory experiences that may otherwise unnerve your dog.

For ultimately Border collies cannot be blamed or condemned for impulses and reactions that have been more deliberately hardwired into them, genetically, for generations, and for a specific working purpose. But we have the ability to better understand and control them, with better insight and training.

Meanwhile, much more on the origins of lunge-nip and other working behaviours in Border collies appears in BOOK ONE in my BORDER COLLIES: A BREED APART trilogy – SECRETS OF THE WORKING MIND, more on FOCUS and IMPULSE CONTROL training appears in book TWO – ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS & LEARNING – and all aggression issues in Border collies appears in BOOK THREE on BEHAVIOUR:
All text © Carol Price 2024
Carol Price collie books: In the UK from: https://performancedog.co.uk/product-category/books-and-dvds/authors/carol-price/ In the USA from: https://www.dogwise.com/ # and https://www.cleanrun.com/product/border_collies_a_breed_apart_book_1_secrets_of_the_working_mind/index.cfm In Canada from https://www.4mymerles.com/product-category/books/ In Australia from: https://gameondogs.com.au/ And in the Netherlands and Belgium from: https://mediaboek.nl/border-collies-a-breed-apart-book-1.html

28/04/2024

3 spaces left in our puppy training & Socialization class beginning this Wednesday evening outside at Unleashed Dog Parks
PM for details

1-2-1 Dog Training
Dog Behaviour management
Puppy training classes in East Lothian