Did you know that you can help make medical treatment like routine surgeries much less stressful for your dog by preparing them for certain elements in advance? 😁
Handsome Odin in the video is booked in for his castration next week. To minimise stress factors for him, his owner has been teaching him that the dreaded "cone of shame" which lots of dogs really dislike is a really fun thing to wear.
This means that when the time comes and he has one put on him after his operation, he won't be extra stressed out by this weird new thing! 😊
Odin has been practising wearing his cone at home and also happily played the game of putting the cone on and off in the examination room during his pre-op check at the vets today ⭐️
Music credit: Duomo - Wildest Dreams
Being a typical Spaniel, Dougal can get really excited with his surroundings which meant that he would pull during his walks. He loves working with his people and in only a matter of weeks his behaviour on lead completely changed!
The first video below is from our last training session when we first introduced the idea of resetting him into the position on our side and the second one is a couple of weeks later where his guardians had been working loads and had even named the position! Well done on the amazing work!! 😍🎉
The third is a bonus video of Dougal walking past a big crowd of early morning commuters – look at that focus and lack of pulling to greet everyone!!😍
Sharing this video from our Puppy Club days 💛💙🙂
Being aware of this technique will really help you when your puppies enter adolescence, or when you start taking skills you've taught them at home into higher distraction areas.
Often, our dog's environment offers rewards that are much higher in value to our dog than the treats we have in our pocket. This can be frustrating - OR you can use it to your advantage!
➡️ The key to rewards is that they have to be rewarding to the learner, but they do not have to necessarily be edible. ⬅️
So, this means that if your dog finds something in their environment really rewarding, you can use allowing access to this activity as a reward for good behaviour.
This works especially well when you are working with a breed that has been specifically bred for a specific job (most breeds to be honest). They will find certain activities HIGHLY reinforcing and since we can't just ditch our dog's genetic makeup, we can instead use those activities to shape the behaviour we do want to see.
Instead of the dog desperately trying to access these rewards by pulling, barking, running off etc. and frustrating us in the process, we can communicate to our pup "Hey, if you walk on a loose lead/ come to my whistle/ give me a moment of eye contact/ etc, you can sniff the grass/ run after the bird/ greet the person"!
In the video you will see working cocker spaniel George. Spaniels were bred to spend the day zigzagging through the undergrowth at 100mph, flushing out birds and other critters; calm and slow walking in a straight line does not come naturally to this breed type!
To George that morning, being allowed to let out his inner Spaniel in the grass beside the pavement was a lot more reinforcing than the cheese I had in my pocket. For walking to heel nicely, every now and then I would release him to have a sniff and snuffle in the grass, and then we would continue on at heel again.
Other breed types may find other activities m
Let's meet...Utility breeds! 🐩
Utility group dogs are a variety of different breeds that generally come from a non-sporting lineage and in days gone by were bred to perform specific working roles. As the name suggests, most utility breeds were developed to be useful and beneficial to our lives.
This breed is super popular at the moment, but did you know of its original purpose? 🐀
Let's meet...Toy breeds! 🧸
Dogs in the Toy Group are small in size but typically big on brains and affection. They can make perfect companion and lap dogs whilst still being ready for action whenever required.
You've probably heard of Frise, Maltese... but have you come across 🍝?
No, not the pasta dish, although they do share the same place of origin! 😁
Let's meet...Gundog breeds! 🦆🦮
Gundog breeds were originally bred as a hunting companions, assisting in finding and retrieving live or shot game in a variety of settings.
Gundog breeds are incredibly popular as pets and we would love to know if you share your life with this particular breed? If you do, what made you choose it?
Let's meet...Pastoral breeds! 🐑
Originally bred to work with livestock, dogs in the Pastoral Group are capable of working long hours, surviving in harsh conditions and retain the innate ability to corral other animals. Pastoral breeds are used in various countries for working with cattle, sheep or even reindeer.
Have you met this magnificent breed? 🐑🐏🐕
Let's meet... Hound breeds! 🐇🐕
Originally bred for hunting, the hound group informally consists of scent hounds, dogs that hunt by tracking a scent, and sight hounds, who spot their game and run it down.
This stunning breed is quite popular in the UK and is often found as part of the mix in Lurchers. Do you own this breed or a dog who has this breed in the mix? What would your advice be to first-time owners?
🐇🐕
Let's meet...Working breeds! 🐕🦺
Working Group dogs were initially bred to perform practical duties, including acting as watchdogs and pulling carts and sleds.
Do you have one of these beauties in your home?
Our beloved dogs are one of the most diverse species on the planet! They come in a huge size range, different coat types, face shapes, colours and so on 🐕🐩🦮🐕🦺
Whilst dogs are also being bred with physical appearance in mind, most breed origins actually lie in a specific purpose (think herding, guarding, hunting...) which shapes not only a breed's looks but also their behaviour traits.
When deciding on a breed, breed type or breed mix, it can be very useful to learn more about the breed's original purpose and what sort of behaviour tendencies you may find yourself facing with your new dog.
We thought it would be fun to introduce a few different breeds from the different breed categories - we certainly learned a few new things and maybe you will too! 😁
Kickstarting our dog medley roulette with the Terrier group! Breeds in the terrier group were initially bred to kill vermin (which they remain very good at), but they have become beloved pets too.
Do you share your life with this breed? 💛 What insider tips would you give anyone considering adding one to their family? 🐾
Our next fun game to play for 💃Jazz It Up January💃 is this super easy recall game!
You can play it in the house or in the garden, or even out and about, and as with the previous game you can also use your dog's meals if you want to (trickier in multi-dog households though 😆).
📣The goal of the game is to re-condition your dog's response to their recall cue in a fun and upbeat way, creating a more enthusiastic and reliable recall.
You can use a verbal cue, a whistle or any other recall cue that you use.
Top tip: sneaking away is much easier when you aren't trying to film at the same time 🤦♀️😂
Does your dog overreact at certain triggers? This could be displayed through staring, barking, growling or even just freezing and be aimed at anything from strangers to other dogs or even moving vehicles.
Whilst working on changing their emotions and behaviour, maintaining a good distance to their triggers is really, really important.
However, sometimes you might suddenly be faced with a trigger unexpectedly, like a person and their dog coming around the corner and walking towards you and your puppy on the pavement. If your dog feels uncomfortable around other dogs, you ideally don't want to force them to face their trigger face-to-face like this!
The easiest way to get out of a situation like that is to use a well-practised Emergency U-turn.
Not only does practising this skill thoroughly provide an efficient and seamless way of creating the required distance for your dog, but because you've trained and proofed this behaviour using positive reinforcement, it also provides a feel-good moment for your dog (and you!) during an often stressful situation 💛
Food obsessed dog?!
Earlier this year, we were caring for a foster puppy who was very into his food and also very big. As a result, he had been jumping up on the dining table whenever we sat down to eat.
We had two options to pick from:
1. Confining him to his crate, puppy pen or behind a baby gate while we ate so he couldn't practise the behaviour, and we could eat in peace (management)
Or
2. Teaching him how TO behave during mealtimes (training)
Whenever we chose option 2, we used a lead tether to prevent him from jumping on the table and accidentally getting reinforced by a tasty bite of our lunch, and then mostly ignored him and just casually rewarded snippets of appropriate behaviour.
You can also use this method to teach the elusive "off switch"! 😉
💡SUPER SECRET DOG TRAINER TIP 💡
If you’re wanting high value, healthy rewards without getting your hands manky and your wallet empty: try this! 🥳
These are silicone travel tubes (the one in the video is a “Go Toob”). You can get them in different sizes and colours, they’re super easy to clean - quite probably dishwasher safe, but I don’t have one so I can’t confirm for certain 😅.
You can fill them with anything tasty and mushy, and a really easy filling is just some wet food of choice! I use Crave in this video but any variety will work. Blend it to the right consistency and voilà! A magical high value, clean and tidy reward!
My dogs LOVE these for recall but you can also use it for loose lead walking or any other training scenario.
A simple and fun game to play on a rainy day that provides your dog with both physical and mental stimulation 💪
Of course, you can also play this game when the sun is shining and vary locations - in your house, in your garden, or even out and about!
Sniffing is super enriching to our dogs, builds confidence and can promote calmness too.
Collies that freeze, lunge and chase: a chat with Ellen Greenwood -Sole (The Urban Herder)
TONIGHT, 7PM!
Ahead of our series of Edinburgh workshops with guest trainer Ellen Greenwood-Sole, we will be having a chat all about herding breeds and how their natural, hardwired instincts can get them into a bit of trouble in more urban environments!
If your collie barks at, lunges at, stalks or even chases things like cars, kids, bicycles or joggers, this live is for you!
*** 4 spaces left on this course, with Ellen Greenwood-Sole from The Urban Herder - Herding Breed Specialist ***
Border Collies are a wonderful, quirky breed with a innate, hard-wired herding instinct. In the urban environment without any sheep to practice their herding on our urban herders can mistake other stimuli for sheep from cyclists, joggers, children and cars. Resulting in lunging, barking, spinning or laying down when they are close by.
Across the No, not that Sheep! course Ellen will help you understand the mindset of our herding breeds, show you how to understand their behaviour and to train your Border Collie more appropriate behaviours for the urban environment.
With results seen from session one Ellen transforms walks for herding breeds and their owners. No need to rely on harnesses to take the strain when they lunge, head collars to spin them round when they abruptly turn at the sight of a car or a the desperate reaching for a ball to distract.
Ellen will use an array of behaviours from automatic check-ins, engagement games and address the often fearful state our herding breeds enter when carrying out the herding of cyclists, joggers, children and cars.
The course runs over the following dates:
🚗 Session 1: Online Sat 4th September (recording available for those not able to attend)
🚗 Session 2: In person 121, Sat 11th September (various time slots available)
🚗 Session 3: Online follow up, Sun 26th /flexible
£150 for the complete course, email [email protected] for more information and to book.
Happy 1st Birthday Talisk! 🎈 🎂 🎁 Thank you for being our ever patient teacher and for helping us understand the challenges of raising a lock down puppy so we can better help others!
