Deer training for the feral one. 🐾🐾
We've just started doing some scentwork games after a break of several months.
Remembers the game.
Bit rusty... but drive to keep searching and ignore distractions can't be faulted! 🤣🤣
(Anyone want to buy a 3 month old kitten?!! 🤦♂️)
Lovely session with Toby the Border Collie.
This rescue boy was farm bred and found himself in rescue as simply too much for a previous home.
He has really lucked out with a wonderful new family who have asked for my help to work on some of his behaviours and building his confidence.
He's clearly had some 'old fashioned training' in his former life and so we dont want to put any pressure on him.
He also has that real working drive that we need to meet because it has to go somewhere (dont fight genetics!). When we meet the need, it is easier for him to 'switch off' and relax which helps him to be a 'pet' dog rather than a farm dog stuck in the the wrong environment.
So...informal training! No pressure, just friends playing.
🐾 Herding - meeting needs and channelling, not supressing.
🐾 Swaps - adding value to dropping/leaving. Distance and choice takes pressure off. The new game is the reward.
🐾 Tug - building toy motivation for future work and value in coming in close.
Just fun and feeling our way through as Toby lets us know how HE wants to learn and be helped.
This game will change and evolve over time but will always focuss on FUN.
The rings were good to lower intensity rather than balls (and brought in the tug element).
After this he switched off and watched a German Shepherd chasing a frisbee. Nice and relaxed, with no need to herd. 👍
Shaping up nicely 😊.
Fantastic work Team Toby - brilliant stuff!!
🐾🐾🖤🤍🐾🖤🤍🐾🤍🖤🐾🤍🖤🐾🐾
Lovely bit of training with Bertie.
🐾 Bertie doesn't much like other dogs. 😡
🐾 Bertie VERY much likes balls. 😵💫
🐾 Bertie calmly watches dogs chasing balls! 👐
Great work my super 🌟 buddy!!
'Boring' training is effective training 🧠🤓🤔
🖤🐾🖤🐾🖤🐾🖤🐾🖤
(Not so) Little Boy Blue.
This young lad has a lot going on, he's a very anxious boy, he gets very over excited by the environment and he's bang in adolscence which does all sorts of crazy things to a dogs brain.
So this is a fantastic bit of focus and calmness.
To get this it started in the house, even clipping the lead on which he is worried about. (There is a reason we are on collar and not a harness for him).
We took our time at the front door.
Then we spent some time on the drive.
And only then did we start to explore a little bit of the street.
Baby steps, allowing him to adjust and calm through each stage. Going at HIS pace.
Teaching is about breaking things down to tiny steps and going at the learners pace with kindness and understanding.
That's how I 'train' my clients and then they use the same skills and approach for their dogs.
Very proud of Team Blue, lots more to do, but fantastic work and shows what we are capable of. 👌
Well done!! 💙🐾💙🐾💙🐾💙🐾💙
Lovely session with Patch this week!
Having been attacked when he was younger, Patch is understandably not a fan of other dogs.
He is also very excitable and gets abit carried away once his beagle nose kicks in and has a tendency to forget his people.
Having made some good progress, Patch has had a little relapse lately. So this week we went somewhere very quiet. We dont need to work around other dogs at the moment, we just need to go back and reset our foundations.
A mix of CALM scent activities and rewarding him when he engages with us... reminding him we are having fun and exploring TOGETHER as a TEAM.
Once we changed the environment, we could see that a lot of the previous progress was still there. Although it felt like things had fallen apart, we were still way ahead of where we were in the early sessions. We aren't starting again from scratch... we are just easing up a bit and suring up some foundation stuff.
Training is never linear - there are ups and downs for us all and the ability to step back and make things a bit easier for our doggy friends is a vital part of any behaviour modification.
It shows a real empathy and being tuned in to our dogs, rather than getting frustrated, and increasing pressure which usually has the exact opposite effect of what we want.
This is the REAL side of training that we need to understand and be honest about.
Well done Team Patch - awesome work!! (Even if you did mock my 'professional tone' in between all the swearing and laughing!! 🤣😝)
🐾🐾❤🐾🐾❤🐾🐾
Playing 'Ball' with your dog isn't necessarily a good OR a bad thing.
What's more important is HOW we play.
I am against continuously ball throwing as this can put strains and jarring forces through the joints as well as adrenalising our dogs and often leading them into a state of over arousal.
In this clip of me playing with Albert there are several things that are quite deliberate
🐾 On some throws, he has to wait - working on his self control.
🐾 He is asked to sit or lay down - to make sure he is not over aroused and unable to listen.
🐾 I get his focus on me and make sure the ball is still before releasing him. With vision atuned to movement, the game becomes harder. This part will often be into the grass or ferns. Once he can't 'see' the ball, it becomes a searching/scentwork game and a completely different form of exercise and mental stimulation.
🐾 I do throw in some simple, quick chases so he does get the excitement and help feed his terrier instincts.
🐾 Throwing the ball into the water adds a different challenge for him to get hold of it.
🐾 A few throws at a time is plenty. I throw somes treats on the ground for him to snuffle, changing his mind set and making sure I dont abruptly end the game and leave him frustrated.
Finally - he is not a gundog/retriever.
Simple retrieves are not a natural behaviour for him.
We see it as play, no pressure.
It's not about precision training, it's about understanding and meeting his needs for a happy dog 🐾🐾💙
Little holiday for Team Dogs Plus.... and lucky to have a whole load of 'nothing' on our doorstep!! 😄
Have a good bank holiday weekend folks x
🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕
Happy Recallers
Little holiday for Team Dogs Plus, and we are lucky enough to have a whole load of 'nothing' on our holiday doorstep! 😀
Have a happy bank holiday weekend folks! X
🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕🐾
Play!!
Beautiful Bramble having lots of fun at today's session!!
So many benefits to play....
🐾 Making us more fun than the environment
🐾 Building relationships
🐾 Physical exercise (for both 😉)
🐾 Calmness and 'thinking' what she can offer to start the game again, rather than jumping up.
🐾 Learning 'Out' or swaps
🐾 An outlet for natural instincts
🐾 Learning to manage arousal - that all important on/off switch
Well done Team Bramble - awesome progress and lots of fun!! 🐾💕🐾💕🐾💕
Lead work with Olde English Bulldogge
Lovely session with Chester the Olde English Bulldogge 💙
Having been rehomed to his new family, and in the midst of adolescence, he can be an excitable lump who doesn't always stop to think.
He's already a big, powerful lad, lacking some basic training.
Dogs do what works for THEM, so big dogs can easily learn to use their weight to get what they want.
We make sure we reward plenty and really reinforce calmness, focus and giving in to a little lead pressure.
We DONT try and match him physically, it's NOT a battle of wills - we work with him. With LOVE, kindness and UNDERSTANDING.
2 minutes before this video, Chester was pulling to get to me, so in this clip I am the distraction and they do wonderfully.
Once we got that nice baseline, we wandered to the local shop to watch some more people coming and going.
Just Watching... a real life skill for young dogs to learn.
Great work Team Chester - you were fab!! 🐾💕🐾💕
Working Cocker Spaniel
Mad as a box of frogs, working cocker Otis.... showing how much calmer he can be when we set him a task such as following a trail in this case.
It's like that crazy friend that talks 100 mph and bounces from one subject to another so quickly and randomly that you can't keep up!!!.... and then you sit them down with a book and ask specific questions and chanel that energy in to something task driven and focussed.
Your crazy friend is actually really intelligent.... their brain just works a bit different (it's almost like the rest of the world moves too slow for them). 😉
Dont fight the Spanner....embrace it!! 🤎
Well done Team Otis - love being a part of this family's journey! 🐾💕🐾💕
It's a shame we can't control what pops up on our social media feed...
Idiotic post from a so-called trainer bemoaning the use of sheepskin tug toys, as if using one will create a blood thirsty, crazed sheep killer of your dog (which will then no doubt transfer to small children)!! 🤦♂️🤦♂️
Anyone who thinks this has NO IDEA about how dogs learn and do or dont generalise.
In fact, rather than provide a great outlet for natural behaviours, whilst playing and bonding with your dog... they would rather use an electric shock collar to control and supress an animal they are meant to love.
So many myths, so many idiots and so many damn right nasty people all given a platform on the good old t'interweb!!
I wont share or even name as I wouldn't give the satisfaction or publicity.
So I'll just get on with doing my thing, helping and educating and showing people how to help their dogs and train with kindness.
But people need to be aware of huge amounts of 💩 advice out there and question everything.
I've had to pick up the pieces after some of these horror trainers methods so remember -
If it don't feel right... it probably aint!!
Stay safe and keep your puppers safe folks.
🐾❤🐾
Xx
Beautifully, Beagley and Bonkers Bella!!!
Lovely session with this Beagle x Frenchie.
She struggles with information overload from the environment and scents hitting her quicker than her brain can cope with!!
So we put that beagle nose to task with a little job to slow her down and try and re-connect that nose to the brain!! 🤣
Great work Team Bella 👌🐾🤎🖤🤍
It may be cold out... but this sort of training warms my heart!!! (Cheesey....but true)
Using positive reinforcement and kindness to teach Kaba how to come away from tempting things on the ground (in this case we have some treats under the cone... in real life, it might be 💩!!! 😱🤮🤣).
We use treats and excitement to reward her for coming away and giving into a little gentle leash pressure.
What sounds better to our dogs...
"Dont eat it! Leave it! Bad dog!" 😠
Or...
"Hey buddy, why not come and have this with me instead?!?" 😁
Fantastic work Team Kaba 👏👏🐾🐾🤎
Scentwork
When Mum's out we encourage clambering over the furniture! 🤫🤫
Albert is searching for a small piece of felt with the scent of cloves (how christmassy 🎅🌲) on the picture frame.
Nice searching Little Broon Dog!! 💙💙
Social Skills
Bert came to the office today! 💙
Helping young Nutmeg with her social skills and to learn that we can walk with doggy friends, but that doesn't mean we should lose our heads and have an hour long mad play session.
Not to pester other dogs to play when they are not interested (grumpy Albert 🤣), to remember our people are still here and to enjoy exploring sniffs together but independently.
We also did some nice walking on lead together as well. It's important to get that balance.
Remember, 'socialisation' is something that happens in a specific window during the first 16 weeks of a pups life, where it is important that all experiences are positive.
Social skills is something different!!
Well done Team Nutmeg 💕🐾
(Must shout out to Team Monty who also had some Albert help after.... but being a super wizzy working cocker spaniel, he didn't stand still long enough to video!! 🤣 but Team Monty were equally excellent!! 💕🐾)
Tuggy Training
Great to catch up with mishievous Maeby, the border collie pup today.
One of the things on our list to work on is walking nicely on the lead.
The problem is, Maeby has decided she likes to be about 10 metres from her owners at all times!!
They have a good relationship, she is not scared of them, but a few factors may contribute to this...
🐾 Adolescence - training? What training?
🐾 Intelligence - smart dogs are great for training, but we have to make sure they don't trick us and change to the rules to suit themselves!!
🐾 Genetics/breed - whilst BC's have been bred to work with people - a lot of that can be at great distance. Compare this to a labrador retriever whose job is to come right back to deliver.
🐾 Inadvertent history of learning. A bit of ball throwing and she's learnt to anticipate the 'fun' to be thrown out, so she moves away to be ready! (See above - too smart for her own good)
So if we jump straight in, we are setting everyone up to fail!! Think how much easier lead walking will be if we first make sure the dog WANTS to be close to us?
If we rush we put pressure on the dog and ourselves. We get frustrated - that has a negative effect on relationships and trust and no-one trains well in that mind set.
So lets add that value in!! Lots of hand feeding when she comes in to us and rather than toys that we throw the fun away - we play with toys where all the fun and value is right up close and in our space!!
(We're also practicing some basics in the garden where Maeby finds it much easier, so we do the drills and get the skills 👌)
As well as setting foundations for training - we can have lots of fun and all important bonding at the same time ❤❤.
TRAIN SMART.
TRAIN FUN!!
Lovely stuff, well done Team Maeby 🐾💕🐾💕🐾
(The sheepskin puller from Tug-E-Nuff toys a great success once again!)
Calming an over excited pup
Having lots of fun working with this young lad, Max.
He's a pointer type rescue from Cyprus who has really lucked out with his new family a few months ago!! 👍
So we have adolescence, personal and genetic history and a new home environment all to contend with... bring it on!!
We have been laying some good foundations for Max to learn how to work with us and enjoy training in the garden, because this is where he could cope.
He's been getting some good habits for lead walking, learning how to get rewarded (calmly!), how to think and make nice choices and how to use that wonderful nose of his!!
Even with all that foundation work, we need to appreciate that the 'big world' is stimulus overload for Max!!!
If we ask Max to walk nicely right now it would be like taking a 5 yr old child to Disney Land and then sitting them in the middle of a busy thoroughfare and trying to teach them algebra!!! 🤯🤯
So we set the outside environment up with lots of goodies to engage Max's amazing nose and catch his attention straight away.
This slows him down and gives him focus.
He is not quite sure of the treats under the cones - we can help him and show that we are still a team even when outside.
Max becomes more aware of us as part of the environment - we can reward him any time he checks in or looks at us.
Then we transition to hand feeding more treats.
He starts to focus more on us and less on the environment. It takes time, but in between we are keeping that nose down which keeps his attention in the immediate area.
At this stage, we dont need to go further. We dont want to try 'lead walking'.
We dont want to set Max, or his mum, up to fail!
THIS is fantastic work from both. This is very tiring on the nose and mind. This is very rewarding. This is laying the FOUNDATIONS.
Sorry for the long post - only some of you will still be reading. Social media does that to us and gives us spaniel brain! Already bored, distracted and moved on.
(No offence to spaniels -
