What a team!! This wee one was adopted by a wonderful family who are absolutely committed to helping him but they described him as raging, terrified, anti-social, anxious and nippy.
This was our first session and, after chatting and observing him, we changed a few things We joined two leads together to make a longer one (@willowwonky style!), worked on handling skills, communication, body language, stress, etc...we covered a lot!
Mum was naturally quite anxious when in the park so I took hold of the lead to ensure it stayed loose, giving the wee one plenty of choice over his movements.
I let him move closer at one point as he wanted to have a sniff of the other dog's scent in the grass. Mum was busy giving lots of verbal reassurance and providing him with a sniffing game which he loved!
Aww, I am really going to miss this team! They have moved to much sunnier climes ☀️ ⛱️ and I wish them an amazing new life!!
We have been working with a number of behaviours from calm greetings, loose lead walking and recall, and everything else that goes into those skills.
This was our 3rd session and, owing to the hard work they all put in, they smashed it!! Being able to remain calm around squirrels is not easy for a sighthound but he did it!! 💪
A very honest owner who admitted to using harsh training methods (they didn't know another way) when this wee one was a pup. This led to guarding behaviours, aggression towards humans (biting), lack of trust, and reactivity towards other dogs.
I threw a lot at this family - everything from understanding canine body language, normal canine behaviour, meeting his needs, using positive reinforcement and recognising the fall out from using punishment, building trust, swapping to a longer lead, improving communication skills, and working on reactivity.
I am back out to see him again soon but the family are very happy with his progress so far 🥰 It is not easy changing your own habits or admitting that you got it wrong. A good trainer will NEVER make you feel bad or judge you. We are here to support you, guide you through your training, and build the bond between you and your dog.
A gorgeous wee Cockapoo whose guardians got in touch as they wanted to work on a few behaviours. We discussed how to manage unwanted behaviours without reinforcing them, how to interrupt unwanted behaviours again without reinforcing them, how to teach alternative behaviours, and even some baby prep 💕 This pup has never been able to lie down when asked but being able to SETTLE is a really lovely skill for all dogs to know. She is really playful so we made sure to make training fun and engaging for her. After only a couple of minutes of working on a 'down' using some luring, she was soon offering this without much support from us. This sets us up nicely to start adding duration, distance, and distractions.
Yep... More of my AMAZING photography skills 😂😂
This wee one used to run away from her harness. Chasing after her, grabbing her, or cornering her would only make this worse.
Instead, we allowed her total freedom to move throughout this exercise.
We never moved the harness during the exercise, only in between reps when the dog was making progress.
She did so well with this! By the end of the session she was choosing to put her head through the neck hole and allowed us to fasten it.
She could have walked away at any point and was given plenty of breaks during this exercise.
Next step... Building her confidence outdoors!
First session with Ellie 💕 She is such a sweet girl but she likes to chase the family's kitten 😅 She is fine with the older cats, though.
We focused on calmness during this session and introduced a SETTLE cue. We also worked on engagement and redirection.
Looking forward to seeing her again soon when we will be working on loose lead walking.
I love the random chat you get from 6 year olds! My nephew always wants to hold the lead so I gave him some simple pointers - use the lead at a length appropriate to the environment, move with Tia so that she can stop and sniff whenever she wants, and don't tug on the lead.
I love the wee run at the end! Tia is deaf now and partially sighted (17 yrs old) but she feels safe on the cycle path so often wants to break into a run here. 💕
Little Tia celebrates her 17th birthday today!! Massive happy birthday to our gorgeous and crazy little lady 🎈 🎂
This pup pulls like a train when he is in the car park! He flattens himself and pulls so hard to get home.
On the walk, we watched his body language closely, we stopped when necessary to help him calm down, and we rewarded all his loose lead moments. In the car park, we gave him a fun sniffing game to play. This really helped him relax and he interacted and responded so well to his mum after this. Great work x
I get it - dogs can drive you mad at times!! I have worked with so many people ready to give up on their dog or whose relationship is on the rocks owing to the dog's behaviour. If this sounds like you and you want some help, please get in touch!
This adolescent has been testing his owners' patience and they felt that no matter what they did, they could not stop his unwanted behaviours. He jumps up, nips at people, bites on RNG lead, does not respond to cues reliably, and never lies down. As a result, he was spending too much time in his crate which was upsetting for his owners as they wanted him to chill with them in the living room.
What we discussed: adolescence, demand behaviours, body language, positive reinforcement, creating new habits, meeting his needs, and being consistent and fair.
We made progress in the session and his mum carried on after I had left. She was so happy to finally see him lying down, relaxed, on his bed! 🥰
Play and exploration are a huge part of your puppy's development. Building confidence, encouraging problem solving, teaching appropriate behaviour, increasing the dog/human bond, using physical and mental energy, and providing an outlet for emotions.. these are just some of the benefits!
Provide your pup with toys suitable for their age, needs, and their preferences. Pups benefit from lots of different textures and long toys (to keep human flesh safe from piranha teeth!) Many gundogs enjoy toys that they can carry, terriers enjoy toys they can chase and tug games, some dogs love to chew.
I use loads of puzzle toys at home with Tia. We love the Kong Gyro, Spiral, our snufflemat (from Walkie Mountain Toys), Pupstrami, and loads of others, tbh! Tia also loves sniffing out treats. I hide little treats all around the garden and indoors and she will spend ages searching them out. When your dog is good at sniffing out treats, make it a little harder by hiding them at different heights, under pots, in rolled up towels, or even squashed toilet roll tubes.
Most importantly - have fun!!!
