Replying to @liz1907128
Do I know what an e-collar feels like?
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There is no denying all the dogs in this video are trained to come in from the garden and go to a place/bed.
Yet, the e-collar trained viszlas are cowering, can't meet their owners eye, and frankly look terrified.
My three dogs are bursting with enthusiasm and joy.
The argument between trainers who believe in using e-collars and those of us who choose compassionate methods is not a level playing field.
Those trainers have no idea how to train their dogs to the standard I see as a bare minimum. Confident, happy dogs who choose to respond. I would never take obedience through fear as a sign of success.
The video of those viszlas makes me sick to my core.
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Ignore all the pressure to have the best trained puppy. Instead, you're doing the right thing when...
🟨 You recognise that your little baby dog needs lots of your attention, and you don't worry about all the cuddles and fuss they need. Priorising your puppy's needs for safety and connection is the right thing to do.
🟨 You play games with your puppy that are about cooperation and fun. Playing tug? Let your puppy win and enjoy how they want you to keep restarting the game over and over. Teach games that are about your puppy chasing or running to you. Celebrate when they "win," and you'll have a puppy who loves interacting with you!
🟨 You know your puppy isn't deliberately trying to annoy you. They are just being a typical baby animal or are trying to get a need met.
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"Wait for your dog to go quiet, then reward them" or "teach your dog to bark on cue so you can teach a quiet cue." WRONG
Both these pieces of advice do not address the direct cause of why your dog is barking in the first place and generally just end up creating more confusion and frustration.
The vast majority of barking is from dogs either feeling uncomfortable/anxious or frustrated/bored.
It's impossible to give a single piece of "suits all dogs" advice in a social media post, but here's Robyn's story
When I first met her, she wanted her ball thrown obsessively. As soon as her person stopped, she barked. If the ball was put away, she was unable to settle herself and barked. It was loud and persistent.
Robyn had no idea how to self sooth or exist without constant attention. The complexities of why this is were teased out in the session.
My advice was; if Robyn shows signs of not being able to enjoy her off lead time and go and sniff, then throw her a handful of food to sniff for.
Mostly, Robyn was barking when we did this. 🔸️She got food for barking!!🔸️
As Robyn calmed down during that session, we changed to rules to 🔸️she got more food scattered when she was sniffing 🔸️
I then asked her lovely folks to continue with this plan.
Three weeks later, Robyn only barked once during our session. Some food was thrown, but it was significantly less than last time and Robyn showed extended periods where she just calmly went out her business sniffing. A huge change from session 1.
This worked for Robyn because she needed help calming herself down. She was struggling to do this and was directing her frustration onto ball play or by attention seeking. None of this soothed her.
By supporting her to sniff more and feel the intrinsic benefits of sniffing, she is now accessing this by herself without food.
Giving her food when she barked REDUCED the problem barking, improved her recall AND she doesn't need attention near as much.
Behaviour change
Got a reactive dog and can't imagine being in a group class with him? Well, look at little Vinnie. At one point, every dog made him anxious and now he's able to join a group class and make friends
Got a dog who's too friendly and gets frustrated when he can't approach a dog? Check out Romi, obviously feeling a bit frustrated he can't go right up to Vinnie but managing to soothe himself and then get back to training... unthinkable at one point.
Great work from both Vinnie and Romi's people 🥰🥰🥰
#dogbehaviourist #reactivedog #reactivedogtraining #rescuedog #glasgowdogtraining #glasgowdogtrainer #positivereinforcementtraining
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My dog's love having their leads put on. I've never intentionally used them harshly. Going on their lead equals the start of an adventure, not the end. Being on lead is a positive experience. I'm not worried by Bertie ignoring his every day recall cue. He's getting old, he's busy and I have other reliable cues, like the lead that he responds to.
In this video, Bertie is hunting for voles and ignoring his recall cue (bad trainer!). Then I hold up his lead, and he's straight over.
This is what you get when you avoid using corrections. Dogs who do not avoid you.
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Social media would have you believe that your dog needs to walk closely beside you.
Lead set ups that do not allow the dog to pull are ridiculously popular just now.
It's seen as the gold standard that a dog can be taken anywhere, regardless of the emotional toll on the dog.
I'll never want that for my dogs. I can't imagine anything worse than putting my dogs in situations that the only way they can be managed is a device where they cannot make any other choice.
Instead we have lovely walks where we cooperate. The lead is just for keeping them safe.
I teach my dogs how to manage their own behaviour, so they can deal with stressful situations without me forcing them to submit.
Sometimes, especially for sensitive Bertie, this means we just don't go into some situations.
I know my choices will never make me popular on social media but I can't ignore my knowledge of behaviour and the longterm impacts of stress.
I'll always choose compassion.
#dogbehaviouradvice #dogbehaviourist #dogtraining #glasgowdogtrainer #looseleadwalking #looseleashwalking
Is OK to pat other people's dogs? Have a listen to my thoughts 🔊
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Does it drive you mad when your dog/puppy "steals" something you don't want them to have?
Guess what, my dogs do it too! After all they are dogs and are evolved from scavengers and us humans leave tempting things in their reach all the time.
Even with well trained dogs like mine, sometimes the temptation is too much.
Today Otto had a sneaky raid of the kitchen bin and took some treat packaging (your rabbit pate is just too tempting JR Pet Products Ltd).
When my dogs have "stolen" something I ALWAYS act pleased. I always make a huge fuss, encourage my dogs to follow me and then swap for a high value treat (or 10!). If your dog is less experienced than Otto those treats should be put on the floor to help the stolen item fall out of thier mouth and not be accidentally swallowed.
Once my dogs have given up their item and eaten their treats I often (when it's safe to do so) let them have the item back.
By doing this, I'm helping to insure in the future my dog has really positive emotions about sharing their treasure with me, because they trust I'm not just taking everything from them, so they are way, way more likely to happily give it to me (see my vid) than hide, get angry/aggressive or swallow the item. Then I learn my lesson to be a bit more tidy AND provide my dogs with more appropriate enrichment like natural chews so they don't need to make their own entertainment.
#resourceguarding #dogtraining #rescuedog #dogbehaviourist
Labrador puppy, Cooper is just learning how to give up items co-operatively. This video shows some important changes in his behaviour that let us know how he feels about his person taking his chew.
What can you see, and what do you think this communicates about Cooper's feelings?
I'll add some of my observations to the comments.
#puppytrainer #puppytrainingtips #glasgowdogtrainer #glasgowdogtraining #dogtrainingclassesglasgow #dogbehaviouristglasgow
You love your independent minded dog even if they cause you to feel 🤯 from time to time.
Some dog training tips to help you if your dog has a high prey drive, poor recall, low interest in play or food, and is hard to train.
🔸️Independent dogs often have a low threshold for frustration. This means when you're training them, if they don't understand what you want, they will often disengage and want to do their own thing. If this happens, ask your dog to do something easy or a smaller step of the behaviour you're teaching.
🔸️Your dog might have poor recall and seem to have low interest in food. Often, dogs learn food from your hand is about stopping them or putting them back on their lead. The food becomes coercive. Instead, try using small scatters of treats as rewards. This is often way more interesting than food from your hand.
🔸️Independent dogs hate feeling coerced. This means what you think of as praise and encouragement might make your dog feel under pressure. Think about making sure you only use words your dog understands as cues during training.
🔸️The same goes for repeating cues (commands). If an independent dog doesn't respond the first time, you're best to change up what you're asking, or even just reward your dog for giving you attention.
🔸️Find ways to give your dog as much freedom as safely and responsibly possible. Lovely Neptune is showing much improved recall, and his folks are able to give him freedom in places with exciting squirrel scent, but a low chance of deer. It's lovely to see his joy in engaging with his people sky rocket.
Do you have an independent dog? What challenges are you having?
#DogTrainingTips #dogrecall #highpreydrive #dogtrainerglasgow #dogtrainingglasgow #dogbehaviourist #dogwalksscotland #glasgowdogbehaviourist #glasgowdogs
Part 2 | Sheep Desensitisation
In part 1, we talked about a dogs natural curiosity and why that leads them to approach sheep regardless of how well recall trained they are. At my workshop, we allow our dogs to naturally learn about the sheep while they stay calm, relaxed, and not frightening to the sheep.
We then set up scenarios that the dogs find enjoyable and allow them opportunities to do those activities while the sheep increasingly become an irrelevant part of the background. At this stage of the workshop, the dogs have lost interest in the sheep.
In the first clip, Jasmine is set up to search for treats, but even once the treats are all eaten, she just shifts her interests to enjoying naturally sniffing.
In the second clip (I've left my comments for you to listen to), Biscuit is less interested in sheep, or treats but is sniffing where the previous dog (Rosie), who he was keen to befriend, had been moving around.
The sheep are irrelevant.
NB. These clips are from the end of a workshop where every interaction is observed and controlled. These dogs were allowed this close to the sheep only because I was confident, based on previous repetitions that the dogs were not going to rectify towards the sheep.
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I stopped thinking of behaviour as good and bad. Instead, I view the dogs I meet as individuals, just trying to live their best doggy lives within the confines we put them in.
When you free yourself from the good and bad thinking, you stop feeling like you need to reward good and ignore bad behaviour. Instead, I often see dogs who are struggling and in need of support.
The dog who's barking at noises outside might be able to calm down quicker if given a chew.
The dog nonstop attention seeking can occupy their time better if they have a kong.
The dog barking at passing strangers stops barking when they have treats to sniff for.
It is possible to accidentally reinforce unwanted behaviours, but this is easily avoided by observing our dogs, understanding their motivation, and keeping training plans dynamic.
Drop me a message if you'd like to discuss how I can help you and your dog.
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Two different but similar exercises for my dogs.
The first one, I cue them to move from one platform to another over the poles. In the other exercise, I put the poles and platform out in a random pattern and scatter some food. The dogs are free to move as they choose.
The goals:
🔸️Help them move their bodies and build some strength.
🔸️Cognitive enrichment
🔸️Fun training
🔸️Relationship building
It also gives me a great opportunity to observe how my dogs are moving. This is so helpful when they have their vet check ups.
It was so interesting to observe the different ways they moved and crossed or avoided the obstacles.
One of my dogs has arthritis and the two others definitely have a few achey joints. It's really important that they have gentle exercises that help build up strength.
Most people know that they need to give their puppy a reward when they call them to come back. This is to reinforce that recall behaviour.
The more you practise, the better.
However, a huge error that can really impact your puppy or dog's recall success is not considering all the things you might accidentally do that accidentally teach a puppy you're best avoided.
Here's the most common things I see people do that inadvertently causes their puppy to want to ignore or avoid a recall cue.
🔹️ grab the puppy as soon as they come back. Most puppies don't love rough ha doing or being grabbed.
🔹️put the puppy on a short lead and pull them away from the distraction.
🔹️pat or stroke the puppy when they are not in the mood for it
🔹️grab at whatever the puppy has their mouth and snatch it away
🔹️take the puppy somewhere overwhelming or over stimulating
INSTEAD;
🔸️If your puppy doesn't have reliable recall yet and/or is easily distracted, leave a trailing lead/line. That way, you don't need to grab at your puppy. You can gently pick it up instead.
🔸️ don't make being on a lead an unpleasant experience. Make sure your puppy can still sniff and explore.
🔸️keep teaching your puppy how to enjoy walking on lead. A longer 2 metre lead is better than a short puppy one.
🔸️unless your puppy wants touched and handled, leave pats for other times and use treats and play as your recall reward
🔸️learn about them importance of letting your puppy explore objects with their mouth. Distract/swap for treats if it's something dangerous
🔸️make your puppy's feelings of safety your top priority
#puppyclass #puppyclassesglasgow #puppytrainingtips #puppytrainerglasgow #glasgowdogtrainer #glasgowdogtraining #dogtrainingclassesglasgow #dogbehaviouristglasgow #dogtraining #dogbehaviour #reactivedog #cockapoo #rescuedog #workingcockerspaniel #puppyrecall #recalltraining
Lexi is a recently adopted rescue dog. Things are improving, but she barks and lunges at unfamiliar dogs.
One option (favoured by social media gurus) would be to put a choke collar around the sensitive upper part of her neck and make sure she learns that pulling on her lead would hurt and choke her.
Sure, she might learn not to lunge anymore but at what cost?
I, and her new family, take another approach. We give Lexi opportunities to observe dogs. We act as her guardian and keep her safe. We allow her opportunities to feel safe around another dog (Otto, you massive star). All the while, her people listen to her about when she feels safe and when she doesn't. We learn about Lexi's complex social skills, and we don't leave her stuck and trapped by her lead when she needs space.
Lexi is supported to move away from dogs she feels anxious about and is given love, praise, and encouragement.
On our walk today, Lexi looked a picture of joy. She started coming out of her shell around Otto. She engaged in social sniffing with him, then pulled her person along to keep up with Otto. She also looked at her people with such a loving, trusting look her people, and I nearly melted in a puddle.
She couldn't do any of those things with a tight grot collar at her throat.
You don't get trust like this by using a tool that hurt your dog. At best, we'd get suppressed behaviour. Long-term rehabilitation for reactivity is all about creating a feeling of safety.
I'm so lucky to work with so many clients who care about their dogs' emotional welfare far more than their ego ❤️
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Did you know it's totally normal for dogs to want to be in the same room as you and follow you about when you move around the house?
My dogs have comfy places to rest in all the spaces, like my office, where I spend time. If I get up and go somewhere else, they will all eventually follow.
It is really important that your dog does learn to be ok with spending time apart from you, but wanting to be where you are is normal behaviour.
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