Look at Rubha go, there was so much going on around us but this gorgeous girl and her humans absolutely nailed it 🐾♥️
Look at little Dobby go, we only started ‘settle’ today and not only is he responding to the cue we were able to move the blanket around. Next session we will start adding some distance and duration before adding more distractions 🥰🐾
Super proud of little Martin who’s really excelling at puppy classes.
This week we started ‘leave it’, as you can see this incredibly clever little chap is doing so, so well! 🥰🐾
Keep up the amazing work, team! 🥰🐾
Working on a Sunday isn’t so bad after all…
This afternoon saw week 5 of training with Twix and his superstar humans. He’s been struggling with ‘stay’ so today we went back to basics and where he was last useful and built it from there.
I’m super proud of this family, they’ve worked so hard and it really does show!
Amazing work team ♥️🐾
The lovely little Teddy has been a bit of a monkey recently and not wanting to come in from the garden and didn’t like having his paws dried.
We polished up our ‘touch’ which is now bringing him straight in and taught him to lie down and roll onto his with a gradual introduction to having his paws wiped.
You may have heard Shelley say ‘bang’ when he was on his side, we’re using this as a multi purpose cue, for Teddy to lay on his side and have his paws wiped and to play dead!
Amazing work team ♥️🐾
I love working Xena the ridgeback and her human. They’re such an awesome team, they’re progressing week on week and you can really see they’re putting in the hard work.
Xena has been having some trouble focusing on her human out in the real world, often choosing the environment and other dogs over her human.
Over the last 3 weeks we’ve been playing lots of focus and engagement games both at home and in the real world and adding distractions gradually. Here she is coming back to her himan nice and quickly after exploring the environment. We’ve also been working on the ‘Look at That’ game with lots of progression and success.
Xena is learning that focusing and engaging with her human is far more beneficial and rewarding than focusing on the environment ♥️🐾
Amazing work, team! Keep up the good work, next week we’re upping the distractions a level and heading to a busier environment! ♥️🐾
🐾🐾 What is enrichment? 🐾🐾
As you’re all aware my business name is Four Paws Training and Enrichment, many of my clients ask me what enrichment is so I thought I’d explain this to you all.
A dogs behaviour is a reflection of how that dog feels in that moment of time, dogs aren’t trying to be good or bad, they are communicating with us.
Behaviour is directly tied to emotional regulation, dogs need to learn to express themselves in an appropriate manner, this is where enrichment comes in. Getting our dogs enrichment correct can help develop their coping skills, help them feel comfortable and self regulate their emotions.
Enrichment activities can include and are not limited to sleep and rest, their walks, social interactions and natural behaviours such as sniffing, foraging and digging, these behaviours release endorphins such as oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin, these will help relax our dog and fight the cortisol after high energy activities that’s coursing through their system.
There are two types of enrichment, pacifiers and amplifiers.
Pacifiers help our dogs relax, they reduce their heart rates, are self soothing and allow our dogs to decompress. Pacifying activities include sniffing, chewing, licking, suckling, nesting, unwinding and relaxing.
Amplifiers increase arousal levels these can make our dogs more energetic and you can see they’re in a high state of arousal. Amplifying activities include chasing, rough play, tugging and shredding to name a few.
Only the dog decides if the enrichment pacifies or amplifies them, the way the dog interacts and behaves determines this.
Here’s a prime example, I bought Malcolm this teddy thinking he’d treat it as an amplifier, he’ll throw it around, play with it and then shred it, what he actually did was take it to his bed, settle down and suckle it, he therefore treated this particular teddy as a pacifier as that was what he needed at that given time.
An example of a pacifier
Last week we worked on ‘leave it’ with little Kobe and just look at how well he’s doing!
Super proud of this little fella and his hoomans!
If you’d like to teach your dog how to ’leave it’ please do drop me a message. This is covered as part of the 5 week puppy course and the 4 week adolescent course or can be done taught as a stand alone session 🥰🐾
🐾Two Day Focus and Recall Workshop
🐾Saturday & Sunday 11th & 12th June
🐾10am - 45 minutes
🐾Highworth
🐾£50 per dog and handler
🐾Limited spaces - PM me to book your space
Would you like your dog to respond like my dog in the video below? Does your dog spend more time chasing the wildlife, barking and lunging at every dog you see and ignoring your yells for them to come back? If so, this is the workshop for you.
Focus and bond building is vital for your dogs training and behaviour both in the home and in the outside world. Without working on gaining their attention and focus, your dog will likely be more distracted and more interested in other things that they come across day to day.
With fun techniques and games we will work on skills which will help cement the bond between you and your four legged friend for life.
Using long lines, reward based methods and fun games we will teach your dog that you are the best thing around and focusing on you is far more beneficial and rewarding.
PM me now to book your space! 🐾🥰
Week 2 for my adolescent’s and what a fab group they are, each and every one of you did yourselves proud again tonight.
Super dogs and super handlers!
Great work team 🥰🥰
This loveable Rogue is in his adolescent period and has been struggling with focusing on his owners.
This is just the second session and look at how well he’s doing. We have an off lead dog playing ball - two of Rogue’s favourite things and he chose to focus on his human.
Well done team, I cannot wait for our next session ❤️🐾
Enrichment isn’t just for dogs, Leanne’s Petcare, your pets loved by us recently had the honour of caring for some beautiful hens for TLC Holistic Therapies.
It took a while, but their xylophone has finally arrived.
I cannot wait to deliver this little gift, I hope the lovely ladies like it 🐓🥰
I love receiving updates from owners following training sessions.
Here’s a rather tired Jake after his 1:1 loose lead training session which was conducted in real life situations.
Sleep well little fella ♥️🐾
🐾 Loose Lead Workshop Availability 🐾
Once space has become available on my loose lead workshop.
Saturday 2nd October
Location: Highworth
Time: 10am
Duration: 45 mins
Cost: £15
There are also two spaces available on the 6th September.
Here’s the handsome Baloo showing off his walking skills on one of our weekly walks ♥️
