Bite size training 😃
Flat Work - Front Cross
The front cross is a fun basic exercise that you can do anywhere on or off lead ( if safe to do so)
It’s probably one of the first moves you learn when you start foundation work for Agility/Hoopers.
Simple exercises are the best for building voluntary engagement.
Great foundation skill for loose lead walking
Great exercise for turning away from potential triggers when out walking…😀🐾
The front cross transfers your dog from
your right side to your left or vice versa
Start off super slowly, you can use food to help guide your dog’s head in the right direction. Continue to build on your dog’s understanding by reinforcing on or just after the turn, gradually add in distance between turns.
Happy teaching 🐾
Bite size training 😃
A short series of Ground work exercises You can do anywhere on or off lead.
⚠️Always take your dogs age, health & physical ability into consideration⚠️
Part 1:
This is often referred to as flat or circle work
Its a fun, useful skill to work on:
Helps with lead walking, focus etc..
A great prerequisite for sports like Agility or Hoopers.
Physical exercise for both of you without having to go far 😃⛈️☂️
The aim - building Chase’s ability to stay next to me as I circle clockwise or anti clockwise. Im looking for Chase to stay in line with me, no rushing ahead or hanging back.
She is working on the outside of my body the whole time ( much easier for beginners)
You can use food or toys as reinforcement,
I find food works best to start with, it lets me reinforce cleanly, delivering food to her mouth on the move. I can transfer to a toy when she has a good understanding of the game.
When you first start reinforcing regularly is key! Imagine you are working round the clock:
Start at 12pm
Reinforce at 3pm
Reinforce at 6pm
Reinforce at 9pm
Reinforce at 12pm
Some dogs might need more reinforcement, Work at your dogs pace..
Try to deliver the reinforcement by your side not in front of you
Gradually drop the treat from
3pm and 9pm
Eventually drop treat from 12pm and 6pm
Continue reinforcing randomly!
Build up until you can do a few circles before reinforcing. 😃
Start with small circles gradually increase to bigger circles.
❗️No correction! If it’s not working assess and adjust what YOU are doing to make it easier for your dog to understand and achieve!❗️
Keep sessions short
Have fun developing your relationship.🐾
Training shouldn’t be something you do at a set time each day, dogs should never know when it’s training time!
Training should be part of daily life “ normal.” Practice and reinforce the behaviours you want as often as possible to build strong habits
It can be easy for the behaviours you are teaching to fall by the wayside if you don’t practice and reinforce them enough ( especially with puppies)
Preparation is 🔑 to success!
Create a supportive environment
Having reinforcement readily available in strategic positions around your home, makes it easier to practice and reinforce the behaviours you want when you see them 😃
Yes, your house will smell like a dog treat factory 😂it will be worth it!
Muzzle up fun ❤️
We may never need to use a muzzle
Building and maintaining positive associations with a muzzle is just another game we play 🐾
Sometimes Just stopping and watching the world go by at a safe distance is enough, no expectation to interact.. Sitting quietly in a car with your dog, provides the perfect opportunity for acclimatisation to different sounds, people etc… great for puppies.. Best of all if anyone comes to close you can shut the door 😃🐾
Building relationships - The check in cue, it’s simple, easy to teach, super valuable
A word or sound that works a bit like a gentle tap on the shoulder.. “ Hey can I get your attention please ”
🐾Helps get your dog’s attention away from something that’s caught their eye
🐾 A positive interrupter
🐾To get focus back on you when teaching
💥Your dog does not have to do anything 💥
* Doesn’t have to sit
* Doesn’t have to look at you
* All you are doing is pairing a word or sound with something tasty (classical conditioning)
Your dog gets the food even if they are not paying attention, say word then feed, simples!
Your dog will very quickly realise the word means good stuff is going to happen
Start somewhere low key with no distractions
Gradually introduce distractions
Set your dog up for 💯 success every step of the way! You want your dog to willingly check in with you..
You might find that your dog starts to check in without prompting, make sure you pay well!
voluntary check ins are priceless 😃
Don’t be a Nag! If your dog doesn’t check in, you have probably moved on too quickly, just take a couple of steps back and practice some more
💥Tip 💥
Try not to blend the word and food together at the same time, your dog might end up concentrating on the food more than the word or sound
Say the word - tiny pause - feed directly to mouth or drop on the floor if you have a shark 😀
Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
I love my Job 🐾❤️
6 gorgeous puppies, working off lead in a safe environment, recalling away and past novel distractions - Cones, sweet tins etc.
Clever puppies 👏👏👏
You can set up and practice the same in your garden 😀
Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
Recall Tips 🐾
Reaching for the lead at home usually indicates fun times ahead for your dog
Reaching for the lead at the end of your walk usually indicates end of fun time
On a walk, practice randomly calling your dog back, attach the lead then have some fun playing with toys or food..
This simple exercise can make a big difference to your recall 😀
Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
Clever pups 👏🐾❤️
Learning to ignore people and some simple novel distractions
1. Teach a check in cue this can be your dogs name a word or a sound.
2. Set your dog up for success distance is your best friend
3. Tell people your dog is in training ask them not to approach
4. Watch your dog carefully be ready to interrupt with your check in cue before they jump up or lunge out, errors are down to you not the dog 😀
5. Teach your dog what you want them to do when they meet or pass people, for me it’s simple keep four paws on the ground.. 🐾
6. Pay well every time until the behaviour becomes a habit!
7. To maintain the behaviour you like to see continue to reinforce it as often as you possibly can
8. Move away using a “U Turn” before it becomes to exciting and things go wrong try not to practice errors
9. Remember reinforcement drives behaviour, choose your reinforcement carefully make sure it’s something your dog really wants and pay well
10. Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
Quick “U “ Turn - all dogs should have one 😃
Quick U Turn - great on the spot fix
All dogs should have a quick turn around
So simple and super useful 😃
Great for encouraging puppies to disengage from something exciting or inappropriate
A fun way to back-chain walking together,
Practice a quick fun turn around, then add in one or two steps before turning, gradually increasing the amount of steps before the fun turn, be sure to keep reinforcing the turn..
Especially useful when you want to create distance between your dog and a trigger..
Start somewhere quiet and familiar, make it as easy as possible, take a few paces forward then lure your dogs head to turn around your body and pay well!
After a few goes add in your cue and practice some more 🐾
Gradually start working in different environments, build in distractions slowly
❗️Remember distance is key ❗️
Turning away, can provide great relief for a worried dog, especially if followed up with a sniffing game.
🔥The key to success 🔥
Practice every day & pay well, not just when you see a trigger
If you only “ Turn” when you see a trigger, you can easily poison the “Turn” it can quickly become a predictor for the dog to start looking for the trigger
Practice turning away from good stuff
practice turning away randomly for no reason
Practice practice practice, it needs to be a well rehearsed behaviour, part of your normal daily routine for it to work when you see a trigger..
Simple but so effective
Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
Recall practice - Rabbit Holes 😂🐾
Tip - ❗️Recall training is never finished❗️
Today’s practice session - calling away from Rabbit holes
We all love to see our dogs enjoying off lead adventures…. If you have a great recall 👏👏
Don’t take it for granted🐕
If your recall is a bit hit and miss
Add up all the reinforcing stuff your dog gets to do each day such as sniffing, playing with other dogs, rolling in poo, water, chasing birds, rabbits etc… the list is endless 🙈
Then add up and compare the amount of times you reinforce a recall, are you consistent? do you pay well ? Do you stack the deck in your favour..?
Have you ever seen your dog stand and just look at you when you call? Your dog is working out what’s going to pay best 😂 dogs are fantastic accounts!
Whether you like it or not, calling your dog away from something they find reinforcing is going to be a negative for your dog, perhaps even punishing..
Making sure you pay well is crucial for maintaining a strong recall
Think of it as building a huge bank account of reinforcement ready for the day you need to make a withdrawal ( recall without reinforcement) Remember, if you make a withdrawal you need make sure you top up the bank account!
Today we are topping up the bank account 😃
FOOD
“ My dog isn’t interested in food, I can’t use food as reward, it doesn’t work” 😬🙄
If your dog eats from a bowl/snuffle Mat etc at home, your dog is interested in food 😃
However your dog might not be interested in food under certain conditions/environments, here are just a few things to consider.
❗️The environment & conditions ❗️
This is super important, not wanting to take food or grabbing, snatching food, is a good indicator of your dogs emotional state, your dog might be over threshold, scared, nervous, anxious etc.. 😢 or just over excited
Using food in a controlling way
e.g. presenting food then taking it away when your dog tries to eat it without your permission, can lead to reduced motivation and frustration leading to other behaviours such as barking etc..
Nagging your dog, stuffing food under their nose, they may well eat it out of habit but it’s unlikely to be reinforcing
If your dog is tired, full, thirsty, feeling poorly, food is unlikely to be appealing or reinforcing
We have to consider the possibility of food allergies, digestive problems, if food makes you feel bad it’s not going to be reinforcing.
Accidentally poisoning food, using it to bribe your dog to do something they find aversive, such as nail clipping or maybe a trip to the vets, the smell of food might trigger bad memories
Too much pressure, perhaps the exercise you are teaching is too difficult? repeating errors can reduce motivation and the desire to earn food, aim for errorless learning.
‼️I do NOT agree with starving/withholding food to increase food motivation ‼️
However there does need to be some food deprivation for food to be interesting, I feed roughly 50-70% of my dogs food freely in snuffle Matts etc.. the remaining is used for fun and games to teach.
There are of course many other things that can be used, toys, environmental and social reinforcers
For me, being able to use food for reinforcement is important,
Quick tip - loose lead walking
Lots of different ways to encourage your dog to walk with you, if you are using food as reinforcement, how and where you deliver the reinforcement matters, it can make a big difference to how quickly your dog learns..
Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
Nail Clipping can take a day or two 🐾😀
Aversive procedures can be a little more acceptable to the dog, if they are given some choice and control over the process.
Using Chirag Patels brilliant Bucket Game
I can have a clear conversation with Beanie
Beanie sits looks at the bucket - Yes ready, I can start the procedure.
Beanie fidgets, turns her head away etc - No Stop!
Start or stop she will get the treats, they are not dependent on a specific behaviour.
If Beanie doesn’t choose to opt out, I can check she is opting in by providing her with plenty of consent breaks = encouraging her off the table with a scatter feed..
If she jumps back up ( voluntarily) sits and looks at Bucket we continue.. if she does not we go for a walk or play, we can continue nail clipping another time.. 😀
Happy dogs learn fast 🐾
If your interested in learning more pls message us
Restrained Recall Good 😀 & Bad 😡
Today I have been working with a gorgeous puppy sadly he is worried about being touched around the neck and head area😢
He has always been a little sensitive to handling, this has been compounded by restrained recall at a puppy class
He was held by a trainer who advised that holding the puppy back while his person moved away to create distance before calling him would improve his recall skills?
He ran back to his person as fast as he could, because he was petrified! he wanted to get away from the person restraining him 😢
Did this puppy learn about recall, probably not!
He has however learnt, people can be scary, especially if they are trying to touch or grab him..
Restrained recalls are great as long as the dog is a willing participant, comfortable being held by a trusted person, not all puppies wriggle and mouth to get away, some sit there helplessly 😢
If restrained recall is necessary? the person doing the restraining should have some kind of relationship with your puppy, part of your family etc.. or an instructor that has taken the time to build a relationship with your dog beforehand
Your dog should willingly approach the person to be held, without any bribery or coercion!
Some puppies/dogs are of course absolutely fine with it..
I have known Ernie since he was a puppy, we have a good relationship, he is happy to be held by me, he is also happy to return to me for a play before I hold him again… I would be looking for this willingness in a puppy/dog before restraining.. 🐾😀
Happy dogs learn fast
Simple sniffing fun.. 🐾 happy noses
Some containers have food in some don’t
Simple Games - Nose work fun, teaching a fun search back for food or toys…
Happy dogs love learning 🐾
Over the past month we have been working on voluntary co-operative eye examination and drops.
Chase is never going to be 💯
comfortable with this procedure.
By giving her control over the process and building her trust that I will stop if she says “ no”
I can take away conflict and bribery
Chin rest “ yes” ok to proceed
Refusal or takes chin off - “ No stop “
She gets the same reinforcement if she opts in or out, either way she wins giving her choice
More nose work fun for Beanie 🐾
