Tarka Dog Training

20/03/2025

Yellow Dog UK

14/03/2025

What they said ☺️ 👇

𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧…

• who will use tools which cause discomfort or pain to your dog
• who will offer you a quick fix
• who focuses only on the ‘what’ and not the ‘why’
• who will set your dog up to fail in order to correct them
• who will prioritise your convenience over your dog's experience
• who has a control mindset

…𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄’𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧…

• who will treat your dog kindly
• who will help you build long term, sustainable change
• who will help you understand your dog's behaviour
• who will set your dog up to succeed in order to reward them
• who will be honest with you and help you set realistic expectations
• who has a co-operation mindset

…𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

Not every trainer and client are a good fit for each other. Training is an unregulated industry and there are no minimum levels of education or experience. No agreed ethical standards. No requirement for trainers to keep their knowledge up to date.

So, as a consumer, it is hugely important that you do your research to ensure that your trainer's ethics align with your own. Not every trainer and client are a good fit for each other; make sure you find the right one for you.

A good place to start if you're not sure is the Animal Behaviour & Training Council (ABTC) - www.abtc.org.uk

12/03/2025

Focusing only on the unwanted behaviour is a bit like lazy w**ding. ✂️ 🌱😅 cutting off the visable leaves never deals with the roots. And so they come back.
This is a bit like quick fix dog training. Punishment focuses only on stopping 🛑 the unwanted behaviour.
It does not address the whys.

Let’s take lead pulling as an example…… here’s the options:

1. Make it very uncomfortable to pull (ie head halti, any lead that tightens, anti pull harnesses and collars etc.

2. Correct the pulling (leash correction or “pop”, electric shock collar, vibration collar, prong colllar, yell at them, yank them back into a heel)

3. Obedience training with +R (shape a heel behaviour build duration, build in distractions and proof it to new environments)

4. Get the vet to rule out any medical contributions to higher arousal levels, functional analysis WTF (what’s the function) to understand what’s mainting the pulling, learn lead handling skills to use functional reinforcers for pulling to reward loose lead, shaping through consequences in this case access or forward movement. Meeting any unmet needs (perhaps breed specific needs).

So it may be quicker, easier and require less skill to just try and stop pulling but much like the w**d with no leaves the underlying reasons are not addressed. 🌱
If you want long term results with no side effects I’m afraid we need to dig a little deeper.

I promise your dog isn’t just trying to show you up there will be a reason for pulling on the lead.

I’ve absolutely called my dog a t*** for pulling me toward the big metal sheep 🚗 😅
But here’s how I’m addressing it…

🐾 Meet the needs. Bought a large ball to herd on the beach and fields instead! Also using tuggy chase toy games as a predation substitute.

🐾 switched to comfy harness to help lower arousal from collar/neck pressure.

🐾 build reinforcement history with loose lead in two ways- teaching heel at home and proofing it. Careful lead handling using a long fixed length lead to set her up to access smells and places in the absence of lead pressure.

🐾 she’s on an unprocessed raw diet now so she 💩 soild every day now with no mucus, so I’ve ruled out tummy twinges as a contributing factor to high arousal.

🐾 lots of off lead time in safe places.

This goes for any unwanted behaviour if we just stop barking we’ve not addressed the whys and so punishment is not only a quick fix but is often not very long lasting (looks good on reels and certain tv shows though!)

behaviour is more complex than our dogs just being naughty or rude. Let’s get in there and learn to free up the roots of our problem behaviours. Our dogs deserve it.

07/03/2025

06/03/2025

New puppy?

**𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁**

We have a survey participation request from an MSc student at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. The research aims to identify if attending formal puppy training classes and training experiences affects how young dogs develop frustration tolerance-related behaviours. Surveying new puppy owners about their puppy’s training experiences and behaviours. In some cases, owners will be asked if they are happy to participate in a follow-up survey 6 weeks later to help them understand the development of these behaviours. The survey takes around 8 minutes, potentially with the option to complete a second 5-minute survey 6 weeks later. The survey is open to:
- Those who live in the UK or Ireland and are over 18 years of age.
- Those who currently own a healthy puppy under 15 weeks of age.
- Those who have lived with the puppy for at least 3 weeks.

To access the survey, visit https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/edinburgh/puppy-behaviour

If you have any questions about this research, please contact [email protected]. This research is being supervised by Kevin McPeake and James Coxon and has been approved by the RDSVS Human Research Ethics Committee and Veterinary Research Ethics Committee.

Thank you.

05/03/2025

04/03/2025

Even dogs in pain, discomfort or frightened/nervous can react in a way we commonly misinterpret as happy excitement.

Jess exhibits a fool around/fawn/appeasment type behaviours around new people or if it gets too loud or busy. Anyone else got a history of people pleasing? 😬

Bob would flee and when I thwarted that he’d freeze at the vets. 😢 which is why we worked so hard on cooperative care.

We must remember that there’s a bit more to canine body language than waggy tails = happy dogs.

23/02/2025

Its
Umm…… Lovely weather for it 🤣
🌬️ 🌧️

Dougie probably won’t like to go out and Jess can be a bit jumpy in windy conditions.

If you do welly up and head out with your dog today in North Devon share a picture! 🥾🐾

Or please share a photo of your dog on their faveourite walk ☺️

21/02/2025

Throwback to 2008 using a hand target to get a young sea lion walking to heel 😅

Baby Aero 🥰 and 20 year old me 😂

Works for dogs, skunk, coati and lions too 😂

20/02/2025

Animals are fascinating... here is some interesting information on the genes in thr body of elephants, dogs and us, humans... how many genes are dedicated to the sense of smell in all 3?
🐘🐕🧍🧍‍♀️🧬

Why not showing your kids... fun and informative facts! Love those! ❤️

19/02/2025

Loose lead walking; training for position and pace using food rewards.

Teaching the skill and adding a cue in a non distracting environment is just one piece to the puzzle 🧩

Looseleadwalking

18/02/2025

Canicross with Jess 🐾 Got lost between Lee and Lee bridge again 😂 7.63 miles in the bank. I’d like to find a new trail loop that doesn’t include the tarka trail on the return 🤔

18/02/2025

🦮🐕‍🦺🐾🐶No equipment will teach the skill of slow walking next to owners. Harnesses don’t cause or prevent pulling they just mean we avoid spiking cortisol and adrenaline through pain or discomfort in a dog that is likely alread highly aroused ready for walkies!

Loose lead walking with without fear, corrections or force takes some practice and I for one cannot be ‘on it’ on every walk. Ain’t nobody got time for that! So I can use two different leads or lead set ups to make it clear when I CBA and when we’re training. This can allow for the inevitable rehearsal of pulling whilst you teach the skill of walking to heel.

Jess has a canicross harness and a bungee lead. it’s ok to pull on that set up, but if she’s clipped to her regular flat collar OR her back connection clip on her regular harness (with a fixed length short lead) I won’t tolerate pulling and we are loose lead walking training. 🦮🐕‍🦺🐾🚶🏻‍♀️

16/02/2025

Grot collars should be banned like e collars have. Painful awful devices.
I’ve seen yet another “k9 blah de blah” trainer set up in the area and these are the secret weapon.
They sit behind the ears on the most sensitive parts of the neck, and if the dog pulls they feel extreme pain as the handler yanks the grot lead.
Dog may not pull anymore because it’s too afraid to but all that fear is being suppressed. Then when the fear bomb finally comes out in the form of an attack on other dogs or people the animal gets destroyed 😢

Grot from the French “garrotte” that’s what they used to hang people. We need to have some sense and stop paying people for quick fixes that don’t work in the long term.

16/02/2025

Punishment in animal training video 2 of 2.

Reasons why I am committed to training dogs without aversive tools and punishment part two!

1. I have the skills to shape new behaviour without applying aversives and poisoning my training session with stuff my dog wants to avoid.

2. Adding aversives can cause an increase ⬆️ in their arousal levels- this is not conducive with calm desirable behaviours, increasing cortisol and adrenaline in a dog that is likely behaving in an undesirable way due to arousal being up isn’t going to help address the behaviour long term. 🧠

3. Punishing only suppresses behaviour. It fails to address the cause. What if your dogs being a pain because they are in pain? What if they need space from dogs or strangers to feel safe? What if it’s just really hard to walk slowly when you are only outside for a short part of their day 😬

4. Protecting the structures within the animals neck. A choke chain, prong, grot collar, slip lead whatever is being sold as safe “when used correctly” (by there way you can pay people to learn how to safely correct your dog with these tools 🚩) when pulled on from either end of the lead regardless of position on the neck poses a real risk of injury.

5. Relationship matters. I want to see happy, engaged, enthusiastic training partners. Not stiff tense dogs desperately trying to avoid an unpleasant consequence from me. Scared to walk too fast. No thanks. Dogs are just so deserving of us taking the time to learn how to teach them with reinforcement. 🦮

Long term it is more effective and it’s just kinder.

Please note…. Absolutely no judgement here if you’ve read and learnt to train this way. My dogs growing up wore half check chains and learnt to sit by having their butts pushed down. If you’d like to learn more about transitioning away from aversive tools get in touch 😀

The dog world is inundated with influencers and it can be a minefield of information and opinions and trainers and academies selling their methods and tools.

Quick fixes are super tempting when your dog is driving you nuts!

I don’t blame anyone I just hope to offer the experience I’ve gained over the last 16 years. I continue to learn and stay up to date with behaviour science and to educucate and update so we can do the best for our dogs.

16/02/2025

Punishment in animal training…. Video 1 of 2.

Some mild swearing 😅

By definition; punishment reduces the occurrence of the behaviour that preceded the punisher/aversive event or stimulus.

Reinforcement in contrast increases the likelihood of the repetition of the behaviour that preceded the reinforcing event/stimulus.

Are we going to stop pulling or are we going to teach/shape loose lead walking? Get rid of behaviour or build replacement behaviour?

Having worked with large predators in the zoo, I had to learn to shape behaviour through reinforcement, punishment would have been dangerous with these animals and/or would have resulted in the animal refusing to work with me 🦁.

This means that I know very well that any behaviour can be built/trained using reinforcement and without corrections.

Just because most dogs won’t bite you for using a punisher doesn’t make it ok in my opinion. I’m not perfect I’ve been frustrated by behaviour and it’s been clear that I’m unhappy and I can see the shift in their behaviour just from a change in my tone of voice 🗣️it doesn’t make me feel good and it sure doesn’t help them know what to do instead.

I want my dog to want to work with me! And to enjoy it!

More reasons to focus on building new behaviour instead of suppressing existing behaviours in my next video…