Rethinking obedience…🤔
I don’t want a compliant dog or an obedient dog. I want a dog that is free to use their own autonomy to make a decision about how to behave in a particular situation. To think for themselves. 🧠⚙️
This is especially the case when working with reactive dogs. I want to orchestrate situations where the dog is in a mindset to think, to learn and to choose a behaviour based only on the positive outcomes they have achieved by doing so in the past. This mindset can only be created by facilitating relaxation and calmness, without stress, anxiety or tension, where reactive emotional outbursts can be replaced by conscious calm decision making.
In some cases we can facilitate this calm mindset and achieve behavioural change very quickly; much to the fascination and delight of the owners of a particular dog I was working with yesterday evening.
We achieved this within an hour and a half last night, with Bleu, a golden retriever who is prone to reactive emotional outbursts when excited and frustrated by the sight of another dog.
Meeting Bleu and his owners for a 1:1 session, I began straight away to facilitate relaxation by changing Bleu’s lead and lead handling so that he was under much less stress and tension. Then took Bleu through the foundations of focus and engagement where we reward Bleu’s choice to engage with and focus his attention on his humans. We then built on this by rewarding his choices to disengage from something he wanted and to choose to re-engage with his humans again.
Within an hour and a half Bleu was able to maintain a relaxed attitude while seeing another dog, was able to refrain from any emotional outbursts, was able to disengage his focus away from the dog and re-engage his attention and focus back with his humans again all while staying calm and relaxed throughout.
No commands, no reprimands only rewards for his own free choice to focus and engage.
A lovely session with a happy waggy tail from Bleu and h
A before and after video of one of my Loose Lead Masterclasses a few weeks ago.
The classes are 2 hours long and all training is based on positive reinforcement techniques. 😃🐾
#looseleadwalking #positivereinforcementdogtraining #dogtraining #looseleash #looseleashwalking #dogtrainingisfun #scottishdogsofinstagram #scottishdogtraining
Well! What a soaking everyone got in my loose lead masterclass last night!! But despite the rain coming down in bucket loads everyone made progress.
Here are a couple of spaniels that were part of last nights class. Being spaniels means their noses tend to pull them forwards, but by working on focus and engagement with their humans, learning how to disengage from distractions and teaching them to use their nose within the boundary of the lead, they definitely made progress.
Practice and consistency will now take their progress further.
A few people have asked me about a previous post on my page regarding backwards walking to help dogs who are prolific pullers on the lead. This clip shows how you transition from backwards walking to forward walking….it’s only the human that changes direction, the dogs direction of travel stays the same. Before we get to this stage however, there is a good bit of ground work to do in terms of focus work, then a good bit of time should be spend on helping the dog move with you as you move backwards, before we should transition to forward walking. There is then work to be done after this transition. Booking some training sessions with me is the best way to learn all the necessary stages of teaching your prolific and incessant lead puller to walk on a loose lead. 🐕🦺 #dogtrainingismypassion #dogbehaviormodification #dogbehaviour #dogfriendlycairngorms #scottishhighlanddogs #highlanddogsofinstagram #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcement #dogtrainingsecrets #dogtrainingadvice
A few people have asked me about a previous post on my page regarding backwards walking to help dogs who are prolific pullers on the lead. This clip shows how you transition from backwards walking to forward walking….it’s only the human that changes direction, the dogs direction of travel stays the same. Before we get to this stage however, there is a good bit of ground work to do in terms of focus work, then a good bit of time should be spend on helping the dog move with you as you move backwards, before we should transition to forward walking. There is then work to be done after this transition. Booking some training sessions with me is the best way to learn all the necessary stages of teaching your prolific and incessant lead puller to walk on a loose lead. 🐕🦺
#dogtrainingismypassion #dogbehaviormodification #dogbehaviour #dogfriendlycairngorms #scottishhighlanddogs #highlanddogsofinstagram #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcement #dogtrainingsecrets #dogtrainingadvice
I love ❤️ helping people train their dogs so much that all day, every day I’m either helping people train their dogs, reading about it, writing about it, talking about it, listening to other people talk about it, or otherwise thinking about it. Dog training is never out of my mind! Dog training is my passion! ❤️❤️❤️. #dogtrainingismypassion #dogbehaviormodification #dogbehaviour #dogfriendlycairngorms #scottishhighlanddogs #highlanddogsofinstagram #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcement #dogtrainingsecrets #dogtrainingadvice
Look out for a new post coming shortly explaining the only 4 reasons your dog won’t do what you want and what you can do about them. #dogtrainingismypassion #dogbehaviormodification #dogbehaviour #dogfriendlycairngorms #scottishhighlanddogs #highlanddogsofinstagram #positivereinforcementdogtraining #positivereinforcementtraining #positivereinforcement #dogtrainingsecrets #dogtrainingadvice
Take the opportunity to take time out from all the rushing around and sit quietly with your dog, developing and rewarding calmness. Relax and watch the world go by together, taking in the sights and sounds (and scents…can you see my dog air scenting) while in the clip?) without any need to react and get involved in anything. Practice the skill of just “being” in the environment. “Observing” rather than “Doing” has its benefits for both you and your dog! 🐾❤️
Sheep conversations. 🐑
Having completed my 4 week puppy programme, my clients wanted an extra session to start conversations with this 5 month old border terrier pup about sheep.
Teaching calmness around sheep, teaching the skill of being able to see them, look at them then turn away and do something else is the lesson of the day.
Young dogs in particular can be impulsive. In order to help them make appropriate decisions about things within the environment we can allow them time to process and think about what it is they are seeing or smelling, and then decide on what action to take. By helping them to pause, process and think and then rewarding an appropriate choice of behaviour, (usually disengagement) we can help our dogs learn about the world without having to keep ‘telling’ them what we want them to do. This way we no longer feel as if we need to “nag” them, repeating commands over and over and becoming frustrated with non-compliance. When we reward the dog’s choice rather than aiming to control the dog, we end up with a dog that is able to think for himself. ‘Owning’ our own choice of behaviour is a huge part of any animal’s well being. Being able to make one’s own choices and decisions is empowering. And when we feel the choice is our own we are more inclined to repeat that choice, rather than when we feel told, compelled or forced. #positivedogtraining #positivedogtrainer #positivereinforcementtraining #reinforcementdrivesbehavior #dogsofinstagram #dogtrainingismypassion #dogs #livingwithdogs #dogtrainingisfun #scottishdogsofinstagram #dogtraininghighlands #dogwalksofinstagram#dogwalkingtips #dogbehaviourtraining #dogs #dogbehaviour #dogsscotland #dogwalking #choice #dogtrainingscotland
Focus on what you want your dog to DO instead of focusing on what you what you want your dog to STOP. Struggling to know where to start?… contact me to discuss your dogs unwanted behaviour and how we can start rewarding those alternative choices. 👍
So if any of you have tried the training ideas I recently shared on video and have struggled to make a difference, then the problem could be that you are trying to train while your dog is “over threshold”.
Each dog will have their own “reactive threshold” to certain things, this is the distance or intensity of something in the environment that causes your dog to react to it.
Being “over threshold” means your dog has become far too aroused, excited, frustrated, anxious, or scared to respond to training.
Training works best when your dog is kept “under threshold” where learning can take place. As you progress through training your dogs reactive threshold will stretch, as your dog becomes more comfortable at being around distractions or triggers.
Keeping your dog truly under threshold while training requires a good understanding of canine body language, so that we can notice the slightest change in your dog and respond, by helping increase distance or reduce intensity so that your dog stays comfortable and able to learn.
❗️🌟🌟🌟Contact me now to help you with your dogs training, I will help you recognise and understand your dogs body language and how to keep your dog under threshold as we train so that our training is efficient and successful.🌟🌟🌟❗️
Remember my video from a few days ago demonstrating how my Turn and Focus pattern training game ↩️ & 👀 could help your dog to ignore certain things in the environment?
Well a week ago this dog would have definitely chased these Guinea fowl. 🐓 Since working around the Guinea fowl using the Turn and Focus game for the last few days, this dog now finds it easy to look and turn away from them and so is able to comfortably be around them both on lead and off lead.
Simple training leading to amazing results! 👍 🌟
A week ago this dog would have definitely chased these Guinea fowl. Since working around the Guinea fowl using the Turn and Focus game I demonstrated in my previous reel, for the last few days, this dog now finds it easy to look and turn away from them and so is able to comfortably be around them both on lead and off lead.
Learning is a process that takes time.
I worked with this lovely husky pup a while ago, one issue we worked on during my visits was her tendency to come round behind you and nip really quite hard on the back of your legs, especially when you walked around the room.
The owner had been saying No! or Ahah! and/or smacking at the pup, but this mostly wasn’t working, confused the pup and made her all the more worked up.
This video shows that techniques don’t need to be harsh in order to communicate appropriate ways to behave to your pup.
I used a clicker and treats to reward the pup for moving with me and not biting my legs as I moved around the room. I don’t wait for her to nip and then correct, I’m teaching her not to nip in the first place! By repeating this often when guests came in we were able to show this pup that there was another way to behave when excited by people’s movement.
Rules and boundaries are important but the methods used to teach them do not require to be harsh or forceful. ❤️
I worked with this lovely husky pup a while ago, one issue we worked on during my visits was her tendency to come round behind you and nip really quite hard on the back of your legs, especially when you walked around the room. The owner had been saying No! or Ahah! and/or smacking at the pup, but this mostly wasn’t working, confused the pup and made her all the more worked up. This video shows that techniques don’t need to be harsh in order to communicate appropriate ways to behave to your pup.I used a clicker and treats to reward the pup for moving with me and not biting my legs as I moved around the room. I don’t wait for her to nip and then correct, I’m teaching her not to nip in the first place! By repeating this often when guests came in we were able to show this pup that there was another way to behave when excited by people’s movement. Rules and boundaries are important but the methods used to teach them do not require to be harsh or forceful. ❤️
