Have you thought about muzzle training your PUPPY? 😱
Muzzle training is an EXCELLENT skill for any dog to learn. I’d much rather teach Monty this skill gradually and comfortably just in case he ever needs it than have to wrangle a muzzle on when he’s already stressed. Introducing it through positive reinforcement training whilst he’s still a baby will only make this easier hopefully for him to tolerate.
This is a The Muzzle Movement muzzle, size Rex. We love these muzzles, brightly coloured, excellent pant room, treat hole, and a range of sizes and shapes for difference breeds and sizes. You can use the code COMPANIONMINDS to get 10% off. 🐾
As you can see Monty is very happy to engage in this FIRST session 👍
#companionminds #muzzlemovement #muzzleup #muzzleddogsaregooddogs #preparation #positivereinforcementtraining #shaping
Sonny did a fab job of his recall on Sunday 🐾
I managed to fail with my filming for the other pups somehow! Well done everyone, great work 👍
Monty’s had fireworks playing quietly and progressively loudly intermittently since he was 8 weeks old.
Here he is having got comfy for a snooze whilst fireworks are now quite loud (and annoying!) on our speaker. Doesn’t seem to mind.
If your dog already has an issue with fireworks, now is not the time to be trying to play soundtracks, you’ll likely cause more of an issue. We’ll share some ways you can support your dogs in another post!
But for puppy owners, get some practice in now. Start quiet and gradually increase as long as your pup is behaving normally! If you’re concerned, drop us a message!
More of Monty’s training and adventures at monty_cocker_
#companionminds #workingcocker #fireworks #fireworkprep #puppysocialisation
We are very grateful to be celebrating 5 years in business this October!
It's gone so quick and we are so thankful to every single client we've met over the years. Thank you all for trusting us with your companions, it's our privilege to work with them with compassion and kindness.
We are very proud of our little business! 🐾🐾
Thank you,
Kate & Tom
Wow Monty had a blast on a new walk today, we practiced lots of bits as well as ensuring he had plenty of freedom to be a spaniel.
🐾 Stop whistle (our first attempt at a ‘real’ stop rather than setting one up)
🐾 Recall whistle whilst hunting
🐾 Body confidence and awareness
🐾 off lead and checking in
🐾 novel object exploration
Of course this has all been achieved with positive reinforcement training. Food, toys, access to hunting, feeling great about stuff. We practice a few minutes a day, and throw in a few recalls on walks in easy and more challenging scenarios (yet to ‘fail’), and we ensure he’s generously rewarded. He’s 18 weeks old. Age is but a number, all dogs can learn skills, don’t wait til they’re 6 months old to start, get going! No doubt things will be more challenging when he hits teenagehood but here we have a fab foundation from which he can reference from later. No need for slip leads positioned high on his neck, no need for choking or yanking, no need for an e-collar, no need for methods which will intend to cause him harm or anxiety.
#positivereinforcementtraining #puppytraining #dogtraining #puppy #companionminds #cockerspaniel #workingcockerspaniel #positivegundogtraining #gundog
Big well done to the gorgeous Sidney! We’ve been working with Sid eh and his family on recall and loose lead walking- life is very exciting for teenage spaniels!!
He’s made great progress. This is him now walking on a slack lead in a brand new place whilst on holiday 🐾
Sidney understands the rule that if he pulls, the walk will stop, so he moves at a pace whereby he can continue to access environment and keep the lead slack- this takes a lot of time, effort, and patience to achieve- particularly for spaniel owners.
We have used some food rewards for Sidney to establish this, but a lot of the time we can use the environment to continue to reinforce the slack lead. You can also hear Sidney’s mum giving gentle praise, and a quick reminder when the lead goes briefly tight.
Superb job Sidney, very proud of you! 🧡
#companionminds
#positivereinforcementtraining #dogtraining #cockerspaniel #workingcocker
And the 10:30 class also being brilliant! 👏👏
This is our 9:30am class doing some fab recalls and lovely standing and chatting calmly ⭐️👏👏👏
Super job everyone, very proud!
#companionminds #positivereinforcementtraining #puppytraining #rhodesianridgeback #welshterrier #brusselsgriffon #sheltie
Testing out Monty’s whistle recall cue… with Tom calling him by his name and then whistling as he commits to moving towards him.
This is what a strong positive association and plenty of history of being highly rewarded can do 💪 No need for punishment: shock collar, shouting, throwing things etc etc. Sadly this is becoming progressively more commonplace in dog training, even for puppies.
Monty has only ever experienced high value food rewards of lots of chase/tug for coming back to me when I whistle. 😍 He LOVES the whistle and is confident in what is required. Obviously we are conscious that he is a puppy, and I’m sure adolescence will throw up some challenges as he discovers more about hunting birds (!), but for now we know his knows what he’s doing and can continue to build success.
We’ve done quite a bit of practice when there are no distractions around to ensure success and occasionally around distractions at a distance and then the odd ‘tricky’ one close to other dogs, after play, or away from birds. He’s always got this right because I’ve judged it just about correctly and therefore I’ve been able to highly reinforce he behaviour of running back to me generously, enthusiastically, and consistently!
#companionminds #positivereinforcement #forcefree #toyplay
Puppies pick up stuff. Particularly gundogs, they like to find and carry things- it’s their job!
Now I could have panicked, said ‘Monty nooo’ ‘Monty leave that’ ‘Monty drop’ ‘Monty come on!’. He may well have obliged with his ‘drop’ cue as were teaching that, but any of these options add value to the object he ‘found’ and may inadvertently teach him to pick up more stuff later.
Instead, I ignored him entirely and waited for him to get bored and move on to the next interesting thing- it happens quicker than you may think. Puppies have a short attention span! Once he’s moved on I gently praise and say hi to him again and we all move on, without inadvertently reinforcing the behaviour nor confronting him.
#companionminds #forcefrew #puppytraining #puppy #workingcockerspaniel #workingcockerpuppy
We have some fantastic Pawstrading Ltd in stock available to purchase!
You can browse on our website and then either drop us a message or purchase online! We’ll then be in touch to arrange free delivery.
https://www.companion-minds.com/pawstrading-toys-1
A lot of you will know that Kate’s favourite hobby is agility. She is very lucky to borrow the lovely Squeak, a rescue springer spaniel, to train and compete with.
Agility is such a fab activity, it requires speed and accuracy, solid partnership and working with distractions around. This all needs to be built up with lots of training, and of course the skills that each obstacle requires all takes a huge amount of time and effort- all with rewards associated throughout. Squeak’s favourite is a tennis ball 🎾 but some skills such as the contact equipment have been taught using food rewards. When competing the handler also has to remember 20 obstacles or so in the right order, at speed, and with the correct timing of the cues so the dog can be successful- not easy!!
Squeak is a grade 7 dog, which means she competes on the most challenging courses as it is the top grade. She has had a very successful agility career with her mum, and I have been lucky enough to share some good placing and wins too. In this video you can see us competing at the weekend in a ‘jumping’ course (no contact equipment) which we won by a tiny 0.3 second margin!
It doesn’t always go to plan, ‘eliminations’ are very common (taking the wrong course for example!) even with the highly skilled dogs, but each run brings successes, skills to work on, and of course ALWAYS fun for Squeak.
I first got into agility 10 years ago, as a way of building mine and Indie’s relationship as I felt the speed would suit her more than the show ring did… I was right, and I was hooked!
Do you do any sports with your dogs? Or would you like to?
#companionminds #agility #dogsports #runfaster #springerspaniel
