Need an activity to occupy your pooch when it's too hot or too cold? Get them sniffing!
Here Luna's searching for sprats under sports cones. This is a great way to provide mental stimulation!
Play is so important for dogs, finding what lights them up is often key to helping them feel better about the world 💚
Little Milly here is only five months old but she's a sensitive soul and gets worried easily. We've been helping grow her confidence in the outside world by finding out how she likes to play and encouraging play in lots of new environments.
She LOVES scent work so we've been getting that nose working in our sessions which has had awesome results!
Last week we discovered that she also absolutely loves running back and forward between her people so we used that to get those happy hormones flowing, this meant she was in a better place to start learning!
All dogs are different and different things light them up but experimenting with play and learning what they love can be transformative when it comes to growing your relationship and boosting their confidence 🐾🐶
We set our members a challenge this month to show off their most impressive middles. We think you'll agree they absolutely smashed it!
Our training members have fostered such an awesome community of like minded dog owners and it's a joy to see these awesome teams work with their dogs 💚
Bear is an 11 month old Manchester Terrier who came to us for help with loose lead walking. Thanks to lots of hard work she's made phenomenal progress and has managed some fabulous walking in some really challenging environments.
How did we get this success? We started off growing lead walking skills in really easy environments first, were really generous with our rewards, and spent time learning to read her body language so we knew when she would need our help and when she was ready to be challenged!
Need help with lead walking? Get in touch to find out how we can help 😊💚
This week in circus school, we played some games to help boost the dogs confidence with putting their harnesses on.
It's easy for dogs to become sensitised to harnesses. Lots of dogs find putting their heads in the harness a bit worrying, and it's easy to fall into the habit of just putting them on our dogs without making sure the dog is really comfortable.
By playing games that involve the dog willingly putting their heads through and giving them choice to opt out if they want to, dogs quickly learn to enjoy putting on their harnesses.
Our Monday evening puppy class learning to sit and stay, and making sure it's fun 💚
What's a flirt pole?
It's like a big cat teaser for dogs! (A long stick with a piece of string that attaches to a toy on the end!)
Flirt poles are a Fabulous way to give dogs an outlet for their desire to chase.
Once they learn to love the toy you can use it to practise disengagement and recalling off fun things!
Simple way to add some shredded, snuffly enrichment to your dogs day!
Teaching your dog to settle while tucked out of the way is a super handy skill for aspiring pub dogs!
To start teaching this your dog will need to be able to lay down on cue and follow a food lure.
Lure them under your legs and ask for a down, reward as often as you need to to keep them in position.
Gradually increase the duration between rewards.
To release them out say 'okay' followed by a thrown treat.
After a few reps they should be able to follow an empty hand, you can then fade this out and add a cue word.
Practise in easy places first (Lauren and Luna are practicing in the garden), only moving to busier environments when they've cracked the skill in the easy place!
We love teaching tricks here at Focus! Here's Luna learning leg weaves for the first time!
This is a super simple game to start teaching your dog disengagement skills!
Show them a treat and cage the treat with your hand. As soon as they show any form or backing away or even just looking away, mark them with a 'yes' and then let them the treat.
When they've mastered this you can start asking for a behaviour before releasing them to get the treat.
Does your dog struggle to look away from dogs, cats, birds, squirrels? Start here!
Puppy class student Sam showing off her excellent name reflex!
We often assume that dogs 'know' their names without much training but just like any word or cue we have to teach our dogs what their name means!
Having a dog that responds to their name first time, every time, is invaluable and is something we spend a lot of time working on in puppy class. Clearly Sam's family have been doing their homework!
Darwin and his mum playing 'funder'
Dissecting and shredding are very natural behaviours for dogs, it's part of how their wild ancestors consumed their food! But this behaviour can be problematic if they start to dissect your cushion covers. Giving dogs an appropriate outlet for these natural behaviours often drastically reduces innappropriate shredding and dissecting.
Lauren has used rolled up socks for this but you could use any kind of fabric, or even packaging paper. If you've got a mischievous pup who is likely to eat inedible items you can try rolling up the treats in cabage leaves, the possibilities realy are endless!
As ever, make sure to supervise your pup if you try this, and if you do try it please tag us, we love to see dogs getting their shred on 💚
Parkour with Chester!
We absolutely love finding opportunities for doggy parkour! It builds confidence, improves focus, strengthens your bond, and is super fun for humans and dogs! 🐾💚
Helping Sadie disengage
This is a lovely example of how to help dogs disengage from things that worry them. Here Louise and Sadie where playing games when Sadie noticed a person in the distance.
Sadie has had some scary experiences in the past which means she can be hypervigilant about her surroundings. Here Louise does an excellent job of helping her disengage.
She marks and rewards Sadie for looking (rewarding to the floor helps break fixation and gives the dog a chance to sniff which can help lower arousal). This also helps to create positive associations with whatever it is that has worried the dog.
Louise then moves away and allows Sadie the opportunity to disengage by herself, when she does disengage, Louise recalls her and rewards!
Our next recall workshop takes places on Saturday 26th of November. Spaces are limited so book soon to avoid dissapointment.
www.focusdogtraining.online
DIY enrichment puzzle!
Who needs to spend a fortune on different enrichment puzzles? All you need is a tuppaware box and a collection of loo roll tubes and you've got a super simple way to give your dogs sniffer a work out and get them using thier problem solving skills!
