ENZO 🥰😍🤩
Enzo started coming to me for 1 to 1s 8 weeks ago. He is a German Shepherd with an unknown history as he was found as a stray, when he was approximately 2 years old.
His owners had reached a point with their training where he would listen at home on the farm, but when he was taken away from the farm, his impulse control and concentration wavered. He also struggled around other dogs, often reacting, and then he was finding it difficult to reduce his arousal levels.
Last night was only the second time Enzo had been in the hall, and the first time, he had been in the hall with other dogs.
He worked alongside 2 other dogs, and he did amazing 👏. The video shows him having a game of 'find it', his owner then asks him to change positions from sit and down. His body language was very relaxed, as you can see from the video.
I have left the audio in the video as we both laughed towards the end of the video, where he showed his cheeky character trying to predict and not listen to the cues to get his rewards. His cheeky character was great to see, particularly in this situation, as it showed us that he was tuned in with his owner and ignoring the dogs working alongside him in the background. He then did some amazing settling.
Training is about having fun and gaining a great relationship with our dogs. They won't always get it right, and neither will we, but when you start working together as a team, progress starts showing.
There's still a lot of training to be done, but practice makes progress 🤩
Self management and making good decisions.
This morning, I met Sprocket for his second 1 to 1 at his home.
One of the things we worked on was rewarding Sprocket for making good choices. When we go out with our puppies and dogs, we want our dogs to engage with us and ignore distractions. For this to happen, we need to ensure that we highly reward our puppies for engaging with us! If it's not rewarding to be with you, they will find plenty of self rewarding things to do in the environment.
In this video, there are the distractions of blowing twigs and leaves. I then made myself a distraction, making noises and jogging. You can see Sprocket thinking about where to go, and on one occasion, he came over to me, but without any communication from his owner or me, he decided the best place to be was back with his owner 🥳🥳.
Sprocket's injections are not complete yet, but his learning journey is every day. Having good foundations in place before he is walked in different environments is important. He is also going to different places in the safety of his owners arms.
Contact me to discuss 1 to 1s with you and your new puppy 🐶
Recall... it's a life skill that should not be seen as a restrictive exercise.
Tonights video (yes, mid-July 😭), is me recalling Zac back from parading around in the long grass with a Teddy.
I call out his name (the attention getter), then with lots of encouraging, I recall him back. Ivy jumps in the mix with some hope she's going to get the Teddy.
He approaches me, and then he rethinks his decision and considers wondering off.
Why? Because he is afraid that it's going to be an opportunity for Ivy to get the toy and him lose it. I give him words of encouragement (which he listens to my tones). He decides that it is safe to come back to me and play time won't be ended.
I give him lots of praise. I rub him around his neck and touch his collar, so that he doesn't associate his collar being touched as going back on the lead.
I then release him back to playing.
This exercise is a trust building exercise for both of us. I recall him back whilst he's having fun, add in some difficulty of multi dog household competition, but I haven't stopped and restricted his fun.
Would you like some help with your recall?
Contact me [email protected] to see how I can help.
1 to 1s £30 per hour + travel time over 8 miles from SA44 4TJ
Would you like to train your dog in a relaxed environment with like-minded people?
Come join us on a Thursday evening 7.30pm, at Tregroes Community Hall, SA44 4NN.
Practice makes progress. Therefore, to achieve your goals of your dog listening to you in different environments, we have to gradually add distractions and difficulty.
Contact me to find out more
[email protected]
Building up positive associations with their owner leaving.
Tonight, all the owners 1 by 1 went out of sight for a brief period. During this time, I calmly stayed with them and gave them some treats to build on the positive association of their owners leaving them.
We kept the separation brief to ensure that they kept calm and relaxed.
This is an essential skill to learn and it is important it is practised when they are young. This ensures when we are out and about, popping into a shop or going to the toilet is a none stressful experience, and our dogs aren't anxious about the separation
The next 4 week puppy class starts Thursday July 13th, 7.30pm at Tregroes Community Hall.
Contact me to find out more
Proud trainer tonight 🥰
These puppies match well, and therefore, we got the chance to practice some off lead training tonight. We practised recall from play, staying close, and listening to cues such as sit and down.
Look at how amazing they all did. Some of these puppies sat under the chair, unsure about interacting, when we first met. Each week, their owners have put in hard work working on building their positive exposures to new things and listening to cues in different environments. The hard work is really paying off.
The next 4 week puppy class starts 18th July. Contact me to book your space.
Recall at puppy class 🐕🐶
We practised recall outside with the puppies this week, with the other puppies scattered around the field doing focus exercises.
Here Boo is a little unsure to run through the middle, but with a little encouragement from me, she ran straight to her mum for treats. 👏
It is important to practice recall at home, always offering a VERY tasty treat, also recall when on a short lead and a long line.
Taking the time to have positive experiences with different environments and cues helps build a good foundation for when our puppies may get in a situation where they are unsure, they know to trust what we are asking of them. Also, when their confidence grows, they will begin to explore their environment more, and a foundation recall at this stage really starts to pay off. We may have to put them on a long line for a short while to help them if they make a wrong decision, but little stints of positive training when they are developing ensures you get a dog who you have a good trusting relationship with.
The next puppy class starts 18th July.
Junior classes are running weekly pay as you go £10 a session. Contact me to find out more details.
Checking our sheep with Turbo. *Please note he is only off lead because they are our sheep, any other livestock he would be on a lead.*
Turbo hasn't always been this chilled around our sheep, it took alot of work to get him here when he was younger.
The work involved building our trust relationship and ensuring good foundations were in place. I then walked him every evening on a lead with the sheep in the distance and practiced these foundations, ensuring he listened when they were around.
If we identify an area that our dogs find difficult, we need to ensure they can answer difficult questions at home. For example can they stay in a sit position whilst we sit on the floor and eat a plate of food, can they stay down whilst we run around the garden. Working on good foundations at home is important, if they can't resist running around with us in the garden, we can't expect a recall in an open field where there's distractions such as wildlife and livestock, therefore they should be held on a long line or short lead. We can then ask for recalls whilst we are out and about on lead.
To find out more regarding my 1 to 1 sessions or group sessions contact me [email protected]
RECALL MID ZOOMIES WITH DISTRACTIONS 🎊😎🥰
Here is a video of us taking Cadi's recall to the next level. Practising in a controlled environment doesn't mean just recalling when they are in 'training mode'. We want to ensure we are practising when they are excited and aroused, too.
Why?! Because we need them to learn whatever emotional state they are in, they still need to listen and respond to their caregivers. So when you are out walking in the real world and the world is stimulating and exciting, they listen to what you are asking and respond as needed.
We then let Cadi go back to her zoomies, we also need them to learn responding is rewarding not restricting.
Contact me if you would like to join in our summer training evenings on a Thursday evening 6.30pm at Tregroes Hall starting May 16th. Pay per an evening.
Socialisation and habituation.
How do we get our dogs to learn that everything and everyone does not need interaction!?
How do we teach them to accept being bored?
We need to expose them to lots of different environments at their own pace. We need to start by taking them places for a short period of time, ensuring that these little snippets are positive.
Here is a short reel of me and Ivy out and about in Llandysul. It is important to start by choosing areas where you can retreat away from people/traffic so if it becomes too overwhelming, you can give them the opportunity to observe from a distance that they are happy with.
These sessions need to be short initially, so take every little opportunity you get.
*A wonder around the village if you are stopping for milk and bread.
*kids at club
*Dropped the other half at the pub.. Wonder around the car park
*Picking up a takeaway, allow an extra 5 minutes to have a quick wonder around.
*Stop somewhere different and sit down on a bench.
*Take the bin out and stand and do nothing for a few minutes.
Training cues are often what people are focused on, but if our dogs can't focus in different environments, then listening to cues is very difficult for them. By going at their pace and exposing our puppies in a positive manner at the earliest opportunity, we will help our training in the future.
Contact me to discuss 1 to 1 or group training
[email protected]
Puppy class
This is just a quick video of separation practice. It is important to build our puppies up to separation in a variety of environments, as when we are out and about, there are many scenarios we will need to walk away.
*Going to the toilet.
*Going into a none dog friendly shop.
*Waiting in the car whilst you pay for parking.
*Waiting with one family member whilst the rest of the family are in a playground.
*Staying at the table in a cafe whilst someone goes and orders.
This puppies owners have gone out of the exit, as you can see he only has one thing on his mind, finding them treats. 🥰🤩
Puppy class runs at 7.30pm on. Thursday evening at Tregroes Community Hall. Contact me to find out more @[email protected]
This video shows impulse control, listening with distractions and introducing cues in different scenarios (from a distance, at the side).
We have an adult group with 3 German shepherds, what dreams are made of 🥰.
They are all here because they want to practice their training around different dogs and people. In an environment where they know there's no off lead dogs, there's no 'it's OK my dog is friendly, he just wants to say hello' or 'they will sort it out together'. Everyone is here to support each other and give each other space as needed.
They are all at different levels, BUT every week, each once has progressed. Practice makes progress 🥰
The clocks change soon, and evening outdoor training will commence, which means more space and bigger training opportunities 😀 🥰🤩
Contact me if you would like to work on your dogs focus in a safe group environment.
[email protected]
