BOOK NOW FOR
PUPPY/DOG TRAINING
Course starts on Tues 24 Sept, 7-8pm
at St James' Church Hall, Kidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath, London SE3 0DU.
(2 weeks off at half-term, course ends 3 Dec)
We teach owners how to train their dog the essential, everyday skills:
🐕 Walking on the lead without pulling
🐕 Recall
🐕 Leave
🐕 No jumping up
🐕 Stay/wait
🐕 To settle
🐕 Be handled
🐕 Play with you safely
This 9-week course costs £230.
The first night is an information evening, not training, when we meet, talk about training to prepare you for the course ahead.
To find out more and to book your place
Please call Katy on 07960792066
(Only 6 dogs per course)
www.ktk9.net
Bertie is back from his holibobs, so we had a fun day out doing stuff
He's got the nose (came with the dog) and the know-how (came with training) and together we have fun playing these games.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN OUR NEXT 9-WEEK PET DOG TRAINING COURSE?
It's starting on Tues 23 July, 7-8pm ***FULLY BOOKED***
at St James' Church Hall, Kidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath, London SE3 0DU.
We teach owners how to train their dog the essential, everyday skills:
🐕 Walking on the lead without pulling
🐕 Recall
🐕 Leave
🐕 No jumping up
🐕 Stay/wait
🐕 To settle
🐕 Be handled
🐕 Play with you safely
This 9-week course costs £230.
The first night is an information evening, not training, when we meet, talk about training to prepare you for the course ahead.
To find out more and to book your place
Please call Katy on 07960792066
(Only 6 dogs per course)
www.ktk9.net
LEAVE - One of the most important things to train a dog is what not to do.
If we only teach the dog what he should do but never teach him what he shouldn't, he is bound to make mistakes. So it's better if we can tell him to avoid them.
We teach a LEAVE exercise on our training courses by positively reinforcing the dog for leaving but creating a negative response for not leaving. Its called Positive Reinforcement and Minimally Aversive training (PRAMA).
All six dogs in the class are beginning to understand an important communication.
LEAVE means the dogs must not do what they want to do. But must control their impulse when told.
It is one of the exercises on our foundation training course that is an essential skill.
RECALL - Once we have built up a strong desire to recall, we can start to put distractions and temptations in the way (because that's when you really need a good recall). And here we see the dogs do not fail to recall. Every dog in the class was a winner.
It takes practice and consistency.
We like a bit of competition in the class, so tonight we challenged them to -
THE BEST RECALL
Here are our top three.
And the winner is.....
The labrador.
She might not be the fastest but the thing that clinched it was she was not distracted by our food. She was more intent on being with her owners. And that's what you want.
HARNESS v COLLAR
Here are some of the reasons why I don't like to use a harness for training a dog to walk to heel:
1) Firstly, (as you can see in the first part of this video) a harness can allow greater pulling power,
2) with the dog's head out in front, there is less opportunity to engage with him, and
3) if the dog's focus is solely on what's in front of him, and not who is beside him, I will have little chance of building up a rapport with him.
By teaching him to want to walk beside me and not pull, there is no need for a harness.
RAGTIME ON THE BEACH
A couple of minutes of interactive play to help with recall training.
*HEALTH WARNING 😉
Seaweed is salty and if the dog swallowed it, it can swell in the stomach. So if you think your dog is liable to eat the seaweed, find something safer to play with (sticks can also be a hazard). Bring a tuggy toy instead.
COMING TO ENGLAND SOON
Classes in Blackheath, London are resuming on Tuesday 9th January.
www.ktk9.net
Busman's holiday - I can't help myself.
Found a trainer in Spain who was glad to have me join in. Thank you Adrican.
DOG TRAINING CLASSES
Our next 9-week foundation course is starting on Tuesday 9th January 2024, 7-8pm
at St James' Church Hall, Blackheath SE3 0DU
***IS FULLY BOOKED***
Following one starting in March 2024
You will be taught how to train your dog to:
🐕 Walk on the lead without pulling
🐕 Come back when called
🐕 Leave something or someone
🐕 Not jump up
🐕 Stay
🐕 Handled for body checks
🐕 Play interactively with you
🐕 Settle
Maximum 6 dogs in a class.
The cost of the 9-week course is £230.
For more information and to book you space,
contact Katy on 07960792066
www.ktk9.net
FUN GAMES WITH BERTIE
Using the natural environment to provide a source for continued fun training, instead of allowing it to be a source of distraction that undoes training.
A LIFE-SAVER
None of us wants our dog to be harmed. So why not teach him to listen to leave something and to avoid certain things that could be harmful?
No dog needs to be taught to scavenge. Scatter-feeding is not training. It is reinforcing an unwanted behaviour.
Instead, I will encourage my dog to eat out of his bowl and my hand but discourage him from eating from the ground, kitchen counter, dishwasher, bin etc etc.
And by teaching him that it's good for him when he listens but bad if he doesn't, it makes further training straightforward and not confusing.
Keeping it simple with positive reinforcement and minimally aversive training #PRAMATRAINING
BRAIN GAMES WITH BERTIE
We like to play scent games together.
Bertie understands that he has to find the scented object in order to gain his prized ball.
(The scented object is now contaminated with my scent, so he's not exactly searching for the scented object but something that now also carries my scent, but that doesn't matter, its just a game).
BRAIN GAMES WITH BERTIE
Our walks are not just for exercise, they continue to reinforce training, understanding and provide us both with a great deal of pleasure.
In this video, Bertie is using his learning of LEAVE, HEELWORK, SIT, SEND AWAY, MEMORY RETRIEVE and scentwork (which comes naturally) so that he can play this game with me.
Its much more stimulating for both of us than mindlessly using a ball chucker.
I'm often asked at the beginning of my classes:
"DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO PRACTICE WALKING TO HEEL WITH MY PUPPY?"
And the simple answer is, YES.
But let me explain myself -
Think of the situation of taking your young child to the supermarket - if everytime you went, you gave him sweets, he would probably come to expect it, then start demanding it, and possibly have a tantrum if he didn't get it. But instead, if, you showed him how to behave ie stay with you and not run around the aisles, and then occasionally gave sweets for being good, you would have begun to lay the foundations for teaching good manners.
You then have an understanding you can build on.
In this short video I am walking my mother's dog. The understanding is that when we are walking in the wilderness, I am happy to trail behind and let him sniff and enrich himself but when we walk on the road, he must walk by my side where he is safer. If I attach the lead to the collar instead of the harness, I can ensure he is even closer to me and communicate to him with gentle, clear lead corrections that this is not the time to sniff by the roadside.
Can you hear the sound of cicadas?
