Playing games ahead of confidence club this weekend 🥰
Yesterday I posted about the signs you can see in your dog when making progress through reactivity. But what about the human side? When we are tackling these kinds of things I am not ever training your dog, instead, I am teaching you, how to train your dog. My job is simply to create mini trainers. 🤓
Often, the process starts with anxious, unconfident owners who are lost in how to address their dogs issues. With my help, you start to become more confident, better understanding your dog and how to help them. We begin to develop a toolkit that allows you to effectively work together with your dog to address their reactivity 💪
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Pain and discomfort is closely linked to behaviour and yet it is missed all the time. When I was a rather inexperienced owner, I was trying to work through a number of issues with my dog Bear. Reactivity towards dogs, hyperarousal and barking, and what I can only describe as panic attacks in response to certain noises. We worked with a lovely behaviourist (who is now a very good friend of mine) and as part of our work Bear was checked over by the vet to rule out any physical conditions that might be affecting his behaviour. He was deemed fine. As I became more experienced in knowing what to look for, we went back to the vets a number of times. He was diagnosed with hip dysplasia, and further down the line, degenerative myelopathy and luxating patella. Whilst degenerative myelopathy is a progressive condition that only started in later life, nowadays I have no doubt that he struggled with musculoskeletal problems from the moment I brought him home [continued in comments…]
**Puzzle Toys and Chews:**
- Puzzle toys only distract temporarily and don’t address the root of separation anxiety.
- High anxiety levels can prevent dogs from focusing on toys or treats.
**Getting Another Pet:**
- This does not address the emotional responses or learning the dog has experienced so far
- Sometimes we can end up with a second dog with separation distress
**Crating:**
- Crating can increase panic and distress for dogs with separation anxiety.
- Confinement can make dogs feel trapped, worsening their anxiety.
**”Getting Over” Separation Anxiety:**
- Dogs don’t naturally outgrow separation anxiety; it requires intervention.
- Repeated anxious responses reinforce the emotional reaction and behaviors.
- Ignoring the problem can make treatment more challenging in the future.
Actually addressing separation distress involves hard work and there are no “quick fixes” with this, or the majority of other behaviour problems. We have to work on our dogs FEELINGS to address their behaviour (barking, howling, destruction etc) 🐩💥
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog #separationanxiety
Mouse recently had an appointment with the lovely Carlie at @hurnforestcaninerehab to address a couple of little niggles, and our session couldn’t have gone smoother. This wasn’t just a fluke and we’ve done lots of work to get here 🐩
➡️ Mouse built a positive relationship with Carlie and has visited the clinic before (she’s tagged along in the past when Bear has had his treatment, meaning the clinic wasn’t a scary place for her- plus she LOVES Carlie)
➡️ We gave her some time to get accustomed initially and do some bonding before we jumped into treatment
➡️ We’ve worked on important skills outside of session- a strong settle, paired with handling in preparation for these kinds of activities
➡️ We listened to her body language and gave her plenty of breaks when she needed- we never push too far and instead gently expand her comfort zone if something is a little much
➡️ She had ALL the verbal reassurance, lots of love, cuddles (from both Carlie and I), food rewards during scary parts and her little emotional support toy to help her through
➡️ Preparation is key here and the more we practice for this setup the easier it becomes when we are in it
➡️ Working with a fear free professional like @hurnforestcaninerehab makes all the difference because they know how to set your dog up to succeed and to create an environment that fosters trust
More coming soon on stress free vet visits so hit follow 💖
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
A settle is one of the key skills I teach to my training clients with reactive or high energy fizzy dogs. Many of these kinds of dogs lack an off switch, struggle to relax in different environments and have to be go go go all the time.
🐕 A settle taught properly can help to ‘trick’ their body into lowering arousal levels, as they are practicing being calm, slow and chilled
🐩 It teaches them what to do instead when you stop, instead of being hypervigilant or looking for other things to do
🐕 Helps to develop the all important off switch that’s needed for fizzy dogs and often doesn’t come naturally
🐩 It’s also SUPER helpful in the home to act as an alternative to counter surfing, jumping up at visitors or begging round the dinner table
What sort of environments are you practicing your settle in? 💖
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Understanding this stress bucket is absolutely critical for working with any dog but particularly our reactive doggies! 🪣💥‼️
In order to apply the stress bucket it’s important to:
🐩 be able to read your dogs body language and pick up on signs that they may be reaching their threshold
🐩 understand what is actually adding to your dogs bucket (is it just triggers out on walks… or is it noises inside the house, lack of sleep, pain and discomfort?)
When we truly get this concept it means we are able to:
🐕 set our dog up to succeed because we have a better perspective on what they’re able to cope with
🐕 know when to use decompression techniques and provide our dogs with opportunities to self soothe
🐕 identify little stressors and make changes to improve our dogs general well-being
🐕 can better understand the ups and downs of reactivity
Often we perceive stressors to be just the “big” things and miss the tiny things that affect their behaviour. What are some little stressors that contribute to your dogs stress bucket?
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
I’m so super proud of these guys today 😭 a lot of reactivity training is addressing emotions- how our dogs feel around a trigger. But a lot of it is also building connection, trust, engagement, and drilling alternative skills till they’re absolutely inbuilt in our dogs. Today in class we were working on loose lead walking, focus, autosits, spins, settles, spicing up our lead walking and literally just having fun. Comfortableness around other dogs is just coming along for the ride. You can see from the soft body language, wiggly tails and those smiling faces staring up at their owners that they are just having the best time & that is exactly how training is supposed to be 🧡 #puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Often we think of these kind of behaviours as being a case of solely training, and sometimes they are! However particularly with stressy, anxious dogs, you may see pulling on the lead more often in difficult moments such as going into a new and scary environment or after having encountered a trigger. Whilst it is so important that our dogs understand what it is that we are asking from them, we set clear criteria and spend time training a nice loose lead- sometimes working on calmness, confidence building and learning skills to manage arousal levels can really be key to cracking pulling on the lead 🐕🦺
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Super proud of Winnie and her owner today they have been absolutely smashing it recently but today on our little confidence building exposure outing we managed millets, mountain warehouse and a pet shop to see all of the new scary things and she was so super brave! The best girl 🧡🧡🧡 #puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Some people are blessed with super resilient, confident dogs from the get go, but not everyone. Some of us know the challenges of living with dogs that are anxious, nervous and worried by the world around them. One of the hardest parts of this is seeking understanding from others- for a lot of them, it’s not something they can even wrap their head around- it’s just a dog after all, how can a dog even be anxious!?
I know some of the best people in my life, are those that see my dog as a complex, emotional being just as we are. But not everyone is like that. What’s something people say to you that tells you they don’t know life with an anxious dog? ⬇️
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Day 14 training everyday challenge 😍 #puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Dogs prey drive is something that is genetically wired into them and isn’t going to go away. They are naturally predators with an inclination to stalk, chase, grab, bite, shake and more.
When we allow our dogs the opportunity to display these behaviours that are naturally reinforcing to them in an appropriate way through toys, we aren’t increasing their prey drive. Ultimately, those desires are coming out no matter what so enabling them more appropriate opportunities is key. Not only is this crucial if you’re working on issues around prey, it’s also a sure fire way to build confidence, and give your dog a good dose of dopamine - it is SO rewarding and gets those feel good feelings going 💃
#puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Day four of training every day to try and get my training mojo back 😋 today we were training a reverse into middle inspired by my lovely friend @bullbreedbehaviourist and her dog Judge (who I can’t tag for some reason!)- anyways it was lots of fun and I can definitely feel myself getting my spark back already 😍 #puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Day three of my little train every day challenge. Would be super interested to know if any of you guys can identify the stress signals that she is giving off when we’re doing some settling practice- hopefully body language reading is a well versed skill for many of you now 😉 drop your thoughts into the comments! #puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
Sooo as part of my little New Year’s resolution I’m starting a train every day challenge and I’m going to try and share it as much as possible 🫶 not every session has to be perfect but just showing up is what gets you results and I bang on about this to my clients all the time so have decided to listen to my own wisdom for once 😜 haven’t set any specific training goals as such, the goal is just to show up every day and I thought I’d take you guys along for the ride 🧡 #puppy #reactivedog #dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogbehaviour #behaviourmodification #dogreactivity #dogtrainer #dogaggression #fearfuldog
