Let’s be Pawsitive - dog training with Nicky

22/08/2024

🐿️ The boys were on squirrel watch this week!! It gave us the perfect opportunity to practice some engage/disengage techniques 🌳🍃

11/08/2024

It looks like being a very hot couple of days across parts of the UK this week and that can certainly be tough for some of our dogs and us. It really is worth considering what you do with your dogs during these really hot spells as heat stress can have a huge impact on your dogs, it is the UK after all and we know the hot weather will not last and we can then get back to normal!

07/08/2024

Making great progress! What an amazing dog Tiff is growing in to 🥰

02/08/2024

29/07/2024

Keeping it cool today with Eric and Nelson 😎🐶

26/07/2024

How amazing is Tiff doing now?! What a superstar 🤩

24/07/2024

Sniffing their way through the week like pros, just Eric and Nelson keeping it cool 😎🐾

13/07/2024

Extremely proud to be listed on The Dog Trainer School professional standards directory. You can find me listed under Milton Keynes and my friend and colleague, Sarahs dog walking listed under Bedford 🥰🐾. Check it out 🙌🏻

🌟 Looking for a Kind and Positive Dog Trainer? 🌟

If you're on the hunt for a professional dog trainer who uses positive reinforcement and kind training methods, look no further!

The Dog Trainer School Professional Standard Directory is your go-to resource for finding force free trainers in your local area.

Check it out today! 🐾❤️

https://www.thedogtrainerschool.co.uk/professionalstandard

12/07/2024

Really starting to smash this loose lead walking now! Well done Tiff 🙌🏻❤️

28/06/2024

Tried, tested and approved by Bella and her little friend ☀️🐾🥰

19/06/2024

LETTING GO OF THE LABEL
People love to label things - from containers to personality types, physical or mental differences and everything in between.

Why do we like labels so much? Labels are comforting, they help us to feel more secure.

Labels allow us to close that particular “box”, because it now has a label and we no longer have to think about it or be concerned about it.

It’s been judged, identified, labelled and we can now move on, confident in the belief that there’s nothing more to be done.

We may also be very good at labelling dogs. My dog is stubborn, aggressive, lazy, shy, timid, greedy, jealous, untrainable…. It’s comforting for us to assign a label because it takes the pressure off trying to find out why they behave that way because we might believe that it’s just the way they are.

If we remove the label and take note of the behaviour in context and the circumstances or environment it’s happening in, we may realise that our dogs need our help to cope, not our labels.

Look into what can be done to improve or change that behaviour if it's something you’d like to change.

Sometimes a label does fits, it’s just the way it is and we need to accept that, but sometimes labels hide the need to look beneath the surface and discover what the real cause of that behaviour is.

11/06/2024

This video was kindly sent to me by Ziggy’s owner. We spent a lot of time exposing him to the sights, smells and sounds of the shopping centre from a distance. This vid was the last step before encountering the precinct. You can see he’s happy, relaxed and by no means anxious of what’s going on around him. Gradual exposure helped him to process his surroundings in his own time.

Helping dogs cope in busy places takes time and patience. Some will never feel comfortable in the hustle and bustle, so why put them through it!? My own dog hates crowded places so we don’t take her to them.

Other dogs cope fantastically well with training, patience and gradual exposure. Ziggy is a great example of this. From his previous video at the precinct you could see from his body language how relaxed and comfortable he was being with his owner in the shopping area. He wasn’t phased at all after the gradual build up we put in place to to ensure he was completely happy with the situation 🥰

07/06/2024

👏A huge congratulations to Ziggy (and his mum), for receiving his loose lead walking certificate today!! I must say, he looks very happy with himself 😂. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be part of their training journey!! Wishing them every success for the future. Well done 👏⭐️🥰

07/06/2024

It’s tiring work this training malarkey 🤣🤣

02/06/2024

We upped the ante this week with a trip to the woods 🌳! There were so many distractions- people, other dogs, bikes, scooters, wildlife and all the smells and sounds that come with the territory. Ziggy coped amazingly, demonstrating great impulse control and checking back in with mum even when distracted by sniffs! What a star ⭐️👏

28/05/2024

BARRIERS TO LEARNING – WHY SOME DOGS STRUGGLE TO LEARN

“My dog is stubborn, doesn’t listen to me, a slow learner, not the smartest, tries to be in control, will only do it at home, will only behave sometimes, is uncontrollable……” – these are comments that are often heard.

Just like us, dogs need the right kind of conditions to either be able to learn something new or to bring about a change in behaviour.

Dogs are not robots that can be programmed by a set of specific inputs that guarantee consistent results. They are individual, sentient beings that need to be understood.

If we’re feeling stressed, anxious, tired, over excited, too distracted, not feeling well, have no motivation etc. we will find it really difficult, if not impossible to learn something new, change our behaviour or change a habit. The same applies to dogs.

A dog’s emotional state, the surrounding environment, motivation, age (pups, adolescents, seniors) or any health issues all have a significant impact on their ability to learn.

If your dog is having a hard time learning something, look at these factors and see if there is a reason that may be preventing progress.

Maybe your dog is just having an “off” day, just like we do.

Try again tomorrow or next week and set your dog up for success by having realistic expectations.

Learning or changing behaviour takes time, patience, consistency, understanding and the right conditions.

25/05/2024

Great video from ABC Dogs NZ, demonstrating the importance of the 3 second meet and greet rule 🐾🐶

25/05/2024

Tiff is starting to make some real progress with her loose lead training. Her focus is becoming better and she’s staying engaged for longer. We’ve tweaked things here and there to make it easier for mum and pup and it’s all starting to click into place. The best part of today was watching Tiff and her owner really enjoy the training. They both did amazingly!! Looking forward to seeing their progression over the coming weeks 🥰

20/05/2024

15/05/2024

Absolutely 💯🙌🏻

Share if you agree 🥰🐾

10/05/2024

🙌🏻❤️

05/05/2024

Bella is certainly enjoying her new snuffle toy!

04/05/2024

A little intro to scent work today!

27/04/2024

A lovely sunny day for training this week. With the weather came many distractions for Ziggy as we gradually raise the criteria with loose lead walking.

20/04/2024

Implementing backwards walking and eye contact to lay the foundations for loose lead walking. Starting with as little distractions as possible and keeping those training sessions short and frequent so we can set the lovely Tiff up for success!!

19/04/2024

This very handsome chap is Ziggy!!He’s 8 months old. Today he had his first 1-2-1 training session. Here he is demonstrating the basic foundations for loose lead walking! Well done 👏 Ziggy

17/04/2024

Introducing the lovely Tiff! Looking forward to training and walking with this adorable 7 month old cocker spaniel! 😍🥰

16/04/2024

🙌🏻🐾

I find it hard to understand why some people still use and firmly believe in old fashioned punishment-based training methods when science clearly shows there is a better, kinder, humane, ethical and far more effective way.

The key principle of force free or positive reinforcement based methods is “first, do no harm”, not just physical harm, but emotional harm too.

Punishment amongst many other negatives, creates stress. Stress inhibits learning. A dog that is feeling stressed from being punished will struggle to learn.

Positive reinforcement methods release the hormone, Dopamine. This “feel-good” hormone drives the reward and pleasure-seeking system.

Dopamine also increases the brain’s ability to learn, improves memory function and motivates a dog to repeat a behaviour.

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behaviour states that punishment-based methods may cause several adverse effects, including “inhibition of learning, increased fear-related and aggressive behaviours, and injury to animals and people interacting with animals”.

One of my favourite quotes with regard to dog behaviour is by Dr Carolina Galvez Vidal - "Any idiot can suppress behaviour. It’s so easy: That’s why most humans on the planet think they are expert dog trainers. But to truly modify a behaviour without suppression…Ahh, that requires true talent, knowledge and skills".

We are all individuals and don’t all have “true talent” or “skills”, but the key word for me in this statement is “knowledge”.

Knowledge is not that hard to find these days. Be willing to put in the effort to find out how to build a trusting, secure and positive relationship with your dog, remembering to "first do no harm".