Littledown Dog Training

18/11/2024

Every time you interact with your dog you’re training him on one level or another.

You don’t need a big field or access to a special area to train your dog, well not initially anyway. Basic training should be a part of life when you have a dog; try to incorporate as much training into your daily routine as possible.

When you put the kettle on, for example, put your dog in a sit-stay, when the adverts come on the telly put your dog in a sit-stay, I trained my Labrador his sit-stays when I did the ironing... starting off with a t-shirt I built it up to a quilt cover and then three or four items.

By making it part of your routine you won’t feel as if you’re running out of time to train and your dog learns that when you say stay you mean it, regardless of what else you’re doing.

Always try to end on a high, if things start to go wrong or your dog isn’t ‘getting’ it, then rather than keeping on and on at the same thing, change it ever so slightly to make it easier for your dog, give him heaps of praise and call it a day...

And remember your dog really can get an A+ for effort.

The Pet Gundog (2010)
L*z Graham MA

join the club - https://www.L*zGrahamOnlineTraining.com/The-Pet-Gundog-Club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
your secret weapon - www.RetrievingRoll.com





*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

11/11/2024

Whenever you increase the complexity of an exercise you need to decrease either the distance or the duration; likewise, if you increase the duration or distance of an exercise you need to decrease the complexity.

Using the ‘go back’ exercise as an example; to start off with you only have five or six feet between you and your dog and five or six feet between your dog and the dummy.

As you stretch your dog’s ability you may put the dummy ten feet or so behind your dog keeping five feet between you. You then have a choice of leaving the dummy at ten feet and moving back ten feet or moving the dummy back to fifteen feet - you wouldn’t move both yourself and the dummy back at the same time.

Try to think of it like a bead on a string with a knot at each end; the dog being the bead and one of the knots being your dummy and the other knot being your good self. As you move the bead away from one knot it gets closer to the other.

Similarly as you move your dog further away from the dummy your dog is positioned closer to you, likewise if you move your dog further away from you he gets closer to the dummy.

Remember, adding a distraction in training will automatically take the exercise up another level so aim for duration, then add in distraction and only when your dog is steady, add distance.

An excerpt from The Advanced Pet Gundog
by L*z Graham MA

join the club - https://www.L*zGrahamOnlineTraining.com/The-Pet-Gundog-Club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
your secret weapon - www.RetrievingRoll.com





*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

07/11/2024

07/11/2024

06/11/2024

The L*z Graham Retrieving Roll is a wonderful way to introduce canvas at a young age.

As the puppy matures and goes onto larger and more unusual dummies, the Retrieving Roll can act as a transitional aid to give your dog confidence as he moves into more ‘grown up’ training by simply wrapping the Retrieving Roll around the new or ‘scary’ item, be that a dummy, cold game or anything else you want them to pick up.

Working with the dog's psyche of "what's in it for me" the L*z Graham Retrieving Roll is a fantastic transitional training tool and as a remedial aid, should be part of every gundog trainer’s kit.

Over the next week, we'll share short videos on how to progress your training with the L*z Graham Retrieving Roll, which is now available in four fabulous colours from Gamekeepers Goods.

‘Because sometimes our dogs need a little bit of help...’

https://www.gamekeepersgoods.co.uk/store/p336/L*z_Graham_Retrieving_Roll.html #/

join the club - https://www.l*zgrahamonlinetraining.com/the-pet-gundog-club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
l*z graham retrieving roll - www.RetrievingRoll.com

*zGrahamRetrievingRoll





*zGrahamBooks

04/11/2024

Having a puppy, and then a dog, that can’t switch off and settle down is so stressful, not just for you but for your puppy too; and if you have wooden or laminate flooring it will drive you mad… all that click click click of their claws pacing back and forwards or, as Spud used to when we first got him, round and round the rug.

Pacing dogs can fatigue their adrenal system because the dog is constantly on the go, thereby burning energy and potentially losing condition and lean muscle, plus, they never mentally switch off which means their body can’t rest and rejuvenate.

In the same way that parents of young children insist on mid-morning and afternoon naps, so too do we need to teach our puppies to lie down on command and ‘be still’.

An excerpt from Manners not Mayhem
by L*z Graham MA

join the club - https://www.L*zGrahamOnlineTraining.com/The-Pet-Gundog-Club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
your secret weapon - www.RetrievingRoll.com





*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

28/10/2024

When your dog is lying with his eyes open and staring into space, don't think for a minute that he’s sad, bored, lonely, or unhappy… as it's just the opposite.

He’s chilled out and is in his 'rest and digest' phase (also known as 'rest & recharge' or 'rest & rejuvenate') or, as I used to say when I was a kinesiologist, “he's in his spleen”.

Its during this crucial time that the parasympathetic nervous system takes over, and your dog's body is focussed on digesting food, repairing cells and conserving energy.

The spleen, which is part of the lymphatic system and serves as a reservoir for blood, plays a key part in the ‘rejuvenate’ element.

As well as functioning as a storage area, the spleen helps to maintain a healthy blood supply for our dogs, by breaking down, killing off any dying red blood cells, and cloning white blood cells during an immune response.

This is one of the many reasons why it's so important to teach our dogs to switch off and settle down 🐾

join the club - https://www.L*zGrahamOnlineTraining.com/The-Pet-Gundog-Club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
your secret weapon - www.RetrievingRoll.com





*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

22/10/2024

Training and behaviour modification should come from a place of positivity and be rewarding for both the dog and his owner.

Rather than being a part of 'this camp' or 'that camp', we believe that the focus needs to be on a ‘positive outcome’ for the dog at the end of the lead, as well as for the family that he belongs to.

As such we apply a bit of common sense and embrace effective, motivational, and positive training without excessive freedom of behaviour.

join the club - https://www.L*zGrahamOnlineTraining.com/The-Pet-Gundog-Club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
your secret weapon - www.RetrievingRoll.com





*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

17/10/2024

30/09/2024

After almost 10 years of helping dogs find the joy in the retrieve, and handlers finding the joy of delivery to hand, L*z has decided to revamp, revise and update the LGRR 🐾

*** The original and the best just got better. Watch this space for launch details of the new L*z Graham Retrieving Roll ***

"Because sometimes our dogs need a little bit of help..." L*z Graham (2015)






*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

join the club - https://www.l*zgrahamonlinetraining.com/the-pet-gundog-club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
l*z graham retrieving roll - www.RetrievingRoll.com

02/09/2024

'Socialising' your dog with another species doesn't mean taking your dog over to say 'hello' as all that will do is ensure that your dog runs over to the horses/sheep/goats rather than ignoring them.

Rather it should be trained as an irrelevance to be ignored..."
The Pet Gundog Puppy (2013) 🐾






*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll

join the club - https://www.l*zgrahamonlinetraining.com/the-pet-gundog-club
buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
l*z graham retrieving roll - www.RetrievingRoll.com

01/09/2024

🐾 Have a fabulous Partridge season 🐾


*zGrahamBooks
*zGrahamRetrievingRoll





buy the book - https://ThePetGundog.co.uk/Home/Books
join the club - https://www.l*zgrahamonlinetraining.com/the-pet-gundog-club
a common sense approach - https://L*zGraham.com/
l*z graham retrieving roll - www.RetrievingRoll.com

01/09/2024

31/08/2024

practical training for the real world, combined with common sense advice