We’ve not done any retrieve practice whilst Dreya has been recovering from being spayed as it wasn’t practical when she was wearing the cone! First session back and she did ok. I’d like her a little closer to my leg when she’s sat at the end so that’s now on my training to do list!
NORTH EAST DOG FESTIVAL
🐾 31st August & 1st September 🐾
Not long now!
As on previous years I’ll be there doing Have a Go Sessions, but this year it will be different to what I have done in the past. I’m doing Pet Skills sessions where we’ll look at some fun exercises to help with some of those challenging areas of owning a dog: 🐾 Coming when called. 🐾 Walking on the lead. 🐾 Focus around distractions.
Between sessions I’m also happy to answer all your dog training questions, so pop along and say hello.
WHAT’S A HIGH VALUE FOOD REWARD?As with people, we all have different tastes and so do dogs. So, what appeals to one might not appeal to another. Of course we have to take any food allergies or intolerances into consideration. Also, it’s important to remember that just because we think it is high value doesn’t mean our dog does. Make a list of all the food treats your dog likes and rank them in order of value based on how your dog perceives them.
Team Luna got in touch shortly after Luna joined the family as they really wanted to work on her recall. Of course, at this stage, everything was very new; they were just getting to know each other and developing a bond. We did a couple of one-to-one sessions, and Team Luna have been working really hard to build a strong and reliable recall. So, check out the video and see just how well they’ve done. If this is something you are struggling with, get in touch to find out how I can help you improve your dog's recall.
🐕 STARTERS COURSE 🐕🦺
Covering a wide range of exercises including walking nicely on the lead, coming when called, food manners and much more.
🐾Pawfect for adolescent dogs and rescue dogs.
🐾6 week course
🐾 Maximum of 4 dogs per class, so lots of individual attention
🐾 Great introduction to training or refresher for the teenage dogs that seem to have forgotten everything!
FRIDAY 30th AUGUST, 8pm
https://www.ruffdiamonddogtraining.co.uk/starters-dog-training-course.html
[Videos by Hounds on Heart Photography by Jane Jeffrey}
THREE THINGS NOT TO DO WHEN YOU FIRST GET A RESCUE DOGIt's all very exciting when the day arrives and you finally get to bring your rescue dog home, but there are a few things to consider. 🐾1. VISITORS - It’s natural that family and friends will want to come and visit your new dog that you’ve been telling them about. However, it’s important to allow your dog to settle in first. Too many visitors could be over whelming for your dog. When you do have visitors ensure initial meetings are calm. 🐾2. BUSY PLACES - Even if your new dog seems really confident and outgoing their previous experiences may not have included going to busy places. So, even though you might want to take them to the beach or park at the weekend make sure you don’t go when it is likely to be very busy. It is also worth considering there may be certain environments, sights and sounds that they haven’t experienced before and this could be very daunting to begin with. 🐾3. ASSUME - Don’t assume how your new dog will be. For example, I often have clients that have been told that their rescue dog is fine with other dogs, however this doesn’t turn out to be the case once they are settled in their new home. The kennel environment they may have come from or being on the streets is very different to the fabulous new home they now have. 🐾So, take things slowly and enjoy your new family member.
It is really common that dogs won’t pay attention to treats on a walk, even if they really like them in the house. This is s good exercise to start to build a desire for treats. Rather than trying to encourage your dog to look at you, allow them time to sniff, to take in their surroundings and wait till the look at you. When they do, mark and reward this. 🐾 Have a go and let me know how you get on.
Meet Rossi: He’s a Dalmatian cross, but what do you think he is crossed with? We don’t know his exact age, but based on when he was microchipped we know that in September he must be at least 13 years old. Rossi previously belonged to a client, but they weren’t coping with him. It turns out he’d had a few previous homes as well (We think we were the 6th). I agreed to take him on as a foster dog. The plan was to do some training with him and then rehome him. This was over 10 years ago, so as you can see that didn’t quite work out as planned!! Rossi enjoys doing Talking Dogs Rally and has gained his Veteran Level 3 Championship and recently completed his first two rounds of the new Level 3+ which we both thoroughly enjoyed. When we first took Rossi on the only thing that he knew was to sit and give a paw and he couldn’t sit without giving a paw which was cute for about 5 seconds, then really annoying. He now loves his training and his tail doesn’t stop wagging. Do you have a rescue dog? If so, what’s their story? #dogtrainer #dogowner #meettheteam #dalmatiancross #spottydog #teammate #family #dogfamily #ruffdiamonddogtraining #talkingdogsrally
Being dragged down the street by your dog is no fun at all, but is a really common problem. This is a short video from a recent 1-1 session. ��With any session I aim to set up for success as much as possible. We selected a quiet area to minimise distractions.��We used 3 steps during the session:��1. Check in - this tells us that he is comfortable enough to train in the environment we were in 2. Loose lead - using backwards movement to familiarise dog and owner with the concept of the loose lead3. A few steps of loose lead walking at the owner’s side��Of course this is just the first session and there is still lots of training to do, but a great start from a fab team.��If you are struggling with your dog pulling on the lead, get in touch - I can offer support via face to face 1-1s and online coaching. #looseleadwalking #dogtraining #dogtraining101 #dogtrainingtip #ruffdiamonddogtraining #onlinedogtraining #virtualdogtraining #dogtraininghelp #dogowner #dogwalk #looselead #looseleash #bordercollie
🐾 GIVE A PAW 🐾This is a fun trick I enjoy teaching, but I don’t teach it until my dog knows how to do a nice sit. When I do teach it I ensure that I still reward my dog for sitting sometimes and that I only reward paw when I ask for it. I get so many people whose dog can sit and give a paw, but can’t sit without giving a paw, this is often because paw is cuter than sit and so gets rewarded more. When we first took Rossi on the only thing he knew was sit and give a paw, he couldn’t sit without giving a paw. This was cute for about 5 mins, then very frustrating as he kept sticking his paw out!! HOW I TEACH IT🐾 One way that I teach it is by very slowly using a treat to lure my dog’s head up and to the side to ever so slightly put them off balance which in turn results in them lifting their paw. 🐾 As they lift their paw, I mark the behaviour (E.g. This could be a click, or saying ‘good’ or ‘yes) and then reward them🐾 Keep repeating this until it is consistent🐾 Add a verbal cue
Meet Cal. We’ve had Border Collie Cal since he was a 10 week old puppy. He’s now 11.5 years old. His full name is Calix, meaning very handsome , but he’s always called Cal. Cal loves training and has his Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze, Silver and Gold. He used to do Competitive Obedience and won a beginners class taking me into Novice, but he’s a sensitive soul and was often concerned about things going on around him. For example noises such as portaloo doors banging would upset him, so he retired from competition early and enjoys doing training at home. He loves to play a game of tug with his older ‘brother’ Rossi and is keen to play with Dreya, but she’s not so sure! They all happily chill together.
Dreya’s been watching her weight - well, actually I have! Following her last season she put on a tiny bit of weight, so I’ve just been really careful with the amount of food she has. She’s now back to where she was but I do like to check every now and then. Weighing herself is something she learnt when she was quite young. This is platform training - we have a wide variety of platforms. Some mean front feet on, some sit on it, some stand on, some back feet on.��The scales are just bathroom scales and are a little bit slippy, so she has to be careful when getting onto them.
Sleep is really important, especially for young puppies. However it can be difficult to encourage some puppies to have enough sleep throughout the day, particularly in busy households. 🐾 How did you encourage your puppy to sleep?
Place training is a useful exercise for when you need your dog to remain calm and settle in one place for a short period of time. In a previous reel I showed the initial stage of shaping the dog to lie down on the bed or mat. This is step 2: 🐾We’ve now increased the distance that Rossi has to go to the mat - we built this up gradually. 🐾Once he is on the mat I vary the number of times that I reward him, this encourages him to remain calm and settled on the mat.🐾I then start to gradually include distractions; rewarding Rossi for not moving.🐾At this point I still haven’t added a verbal cue for Rossi going to the mat.
It’s been raining non stop today, so our walks were shorter than normal. To keep Dreya occupied we did some free shaping where she started to save for the next rainy day!!
We’ve been having fun with the 1 metre tunnel. Of course, not everyone will have a tunnel, but there are lots of reasonably priced children’s play tunnels that you could use with most dogs. Also, you can get some good value garden agility kits. Remember to make sure that the tunnel is secure.In Talking Dogs Rally at Level 3+ one of the exercises is to stand still and send your dog through the tunnel without you moving, so this is what we are working on. With a full length tunnel Rossi struggles, so we are building it up with the smaller tunnel.If your dog does have a tunnel share your video and tag Ruff Diamond.
SOCIAL MEDIA Vs REALITY��Training doesn’t always go to plan! Like us, dogs have good and bad days. They have cheeky days too - well Dreya certainly does! I of course, will always share the good things my dogs do, however I feel it’s important to share that things don’t always work out as expected. When this happens we have to take a step back, re-evaluate and come up with a new training plan.If you are struggling with any of your dogs training/behaviour and would like help get in touch.
We love a chin target and it’s obvious so does Ted 🙂🙂A chin target is very versatile:🐾 Can be used as an alternative to demand barking 🐾 Great for co-operative care exercises, such as health check, vet visits, tick removal (see earlier reel)🐾 Could be used for deep pressure therapy to help calm a person🐾 It’s cute!
Squeezed in a quick training session with Dreya between 1-1s yesterday.We were working on her retrieve for competitive obedience. The aim of the exercise is for the dog to remain steady whilst the dumbbell is thrown. Then go and cleanly pick it up. Return to present it to the handler in front. The dog should hold the dumbbell without mouthing it till the handler takes it. The dog then returns to the handlers left heel position.After having a few throws without the wait to encourage a speedy run out I decided to see if she understood the exercise well even if I was facing the wrong way.
PLACE TRAINING - STEP 1. 🐾Teaching your dog to go to a place and remain calm for a short period of time is a useful exercise for many situations. For example if your dog barks when someone rings the doorbell or if they jump at people when they come into the house you could instead teach them to go and settle on a bed or mat. 🐾 This is a summary in 20 seconds of the first step - of course it takes much longer than this to train it! 🐾Start of sat on the floor or a chair with the bed or mat in front of you and with some treats ready.Initially we are rewarding any interaction where your dog is on the bed. After several repetitions of feet on, wait and see if your dog offers another behaviour on the bed. For most dogs it tends to be a sit next. Rossi offered a bow. After a few repetitions of rewarding the sit, wait and see if your dog will lie down. 🐾 If you are struggling with your dog’s reaction to people at the door or over excitement when they come in the house get in touch to discuss one to one training or online coaching.
