I'm going to own up to it. I'm am a lazy trainer. At nearly 7 months old Rodger only knows at most 5 actual verbal cues. Terrible for a trainers dog, right? My training ethos though is that at this point I want the environment and context to provide most of his cues. I want this for a number of reasons;
He sees, smells, and hears way more than me.
Hes much, much, quicker than me.
I'm not always going to be there to tell him what to do.
As mentioned, I'm lazy.🤣🤣
This means I want him to perform behaviours the same way, on his own cognizance, without me having to be there to cue it.
In this video, you can see our “going out the door” behaviour. I want the open door to cue him to move away from the door so he doesn't dash out by himself. I also want him to wait at the bottom of the stairs outside, or at least not pull me,so I have time to lock the door and get down the stairs safely. I don't verbally cue this behaviour, the cues are the door opening, and me stepping out the door. ( I'm loaded with the cold by the way, so all the sighing and huffing is me trying to breathe!) You can hear I don't give him any verbal cues other than releasing him to actually step out the door. This means he should do the behaviour the same way whether I'm taking him out, The Boss is taking him out, or if someone is just nipping out to the bin. The cue doesn't come from me telling him what to do, but the environment and context of what is happening round him.
As he gets older I will teach him more verbal cues, but for now, for safety, most of his day to day behaviours are cued by the environment.
Laziness rules! 😁😁
It feels terrifying, but the best time to start letting your puppy off leash is when they are very young. In general they want to be with you and feeling safe, and haven't quite developed the urge to run off exploring yet. It's a great time to work on your recall in safe spaces.
There are many different ways to do this, and you can use loads of different rewards to get your dog to come back happily and enthusiastically. In this video Rodger has a tiny hesitation before he comes back. I wasn't surprised by that as he wants to go to the bench, and I'm adding in another recall cue (the whistle).
Hes doing great for 15 weeks old though!
If you want help with your dogs recall, please do get in touch.
Wondering what your puppy needs? The answer is almost always sleep. Puppies need somewhere in the region of 18-20 hours sleep in a 24 hour cycle.
This short video of Rodger is taken during the " mad half hour". He's had an exciting day, its 7pm and hes actually incredibly tired. During the video he's seemingly happily playing with two toys and chewing a bit of carrot. In reality, hes unable to regulate his own needs because he's a baby puppy. He knows he has big feelings about something, but he's not mature enough to know what. He's exhausted and needs to sleep, so he's taking it out on his toys.If I were to try and touch him in this state he would absolutely bite me, because that's what puppies do. He'd probably bite quite hard too. He's overstiimulated and can't calm himself, so I need to help him. Rodger is crate trained, so if I pop him in his crate with a lickimat or chew he'll settle enough for his tiredness to catch up and knock him out. ( In this case, he didnt even need a chew!) Eventually, he'll be able to control himself enough to sleep, and will hopefully take himself off to his crate or bed to rest. Right now, I have to be the thinking ape and make decisions for him. Its cute, but the apparent playfulness here is the source of a lot of puppy issues and complaints about biting.
You know how grumpy you are after a bad night's sleep? That's how your pup feels, × 10, but he doesn't know why, or how to cope with it.
Picture in the comments of about 1 minute after the video..
Hello stranger! 😁😁
I've had an extended break after my accident. I fell on holiday last year, ruptured my Achilles, broke my foot and had to have surgery. It's been a long haul, but it's getting there now and I'm starting to get back to work.
Apart from that drama, it's been all change in the CC household. Unfortunately we're dogless at the moment. We lost both dogs last year, and at the time we felt we needed a break. Losing Pickle was awful, then Bracken a few months later before i had really recovered was a deep blow. Milo still casts a shadow over my heart too, and always will.
A dog free life certainly has its plus points. We've had holidays abroad without worrying who's going to look after the dogs. We had spontaneous days out, doing things we couldn't do with dogs. We finally visited a few places while we holidayed in the UK that we couldn't take dogs to. It was lovely.
You can probably guess there's a " but" coming. 🤣🤣
It's a quiet household without a dog. Too quiet. Dogs bring so much joy to our lives. I've not been without a dog for 30 odd years. Yes, they're a tie, a responsibility, and a financial burden but the light and life they bring is irreplaceable. We found that most of the things we enjoy doing can be done with a dog. Our first dogless holiday after we lost Bracken was great, but the only thing we did that we wouldn't have been able to do with a dog was have a meal in an Indian restaurant which wasn't dog friendly. It was a terrible meal, so he would have saved us from that, ironically!
So, of course, we're in the process of getting a new family member.😊😊 We thought long and hard about it, and I'll post more over the coming weeks about our decisions around getting a new dog, and how we are preparing for them.
For the moment, it's good to be back. I have a few plans to work on and will be opening my grooming books for a few new grooming clients for the first time in 6 years. I'm looking forward to new challenges, and new
Good boy!
When we took Bracken on he was an absolutely inveterate scavenger. He would eat pretty much anything he found on the ground, including non food items.
It's taken nearly 2 years, and he will still eat the odd thing he finds, but this was a massive win this morning. He doesn't eat non food items now, but to leave a bone! And he found it and came back to me for his reward without lifting it. Previously he would have picked it up and became aggressive to the point of biting if you tried to get it off him. Notice I don't cue him to do anything. I want this to be a skill he does for himself, not something I have to tell him to do.
Such a good boy! These are skills learned in his later life, so old dogs can certainly learn new tricks!
Pickle of course doesn't touch it. This is a skill she knows very well, and she is practically perfect in every way. She still gets rewarded for leaving it though.
"Let's go!"
Hand signals.
It's pretty clear he's got a good grasp on this one!
As dogs age they often start to go a bit deaf. Certain breeds like Spaniels are especially prone, and even more so if they have a history of ear infections. It's a good idea to introduce hand signals for some behaviours before their hearing goes to help with the transition.
Bracken seems to be getting more deaf by the day. He is apparently totally unphased by the situation. He can still smell when food is being cooked, and that's all that matters to him!
Wee Marty.
His brakes aren't fully functional yet...
Recall
I started working on a visual recall cue for Bracken.
Hes going a bit deaf, so although he can still hear OK I wanted to establish a cue he could see clearly as a recall before its needed.
I wait for a check in. ( Him to look at me, a separate skill he's had tons of work on so he checks very regularly.
When he checks, I give him a nice, big, obvious signal.
He gets a reward for coming back.
He may be getting old and arthritic, but he can still learn new things.
Good boy!
Tick or Tag?
Bracken is a total tick magnet.
We play Tick or Skin tag regularly. 🤣🤣
Seriously though, a good way to tell is to look where the suspect thing joins the body. If there are wee black legs, it's a tick!
The funniest cue ever, cracks me up so much!Sound on ( though it's not great, I'm wearing my mask and you can hear it rustle), wait til the end. 🤣🤣🤣
Buddy is such a character. 😍😍😍
When we got Bracken walking him down this street on bin day was a real trial. He would literally faceplant in the bin bags and have to be physically dragged away, usually grabbing a bag and trying to take it with him! 🤣🤣
Working with him on this issue of scavenging has been a challenge. He's had 11 years of practice, and finding food is inherently rewarding. He is, by no means, a finished project. Bracken will still eat things he finds in the street if I'm not aware enough to cue him to look at me. He's much better with non-food items like hankies and masks, which were a real problem initially.
I wish I had some video of how he was initially, but he was so into lunging and pulling towards things it would have been dangerous to try and control him, still hold Pickles lead, and video too.
#olddognewtricks
Truth!
If your groomer or trainer says go to the vet, please do! Not owner shaming or blaming at all, but as a groomer I inspect your dog minutely. As do all groomers. We spot unusual things, and can see changes that owners maybe don't. Subtle changes are easily missed when you see your dog everyday. We see them every 4-8 weeks so it's easier for us to notice.
Good trainers have 100's of hours of observing multiple different dogs. We can see when something isn't quite right. The best Trainers can give the most effective behaviour modification plans, but if your dog has an underlying condition it's just not going to work.
Medical issues in dogs can have a variety of symptoms and a lot of breeds are genetically predisposed to not show illness. A good working relationship with all your dog's caregivers can only be better for your dog's longterm wellbeing.
A few things about this video.
There's a loud whistle at about 1min 10.
Bracken hadn't seen the deer as I started videoing, he had stopped and turned as I had stopped.
I'm sure when he goes into the bushes it was rabbits he was smelling, but that recall! 😍😍
I have worked a fair bit on his check-in behaviour around deer, we see waaay more deer than sheep, randomly! That is the behaviour I want, looking/coming to me, ready to get a reward. For safety, if he was younger and more enthusiastic about chasing deer, he'd be on a long line.
And as a last thought, I cant narrate, video, train and walk uphill all at the same time!😂😂
This video nearly caused tears. Actual tears. For everyone involved. 😂😂😂
First and last time we use Queen Pickle for a grooming demo. It was tough to try to narrate what I was doing while speeding through so P didn't get too annoyed with us!
If you have any specific questions, please do call or pm me.
Aww, bless him, Buster doesn't do catch! 😂😂❤❤
Brrr! Freezing cold again this morning. Pickle is struggling a bit with it being so bitter. Her paws are obviously bothering her on the frozen grass and the salt on the paths and roads stings! We cut short our walk this morning and I washed her paws when we got in to remove salt residue which can be harmful if your dog licks it off.
To keep her busy I put out a choice of enrichment items to entertain her, including her snufflemat, lickymats, and different heights and textures for her to explore. Theres little bits of treat and some of her breakfast scattered about for her to find. Its important for our dogs to let them make choices about how they want to enjoy life. Queen P did not want to go a walk this morning, fair enough. I'll try again at lunchtime when it's a bit warmer.
