Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer

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Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer

Action 4 Dogs Dog Training founded by Max Muir is based in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Maxwell covers all of Scotland by appointment. Puppy Training.
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Professional Dog Trainer
Dog Training for Gun Dog, Sporting, & Working Line Pets

Steadiness and Obedience
Recall Training
Retrieve Training
Lead Training & Handling Skills
Building Your Relationship & The Bond
Behavior Consultations Dog Training focusing on pet gun dogs and sporting breeds. Personal 121 private Training Sessions in the following Skill sets:

Effective Dog Handling Skills & Proper

Use of Equipment. Adolescent Dog Training-Coping With Your Teenager. Behaviour Training Solutions. Online Zoom Sessions, Telephone consultations & Private Discreet Service. Private lessons and home visits are designed to suit a client’s needs and they can be arranged in the home or a location of your choosing. Private one to one training service also caters for puppy training, basic obedience training, and the teaching of handling skills. Training topics include:

Handling skills with the lead. Recall- Training Levels to your recall. Retriever Training. Gun Dog foundation Training. Training good manners, obedience, and greeting behaviours. Teaching dog’s to develop self control. Effective stimulation & enrichment to deal with those dogs with excess energy. Maxwell has hosted regular seminars, lectures and workshops and been guest speakers at many canine events. Maxwell is also available for you to host for presentations and workshops and virtual keynotes and presentations on a wide variety of dog related subjects. He is also open to appearing on podcasts. Visit www.action4dogs.co.uk

22/09/2024

Mindset Chapter:

Breaking habits and creating new ones…

Even with experience, when working with a new dog, or prior to a training session with my own, I always take a moment to meditate on:-

How I want to feel…

How I want to move…

What thoughts I want to have when I am challenged…

Thinking in current or old ways if you confront a problem will not change things.

Mental rehearsal in how you approach, maintain a new state of feeling, and reflect on events is where change happens.

A dog may behave a certain way with you but slightly, or vastly different with someone else. That is because of the other’s state of mind and the energy they transfer.

When you practise mentally changing your outlook, you change your feeling, adopt a new, even if only slightly different, personality.

That in turn gradually changes the situation and produces a new reality.

That reality is a changed situation due to the chemistry between you and your dog.

This is why I always guide my clients to train and interact with heart and soul if they are teaching new things or trying to motivate their dog.

It also relates to being calm under pressure, decisive in nature, diluting self doubts by keeping it together, and giving feedback to the dog from a strong state of mind that the dog can learn to rely on.

Your presence is either a very potent tool in working with your dog’s training or behaviour, or it is where the problems often lie…

Devoting time to how you will approach the work you are about to do, and by using mental rehearsal in practise, you change your thoughts, feelings, and ultimately your actions. Interaction and communication as a result will change for the better and will improve with new and sustained change within you.

Everything you want to change is on the other side of how you feel and act.

It begins there…

A deep and deliberate focus on developing your mental skills is every bit as important as understanding markers, giving timely rewards, and improving handling skills.

Confidence, Competence, and Relationship Building starts right there!

When keeping notes on your training be sure to record your own progress as well as your dogs!

21/09/2024

Building confidence in water…

Degas wasn’t the most confident dog around water in the early going…

The goal was to build up his retrieve and fuel his enthusiasm with it by building in steadiness and anticipation. The retrieve item was his main focus and we moved onto various items…

He loves his Dokken…

Then we change the environment by finding wide but shallow streams to work in, and we get in there with the dog. This way he has support, teamwork is better, and he gets a whole new experience of the retrieve before we move into deeper and faster flowing waters.

The observation is always on his level of enthusiasm and growing confidence.

The retrieve always adds different emotional meaning for the dog when we change it up and build it into experiences in a variety of habitat.

20/09/2024

Stuck on thinking for training locations away from busy life?

Tracks are ideal…

Tracks are extended alleys with a host of competitive distractions on either side of them ranging from fields, hedgerows, livestock, wildlife, scent…the lot!

Tracks are everywhere, you just need to take a drive and find them.

They are ideal for training any exercise and progressing and proofing it through the challenges life throws your way.

You turn up, you leave, your training is done…

No real distance covered, plenty of exercise and mental stimulation…

Find a woodland or forest track to take your training up a notch!

19/09/2024

Therapy time for one of the rescue dogs on my care after a visit to the vets this morning…

A lovely stroll along the most beautiful river Teith as it runs by Doune castle.

18/09/2024

Why the Heel is More Useful than Loose Lead Walking!

The value of training the Heel is that it provides you with evidence of how well your dog works within 2 feet of you.

It also tells the dog to be in and keep a specific position in relation to your body when needed.

Although loose lead walking is important and beneficial it does not cut it when you need the reliability of a trained and steady Heel command.

Whether you are walking through or past people and dogs, cyclists, loose livestock, or a busy pedestrian precinct, Heel is the ultimate training in focus and self control. Heel is all about training the position and loose lead is often undetermined and non specific in comparison.

The ultimate goal is a dog is trained to walk to Heel both on and off lead.

The Heel position is also a vital part of training other behaviours incorporating retrieve and recall training.

Most dogs learn early that out in front of you is the place to be and if we are to teach them that walking at your side by your leg is required, it can be an alien thing for them once they have developed a pulling habit.

Heel should be part of a dog’s training on any walk. It is also an exercise that requires maintenance and ongoing training as your dog develops mentally, instinctively, and physically.

Be sure to include walking to Heel in your daily training. I like to train in drills that include much variety such as changes in pace, turns, implementing other exercises such as Sit / Stays, Stop etc and charge up the Heeling work before moving on to test and expose it to life’s temptations and challenges.

Some lovely work here from one of my clients as she finds her flow with her beautiful Labrador Retriever.

17/09/2024

Look at that face!

I’ve worked with a few Newfoundland’s in my time and have found them all extraordinary characters, acutely perceptive, and smart in picking things up quickly!

With every puppy foundation training we have been focusing on basic manners and lead work which are very important in a big breed of dog, and of course early recall training to boot!

The stages in puppyhood are a rapid phase of development with mental and physical growth. After 5.5 months your pup has left those early stages and just like that they are approaching the older puppy transition into adolescence.

Where all the fun really begins…

Working at the foundations is key and maintaining and building on them while the social part of the brain is developing fast helps steer your dog through those young early years and onto maturity.

All those experiences ahead are made a pleasure with a good solid base of consistent education for a dog.

I look forward to watching this young girl grow!

14/09/2024

Labrador Puppy Consults this week.

I love those early days, and all that mischief, while we set the foundations of our relationship with our young dog.

Everything springs from that…

Who we are to the dog…

What we do and how we do it…

Your dog is building a mental profile of you all the way through those early experiences…

What a lovely temperament in this young boy and I look forward to watching him develop towards adolescence and instinctive maturity.

12/09/2024

Mindset Chapter:

What you want…

There’s no way around the work…

The repetition and rehearsal…

The process…

It takes what it takes to get the best from you and your dog…

Repetition, rehearsal, and doing the right things IS the magic potion you seek…

There is the mental approach, and the practicality of just doing it, recording it, reviewing it, and moving forward with it…

There’s no such thing as ‘I just want…’

It takes methodical work and commitment which won’t be without its challenges…

Set your mind that…

That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, enjoyable, and satisfying. It is all of those things…

Change the way we think and we change the way we do…

It takes what it takes…

You have to really want it!

11/09/2024

A quiet moment of appreciation with my boy after training yesterday…
Dogs truly get that!

08/09/2024

Sunday mornings are about Labradors, horses and forest!

06/09/2024

A tip with encouragement…

If you are having issues on your dog walks, try to get away from the concept of walking your dog any real amount of distance…

Seek out two to three locations and plan out what you would like to work on training..

Gather everything you need and establish a habit of going there and working together. Your dog will come to understand and anticipate that…and as a result you will both learn to upskill and work together.

Your dog will not lose any much needed stimulation, I promise you. Quite the opposite!

Get to work, stick at it, and follow it through to getting better. Once you achieve better you widen out to more locations, and walks, and put those skills into practise…

How long will that take?

That’s the wrong question!

Just do it and make it a thing, and you will change the relationship with your dog for the better. My motto for you is in the hashtag.

06/09/2024

Limited space, time, and travel.

This is a young and very energetic dog who’s owner experiences difficulty in containing as she doesn’t drive, has a small garden, and finds walks around the city streets difficult.

The first step is to maximise use of your time and the space you have. It’s not how large or how small an area may be but what you can do with it.

We use the area to teach steadiness, problem solving games, play, and focus through obedience exercise. These sessions are done little but often.

Impulse exercises in the apartment to calmly put a lead on, and be able to walk calmly down the stairs to the street are put in place. The dog must learn a degree of self-control.

Use of the quieter back streets and staying away from the main area is used to work on handling skills and lead work. We get away from the concept of walking the dog to focusing on communication via the lead and creating steady and calm behaviours outdoors on lower levels.

Is it easy? No…

Does it take dedication and commitment to see it through no matter how long it takes? Yes!

Progress inevitably moves towards giving the young dog what it needs in terms of fulfilling its life through using its instincts and drive. That is a must and will change one’s concept of what owning a young dog like this will entail.

Stimulation and problem solving will stagnate if there are no progressions to a wider world…

The belief that a Labrador will be a calm and easy going companion that will fit into any lifestyle, particularly from a working line, will not hold fast.

Drives and needs must be channeled and met so that the frustrations of not being able to act on those instincts are taken care of. Working Labradors are athletic and need an environment to thrive, but first the foundations and the relationship must be set as we widen out in life and satisfy their hunting and social needs.

Take away the frustrations and the basic foundation training will be easier and a lot more focused!

05/09/2024

I enjoyed a lovely session with this Labrador lad.

We got to work on beginning training some solid foundation behaviours that will set him up for the future!

My message…

Learn and instil solid basics in teaching the dog how you want it to navigate life…

Give it clear instructions on how to do and what to do in any given situation…

Keep working on the basics…

Maintain them, always…

Keep working on those basics.

Basic doesn’t mean simple, it means the basic behaviours we want our dogs to be good at and can understand them in any scenario.

It’s a constant…

It’s a skill…

It’s communication, leadership, and working together.

It’s precise…

The dog knows what’s to do and trusts your direction because you have drilled, practised, and built trust in it through deliberate training.

04/09/2024

A lovely mix of ages and socialisation during one my client sessions today!

03/09/2024

Your Working Line Pet Dog

It creeps up on you and you don’t get a lot of warning if you don’t have a keen eye for what to look for in a hunter.

Your pup will have shown small inclinations to flush, pace and scent out, chase, pounce, point, play hunt, and generally be locked onto an activity or a visual stimulus that you find yourself vying for its attention more powerfully than is normal.

As the dog grows with increasing muscular strength, coordination and agility, developing senses, and a little practise, you find the distance increases and once you unclip that lead…off it goes doing what it’s meant to do, bred to do, living out its purpose.

The term ‘pet’ doesn’t come into it. It’s only a pet at home. Outside in the big stim, it’s doing ‘it’s’ thing.

If that’s your dog… it’s time to choose your ground, reign it in, dig deep into your creative ability or seek help, and start to put those selective traits to work in the best way you can.

Work together…

Structure to your game…

Know the Hunter…

Shift your mindset from pet dog owner to hunting dog owner when the situation demands and put those new skills to work in your chosen environment.

Don’t leave it too long. Your hunting dog is not all that familiar with the term ‘pet.’

Not at those moments anyway.

02/09/2024

I Want it Now!

It is perfectly natural for dogs, instinctive as they are to lunge and grab at what they want.

As they get older, stronger, and determine they can gain access to stuff they want that way, it becomes a problem. A dog with no mind for your personal space, or others, will jump, paw at, grab, and possibly even hurt one during these interactions.

It is normal for the human to retract what they have in their hand and correct the dog verbally for its actions, which if untrained usually results in increased unwanted behaviour.

Dogs are generally not naturally patient. That is something that should be taught early. A dog learns getting access to something is dependent on steady and self-controlled behaviour. Dogs also need to learn to cope with disappointment as the reward seekers they are.

The first place I like to begin is teaching a dog that my personal space and body are no go limits unless invited through interaction, play, or affection. This is particularly relevant if a dog is by nature pushy and physical in its behaviour.

Once an awareness for your space and body is created, it sets up better behaviours for when you have something in your hand the dog wants.

I believe in the benefits of steady obedience behaviours such as Sit, Stay, Heel, and Come with a gentle approach towards me (the dog applies brakes).

These are taught ongoing throughout a dog’s adolescence and prime years. A dog that can learn to control its excitement levels is a pleasure to have, or has learned the ability to switch from a high arousal state to a lower one is a most valuable behaviour to teach.

If we have difficulty in controlling interactions when we have a resource the dog wants, or wish to deescalate play interaction, or bring down a dog’s level of frustration, deliberate teaching of focus in these areas is vital.

There’s much more to a training a Sit than a Sit, a Heel, or any other behaviour where you desire a level of self-control in the dog.

If we struggle to get that around ourselves in daily interactions we will struggle in the bigger picture.

Bigger issues can have their roots in smaller areas we are best to focus on.

29/08/2024

Giving Spark to Your Retrieve

Degas is totally in on it all the way.

Degas was not a naturally motivated retriever, unlike his brother Jacques who lived for it and would retrieve all day long.

Place Degas in a rich environment and exploration and running, scenting, and covering the ground finely was his thing.

Having to train a retrieve meant stepping out of those environments and working through play to build up his drive while nurturing his desire to work with me to do that before introducing it, one retrieve at a time, into more enticing habitats.

Over many months, we got there. I still ration his retrieves to an extent and stop while the going is good so he can still enjoy his walks.

There’s nothing like it to enhance the bonding process as for me, it is about generating the right emotions in the dog through variety of how retrieves are given. That’s keeps them mega exciting for him…and myself.

The key ingredient…anticipation. Nurturing the desire and then knowing how to use that is a key part of developing a dog’s desire to retrieve.

Now, he naturally picks up and carries items for his own enjoyment…

That’s the result if a journey in changing a dog’s emotions and how it feels by stirring and bringing those instincts to life.

They are there, sometimes they just need a little building up and teasing out, then work to show the dog that there are limitless ways that it can be on a special hunting mission to cover, locate, and retrieve an item. The dog finds out it gets to do everything it was doing previously. It just needs the time, creativity, and progressions in training to go through those levels.

Having that end goal in mind with your training helps you know why you are progressing through various exercises with a view to not only having well trained and focused behaviours, but providing a dog with the best life once it out with you.

Thats the difference in a dog being excited to go for a walk, and a dog being excited to go out WITH YOU to do something special.

Now, we hunt together!

Focus on building that and veer away from the walk mentality, to working together every time you go out.

It’s what those working line pets are selectively bred to do!

27/08/2024

A busy spaniel provides you with a marvellous opportunity to tap into your creative powers…

And often a working line pet spaniel may demand that from you.

Don’t: Give your dog endless amounts of free roaming and hunting, for sure that is what your spaniel is doing…

Do: Get creative and channel those hunting instincts into practical games that promote teamwork, steadiness, and solid foundations in basic training before I trudging your dog to lively habitats that thrive with birds, wildlife, and an abundance of various scent.

Attentiveness is the most desirable thing…

Training self-control and focus…

And gundog foundation training that gives you the skills to teach what your dog needs most.

Even doing it right doesn’t mean it will come easy…

It’s a process…

A challenge and way of life…

You have a hunting machine in a spaniel. Just because it is a working line pet, does not mean that it won’t display working line tendencies.

And those are powerful and develop rapidly once puppyhood is over.

Some of those working line pets are busy bees, anxious to get busy as soon as they are moving…

Don’t skip those vital early steps…

They will start you off as you mean to go on in daily life with your little hunting companion.

27/08/2024

If you want something to work well train it little and often.

Choose a location conducive to learning and maximising focus…

Look for consistency in your behaviour and the dog’s response…

Once you have that, transfer your training to other environments, raising the challenge slightly each time and looking for consistency there also…

Show up each time to train, learn, and build your bond through the training…

Take a look at your dog and observe the learning, how it feels, and how you support the behaviour…

Be a rock! Train, teach, and mentor your dog. Criticise yourself constructively and get creative in how you can change things…

Don’t be boring, connect, test yourself to see what you can do without treats and equipment. Learn to play, interact, and be interesting…

Turn each walk into an experience, a learning curve, and an achievable challenge for your dog and yourself.

Work at solutions, clear communication skills, and take the driving seat when the situation demands it.

It’s your dog…

It’s your life together…

Teach your dog to have trust and confidence in you and that you are its best choice in any situation. Teach it to depend on you!

Dogs are amoral, have no understanding of right or wrong…

We need to teach them our version of right and wrong…

Your standards impact the relationship from the outset.

27/08/2024

Watching this young dog grow and develop is a pleasure.

My favourite part of a dog’s development is the transition from puppyhood to young adolescence and beyond towards maturity.

All of those discoveries and adventures ahead of them as they discover the ongoing development of their physical attributes, heightened senses, speed and agility, and social development.

It is definitely a more challenging phase as you see the character of the dog begins to emerge from the pup that it was.

This young dog had a great time yesterday and as Labradors can tend to do, got stuck into every available part of the woodland, covered itself in muck, and made the most of every passing second.

Training exercises in small but frequent drills made the walk complete as it is now time to extend those foundations and build on all of that early training.

Training does not end once the puppy phase is over, it is only just beginning!

You will train your dog over the first few years of life, after that you will maintain that training well into maturity and throughout all your dog’s adult years.

It’s a lifetime process!

26/08/2024

International Dog Day

Spend quality time doing something very interesting with your dog…

25/08/2024

One of my favourite training exercises to watch my dog do
‘Go Back!’

23/08/2024

What a week it’s been!

23/08/2024

Some training thoughts for you to ponder…

We know that play is an integral part of bonding with our dogs, and that helping dogs form emotional attachments to play toys is one of the great ways to accomplish that…

I view gundog dummies for retrieving purposes a little differently and this makes a difference in how the dog interacts with me via the dummy, which if you are training a working dog, will eventually become cold game and progress to live birds in the field.

I like to watch the dog watch me as I form an emotional and caring attachment to the dummy. This in time affects the retrieve in a good way. Much like your dog picking up a non toy item for you such as a purse, a hat, or a glove and giving it to you without ragging it or running off with it altogether.

I treat the dummy delicately as if I have a small bird in my hand that is fragile. This is a good way as the dog observes how you feel, and it views interacting with you via the dummy with a different kind of play, more of a working type play in teaching the dog to do a job for you.

As the dog gathers my dummies for me I usually conclude those training drills with play, with or without toys. What’s evident is that through time you will notice the difference between the dog playing with you and retrieving for you, which is ultimately doing a job for you and enjoying it immensely at the same time.

Teaching our dogs the difference is where the fun and learning take place.

PS: ‘I have brightened up the picture to give us a greater sense of summer…’

22/08/2024

Introductory Training Session

One of the most favourite parts of my work are the introductory sessions where I meet a dog and owner for the very first time.

Yesterday morning I met this young Red Fox Labrador bitch and her lovely owner.

As well as an introduction in getting to know the dog, which is an essential part of the opening session, we worked on laying the foundations of recall training (with whistle), lead handling skills, and also introducing the dog to retrieving a gundog dummy for the first time.

It’s an entirely different feeling for a dog picking up a gundog dummy when it is used to fetching balls in their mouths.

Dogs are very often tired…in a good way, after the training sessions conclude. They have had a good deal of stimulation, outlets for their prey drive, and have engaged their minds in some problem solving. All of which are good components of the dogs learning from the sessions they have.

I look forward to working with this young developing dog over the coming months…

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Videos

The pleasure in watching your dog do what it does! #dogs #lovedogs #labradorretriever #labrador #gundogtraining

A little early morning practise at Thrumster… The weather looks promising.

Old dog still loves to play!

A burst of magic watching my old boy generate some play in the forest… He was even chasing the ducks upstream a few moments before.

Focus!

Our neighboring terrier’s pool routine…

It’s a privilege to have a fantastic range of working line pet dogs for training with me today. #retrievertraining #dogtraining #action4dogs

The Curiosity of Pups! A lovely day to finish the training sessions yesterday with this German Shepherd puppy. I love to observe curiosity in a pup. It is a healthy sign in my opinion. I worked with this dog’s owner years ago with her previous dog when they came to visit me, and now life presents this new puppy to her. Emotional development, social confidence, instincts in relation to behaviour, early training foundations, and gradual exposure to the world were all topics of discussion. I kept shepherds of my own for many years and it was so lovely to work with a young shepherd puppy again. I do have a soft spot for the breed…and all that they are. Understanding their developing instincts, behaviour, and being all things to them: Parent, Teacher, and Leader, provides them with a sound structure to live by. I look forward to watching this beautiful young dog develop, Those ears….! #action4dogs #dogtrainer

Running Free, Living the Dream

Just a guy enjoying watching his dog run free in paradise!

Using one of the farm gates to jazz up this boy’s retrieves and build confidence going out and coming back. It’s just a matter of adding distance into each session.

Retrieves Left & Rights

Retrieves: Training Left & Rights Varying positions enhance communication signals for your dog. Once you work with multiple retrieve items you automatically generate a deeper focus.

Variety isn’t only about extending an exercise in terms of distance or difficulty. Always make a habit of revisiting the basic exercises that got your dog so enthusiastic in the first place. Choose fun places to do them in and you’ll keep your dog’s drive and enthusiasm intact! Action 4 Dogs Edinburgh & Lothians Dog Trainer

A video clip from a training session with Degas a couple of months ago. Training my boy on a longer distance cold game retrieve. He hasn’t been on cold game for long, only a few months, so a fresh bird in the mouth is much higher value than a dummy. I intentionally held the bird in front of him after the delivery to hand for the reason to steady him up and not make any attempt at a re grab of the bird. I am happy with his soft mouth on the bird, how he went out and returned with enthusiasm, and how he remained steady after the delivery. ‘Make haste slowly’ with your gundog as they say. A good training session I was well happy with. It’s at a bit of a distance as I further familiarise myself with my go pro but perfectly visible.

Early lead training in my Glencorse location @action4dogs for this Black Labrador puppy who is just a star in every way…

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Our Story

Action 4 Dogs Dog Training founded by me, Max Muir. I am based in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

I am proud to be Labrador Retriever Rescue Scotland Scio Behaviour Consultant & Trainer for the past 17 years.

I cover all of Scotland and the north of England by appointment.

Personal Training Sessions Empowering You With Amazing Skills Effective Handling Skills & Use of Equipment Puppy Training & The Ultimate Start-Up Guide Adolescent Training-Coping With Your Teenager Behaviour Modification & Problem Solving Solutions Online / Telephone consultations Private & Discreet Service Mentoring-Supervision & Guidance to bring the best trainer out in you! Private lessons and home visits are designed to suit your individual needs and they can be arranged in your home or a location of your choosing. Private coaching training service also caters for puppy training, basic obedience and response training, and the teaching of handling skills. Training topics include: Recall Training Specialist Obedience Training Training Impulse Control / Steadiness, and Self Control Daily Stimulation & Enrichment Canine Handling Skills and Use of Equipment I hosts regular seminars and workshops with guest speakers which are held throughout the year. A am also available for you to host for presentations and workshops on a wide variety of dog related subjects. Give me a call or please visit my website www.action4dogs.co.uk