Remember to add some silliness to your training regimes 👍
A little late sharing this here, but Astrid is 2!
Little wolfy is still pretty little but it's amazing to reflect on how far she's come.
#dutchshepherd
I spent some time with Ava this week to help her prepare for the arrival of a new tiny human in the house!
As well as the usual brush up on loose lead walking (alongside a pram) and advice for managing dogs around kids, we taught Ava something that is both fun and useful...
Ava already has a solid foundation in scentwork, so we've adapted that training and taught her to freeze--indicate on dropped baby items. This is dual purpose - firstly, to help her owner out when a tiny shoe gets launched out of the pram and is nowhere to be found, and secondly to stop the dog stealing discarded baby socks!
A novel use for scentwork that was very fun to explore 😊
#scentwork #boxerdog
The best way to motivate my dogs to do what I ask, is to use a reward currency that they deem valuable. You wouldn't do your job if your boss decided one day that they were going to pay you in buttons from now on.
For Astrid her ultimate reward is this Emotional Support Bear!
#dogtraining #dogsofinstagram #dogreels #malinios #dutchshepherd #funnydog #happydog #belgianmalinois #positivedogtraining #dogstagram
I very rarely play fetch with my dogs, or at least normal fetch. The repetitive nature, the adrenaline and dopamine highs can make it very addictive. To the point that your dog can forget how to dog when out on walks.
It can also massively increase the risk of injury if they are leaping, twisting or suddenly stopping to catch it. We are about to go through Darwin's second surgery for a ligament tear, so trust me that this isn't something you want to go through. Whilst his aren't fetch related injuries, ligament tears are commonly caused by fetch.
Instead I like to use Astrid's favourite Kong tug. And we mix up how we play with it. In this video we are working with frustration and impulse control. Calmness is definitely something a lot of people want to work on, but here I'm purposefully amping her up. I want to work on her being able to hear, listen and respond to me even when she gets that tunnel vision. So instead of just fetch, we are working on impulse control, leave it, recall and then finishing with scentwork as she needs to search for the toy.
Here's a video of my helper Bertie, who is very new in his scentwork journey. He volunteered to help test out my new makeshift scentwall contraption. Thank you Bertie!
Recently Rori, Henry and Cleo had a go at searching the mail for "contraband." Inside one of the sealed envelopes was a metal tin that had a single drop of gunoil on it.
Bless Cleo, this was a really tough session that put the dogs through their paces, she got a little distracted but got straight back to work and got the job done!
What a lovely video of... perfectly in-focus grass 😅
A bit of drive capping with the little shepherd in the background. Lovely to be out playing with her again now she's healed up from her spay 😊
#dutchshepherd
Saturday Adventures: Part 2
After a successful training session, we headed home for lunch. Got two dogs and a giant dog bed inside, and then realised I had lost the spare car key... 🫠 (We've been taking the spare out in case one of us needs to take a dog to the car to rest as both big dogs are injured)
So back we went. I took Darwin to the area I had been sat in with Astrid, positioned him downwind of the prospective search area, cued an under and sent him off. And voilà - car key found buried in the long grass 🎉 Not the first time Darwin has saved the day 😅
A few notes on search success:
1️⃣ I brought Darwin in to a small search area - easily done as Astrid and I had sat still all morning!
2️⃣ I started the search downwind of the primary search area. Whatever odor was present was blowing into Darwin's face, making it much easier
3️⃣ I cued an under before releasing Darwin. You can see in the video that his nose is going before I release him. He's already picked up the scent and wastes no time
4️⃣ We practice this a lot! We'll often practice finding our keys, phones and wallets while out on walks (whatever we have in our pockets) Darwin doesn't know this wasn't a drill, but I'm very glad we train this 😅
Can you spot when Mylo is trailing and when he is distracted?
Being able to read our dog is key to helping them find their trail layer- but it's really hard to spot body language changes when we are the ones on the end of the lead!
Mylo is a collie, so he is more inclined towards visual distraction when passing something that could be herded... like a football.
What I notice when watching this video is:
1️⃣ Mylo's trailing behaviour is fluid, fast paced and determined. He regularly dips his nose down to the ground and moves with confidence. He doesn't rely on his eyes at all when he is confidently trailing.
2️⃣ His distracted behaviour is very different. He lifts his head, his pace slows and he slightly lowers himself in typical collie fashion. He is guided by the visual rather than engaging with the scents around him. He needs a reminder from his handler to continue trailing - because he has stopped trailing in the midst of distraction.
3️⃣ When Mylo is working but loses the scent, we see him working nose down until he realises he's lost the trail. He lifts his head, but doesn't stop moving (unlike when he is distracted). He is easy to guide back to the last junction, and doesn't need reminding to keep trailing - because he never stopped trailing in the first place.
We are working to introduce a "working" cue with Mylo for his handler to use when he forgets what he's doing (whether that is through visual distraction, scent distraction or if we have to interrupt the trail for some reason). Sometimes we all need a little reminder of what we are meant to be doing!
#mantrailing
A quick breakdown of one of Team Toby's trails from yesterday!
Toby is a relatively novice trailing dog, but as you can see, he's taken to the sport amazingly quickly. This trail involves surface changes between hard and soft ground. The trail layer's scent 'sticks' better to the soft woodland floor than the impacted gravel track, because the woodland floor has more surface area and moisture to trap the scent. When Toby trails down the track, he utilises the soft verges to more easily identify the scent trail- sometimes by sticking to one side of the track, and sometimes by weaving left and right over the track in a flowing negative pattern. When the soft verges run out in the carpark, Toby has to pause to work out which way the trail goes, and his intensity picks up as soon as he figures it out.
What I find really interesting when I watch this trail back is how clearly Toby's head movements indicate his next turn. As handlers, sometimes it feels like we are just following the dog, but actually a big part of our role is to keep a running tally of all the little clues the dog is giving us, so we can be informed when our dogs need a little help in getting on track.
Super trail Toby!
What a year! Thank you to everyone who joined us in 2023. It's the best job in the world and it is a privilege to work with you and your dogs.
We've got some exciting stuff planned for 2024. Looking forward to seeing you next year 🎆
- Reece & Becky
