Kevin isn't a fan of the "spare car", so to help him feel more comfortable with it we played his favourite game, 'find it', in the car.
He was a bit hesitant at first but soon got the hang of it!
(we were in a very quiet, small car park and I made sure there were no moving vehicles!)
#scentwork #scentworkdogs #canineconfidencebuilding
A lot of people will show you videos of their best bits, and why wouldn't they?
The moments where their dogs are doing exactly what they're asked, when the situation is under control and everything is going smoothly is what the 'ideal' is for a dog and guardian.
However, dogs aren't machines and things don't always go as we'd like. Seeing these videos of dogs 'behaving perfectly' can be disheartening if you feel like you're stuck with your own dog.
So here is Hazel having her harness put on. She gets to excited, by the time I've even picked the harness up she's over threshold.
Starting off like this will mean our walks won't be nice and relaxed, she's unlikely to be engaged and receptive to learning.
Although Hazel does tend to settle after a few minutes of walking, this isn't how I would ideally like our walks to start.
So what do I do?
Well the first thing I need to do is make me picking up the harness totally not exciting. This means touching it, picking it up, moving it around and putting it down somewhere without engaging with her at all. I want to stop that process of picking the harness up = instant excitement about going out.
Once I can move it without her over reacting, then I can start putting the harness on her and taking it back off.
The we can put the harness on, do some decompression exercises (licky mat, snuffle mat etc) and/or some focus exercises, and then removing the harness.
Then we can put the harness on, do some focus and/or decompression and go for a little walk.
And slowly we can build up to popping the harness on and going straight out.
It might seem long and tedious but you will be surprised at how quickly your dog will start to understand the process, and if we can be calm and below threshold before leaving the house, we have a much better chance of being calmer and engaged out of the house.
Hazel is only a young, excitable little puppy, but the same applies to dogs of any age. Some dogs may start to become anxious when they
Kev showing off his 'find it' skills yesterday ❤️
"Life on a lead is no life at all"
One of my most hated phrases, usually used by certain 'professionals' to guilt trip dog guardians into using their 'training' methods.
Being off lead is not the end goal for all dogs, dogs can have fulfilling walks on lead, walks aren't all about physical exercise, not all dogs want to play with other dogs, secure fields are amazing for safe off lead fun and not all places are safe for dogs to be off lead.
Pip had a great time today following trails created by foxes and badgers, tracking scents, exploring and even zoomies... All on a longline.
I hate this idea that dogs can't be happy or enjoy fulfilling walks if they're not off lead.
Don't you love it when you take your dog for a nice relaxing walk to chill out, and then this is their response 😂
This is why it's super handy to have a 'decompression' activity ready for post walkies, something like a chew, stuffed kong, Licky mat or snuffle mat can really help them settle after the excitement of going out!
A victory for me and Kevin today!
(that's the 3rd time I've thrown one of these into a tree 😂)!
Dogs have subtle ways of telling us what they want.. Pickle is a bit more direct 😂❤️
A sunny Saturday stroll with Hazel.
She had so much fun playing in the water and investigating anything and everything. ❤️
Hazel is working hard on her recall, it can be difficult when you're a puppy and there's SO MANY things to investigate ❤️
Teaching Hazel some useful skills 😂
