Smashing!
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That’s the word I’m using to describe today’s session with Stanley and his owners who have been putting some excellent work in.
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30mins before this, Stanley was still showing lots of barrier frustration towards people and dogs.
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I was so impressed with how quickly he learns but more importantly, how his owners respond to advice and take guidance on board.
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A really excellent session today @yellowlabstanley ❤️
Matthew & Buddy
Understanding Buddy.
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This is my 2nd session with Matthew and his Staffy X, Buddy. When I met Buddy he was full-blown out of control. There was certainly no doubt that Matthew loved his dog, but there was not a single ounce of control or direction in this dogs life. He did absolutely anything he pleased; jumping up people, bounding round the house, helping himself to anything and everything he fancied and had no aspect of obedience. He was probably the highest energy of canine I’ve encountered, ever. Before we even set to work with Buddy, me and Matthew needed a serious chat. These are sometimes difficult conversations but never negative. Matthew had to understand that Buddy, beyond affection, needed huge investment in terms of routine, direction and stimulation in order to see changes in his behaviour.
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Matthew originally had Buddy on a harness - useless. Dogs work from physical touch, body language and energy. Matthew has never owned a dog so all these things are completely new things to understand. To stand back and watch how Matthew has changed within a week (and the massive positive affect it’s had on Buddy) has been nothing short of amazing.
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For the most part, we have spent time in a closed, safe environment to build engagement with Buddy; working on mental and physical stimulus; obedience on the most basic level and incorporating a really positive environment to be in.
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This was Buddy’s first time on leash with Matthews new mindset and understanding. Dogs work by touch and energy and initially with Buddy in a harness and Matthews slight anxiety with difficult situations, there was a distinct lack of positive impact with those things in mind.
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Understand that no, Buddy is not right at his owners side but this is without encouragement or enforcement. Buddy is simply working with the physical connection of the lead and the feel of his owners new-found confidence and inner-peace. There is absolutely no resistance offered from Buddy and to think in
Baby Steps. You’ll hear me saying this a lot during sessions. Titan has come on so much during our two sessions together and today he worked really well for Maggie. Don’t be under any illusions; Titans focus is far from perfect but today we took huge strides. Anyone who works in canine behaviour could spot a fair few issues in this video but to note, Titan would normally show a great deal of reactivity towards other dogs. Here he is towards the end of our session under no leash control whatsoever with another dog in clear sight. It’s important to never expect perfection straight away and some progress is better than none at all. Maggie will continue to work with Titan at home and I can’t wait to see how he comes on!
Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad!
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Today’s double session was spent with Richard and Sandra with their Cocker Spaniel, Ruby. They were keen to introduce a solid recall with Ruby after she had developed a habit of disappearing in fields when on walks which had naturally become very frustrating for them both.
Phase 1 of the session was about half hour in the garden, conditioning Ruby with a new whistle command in a secure environment. Once she had shown good engagement we moved outdoors to bring in some varied levels of distraction. This video was taken around 40 minutes prior to the end of the session. I was so impressed with the work that all 3 put in today. I’m beginning to find a real confidence in guiding sessions and allowing owners to take the lead and not just doing all the training myself. Ruby did fantastic today. She worked really hard and had lots of fun! Now that we have developed a great bond between whistle, recall and reward I have instructed Richard and Sandra on how to continue to develop this in the coming weeks until I can see them all again. Ruby learns really quickly and I foresee us taking whistle commands to the next level by bringing in new disciplines and really getting her to work to her breed traits. All the fun to be had 😬
Yesterday afternoon, Tasha and Arlo had their 2nd session together.
It’s so encouraging when dog owners want to play such an active role in their canines learning. I absolutely respect that and guiding Tasha through the sessions is a breeze. As a self-confessed perfectionist, it was important to spend a little time in yesterday’s session to discuss the reality of canine behaviour training and how to not expect excellent results straight away. It can take time to perfect behaviour and Arlo learns incredibly quickly.
They’re both doing such an amazing job.
In our first session, we covered the first phase of Arlo’s walk which begins in the home. We nailed down some excellent behaviours from initiating the walk and collecting his lead to sitting nicely by the door, awaiting his walk; and so yesterday we focussed on leaving the home where Arlo shows lots of high energy and walking nicely to heel. Its all about the baby steps and addressing each individual phase of the routine. What impressed me the most, genuinely, is that Arlo has not worked for food once. No edible treats - just his favourite ball!
I can’t wait to continue working with Tasha and Arlo. Lots and lots of potential!
*See in the comments to watch Arlo walking off lead to heel. So good to see!
*Charlie Update
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Around 4 weeks ago I spent just two sessions with Charlie (and his owners) who had, on 4 separate occasions, attacked their 9 year old daughter, Ruby.
We laid the foundations to his training a few weeks prior by creating boundaries, altering his routine and restricting treats.
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In the double session, I trained Charlie’s owners, not Charlie, how to get him walk to heel, better his recall and how to incorporate some important family time with both Charlie and Ruby.
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Some weeks later, here is Ruby with Charlie walking to heel and I could not be prouder. She is confident and he is doing great, too! Incredible work from Charlie and his whole family ❤️
Boundaries? Completed it, mate! Today was my 6th overall session with Milo and our 2nd where we focused solely on boundaries. When I met Milo for the first time he would jump at the door, jump over the gate and run off, he would dart out of the gate as soon as it was unlatched and simply did not understand that his place to be safe and wanted when the gate is open, is on the patio. He worked really hard today. It was by far our best session and as you can see, the gate is wide open, he has the added distraction of his own owner walking to and from her car and he shows incredible obedience to sit, stay focused on me and sit by my side where I asked. We stayed in this position for over 4 minutes and in that time he stood up twice. I was so proud of him!!
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We worked on the same behaviour but inside the house in the kitchen where Lisa will often welcome guests. He responded well to distraction and knocks on the door. I was even able to have an imaginary conversation with the door wide open and Milo sat to my blind side. Our next session will be in the garden working on his reactivity towards the neighbouring cats!Excellent work, Milo!!
Effortless. It might sound a bit sad, but seeing dogs do this just massively excites me! I love that they can bound around, jumping and climbing on things around them. Milo showed a love for exploring and navigating all the rock formations over Surprise View yesterday evening ☺️
Playtime! Milo is blessed with having a huge garden to run around in (currently under construction!) Today’s session ended in a little bit of a breakthrough in regards to finding a solid level of engagement with Milo. I suppose when people think of training they imagine quite a disciplined approach with firm demands. My main focus at the moment is to bond with Milo and find a level that we can build on. This was quite the learning curve for me and after a frustrating start to the session, it ended with me feeling confident moving forward and Milo absolutely shattered 😂 It was a solid level of mental and physical stimulation. We mixed the fetch retrieve up with some scent games too. There are lots of places to hide things in his garden so we will definitely be utilising this space! We continue...
Meet Milo. Big Dog Adventures latest recruit!
This 14month old has bags of energy and is causing his owner some problems at home. I cannot wait to get out with him and watch this boy grow. Looking forward to redirecting his energies into agility and domestic obedience! Was lovely to spend an hour and a half with him and his owner this morning to talk about the issues she’s having and how we’re going to tackle them. After enjoying the sun and discussing a POA with Lisa, I got Milo out for a short lead walk just so we could be away from his domestic setting and to start to build up that important level of trust and understanding between us. Socially, he is brilliant. Not reactive to people or dogs so a good base level to work with out and about. I spotted a fallen tree on our stroll and seeing as Milo has a habit of jumping, I thought I’d put his agility to the test - you can see he came up trumps! Very impressive leap on him!! Cannot wait to see where we are at in a few months time! 😍
Afternoon obedience with Jafar ☺️ He’s coming on so well! After an hour walking we sought some shade to play some scent games. Initially Jafar wasn’t fussed for treats or their scent so it was difficult to engage with his senses. However, once we had sat down, he seemed much more focused and so we played some simple treat games, utilising his incredible nose and he seemed to have good fun poking about in the grass for his rewards! We also had half hour of walking through really long grass which was not only great for his exercise but also rather funny for me to watch him jumping around! 😂 Im really enjoying my time with Jafar and it’s great to watch him improving with his obedience! Well done, little dude ❤️
