What a year it has been.
Every dog and every family I work with means so much to me.
I actually get really down when our time together ends.
This time I wasn't down, I had tears but tears of happiness.
Dottie has found her forever family.
This will be one Christmas card that I will cherish.
Thank you so much Animal Concern Cumbria for all the work you do for all the animals in your care.
An amazing team of people. I feel privileged to work beside you all.
Life for a dog in kennels is not a home, no matter how well they are looked after and cared for.
Please pop onto their page,
have a look at the amazing dogs and cats looking for a home.
Why not apply to Foster??
Some of the dogs just need to know what living in a home is like. Living in a kennel environment can be tough on a lot of dogs.
Seeing a photos of Dottie living her dream life. Having morning cuddles on the bed and looking out of her own window really made my heart soar.
Isn't it a lovely sight watching your four legged friend opening their Christmas presents along with the rest of the family.🎁
Just be aware of the chemicals in wrapping paper,supervise them opening their presents to ensure the paper isn't eaten. Or wrap in ordinary brown paper,with a removable bow 🎀
Remember those presents under the tree could be just too tempting not to be investigated.
This would be the best time to have a little pre-visit chat to friends and family about not feeding your dog party food.
"one little bit won't hurt him" or "my dogs always share my food, never done them any harm"
Might not do them any real harm, but you may end up with your dog having a dicky tum. Not good for him or for you.💩
Even reminding everyone to be aware where they are putting their alcoholic drinks. Some smell really lovely and certainly could tempt any dog to have a little taste or two.
Alcohol is toxic for our dogs.🍹
#dogtraining #romanianrescue #dogbehaviour #positivereinforcementdogtraining #anxiousdogs #rescuedog #puppies #doglovers
Please don't forget about your dog, make sure he is safe.💜
It is so easy with people coming and going not to be able to keep an eye on them all the time.
Think about people coming and going through your front door. Can your dog get out ? Maybe put a stairgate up, just as a precaution to stop your dog running out the door.
As the drink flows, you might find your favourite cousin becomes the worlds best dog trainer and wants to try out his talent with your dog (we all have one of those cousins). #anxiousdogs #rescuedog #romanianrescue #dogtraining #dogbehaviour #puppies #positivereinforcementdogtraining
If your home is going to be ultra busy, why not put you dog away in a safe space, where he cannot be disturbed. Tell your guests to please leave him alone.
Give him a long lasting chew,or a frozen kong.
Remember he may be needing out to toilet,and possibly can't be heard over the party music.
Check in on him frequently. Spend some time in there with him.
If you think of your dog as your toddler,and all the safe guarding that you would do for that child.
Do you put a present under the tree for your dog ?
Isn't it a lovely sight watching your four legged friend opening their Christmas presents along with the rest of the family
Just be aware of the chemicals in wrapping paper,supervise them opening their presents to ensure the paper isn't eaten.
Or wrap in ordinary brown paper,with a removable bow🎀🎀
Remember those other presents under the tree could be just too tempting not to be investigated 🐾
The shops are full of Christmas stockings , advent calendars, and festive looking gifts and treats for your pets.
Don't they look lovely.
Those highly coloured raw hide chews are definitely not on my dogs Santa list.
The chemical process used to manufacture them includes some highly toxic stuff.Plus the lovely red and green dye certainly isn't natural. There is also the choking hazards too.
Two words to send up red flags are Cheap and China.🚩🚩🚩
Try to buy natural produce,or even make your own.
Don't have the cost of a vet visit or a poorly dog this Christmas.
With all your rushing about. Getting the house ready for family,spending all day Christmas shopping. Things being delivered,door bells ringing.
This can sometimes make our dogs anxious.
Don't forget to spend time with your dog.
Quality time. Leave your phone at home when you go for a walk. (unless you are taking amazing photos of your dog having fun in the snow.❄️☃️
Enjoy that walk together. Let him have a sniff party, it will really help him calm down from all thats going on at home.
Buy him a new toy that he loves.
Give him plenty of enrichment time,when your time is limited. Filled Kongs,licky mats, snuffle mats, puzzle games, find his ball.etc.
Milk chocolate or white ?
Christmas just means over indulging all that yummy stuff.
ohhhhhhh chocolate tins for sharing yummy.
Just don't share with your dog, and keep up out of the way. I know one of mine would have the tin opened in a flash.
Don't forget about the chocolate decorations for your Christmas tree and the selection boxes and advent calendars.
Chocolate heaven for us humans, toxic for our dogs.
PS I like the purple ones :)
Christmas can be chaotic in most homes.
Just so so busy, and an air of excitement is starting to build.
Routines can go out the window for everyone including your dog.
We know that routine is so important for our anxious nervous dogs. But sometimes it can actually cause them some anxiety.#anxiousdogs especially when the walk or dinner isn't at the normal times.
Does your dog get excited before meal times,walks etc ? You think your dog can tell the time. If you are in the middle of decorating the tree, and don't realise it's your dogs meal time, do they start to tell you that they want their dinner?
Having a routine that isn't flexible can actually make your dog's bucket overflow before the event has even happened.
Switch it up a bit. Change your routine a little, It helps to promotes calmness and stops the frustration and the anticipation of dinner, walks at those specific times of the day.
Imagine coming home from work and your bed was replaced by a Christmas tree,🎄 and there are flashing lights everywhere.
Now think of it from a dogs point of view.
If you have a nervous dog, an adopted dog or a dog that is fearful, try to keep their beds and safe places in the normal place.
Your dog may not be able to cope new things just appearing. Especially if they have flashing lights.
It might be a good idea to add new decorations in small amounts. Let your dog get used to that new thing. Let them watch you as you put up your decorations.
They might be OK with the changes, but just be aware that they may not.
#rescuedog #reactivedogs #dogtraining #romanianrescue #dogbehaviour #nervousdog #anxiousdogs #doglovers #Romanianrescue
Do you have an anxious dog at home ? Perhaps you have recently adopted or maybe it's your new dogs first Christmas with your family.
I will be bringing you some hints and tips daily to help your family Christmas is one to remember for all the right reasons.
ps Whispa, Barry and Roma are sending Festive cheer your way <3
Whispa and pattern games (Leslie McDevitt). How to get out of a tricky situation positively. #dogbehaviour #romanianrescue #rescuedogs #positivereinforcementtraining #anxiousdog #dogtraining
I really love pattern games (Leslie McDevitt) and teach them to my clients.
Whispa was very aware of those big brown things in the field, and was a bit anxious about them.
So to help her I started doing 1 2 3 pattern game.
You have to teach your dog in places with no distractions, and gradually introduce more distractions into the mix.
It doesn’t have to be cows, it can be other dogs, people, whatever your dog reacts to.
A great tool to get you out of tricky situations.
One of the down sides of helping other pet parents and their dogs is that it can be difficult to work with my own dogs.
I don't think of it as training though, it is all about your dog having fun and choosing to connect with you.
Here Whispa decides that it was getting a bit boring, and she was right.
Little short sessions and chopping and changing can really make a difference to a busy dog like Whispa.
Looks like she was enjoying herself and I was too.
#romanianrescue #rescuedog #anxiousdog
On a positive note 🥰
When you receive a message that says.
" This was actually walk No 3, didn't want to message after the first one, incase I jinxed it "
I am so so proud of Luna and her family.
To see her happily walking down the street makes all the hard work so worth it.
Yes it took a while for Luna to stop being scared. A lot of the training worked on Luna making her own choices.
You cannot teach a dog that is scared, we have to teach her what feeling safe is all about first. Then the learning begins.
Luna had some real struggles going on. doorways, noises, the big outdoors. Actually she coped really well in big outdoor spaces, the beach, country walks etc. But getting her out the house to experience the things she loved was difficult. Too many struggles to actually mention here.
But by taking it slow and going at Luna's pace, she has now overcome that fear,
Just look at her go 🥰
A huge shout out to her family for taking the training on board and believing in it.
It was a pleasure working with you Alison. and the family.
Thank you for giving me permission to share these little videos.
Remote training does work.
If you are struggling, please get in touch.
#romanianrescue#rescuedog#anxiousdog
Whispa doing really well to hold it together.
You can tell it was difficult for her by the way she is snatching her food reward.
Well done Whispa, all that work is paying off.
Well, not work for you really, just a great pay packet for doing such a great job with something you find difficult.
Positive reinforcement works.
(See video 1 for more details) #romanianrescue #rescuedog #anxiousdog #reactivedog
Whispa and I have been working really hard to get to this point.
We have some very yappy little dogs that live across the road.
One in particular starts barking the moment it leaves it's home and yaps as they walk past our garden.
My dogs are not impressed at all and can get a little upset.
We started working on this in the house, as we can hear the yapping indoors too.
Yapping dogs now means yummy rewards appear. Changing the emotional response to a really positive one.
Barry and Roma have more or less stopped reacting to the yaps, Whispa is getting there.
I have also really worked on "leave it" and as you see, she is doing amazingly.
I do use a long line when I am in the garden as I want to stop the rehearsal of Whispa rushing to the fence. Due to myself having a finger injury (from a 25 kg dog going from 0 - 60 in 3 sec and me not being quick enough) I have tethered the line to a tree. It is attached to her harness and is really wide too, much less chance of injury.
You can see she is acutely aware of the yapping, but choses to disengage. Her ears flick backwards towards the sound and she is air scenting.
There are a couple of check ins that I missed, but I try to mark them all.
Before she would have been rushing at the fence and barking furiously. Even trying to jump it.
So proud of you Whispa.
#romanianrescue #reactivedog #rescuedog #anxiousdog
Ohh we so want to give our dogs our love.
Pet them, stroke them, let them know how much you want them to feel your affection. It feels really nice for us too.
I would like you to try this little exercise.
1. Stroke your dog as you would normally do, for 5 seconds.
2. Remove your hand.
3. Wait and see if your dog asks for more.
4. If they do, then stroke them again.
As you can see in this short video, Roma wanted more. I waited for her to tell me. Roma isn't a dog that likes a fuss made of her. She will come and ask when she needs some contact.
So how do you know your dog doesn't want that cuddle, stroke, fuss ?🤨
Some subtle signs could be...
1. Head turn away, even just a slight turn
2. Maybe start scratching or grooming (as Roma did in the video)
2. A nose lick
3. A yawn
4. Whites of eye showing.
5. Stiffness in the mouth, tight lipped not soft.
6. Ears pinned back.
Some more obvious signs are easy to see.
1. Get up and move away.
2. Using teeth on your hand (not biting)
This is you dogs way of telling you "please don't do that "
Us humans would verbally say this
" I am not in the mood "
" Don't do that"
And if the person doesn't listen, it may mean a raised voice." I TOLD YOU BEFORE NOT TO DO THAT " why don't you listen to me?
May even escalate into a push away or a slap.
So just think about what your dog is telling you.
Do they want your affection right at this minute ?
Or asking you nicely to stop.?
The more we listen to those little gentle asks, the more our dogs trust us, and the less likely your dog will need to SHOUT.
A lot of our rescue dogs are touch sensitive. Using this simple technique can really help build that trust. Not just for touch either. Every time we listen to our dogs body language and act appropriately, the more our dogs will trust us to help them when they find a situation difficult to cope with.
Why not share how you get on doing this exercise
Did your dog want more ?
Or not just now thankyou?
#romanianrescue #rescuedog A2B Dog T
I have 2 spaces for One to One training. Romanian/ overseas rescue.
I only take on a small amount of new clients, so I can give my full attention to you and your dogs needs.
Every programme is bespoke to you.
So whether it is reactivity, fear and anxiety or any behaviour that you need support with, why not book a call with me and we can have a chat about how I can help.