The Good Dog Coach

24/11/2024

When you hire a dog trainer, you purchase a service. The quality of that service will differ from trainer to trainer.

Unfortunately, the dog industry is currently unregulated and therefore there is no minimum level of service that you can expect.

In this post I share 3 things you can expect from working with me:
👉🏻 I have a wide reaching skillset and extensive experience of difficult and dangerous behaviours amongst a wide variety of breeds.

👉🏻 I can help you get lasting results quickly.

👉🏻 I don’t just help you train your dog - I will take you, your skills and your lifestyle into consideration when formulating your customised training plan.

Drop me a message to learn more!

17/11/2024

If you are currently working on rehabilitating your dog's reactivity, aggression or other behavioural problem, I know it can feel disheartening at times. 🙁

Especially when you start to see positive results, every new outburst seems like such a step back.

Our brain has a negativity bias, meaning your brain will focus on the one time your dog barked at a person instead of remembering that, for the first time ever, you were able to walk past 5 in a row without a reaction. 👏

Remember that behavioural change takes a bit of time. I know it can feel frustrating, but you've got this! As long as you see progress, keep at it. Keep showing up for your dog. I see you! 🤩

15/11/2024

Deaf little Bugsy was a naughty boy... 😶

His owner had adopted him from a rescue only to find that he was chasing anything that moved on walks, resource guarded anything and everything he liked at home (including his food and the sofa) and was not shy to use his teeth to communicate his feelings.

When he bit his owner’s dad only a month into having him, she knew she had to get help stat. Giving him back was not an option and she wanted to make sure his behaviour would not become worse.

Bugsy’s owner has followed my advice to the tee with commitment and passion and very quickly got to reap the rewards. Bugsy improved week on week, has become easy in the house, walks well on lead, resource guarding is a thing of the past and he is now fully off lead trained.

I don’t think Bugsy could have found himself a better home. Talk about falling on his feet! 😉

11/11/2024

How long does it take to train a dog?🤔

Unfortunately I can never give a straightforward answer to this, because it depends on so many factors.

How old is the dog? What are the issues? How well do you follow instructions? How consistent are you during training? How permissive are you outside of training?

I have had clients that needed only a single session. The most sessions were 16 over the course of 14 months for a particularly complex and sever case of fear aggression in a multi dog household.

Looking through my records for this post, 4 sessions seems to be the magic number that the majority of my clients falls on. Scroll through the pictures for examples of some clients who completed their behaviour rehab. 👏🐶

Have you been working with a trainer and have seen little to no results?

Do you want to live a better life with your dog and are craving results like these? Maybe you are due an upgrade. Get in touch today and let’s get you started on a better path.

               

07/11/2024

If you want to resolve these issues and:
👉🏻 feel more in control
👉🏻 provide your dog with more freedom
👉🏻 ensure a happier life for your dog
👉🏻 enjoy your dog more

Get in touch today and let’s get you booked in to change life with your dog for the better! 🐶🐾🐶

02/11/2024

Meet Impi, a 3 year old Labrador.

Aside from excessive barking at home and bullying the older dog in the home, Impi was a nightmare to walk. 🫣

From being pulled left, right and centre, Impi’s owners also had to keep watch for other dogs as Impi could not only be very reactive, but selectively aggressive to some dogs. 🐕

This made walks stressful and she’d never been able to come along to places where it was likely there would be other dogs.

Such as the big annual Village Show…

However, after only 3 sessions she not only came along to the Village Show, she entered the dog show and won the “best catch” category. Not only did she catch her ball in a spectacular fashion during the show, she was also completely neutral towards and unphased by the other dogs. 🥳

When dedicated owners meet the right guidance, a lot can be achieved in very little time.

Well done Team Impi!!! 👏

30/10/2024

This handsome German Shepherd had gotten into a fight with his half brother... 😬

After that, their relationship was never the same again. They could not be walked together and, a possible knock on effect, Hugo had become fear aggressive towards both dogs and people.

It had become difficult to walk him, even on his own. He was always muzzled and on lead. While this made it possible to let him out to go to the toilet, it didn’t change the fact that he was terrified of the world.

6 months into his training, you would not have recognised him and it was at this point that we reintroduced his recall.

Within a year of starting his training, he was off lead and unmuzzled wherever he went. Hugo is no longer terrified of the world. 🥰

He is happy and relaxed, enjoying his life. His owner has become an incredibly capable dog handler and seeing those two out and about never fails to take my breath away. A team as it should be.

Happy dog, happy owner, safe walks. I am in love! 😍

25/10/2024

“My dog is pulling on the lead.” 👀

Actually, no.

You are pulling on the lead, your dog is pushing against the pressure.

If I push against your shoulder, likelihood is that you will push against that pressure so as not to fall over. It is called opposition reflex.

Unless we teach our dog to yield to that pressure, their natural instinct is to push against it.

If you have a small dog, that may feel very manageable to you, but bear in mind that walking on a tight lead is not a pleasant experience for your dog. 🤔

Imagine spending your whole walk trying to escape the pressure. 😣

If you want to stop pulling your dog and learn how to teach your dog how to walk nicely without tension on the lead, get in touch. 👋🐾

24/10/2024

I hope you enjoyed my series on rescue dogs. 🐾

While I don’t mean to be negative about rescue dogs (heck, all three of mine are rescues / rehomes, so are my chickens…), I do want to give you a very realistic picture. There is nothing more damaging to the dog rescue effort than romanticised notions of perfect family pets stuck in kennels. It is this idea that causes dogs to end up in the wrong homes and being returned into the rescue system over and over again.

I have worked with hundreds of rescue dogs and have fostered many for the purpose of rehabilitation to make them safe to be rehomed. I hope the information I have shared will help you find your perfect family pet.

And if you missed the series, here is a brief recap for you. 😀

Not sure how to find the dog that is right for you? Or you have the dog and want to start them right and need help? Get in touch with me today.

20/10/2024

Aside from money, training your dog will cost time and effort. ⏰

Mostly your time and effort.

It can sometimes feel a steep investment at the beginning of your training journey while you are implementing everything your trainer told you to do. You'll then have to be consistent for long enough for those new, learned behaviours to become habits. This will not happen overnight and won't happen at all without consistent effort.

The alternative of not training your dog may be even more costly. 🤑

Financially, you may have vet bills to consider if your dog eats things they should not. Emotionally, the price may be even higher. Not being able to take your dog with you wherever you go, passing up opportunities to go on holiday because you can't leave your dog with anyone and the constant, nagging anxiety from anticipating your reactive dog's next blow up.

Getting up at 4 am to walk your dog without distractions is not fun long term. 🥱

Owning dogs we pay either way - whether we want to invest time and effort intensively over a period of time to get the dog trained or we manage their behaviour for the rest of their lives.

Share this if you agree- you pay either way!

19/10/2024

This handsome young Borzoi is an assistance dog. 👇

He is mild mannered and has a fantastic temperament for the service work he does. His owner did do her homework, that is for sure.

Unfortunately, due to being attacked multiple times by off lead dogs, Raoul had started to become dog reactive. This and his prey drive towards some animals had made it difficult for his owner to fully trust him. Relying on him as her assistance dog, we needed to get those issues sorted ASAP.

Raoul was temporarily demoted to Assistance Dog in Training (ADiT) while we got to work.

His owner is very dedicated to his training and to giving him the outlets for his genetics. Raoul gets to go lure coursing which he loves and, as a result of his training, he became even better at. Not being allowed to chase just anything, he put his all into chasing the lure when coursing.

Raoul’s owner had done an incredible amount of work with him already and with a little guidance, now has a reliable assistance dog she can trust. They are a fantastic team and Raoul is much happier now, too. 😀

To learn more about how I can help you, drop me a message today!

17/10/2024

Now that your dog has settled in and you have started to get them used to their environment, we can start with actual obedience and teaching your dog commands.

There are a great many things we can teach our dogs. Willow fetches my slippers for me, which is a great little trick and she absolutely loves it. It doesn’t help her navigate everyday life though and so tricks shouldn’t take priority over the more important life skills.

Those are:
👉 Walking nicely on the lead
👉 Reliable Recall
👉 Being able to switch off anywhere

What was the first command you taught your dog?

14/10/2024

As a native German speaker, I remember when I first came to the UK with pretty basic English. One phenomenon I found very interesting: If I didn't understand someone, they would repeat the exact same words. Just LOUDER.

My dear friend, I heard you the first time, I just don't know the words you are using. It is a feeling I imagine our dogs know only too well.

Almost every day I see the question posted in dog related Facebook groups: "What tool should I use to stop my dog from pulling?"

The answers range from slip leads over prong collars to head halters and a variety of harnesses, such as front clip and those that tighten under the dog's armpits.

Every single time I see these posts I shudder at the responses. Because the reality is that none of these tools stop a dog from pulling. I have seen so many dogs pulling into front clip harnesses, falling over themselves as they do so, or pull into prong collars without a care in the world.

You see, it is not the tool as much as it is the technique. It is HOW you use the LEAD, rather than what you use it with.

Think of it this way: The lead should be there to communicate with your dog, the collar/harness/insert any tool of your choice is just what translates that lead communication into what your individual dog best understands. If whatever communication has not worked, we may need to change the communication / the translation tool rather than doing the same thing, only "louder".

Are you with me so far?

Our feelings about the tool are no more relevant than our feelings about having chosen the most beautiful vocabulary - if it is not understood by the other party of this conversation, it is not ideal no matter how we feel about it.

It is important to understand that a front clip harness is not necessarily an escalation of a back clip harness and a prong collar is not necessarily an escalation of a slip lead. They are just different forms of translating the communication from the lead.

Having a trainer that is well versed in a variety of different tools can help you better communicate with your dog. Knowing about these tools does not mean I use them on every dog. It means I know when I should or should not use it and for what purpose to get the best result for you and your dog.

They more your trainer knows, the better for you and your dog.

Are you guilty of just shouting louder? 🤣

12/10/2024

One of the first questions I usually get about my training is cost. 👇

While of course an important consideration, especially in a cost of living crisis, a possibly more relevant question would be how effective my training is.

Considering how many of my clients have been to multiple dog trainers before coming to me, often spending hundreds if not thousands of pounds for little to no results, a short term saving may cause a higher expense in the longer term.

Luckily, Sophie didn't mess about and went with me as her first trainer. Bugsy, the deaf rescue Frenchie, came with quite a list of problem behaviours and is now doing brilliantly.

If I was better at business, this would have taken years to achieve and it would have paid for a holiday home. Alas, Sophie and Bugsy had exactly four sessions over the space of 5 months and are doing so well, they won't be needing any more. Bugsy can now be looked after by Sohpie's parents, he no longer guards his food, toys or the sofa and can even be fully off lead and remains under control despite his deafness.

Sophie and Bugsy had their 4 sessions over a period of 5 months and he has gone from being a terror, to being the light of Sohie's life, her pride and joy and an absolutely fabulous (and much happier) companion. 5 months from being a biting, out of control worry inducer to being the perfect pet. This is what can be achieved when proper training meets a owner dedication. 🫶

If you've been working with a trainer for months and months and are barely seeing improvements, it is time to switch it up, get results and start enjoying life with your dog. Drop me a message for more details!

11/10/2024

Remember that dogs see the world in a series of pictures.

Even if the rescue told you that the dog is good on lead and fully toilet trained, the dog has not yet learned how to walk on lead with YOU and to not soil in YOUR house. So, take it easy with your dog and always work on the assumption that the dog doesn’t know anything yet. Start with the easy things and while your adopted dog may be well out of the critical socialisation period, expose your dog to their new environment in a very similar way as you would with a young puppy. Controlled exposure is giving your dog continued guidance in different situations while letting them experience their local neighbourhood and new lifestyle.

It is always easier to start off with strict boundaries and relax them as your dog is earning that privilege through good behaviour, than it is to start off with lots of freedom, allowing the dog to get it wrong and then having to claw back all that freedom and having to work through more issues.

Working with a trainer from the start and following their advice can make the process much easier for both you and your dog and prevent issues from taking hold or developing further down the line.

How did you help your rescue dog understand the ways of your home? Tell me in the comments below.

08/10/2024

Odin, who is in for intensive reactivity rehab, has been smashing it! Brew For Ewe is our local village coffee stop. Odin settled nicely with multiple other dogs around. And he does make for a good picture, that handsome devil!

A happy customer at yesterday’s coffee ☕️ Same again next Friday - more blue skies please 👍☺️☕️ 9.30-12pm (and the pumpkin patch will be open so bring a bag & take home some delicious winter squash for soups, curries, muffins… you name it!)

04/10/2024

Most of us expect too much too soon. Whether I go to see a puppy or a rescue dog, often within just days of having the dog it knows 'sit' and 'down' and how to 'give paw'. None of those behaviours really help you create a well-adjusted family dog. So where should you be starting instead?

Aside from crate structure to help your dog decompress, keep a lead on your new addition whenever they are out of the crate so you can guide your dog to not chew up your furniture or come up with other ideas that may be fun for them. While you do not yet know them very well, it also allows you to stay in control should something trigger the dog to aggress towards you or others.

When I take in a new dog, I start with two things:
- Their name: Whether you want to keep it as it is or rename your dog, their name is the first command to teach. But Sarah, a name is not a command. Well, for your dog it is. Their name is the cue that tells them you want their attention and it needs to be taught like any other cue or command - in different environments and under different levels of distraction.
- A marker system, or rather the words I use in my marker system. This makes all other parts of training so much easier as we progress.

Feeding them by hand instead of from a bowl gives you plenty of opportunities to practice their name and to lure your dog into all sorts of positions, whether that be a sit, down or walking by your side. You can use their food to reinforce all of the behaviours you like and there is no need to rush into naming those behaviours. You’ll have plenty of times to cue a command for those later on.