It’s been so lovely to catch up with Bungo and his humans again. Bungo has really been through the mill with various operations and treatments and his humans have done a wonderful job caring for his every need during his recovery. He really is a lucky boy to have them.
As he has spent so long not being able to go anywhere, he gets super excited when he goes out now. So, we are revisiting old training and adding some new bits. One valuable lesson he is learning is that things can be just as rewarding behind his human as well as in front of. This is such a great video of him listening and learning so well. In fact, he is so focused he hardly notices the noisy sheep, which is just amazing!
A friendly pigeon gave us the perfect opportunity for some anti-predation training on Olive’s training walk this week. She was an absolute superstar.
As you can see, I ask if she is able to sit (not command her) as this is a good way to check that she is still ‘in the room’ with me, as the training only works if she isn’t too excited. The first time I ask, I spoke just as a bird flew past overhead, so she couldn’t hear me. So once that distraction passed, I checked again and we were good to go 😊
#predationsubstitutetraining
Long lines are such a useful tool….and yes, also a bit of a pain in the bum to use! However, by using a long line, you are able to prevent your dog from rehearsing self-rewarding unwanted behaviours, such as running up to dogs without permission. Therefore, regularly practicing recall around distractions is essential before you should even consider removing a long line.
Toffee is a friendly dog that likes to say hello to other dogs. However, he managed to concentrate well on the recall game with the distraction of other dogs in the park this week. great job Toffee and his human 👏
Frank used to find coming across cows in a field extremely exciting. Gentle exposure and some anti-predation training means that he can now focus on other activities with the cows in the distance and even choose to move away from them rather than towards them. Every day is a training day but that is what makes sharing our life with a highly intelligent, working breed so much fun and interesting.
Bella has really grown in the two weeks between our training sessions. She is starting to hit the gangly stage where puppies just looks all legs! She did really well on her first outdoor loose lead walking training session though. Walking with a real puppy swagger!
Testing new training treats. Doesn’t take very long to get Lyla’s seal of approval!
The treats are great by the way. Soft and smelly, so a perfect reinforcer. Just a bit big and need cutting up for training purposes. Photos in the comments.
I find taking videos of training really useful for looking back at to see if I need to change anything or to check a dog’s body language.
Even though Callie still acts like she has ants in her pants most of the time, her ability to control some impulses has improved tenfold. In particular, being able to wait - to get in and out of a vehicle, to go through gates, cross roads and to wait whilst a ‘find it’ treat search is being set up. I realised that when setting up a search, I never really look at what the dogs are doing while waiting. So I decided to video Callie to see. It really is impressive to watch. Especially when at one point, she obviously wants to move position to get a better look, but keeps her bum on the ground and just shuffles her front paws ☺️
Oh and Mabel, would be absolutely rubbish at a sprint race, she is always last out of the starting block!
Callie helped me put together this video the other day. I have been meaning to make this for a while now. I hope it helps some of you.
I always recommend using a long line while recall is being taught. This way it takes away your dog’s opportunity to learn to self-reward by running off towards other dogs or scents etc. Which, in turn, makes teaching recall a much easier and quicker process.
It is really important to use a long line safely and not just have your dog running to the very end of it the whole time. Alongside teaching recall, the long line helps to reinforce awareness of and proximity around the human as you walk. This is achieved by keeping all interactions fun and rewarding.
Notes:
* unless there is danger involved, never use the long line to pull your dog into you - this is not recall and does not teach your dog that you are fun to come back to. If your dog refuses to move or come to you, stand on the line and walk towards your dog and then think about the reason why your dog didn’t want to move so you can work on improvements in communication.
* If you have a strong and unpredictable or reactive dog that will always need to stay on a long line, then I would recommend staying at Stage One for safety.
The dogs did me so proud today. We had just arrived in a small enclosed paddock and we came across a bird that was flapping about and struggling to fly. The dogs spotted it before me and as instinct kicked in, all three dogs raced towards it. Unusually, I didn’t have my whistle on me and I have no idea what I shouted, as it all happened so quickly, probably ‘ready’. Whatever I said, the dogs all stopped and returned to me.
I realised I needed to see to the bird and had a decision to make. I could put the dogs in the truck and risk losing sight of the bird or trust them and their training to wait while I saw to the bird. I went for the latter.
I planned to film their wait and then stop filming so that I could help the bird. Though, as you will see in the video, the bird managed to help itself to safety. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to it and it hopped away. So I hope that it will survive.
Back to the dogs. They make me proud every day. They all have their separate issues, but they trust both us humans and our judgement and continue to be regularly trained by us both. Today, the training and our relationship both shone through.
I finally got a video of Alfie’s unique Podenco hunting style. The foot stomp is to disturb burrowing animals and make them to surface and the leap is to try and stop and stun them. No small furries were hurt in the making of this video though. Alfie is just rehearsing an innate need to perform this prey sequence. Fabulous to watch!
It was quiet enough to play a herding game on Murphy’s training walk by the river. This is one of his favourite games as it really feeds into his natural herding instincts and he really is getting good at it as he plays it regularly on walks with his humans.
Hurray for another Give Your Puppy a Hard Boiled Egg video! 😃
I always ask for a video when I suggest trying this to new puppy clients. Bella’s human sent me this and it’s so cute - look at those ears 🥰 I love the way she explores it, she is so gentle. Though, I am guessing that just after the video ends, Bella breaks into the egg and then it is polished off! 😁
Practical puppy training. Puppy training isn’t all about being busy and go go go! Learning to relax is just as important.
Here, Monty is learning to relax on a mat while things go on around him. Amazingly this was only the second coaching session I had done with his human for this piece of training. He did so well and it really highlights the work that his humans had put in between our sessions.
When clients are able to practice and train regularly between sessions it makes the next time we meet so much more productive as we are able to progress further each time.
Apologies for the potty mouth - but I do believe it is absolutely justified here!!! Yes, you have permission to laugh at me 🤣
Toby is currently having physio and hydrotherapy sessions at West Country Canine Therapy. Part of his home physio routine requires a human to assist him to come up from a sit position in a certain way. His human was struggling to do this on her own. Luckily Toby is pretty good with the ‘wait’ cue. So, we were able to work out a way of placing a treat on the floor and asking him to wait, before getting into position. It was a bit unusual for Toby at first to be asked to wait and then the human heads round the back of him and holds on before releasing him to the treat, but he got it. What a clever and patient boy you are Toby 🥰
The Podenco
(Please don’t read on if you really don’t like the thought of any animal suffering)
An interesting fact about the Podenco’s hunting style is that they were bred to hunt for small furries in the undergrowth as opposed to spotting and taking chase. Instead Podecos search the undergrowth and have an interesting leap attack that was meant to stun the prey as opposed to kill it. This was because they would be taken out hunting in the heat of the Mediterranean sun. As they would be out for hours, the hunters didn’t want dead animals to carry around which would start to decompose quickly in the heat. So, sadly, they would carry the live prey in sacks ready to freshly dispatch on arrival back. A really awful way of hunting but an interesting explanation of the exaggerated leap and pounce action that you only see in certain breeds.
Alfie’s humans and I have tried to catch the leap on film on so many occasions but failed as there is quite a bit of searching that goes on between the pounce. Here are a couple of examples we managed to get though.
When you can’t take your eyes off where the dummy landed in the pond at Paws4Play but you know you need to so you can be released to get it. Great work holding back Frankie Boy!
Combining two pieces of training into one - learning to patiently wait for the treats to be counted out in anticipation for them to be used for a recall game. Love the way Cassie decides to sit when she realises the wait if going to be longer than she anticipated 😊
On Callie’s training walk last week we concentrated on safe road crossing progression. Callie will always wait on cue when we get to a kerb now and then will cross with the ‘ok’ cue. So, I wanted to see if she has started to recognise that reaching the edge of a kerb meant ‘wait’ without hearing the cue. I also wanted to check that she was moving on in response to the verbal cue ‘ok’ rather than responding to my body movements.
I now know we have a bit more work to do on this but through watching the videos back, I can see that she is certainly learning what she should be doing and even starting to think for herself and make corrections.
Videoing your training sessions can be really useful to see how progression if going and to check that your techniques are correct and consistent. I recommend it to all clients and am always happy to watch and analyse any progression videos that are sent to me.
