Rusti loves to chase - 'of course she does', I hear you say - 'she's a Vizsla' 🐶🐾
Rusti also grew up on a golf course and was therefore, given (accidental) opportunities to chase or lunge at things she shouldn't (eg. squirrels and rabbits etc). Along with learning more and more about dogs and using plenty of management, we've been working as a team to set her up for success and teach her to observe and take the world in without needing to chase 🦆🐇
In this video, you'll see Rusti is super close to two squirrels, she watches them and even closes her distance a little but she is soon able to disengage from them. Sure, Rusti is on lead but you'll notice that the lead is slack - if she wanted to pull and lunge towards the squirrels she absolutely could 🐿🐕
We've not always been able to get this close to squirrels and her progress is fantastic and ongoing 🤩
Each time she disengages the behaviour becomes stronger. On the flip side - each time our dogs chase something they shouldn't not only is it dangerous, the behaviour grows and strengthens.
Thank you to Predation Substitute Training - Simone Mueller for her fantastic work on predation substitute training and helping our dogs be dogs in an appropriate, safe and ethical way 🐶⭐️😁
🤩 Why do we teach skills and behaviours? 🤩
The reason I reinforce and teach behaviours is to create a safe, harmonious environment - for example:
🐾 It’s not safe for Rusti to try and charge across the road or lunge into traffic, so she has been taught to ‘wait’ until it’s safe to cross.
🐾 It’s not safe for her to dive onto and scavenge hot chips that have fallen from the baking tray to the floor - so she’s been taught to have self control around dropped food and items.
🐾 It’s not safe for Rusti to counter surf or steal food from the kitchen tops so she’s been taught that the best place to be while we’re preparing food is relaxing on her bed at the side of the room.
🐾 It’s not safe for her to pull like a train on walks or run off when off lead so we’ve built lead walking skills along with value in recall and close proximity.
All of these behaviours have been taught by actively rewarding and reinforcing the behaviours that we want more of and setting up the environment so that it’s easy for Rusti to do the behaviours we'd like to see more of.
Building skills is about saying ‘yes, I like that behaviour' and making it fun and valuable for our dogs to repeat.
Here’s a video of Rusti relaxing while I prepare dinner. I’m not constantly having to throw food at her to keep her on the bed and I’m not having to tell her to ‘get off’ - it’s a calm, positive experience for both of us because it’s a wanted behaviour that’s been developed in a calm, positive way.
Next time you catch yourself wanting to say ‘No, stop that’ to your dog - pause and ask yourself ‘in this scenario what behaviour do I want my dog to do?”, then set about reinforcing the good choices your dog makes instead 🐶😁
🐶 Sunday Funday 🐶
We were training some videos for building up a recall cue when a little bird landed (somewhat daringly) in the field and Rusti just couldn't help herself! 🐕🙈🐦
1) Rusti did brilliantly when I recalled her from the distraction 🤩
2) She was rewarded with something she enjoys, to reinforce the behaviour 🥩
3) She's not a robot 🤖🤪
I always enjoy watching her happy face when she's running back and her ears are flapping around, doing their own thing 😁
🐶 Fabulous Friday 🐶
Here’s Rusti taking a moment to just be a dog and have a wonderful time doing so 🤩
Does anyone else’s dog love a good roll around? 🐾🤣
🐕 Throwback Thursday 🐕
Here's a video I found of little puppy Rusti and the day we got her! 🐶😍
She just strutted into the house, picked up a toy that was just as big as she was and from that moment on had us all wrapped around her paws 🐾🤩
🐶 Sniffy Sunday 🐶
Here’s Rusti using that amazing nose of hers to find todays December advent 🐶. It’s another cold day and scent games are a fabulous way to have fun and provide species specific mental stimulation! 🤩
She loves finding her daily advent so much I think she’s going to want one every day from now on 😂🐾
🐶 Hand Signals and Body Language 🐶
Dogs are super body language orientated but as humans we tend to use a lot of words. This can sometimes result in a bit of a communication mix up between us and our amazing dogs.
Often I find, if a dog is able to do a behaviour when asked by one family member but not another, it’s frequently down to a difference in body language being displayed by the humans. It’s not about the dog being stubborn or the human needing to be firmer, it’s that the dog genuinely doesn’t know what they’re being asked to do.
I use a lot of hand signals in my training with Rusti and I find it super useful to be able to communicate to her with and without words/verbal input.
🐾 It helps slow her down and as a dog that ‘likes to chat’ I find that by being quieter, it helps her do the same.
🐾 It keeps open a clear line of communication that can be utilised in close proximity and at a distance.
🐾 If for some reason it’s not possible for me to train or ask for a behaviour verbally then we are still able to understand one another (eg. this week I’ve lost my voice and without hand signals/body language Rusti would be one confused doggo and I’d be one frustrated human!)
🐾 I can still mark and reward the behaviour I like (as per the video where I mark with a clicker).
If you’re ever struggling to get a behaviour and you’re in an environment where your dog is relaxed/able to focus, film yourself training - it may well be something as simple as a communication breakdown 🐶🙂
🐕 Let's talk about loose lead walking! 🐕
Walking on a loose lead is a massive ask and a difficult skill for our dogs to learn for a number of reasons. I've included a few examples below:
🐶 Humans have bred dog breeds to perform specific tasks for thousands of years - the majority of these tasks involve the dog working at a distance from us.
🐶 Dogs have more legs than we do and are (generally) much faster at walking as a result.
🐶 Dogs don't know we want them to walk beside us and aren't being naughty (stubborn or disobedient etc) when they walk infront or pull.
🐶 They have places to be and want to investigate their world (often with their noses).
As a result of all of these things teaching a puppy or a dog to walk on a loose lead isn't something that is likely to happen overnight and requires patience and consistency.
I've included a video from a walk I was on recently where I have wonderful focus and engagement. I have the picture of what a lot of people want walks with their dog to look like - so how can this be achieved using positive training methods and should we want this level of focus for an entire walk?
🐾 The world can be exciting and overwhelming at times so it's super important that we start training in an environment where the dog will be able to focus (even if this is in the house or garden to begin with).
🐾 Provide plenty of rewards to build focus - rewards can be food, praise, games or sniffing and access to the environment but it has to be something the individual dog finds rewarding.
🐾 Think about how and where you deliver the rewards - I deliver two rewards in the video, the first reward is flicked into the air to be caught (catching things is something the individual dog in the video enjoys doing) and the second reward is delivered level with my leg (this is to help encourage close proximity and teach value with being beside me).
🐾 Train for short durations - I don't expect or want this level of focus and engagem
🐶 What’s your favourite game? 🐶
Our favourite game to play is ‘middle’. I’m not sure who loves the game more - me or Rusti! 🤩
Why do we value ‘middle’ so much?
🐾 It’s a super fun relationship builder
🐾 It’s fantastic for building close proximity
🐾 It makes a valuable and fun recall cue
🐾 It’s a wonderful way to create a safe space
What games and behaviours do you and your dog enjoy most?
🐶 Train for the situation not in the situation 🐶
Rusti has a buggy to ensure that she gets to live an enriching life without compromising her health due to her arthritis. Though she’s still a reasonably young dog and the buggy isn’t a necessity right now, it’s likely that as she gets older she will begin to need the buggy more and more due to arthritis being a progressive condition. Therefore, we’ve decided to be proactive and prepare her for the future to ensure that she’s confident with getting in and out of the buggy and settling there.
We’ve recently been practicing calm exits and entrances from her buggy for safety and so she doesn’t jump out with such enthusiasm that she hurts herself.
I’ve included a little video of her exit - you’ll notice that I don’t at any point ask her to ‘wait’. This is intentional as we’ve been building the behaviour up so that Rusti is able to remain settled in her buggy unless she is released. The lack of a ‘wait’ cue is for a few reasons:
🐾 I want Rusti to be able to settle in the buggy even if the back is open and she can see out.
🐾 The cue ‘wait’ is a pause button for Rusti. It means ‘hold that thing until I ask you to do something else’ - therefore, it creates some level of anticipation which may reduce her ability to settle.
🐾 If I (or someone else) was to forget to cue the ‘wait’ or the buggy was to open accidentally, I would still want Rusti to remain in the buggy until released for safety purposes.
We’ll be continuing to build on her associations and behaviour with the buggy so that when we need to use it in the future, we will already be prepared 😁🐶
When the nose knows!
One of Rusti’s favourite things to do is to use her nose. Recently she’s been working super hard with her scent training and we’ve been focussing on making it as fun as possible 🐶
Here she is searching for a specific scent source before performing an indication to communicate her success 🤩.
The source she’s searching for is small and is hidden in a scent container.
Our dog’s noses are phenomenal, with sniffing and scent activities providing incredible benefits - a few as follows:
🐾 Helps to calm dogs down and reduce their adrenaline.
🐾 Can assist with boosting confidence and optimism.
🐾 Provides mental stimulation.
🐾 Engages them physically.
🐾 Provides them information on their environment.
🐾 An outlet for natural canine behaviours.
When out on walks and at home, think of ways you can incorporate this natural behaviour into your dogs life and whenever safe and possible, let them sniff 😁
