KuriDog

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KuriDog

Modern dog training covering Fife. Over 10 years experience with 100s of dogs! Positive reinforcement philosophy, training that works - all backed by science!
(4)

03/05/2023

Had a bit of an audience in a session today 🤭 Very polite bunch!

26/09/2022

Socialisation is so much more than just meeting people and dogs! Good socialisation is key to having a well-rounded, confident adult dog. Not only does it help your dog be better equipped for life in the bonkers human world, it also sets the stage for the relationship and trust between you and your dog!

Your puppies socialisation period is where their brains are open to new experiences, like little sponges soaking up all the information it can, and is where your puppy will form many of its life long habits, expectations, and opinions about the world it lives in. You've only got a tiny window to cram all this in, a dogs socialisation period ends by the time they are 16 weeks old, and their brains start to become less open to new experiences.

The majority of issues we see in teenage dogs - poor recall, "over friendly", "badly behaved" etc - are all direct consequences of badly planned and poorly executed socialisation. Do future you a favor and invest the time and planning in your pups socialisation!

We offer 1-2-1 guidance with socialisation, as well as classes and workshops geared towards raising rock solid puppies.

It takes a village!

🐶 🐶

14/09/2022

Wee Maverick, ten points if you can guess his breeds!

Maverick and his amazing family have started their training journey with us, and have made such amazing progress with his patience, his skills and understanding his needs better. He is a very lucky wee lad to have such a dedicated and driven family and we can't wait to see how he grows up!❤️

🐶

06/09/2022

This is Bobby. He applied his own mud camouflage, all by himself, today. The ball will never see him coming!

27/07/2022

Another amazing Social skills workshop! So, so proud of all the dogs, and their handlers, everyone worked so hard and learned new things ❤️

Can't wait for the next one!

12/07/2022

🐶 Got a new dog? 🐶

🤔 When do you start training? 🤔

Thankfully the answer is very simple:
As soon as possible!

When we bring a new adult dog or puppy home, they go through quite a lot of upheaval in their routine, their relationships disappear, sometimes their environment changes drastically. Seems the best thing to do is to leave them be for a few months to settle in, makes perfect sense.

Except it doesn't, at least not to dogs. They get used to the rules and suddenly the rules all change. Often with no warning or preparation beforehand.

Starting training the day they come home doesn't mean dragging them to classes or workshops, or drilling pointless behaviours like 'sit' and 'down'. Instead teach them how to fit in to your house; teach them their name, how to enjoy putting on their collar, how to trust you.

Training immediately gives loads of benefits to you and your dog:

🐶 Your dogs feelings of security will increase.

🐶 Your dogs anxiety and stress will lower as predictability increases.

🐶 Your relationship and bond with your new dog will build significantly faster.

🐶 Increases trust, relationship and cooperation.

🐶 Prepares you and your dog for more formal training in the future.

🐶 Creates consistency, routine and predictability for both of you!

Need some idea or guidance on what to train your new dog or puppy? Get in touch!

17/06/2022

An amazing start to our adult basic obedience class last night, everyone absolutely smashed it! Amazing work from both the people and the dogs!

We even has some special guest observers 😍

13/06/2022

What an amazing, and fascinating, social skills workshop we had this weekend! Thank you to everyone who came, and a massive well done to all the dogs who worked so hard, can't wait to see you all for the next one!

03/06/2022

‼️New Class‼️
1 space left!

This foundation level course is a perfect introduction to training for adult dogs, even those with limited experience training!

Small classes mean you'll get plenty of solo support, so no one gets left behind!

✅️Build a stronger bond with your dog, based in trust, cooperation and communication!

✅️Learn the foundations of basic obedience, with no lead yanking or yelling!

✅️Teach patience, manners and focus with fun, engaging exercises!

This class is sadly not suitable for dogs with anxiety, fear, reactivity or aggression issues. If in doubt, get in touch!

To register, or for more information, email us at [email protected] or drop us a message!

01/06/2022

It's nearly finished! Our purpose built training field will welcome its first visitors on Sunday for puppy class, and we are so very excited!

This field will be available for public hire in the very near future, so keep an eye on our feed for early bird offers and more!

In the meantime we will be running classes, workshops and 1-2-1 training in the field. We can't wait to show it off to you all!

Why is there a fence in the middle, you might ask? Well, the primary purpose of this field is training and sometimes that means putting saftey first. It's also a fantastic way for dogs to meet, get to know each other and decide if they want to be friends, without any worry of it going wrong and with the necessary space to use their social behaviours. Being such a flexible space means we can make recall training really straightforward, teach manners around doors, and a whole host of essential skills every dog needs!

Eventually, the back section will evolve into an enrichment and confidence area, to offer even more possibilities to our visitors and clients.

Deeks has been, for the first time, and thoroughly tested it for fun, sniffs, and zooms. It has recieved a gold star from him!

01/06/2022

‼️Classes and workshops‼️

All outdoors, in our purpose built training field in the ky8 5pf area.

⭐️Puppy Class £90⭐️
6 week course.
Up to 6 months of age at the start of the course.
▪️Sunday 5th June 11am (1 space left)
▪️Wednesday 15th June 6pm (4 spaces left)

⭐️Adult Foundation Skills £90⭐️
6 week course.
▪️Thursday 16th June 6pm (3 spaces left)

⭐️Social Skills Workshop ⭐️
Handler £30. Spectator £10.
▪️Saturday 11th June 1pm (handler - full, spectator - 1 space left)

Coming soon:
Teenagers Class
Recall workshop
Lead walking workshop

31/05/2022

Guess what guys?
You CAN take your puppy out before they have all their vaccinations!

Millie played host to our lovely friend, and fellow trainer, Gosia from Dogs & the City and her wee gang, including her latest addition Iskra the 10 week old Malinois puppy.
A walk in the woods, armed with a puppy backpack, to show her the sights, smells and sounds of nature was rained off pretty quickly.
Then exploring an unfamiliar house and garden, full of new experiences. She practiced relaxing in new places, training in an exciting new environment, and investigated the unfamiliar plants and textures in the garden.

We say it a lot, but it always bears repeating,
It takes a village to raise a puppy (even for professionals)!

23/05/2022

🐶 Puppy Class 🐶 Limited Spaces 🐶
(1 space remaining!)

We have spaces available for our next puppy course! Only 4 dogs per class, with plenty of individual support. This is a 6 week course, costing £90.

🐕From 14 weeks to 6 months of age

📍Classes start on Sunday the 5th of June, at 11am. They will take place in our new, purpose built training field in the KY8 5 area.

🟢 You will learn 🟢
Lead walking,
Recall,
Basic obedience,
Confidence and relationship building,
Social skills and socialisation,
Manners and patience,
Life Skills,
And much more!

To register, or for more information email [email protected] or message us!

07/05/2022

Little Buddy finished his puppy package today, so he's off for a wee nap to process everything! He's such a cracking wee dude, who has the biggest of feelings.
Buddy is learning that it's okay to not get what you want all the time, and that patience and cooperation get you much further than biting and snapping.
So very impressed with him, and his owners, they are growing into a really solid team!

04/05/2022

Puppy season is in full swing!

For those lucky enough to be adding a new puppy to the family, the first few months can be a tough time so we've put together this list of basic things to make life with a puppy easier!

🐶 Puppies have an amazing knack of pushing all our buttons, and seemingly go out of their way to frustrate and annoy us! The truth is though, they really aren't doing things you don't like on purpose. Your puppy has only been on the planet a matter of weeks, we have frozen veg that's been around longer than them! If we place the same expectations on an infant as we do an adult, it's no wonder we take it personally when they mess up. Whenever your puppy is doing something you would rather they didn't ask yourself a couple of questions: have I actively taught them what to do instead, are they currently in the right situation or mindset to do the right thing and are all their basic needs being met?

🐶 Consequences matter! It's really easy to ignore a puppy playing quietly by themselves, or sitting patiently waiting for attention, and so, sadly, we do ignore them. You know what we don't ignore? Chewing wires, stealing shoes or TV remotes, barking, snapping and tearing clothes, they are guaranteed to get our attention! The thing is, we need to notice what they need before the inappropriate stuff even crops up, which with puppies can be a matter of seconds. Use quiet, calm behaviours your puppy already expresses to link to getting your attention, it will teach them how to interact appropriately, how to manage their own emotional responses and will make sure they don't think that biting your shoelaces is the only way to get your attention.

🐶 Train concepts, not positions. It's really tempting to dive right in to the sit and stay training, but that is for later. Right now, your priority is teaching your puppy more general concepts like patience, relaxation, trust, as well as exposure to the human world. Any age of dog can learn to sit, very quickly, but adult dogs who don't know basic concepts have a much harder, longer training task ahead of them.

🐶Socialisation is not socialising. While socialising with people and dogs makes up a (very tiny) part of socialisation, it really isn't the most important. During their socialisation period a puppies brain is very open to learning fundamental life expectations. Things like how to go to the park and ignore other dogs and people, how to walk past a field full of sheep and not hunt them, that the vets waiting room isn't a terrifying place, the car is a good place to chill, novel objects and places are safe and enjoyable. During their socialisation phase puppies cement the rules of living in the world, so make sure you are teaching the things you want for your adult dog.

🐶Make it easy to get it right. How you do that depends on your life, your puppy and your training goals, but is universal to good training. The easier a behaviour is to begin with, the easier it is to do the behaviour again. If the easy behaviour is the one you don't like, the one you do like is too hard. Likewise, make the behaviours you don't like harder to do. Is your puppy chewing wires because their teeth hurt? Don't just give then appropriate things to chew, also block the wires so it's too hard to practice that behaviour. Managing your puppies access to the world is part of good training.

13/04/2022

‼️Huge News‼️

We have partnered with a farm in the KY8 area and will be running their 3, yes THREE, secure fields!

These fields are being purpose built to offer something for everyone, and every dog! With 6ft fences, dedicated parking and with a gorgeous countryside view these fields will tick every box!

The split training field will be up and running in the next few months, with the others being added soon after!

Split training field: we'll be using this field for classes, workshops and training sessions. It will be available for public hire whenever we aren't using it!

Playground field: full of cool things for your dog (and you!) to explore! This field will be added to over time, to keep it fresh and exciting.

~4 acre walking field: does what it says on the tin! Roughly 4 acres of open field to walk, train, play or chill in.

We are so excited for this, it's been very hard to sit on this until now!

👀Keep an eye on our feed for updates, news and offers!👀

12/04/2022

Puppy Blues. What the heck is that?

Puppy blues is a term describing an emotional state of feeling overwhelmed, sadness, fatigue, regret or anxiety many people feel after adding a puppy, or even an adult dog, to their household.

Sometimes, before we get a new puppy or dog, we build up ideas about how we expect things to go. We expect some accidents, we expect some chaos, we have grand plans of how well trained, cuddly or friendly our puppy or dog will be. Unfortunately, these expectations are often not met, dogs are living beings with their own unique personalities and sometimes that personality jars our expectations in ways we'd never considered.

Feelings of being inadequate as an owner, feelings of shame at our new dogs perceived issues, and feeling we are unable to "fix" them. Guilt that sometimes we regret even getting them in the first place. When we add another dog or puppy to a home with a resident dog, feelings of selfishness and guilt around the resident dogs life being turned upside down may creep in.

Puppy Blues can affect anyone, from someone getting their first ever dog, to someone getting their 11th. It can affect even seasoned dog professionals - many of our trainer colleagues have had tearful calls with each other about their new puppy.

Puppy Blues generally start a few days after bringing your puppy home, for some it can start after a few weeks, especially when rescuing an adult dog and they start to come out of their shells. Puppy Blues can last a few weeks to a few days.

It's OK. It's OK to not be ecstatic all the time with your puppy or new dog. It's OK to need a break. It's OK to not know all the answers. It's important to realise that you are not alone in feeling this way, you aren't a bad person for these feelings, and you aren't a failure as a dog owner for feeling these feelings.

The good news is, these feelings are temporary. They generally go away themselves after a few weeks. They may crop up again however, especially during developmental milestones for your dog, or major life events, usually with less intensity, and for a shorter time.

There are things that can be done to help alleviate these feelings;

✅️ Keep a record of progress, no matter how small! If your puppy managed to toilet in the right place 3 times yesterday, I guarantee that was more than a week before. That's a win! Looking back at the progress you are making helps put everything into perspective.
✅️Reach out. Talk to dog professionals, we've all been there at one point or another. Send your puppy for a trial night with your dog boarder, ask your trainer or walker for support.
✅️Practice selfcare. Take time to do something for you. Puppies can be all-consuming of our time and attention, which has a huge impact on our emotional wellbeing. Ask a friend to watch your puppy for an hour, or an evening, and do something just for you. Read a book, watch a movie, go out to a restaurant, get your nails done, finish that woodworking project you forgot about. Selfcare is not selfish, it's necessary, especially in times of upheaval and change.

If you need help, support or guidance, we are always happy to help. We've been there, we get it, we're here.

30/03/2022

Ignore what you don't like, reward what you do like.

If you've ever looked into positive reinforcement training you're bound to have come across this. The fact is though, it doesn't work. It can't work.

This idea has been pervasive. It has seeped into all corners of training. It's one of the major pieces of ammunition used against positive reinforcement practices.

Where the idea came from is anyone's guess, and it needs to stop. Now.

The premise is that a behaviour your dog is doing, that you don't like, should not get a reaction from you and a behaviour you do like should get rewarded. What if that behaviour is dangerous? What if that behaviour is actively causing harm, either physical or mental, to a person, another dog, livestock? What if the behaviour you DO want doesn't exist in the dogs repertoire? What if the behaviour you do like is after a huge chain of behaviour you don't like? What about behaviours being maintained by reinforcement that isn't us?

The idea of ignoring what you don't like and rewarding what you do like also puts a huge amount of pressure on the dog. It relies on the dog magically choosing the right behaviour with no information to help them. Think about the classic application of this technique - jumping up. If you ignore the dog jumping up, they might, eventually, work out how to get your attention, then you can reward them! Yay!

They might also escalate. We've had countless clients whose dogs have "suddenly" started biting their backs, the backs of their thighs or even jumping higher to muzzle punch the backs of their heads, after they had been doing the "turn around when your dog jumps" technique. Guess what? Hurting humans gets attention.

That's not to say we should control or interfere with every single tiny behaviour, that would be micromanaging, which is itself damaging.

Sometimes there will be behaviours we don't like, that don't matter. For example, a puppy first learning to walk on a lead might walk sideways, or bounce on the spot. These behaviours don't make a huge difference to the end goal, but they should never be ignored. They are information for us to adapt our training to help them get it right 100% of the time.

How do you navigate this? The answer, as will all things in dog training is, it depends. It depends on the individual dog, on the goal behaviour, on the current behaviours. A good starting place is for us to decide what we do want, and then map out how we get from where we are, to where we want to be. That might involve management of the situations we put our dogs in, maybe even avoiding certain situations entirely while new behaviours are taught. It might be that we need to have hard conversations with ourselves about our expectations and whether our dogs can ever achieve them.

Do not ignore behaviour. Teach better behaviours instead.

11/03/2022

What do you do when its raining, and you have a dog who hates rain?
You build an obstacle course, and hide toys in it!

Exercise doesn't have to be outdoors, and enrichment doesn't have to involve food!

09/03/2022

Time to blast away the dog training cobwebs!

✅️All breeds, all ages, all abilities catered for.
✅️Fully insured, qualified training and advice.
✅️Unlimited support for your training journey.
✅️Modern training techniques, backed by science.

‼️ Coming soon ‼️

Outdoor group classes from puppy to senior.

Secure enrichment field and 4 acre walking field in the KY8 area.

More details soon!

09/12/2021

We've been working with this little Christmas pudding, Bailey, for a while now. She had very serious issues being left alone, to the point of being dangerous to herself.

She's got a ways to go yet, but the progress she's made is extraordinary. We've given her new behaviours to use, and she's become so much more confident and independent. We are so very proud of her, and her people!

10/10/2021

Look at this dainty little lady! Layla has finished her puppy course! She and her people are a wonderful team, and have achieved great things together 💜

Layla is a rescue from the streets of Spain. She spent the first 3 months of her life being terrorised by people trying to kick her and throw rocks at her. She has a long road ahead of her to regain trust in strangers, but she couldn't have got a better family to take her on that journey and support her on her way 💜

So proud, and can't wait to see what comes next!

12/08/2021

If the dog can't come to classes to do confidence courses, the confidence course comes to the dog! Albeit a 'diet' version!

Confidence courses are really important for dogs, especially puppies. Confidence courses are tools to help dogs try out new behaviours, experiment with novel objects and learn new ways to interact (or ignore) things in their environment.

This course was set up for Layla, whose default when she experiences any stress at all is to bark, a lot. Teaching her that she can do other things, and can even enjoy new things is key to helping build better stress response behaviours.

Stress, both 'good' and 'bad' stress, is part of life and it is totally unrealistic to set a dog up to not know how to deal with it. Likewise, such as with Layla, a dog who feels that anything new or unexpected is life threateningly dangerous, helping them find the joy in novelty, and building a behavioural skillset to be able to navigate the world without the terror brings confidence, contentment and resilience.

Many barking, biting or lunging problems are not solely an emotional issue, but often are simply a skill set issue. Teach new skills and often the 'problem' behaviour disappears by itself!

03/07/2021

If you know, you know.
•
•
•
•
Puppies don't destroy things for no reason. Destructive behaviour is a sign that underlying emotional, physical or behavioural needs are not being met.

Are they teething? Give them a frozen, damp, knotted dish cloth to chew, or a frozen carrot, or even a puppy-safe (one that doesn't splinter) piece of wood or root to gnaw on.

Are they tired? Give them something tasty and chewy like a beef scalp, deer hide or tendon, or a stuffed food toy, and help them settle in their bed. Puppies need between 18 and 20 hours of sleep a day, less than that and you have a tired, emotional, impulsive train wreck running around!

Are they stressed? Have they been alone too long, or in a scary environment too long? Break down your training to make sure they can handle the situations you put them in.

Do they know there is better things to do? Expecting a puppy to know that chewing the leg of your table is 'bad', without teaching them more appropriate behaviours is like expecting a toddler to know how electricity works by showing them a plug. Build new behaviours and direct the inappropriate expression of their 'bad' behaviour onto something appropriate.

Are they doing it for fun? Give them something appropriate to perform that same behaviour on! Having an outlet to perform natural behaviours on not only saves your favourite shoes, but builds their confidence, emotional resilience, problem solving skills and allows a broader range of healthy, natural behaviours.

27/06/2021

On his walk, we caught up to a farmer mowing the tracks around his field. Shadow had to go on his lead, so we used the opportunity to build some of his new training.

You see, Shadow is a little old man. His sight is failing, he seems to be losing his hearing and he has developed "old man attitude". All of this means that eventually, the cues and conversations we have with him will become harder and harder for him to understand.

So, we are teaching him new things now, before we need them, so they are in place when we do and Shadow doesn't have to lose out on his walks.

We are changing his cues to make them more easily understood, by using our whole body for visual cues, using and conditioning louder verbal cues, and building a stronger inclination to hang out nearer us and to check in regularly. Later we will be building tactile cues, in case his sight and hearing are lost completely.

A walk isn't just a walk, and making sure dogs like Shadow get the same out of their walks at 13 years, as they did at 13 months just takes a bit of planning.

Our dogs are here for a good time, not a long time.

16/05/2021

We say this a lot, but....

Train smart, not hard!

Understanding the basics of good training is key to getting the most from your time, effort and training!

14/05/2021

All dogs should learn patience and manners around food. It's good impulse control practice, it helps keep people safe from crocodile dogs, and it helps dogs keep their heads in the presence of food.

However, to achieve this takes actual teaching, with thoughtful implementation and consistency in criteria.

Doing it wrong, even with the best of intentions, can build food aggression, possessiveness and has far reaching consequences in other areas of your dogs life.

Getting it right can have equally far reaching consequences in areas that may seem totally unrelated - like dropping things from their mouth, to being content being brushed.

Food is a basic right of all living things, make sure that right is respected, and use its power to your advantage!

23/04/2021

As the weather heats up, please be aware of Canine Melting! This affliction effects many breeds, with boxers, staffies and RR's being particularly prone!

Symptoms include:
Gradual melting, usually starting from the back end, and moving up the body to the face.
A 'cooked dog' smell, emanating from the dog.
Deep sighs, usually after shifting body weight.

Prognosis:
No training will happen during a melting episode. Thinking is too hard.
Most dogs only melt for a few minutes, but in extreme cases can remain melted for up to an hour!
While not life threatening, addiction to melting is a real issue. Dogs will seek out opportunities to melt, often to their owners annoyance.

Treatments:
Dog melting can be easily treated with a dose of cheese or chicken direct to mouth, or in more extreme cases owners should jump around like a lunatic, bouncing a tennis ball.

Melt responsibly everyone!

12/04/2021

Millie had a conversation with a potential walking client today, and she was asked why we don't have any images on Social Media of our walks.

There are a number of reason, but first and foremost is security.

At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, we only walk dogs owned by front line workers, and the vulnerable, and we only walk dogs from the same household.

With the staggering rise in dog thefts, and the creative ways thieves are targeting these dogs, we keep our walking clients anonymous.

These dogs are generally at home, alone, for the majority of their day. It would not be difficult for a determined thief for follow us from a walk to the dogs house, especially when we are not making multiple pick ups or drop offs before and after our walks.

We love our walking clients, they become part of our family. It is far more important to us that our clients are safe, even outside our working time with them, than to use them as advertisements on Social Media.

If you are thinking about hiring us to walk your dog, please get in touch and we can happily provide you with references from our past and current clients.

12/02/2021

Just a little one this time, but a game changer if you use longer leads!

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It's nearly finished! Our purpose built training field will welcome its first visitors on Sunday for puppy class, and we are so very excited! This field will be available for public hire in the very near future, so keep an eye on our feed for early bird offers and more! In the meantime we will be running classes, workshops and 1-2-1 training in the field. We can't wait to show it off to you all! Why is there a fence in the middle, you might ask? Well, the primary purpose of this field is training and sometimes that means putting saftey first. It's also a fantastic way for dogs to meet, get to know each other and decide if they want to be friends, without any worry of it going wrong and with the necessary space to use their social behaviours. Being such a flexible space means we can make recall training really straightforward, teach manners around doors, and a whole host of essential skills every dog needs! Eventually, the back section will evolve into an enrichment and confidence area, to offer even more possibilities to our visitors and clients. Deeks has been, for the first time, and thoroughly tested it for fun, sniffs, and zooms. It has recieved a gold star from him!

If the dog can't come to classes to do confidence courses, the confidence course comes to the dog! Albeit a 'diet' version! Confidence courses are really important for dogs, especially puppies. Confidence courses are tools to help dogs try out new behaviours, experiment with novel objects and learn new ways to interact (or ignore) things in their environment. This course was set up for Layla, whose default when she experiences any stress at all is to bark, a lot. Teaching her that she can do other things, and can even enjoy new things is key to helping build better stress response behaviours. Stress, both 'good' and 'bad' stress, is part of life and it is totally unrealistic to set a dog up to not know how to deal with it. Likewise, such as with Layla, a dog who feels that anything new or unexpected is life threateningly dangerous, helping them find the joy in novelty, and building a behavioural skillset to be able to navigate the world without the terror brings confidence, contentment and resilience. Many barking, biting or lunging problems are not solely an emotional issue, but often are simply a skill set issue. Teach new skills and often the 'problem' behaviour disappears by itself!

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