Avril's Dog Training

17/01/2024

The adorable little pixie! She is such a little superstar 🥰
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02/11/2023

Dogs behave the way they do for many reasons. They do NOT do things deliberately to be stubborn or ‘naughty’, nor do they aim to assert control. Outdated mythologies and training methods have detrimental effects on well-being and strain the relationship between a dog and their caregiver.

🧬A dog's breed and genetic makeup can play a significant role in determining certain behavioural traits. Dogs have genetic predispositions and breed-specific tendencies that contribute to their behaviour.
Some breeds are predisposed to specific behaviours, such as herding, hunting, or guarding.

The environment in which a dog is raised and lives can profoundly impact their behaviour. Early socialisation, which involves exposing a puppy to a wide range of people, animals, and environments during their critical developmental period, is crucial for building confidence and shaping a dog's social behaviour to reduce fear or aggression.

Overstimulation can cause all kinds of unwanted behaviours as it overwhelms their senses and can lead to hyperactivity or erratic responses. For example, if a dog is exposed to loud noises, multiple people, and various stimuli all at once, or on a daily basis, they might exhibit excessive excitable behaviour, poor impulse control, become agitated and exhibit behaviours like jumping, barking, or pulling on the leash, as their senses are overwhelmed by the excessive input.

Previous experiences and learning consequences can influence a dog's behaviour. Traumatic experiences, in particular, can lead to fear, anxiety, or aggression.

How a dog is trained and educated by their caregiver or handler can significantly affect their behaviour. Consistent, positive reinforcement-based training can lead to desired behaviours, while harsh or inconsistent methods can result in confusion or fear.

A dog's health, including their physical and mental well-being, can influence their behaviour. Illness, pain, or discomfort can lead to changes in behaviour.

A dog's emotional state, including fear, anxiety, and excitement, can affect their behaviour. For example, a fearful dog may display unpredictable defensive reactive behaviours or might avoid any encounters and run away trying to hide. While a confident dog may exhibit playfulness and a relaxed demeanour.

A dog can become frustrated and destructive if their mental and physical needs are not met. This dog, full of pent-up energy and boredom, may become frustrated and exhibit poor impulse control. In their frustration, they might resort to destructive behaviours, such as chewing furniture, digging up the garden, or incessant barking. This destructive behaviour is often an expression of their frustration and an attempt to alleviate their built-up energy and mental stress.

The type of diet a dog receives can significantly influence their behaviour, with high-quality nutrition promoting better energy levels, mood, and overall well-being, while poor diet choices can lead to issues like irritability, hyperactivity, or digestive problems.

As dogs age, they may experience canine cognitive decline, which can manifest as changes in memory, learning, and behaviour. This condition can lead to increased confusion, disorientation, and altered social interactions in older dogs.

It is really important to understand that each dog is unique, and their behaviour can vary widely, even within the same breed. Dogs use body language, vocalizations, and other forms of communication to express their needs, emotions, and intentions. Understanding a dog's communication cues is essential for interpreting their behaviour.

24/07/2023

I am proud to announce I am now a member of The Dog Trainer School. As a member, I adhere to the guidelines of the Professional Standard and work with kindness, care and empathy to all.

If you would like to read more about The Professional Standard please head to The Dog Trainer School website.

23/07/2023

Had the absolute pleasure of meeting little Winnie today! Working on her jumping up and just being a little calmer. What a little star she was! She’s got the face of an angel 🥰
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20/05/2023

Had the pleasure of meeting with this little cutie today! He did extremely well learning to walk nicely alongside his mum and baby sister! Just look at those eyes 🥰
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15/04/2023

Mat training!
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23/03/2023

Back with the pretty boy 🥰

Behaviours that get rewarded will be repeated! Here I am rewarding pippin with some treats when he checks in or stays close! Such a good boy🥰

If you have a small dog and are struggling with the placement of treats, dropping it where they can get it is a good way without breaking your back! 🙈 look at those piercing eyes though!!

09/10/2022

Just a little video of Fred’s recall! As he hit adolescence a few months ago he struggled with recall and engagement. He wouldn’t even take treats anymore in certain environments.

But patience, consistency and just letting him be a dog on the longline is starting to finally pay off!

Thought I’d share his progress! It has been a tough journey with many ups and downs for both of us, but we are slowly comming out the other end 🥰. Still a long way to go but it’s the little things that matter!
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22/09/2022

Sniffing! 🐶

A dogs nose is extremely powerful, they have over 250 million olfactory receptors whilst humans have 400. How insane is that?

They find out so much information just from their nose!
This is why I love to let dogs just sniff and be dogs. Scatter feeding is my favourite enrichment tool on walk or even at home🙈

As you can see here luna is just having the best time!!

Take advantage of what the environment has to offer our precious doggos🥰❤️
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18/09/2022

Back to Fred’s favourite place!

04/08/2022

10/07/2022

Another great session with Charlie today! He just keeps growing 🙈 we worked on his stay and some impulse control! The little smarty pants had both down within minutes! ❤️❤️
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19/06/2022

Had a lovely little session with 14 week old Charlie this morning! Charlie is a lurcher/cocker spaniel and a real charmer! He was very tired today so we just had a little chat about his training 🥰
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17/06/2022

Another session this morning with little Wilma! We worked on a little recall and down, she smashed her down within a few minutes🙈 what a smart cookie she is!
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13/06/2022

Had a lovely consult with this little cutie and her parents today! Who are already doing such a great job with her😍

This is Wilma, she is a sheepadoodle and a little bundle of joy! 🙈
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13/06/2022

Sorry I’ve been absent! Fred hit adolescence so we have been working hard on bringing his training back👀

If you were following Fred’s progress before you will know that he would have little meltdowns to get into the coffee shop as they would give him treats! We have been working extremely hard on working under his threshold so we have avoided going into the coffee shop for this reason.

Fast forward a few months and it has paid off, we were able to go into the coffee shop this week and he still remembered where the treats were😂. But, he did not have a meltdown!! In fact he ended up sitting very nicely, even lay down and refused to leave!

Consistency, patience and hard work made this possible! I am so proud of how far he has come in regards to the coffee shop 🥰 (may be little but for him is a huge milestone!)
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25/05/2022

Ever wondered why a puppy's behavior seems erratic during adolescence, which occurs between six months and 18 months of age?

The neurobiology of adolescence is fascinating, with some key events that alter both the structure and function of the brain.

During canine adolescence, s*x hormones are changing which effects the animals stress responses. Adolescent dogs have a decreased ability to modulate sensory processing and subsequent behavior.

The connectivity between the frontal cortex (responsible for decision making) and amygdala (responsible for emotional processing) decreases, resulting in less behavioral control.

So what does this mean? This could mean that your dog, who used to come when called, suddenly cannot. This could mean that your dog, who didn't jump up on guests, suddenly does. Your dog that walked nicely on leash is now pulling. Or perhaps it seems like some days your dog responds to behaviors you ask of them, and some days they don't, without any rhyme or reason.

We also see increased risk taking and more sensitivity to fear.

As your puppy undergoes this transition into adulthood their inner world is intense, even chaotic. Many pet owners experience an increase in undesirable behavior and find themselves becoming increasingly frustrated. In turn, frustration and impatience sometimes cause us to act unpredictably.

This adds to your puppy’s inner turmoil. When the inside and the outside are both unpredictable it can be difficult for puppies to adjust.

By understanding this we can gain greater compassion and understanding. When we approach adolescence with patience we can help create a world that is predictable and gentle so our puppies grow up to be their best selves.

31/03/2022

Love these little updates🥰 Luna smashing her heelwork! Her progress is just amazing😍

28/03/2022

Another little update on Luna, this time smashing her recall! Even with two dogs in front 🥰🥰
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24/03/2022

So proud of this clever girlie!! How amazing is her drop and down now 🥰🥰
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23/02/2022

Cry It Out – Why What We Learned from Children Applies to Puppies.

There has since at least 1913, been a school of thought that suggests allowing tiny babies to ‘cry it out’, ie, cry until they give up crying, with the parent no longer responding to cries for attention, comfort or contact, is beneficial or indeed, necessary in raising children.

Somewhere along the line this also became the advice applied to puppies, with the warnings that if you did respond to a pups cries for attention, you would as with the child oriented version of this advice, create a needy individual who was insecure and lacking in confidence.

We now know the opposite is true, unfortunately from a dog perspective very few studies are done on dogs, simply because there isn’t the money in it to do them.

So we are left to extrapolate from studies done on children, but that’s actually ok, because a dogs brain is very comparable to the brain of a child under 2 years of age. They have similar needs for comfort, warmth, food, physical contact, social support. They have similar difficulties in communicating orally, in lacking impulse control and lacking fine motor skills.

So here’s the grim truth.

Young mammals left to ‘cry it out’ do not ‘self soothe’. In fact what they learn (Bowlby J. 1960’s) is that after going through a cycle of protestation, then despair, they reach a third phase of detachment – in effect they give up trying to get a response, get comfort or contact and become apathetic. Their distress is still present, they simply have learned it will not be alleviated as a result of their behaviour, they have shut down.

Whilst the theory ran that if you provide attention constantly so that the young mammal in question does not need to cry, or you respond promptly to their cries, they will cry more, seek attention more… in fact the opposite is true.

A study in 1986 demonstrated that the more the mother holds and carries her baby, the less that baby will cry and fuss. Other studies (cross cultural but still human, not dog) showed that those parents who responded quicker to crying babies also have babies who cry far less often!

Going back to puppies – we have taken them from their mothers, their litter mates and their familiar environment.

If we compare our domestic dog to feral and wild dog populations we see that our domestic puppies experience this separation from their primary care giver and litter mates at (on average) between 6 and 12 weeks of age.
Their wild/feral counter parts are in the constant company of litter mates and the near constant company of their parent until weaning. Beyond weaning, they are still in the constant company of littermates, parent and other relatives unless they choose to be alone, which is unlikely to happen before adolescence and the hormonal changes that are related to adolescence.

It is true that domestic dogs and wild or feral canids are not the same, but the difference is that domestic dogs actively want to be with humans rather than with other canids.

That being so, they are in no way equipped to be isolated and alone, any more than the feral or wild dogs would be.

So what are the risks of subjecting a puppy to isolation from a social group or new primary caregiver,and ignoring cries for company, comfort or contact?

* The increased cortisol levels can actually damage or kill off neurons and the neuronal interconnections – this can affect how well your dog copes with stress, anxiety and fear in future, predisposing them to be more reactive and fearful.

*Stress hormones go up faster than they come back down – so that stressful experience is affecting the dog for much longer than you might think. Possibly days.

*Repeatedly putting stress hormones up will inhibit learning, affect sleep, affect bonding and attachment.

*Repeated stressful experiences that the subject cannot escape from leads to PTSD in humans – we have no evidence to suggest that this does not also happen in dogs. Given the similarities between the human and canine brain, it is reasonable to assume dogs can also experience something similar to PTSD.

The short version of all this is – there is no benefit to leaving a dog to cry it out, separation anxiety is normal for puppies, they need to be with someone most of the time!

Separation anxiety as an abnormal behavioural issue comes about as a result of an insecure dog, who has not been taught how to cope by themselves, not as a result of creating a secure, confident dog who is given what they need as a puppy.

©Emma Judson

20/02/2022

And here is the very cute sleepy Luna after her training today! 🥰🥰

20/02/2022

Luna doing some settle training this week on our last session! cute sleepy pup after training comming up!😂🥰
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