‼️ Stranger Danger ‼️
Does your dog worry about people?
Do you just want it to stop?
After viewing a horrific video of a dog reacting to a person then being strung up by an aversive trainer somewhere north of me, I felt compelled to share a personal video of my Bertie from yesterday.
My Bertie is fearful of men. Why?
Genetics, pain and a bad experience.
Has he bitten? Nope.
Does he lunge? Nope.
Does he bark? Can do.. and that's ok.
Is he capable of forming positive relationships? Yes. WHY?
Consistency of approach, he trusts me to support him, I read every second of his body language to know when he can make a good choice or when I need to support him, and he also has pharmacological support. That's a lot of support, but support not punishment is key.
With empathy and patience, then you can sow positivity in your dog.
Change isn't linear, you can have bad days but those become less. If you stick with the right programme and in the words of Rober Louis Stevenson,
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seed you plant," then there are better times ahead.
As for the poor dog strung up, the seed planted there will compound the dogs distrust of people.
‼️If you think it's simply about throwing food, then you'd be very wrong. That's where the expertise of a professional comes in.‼️
Is your dog worried by people or dogs? Then read about my very own little champion 🏆 🐾
Bertie is my Romanian rescue. He used to be fine (I should add, doing fine is just a perception, sometimes fine is not ok) with men until a disastrous collision out with my control. A collision of contributing factors of:-
Bad experience + pain + genetic make up + poor socialisation =
Fear and stress.
When dogs are worried they can bark and lunge in order to keep themselves safe. It's a distance seeking behaviour to control the movement of the trigger and prevent them coming forward.
Bertie in this video displays a lower mood via his body language. (With several meetings his mood would change to more positive).
As you can see in the video, my management is more of a watchful eye at a distance as Bertie knows how to make good choices. We had also had a successful on leash introduction just prior to this.
Bertie has learned he doesn't have to engage in distance seeking behaviours because I support him and he knows the strategies. These work over long periods of time. There is no magical wand to emotional change or overcoming pain related behaviours.
In the right context, fear barking is still absolutely possible for Bertie, and that's ok. He's allowed to say he needs a helping hand.
How did he learn to make good choices so I don't have to micro manage all of the time?
Positive only approach ✅
Consistency of approach ✅
Safety and trust at the fore✅
Responsive dog centred training ✅
No prongs, garottes, shocks or slaps, leash corrections ✅
Loose leash handling ✅
Pharmacological support ✅
Reading his body language ✅
I can't change him into my happy go lucky Labrador, albeit once he gets to know someone, his inner Labrador appears 😁but I can help him feel a whole lot less worried. Living in fear is negative and just leads to chronic anxiety.
It's better to provide a support mechanism and a helping hand sooner, rather than later.
For those of y
Parkour Club dogs coming along sweetly.
Calm ✅
Confidence✅
Connection✅
Parkour Club building all 3.
Low impact for joints and ligaments.
Low arousal (you can ramp it up).
Easy to incorporate in every day life. Get those 3 C's right, and you're forming the foundations of recall, leash walking and being a confident calm canine.
Lovely to be sent an update on one of my previous puppy class attendees, viszla puppy Kion, out in the world making good choices...all by himself!! His pawparents were proud.
"Kion in the middle of vizz whizz!!
So confident and he came back every few minutes to check we were still there.
Thanks for helping build our confidence."
Training for such moments is paying dividends.
Well done Kion, I'm looking forward to seeing you again at Pet Gun Dog.
Happy puppy (in the harness).
Does your dog pull on the leash?
While there are many more layers to successful walking which does not compromise the enjoyment for the dog, try walking out and then straight back the way you came instead of going in a loop.
Your dog will be in a more chilled place to build in a spot of training.
Well done Miss Betty🥰
If you need help with leash walking, please get in touch.
It was a recall kind of day for Pet Gun Dog and puppies.
Recall takes time, effort and proofing the behaviour in a variety of locations. It simply does not happen or remain like magic.
And this should start from the moment you get your dog, whatever age...it could just save their life.
Puppy Luna building her recall skills
Working on a skill in different environments and contexts is vital to proof learning. So being able to do it at home is important, but the long term effort is when competing with the environment.
Puppy Luna's family sent me this video of starting to teach her in the outside world. It really made me smile as did their comment about doing it with distractions will be the next big step, which class will help with. Wise words.
Pre puppy class private sessions can help your pup get off to a flying start.
These are discounted for anyone coming to class. My next puppy class starts on the 21st August 😊
Puppy training for Raffi, a cute and clever Bernie doodle.
It's easy to focus on what your dog is doing which displeases you. A much more productive way to think about it is what would like them to do and train that!
Raffi learned that when his humans sit at the dining table, he settles. This will take ongoing work from his humans, but it's waaay better than pushing him down every two minutes or reminding him to stay constantly...that's just a drag and confuses a pup and frustrates you.
Well done Raffi's human and Raffi.
#puppytraining #dogtraininglanarkshire #positivetraining
Car chasing 😥
Dog reactive 😥
Snapped at a visitor 😥
A few months ago I posted about this beardie collie cross. She could have been written off as a typical car chasing collie. Some people or trainers would even have put a gadget on her to stop her.
She was trying to communicate how she was feeling and her amazing human LISTENED 👌
The power of a positive only multi modal approach is truly astounding! She can now be around moderate traffic flow and other dogs and make good choices. Here's our journey 👉
Her owner listened to me and took vital next steps 👌
Vet listened and actioned appropriate steps👌
I applied my skill set by identifying the "why" of the behaviour and applied strategies to suit owner and dog 👌
I'm honestly on top of the world with this case 😁
Behaviour is only a dog's way of talking. Don't punish your best friend with gadgets designed to instantly stop them, get to the door of the problem and learn how to train.
The video is rubbish as we were too in the moment training, then I thought about it at the end!🙄
It's better to train for the event than in the event.
Miss Betty generally has a good retrieve, drop, wait, leave it and recall. All can help when they have something you feel they shouldn't have.
She chose to drop this one into my hands 🤮
Chasing our dog or yanking from their mouth when they have something you don't want them to is a human knee jerk reaction, but it generally isn't helpful in the long term and can cause problems.
And for Norman Cat fans, he just had to get in the video didn't he?
Recall and steadiness at Pet Gun Dog is coming along nicely.
Proofing a behaviour is when you take a component of training like recall and you add challenges such as increased distractions or different locations.
A special well done to Benji. I first met him about a year ago as he can be worried by other dogs. His mum has given him steady safe exposure and learning experiences in controlled environments led by other positive only trainers. Fabulous progression having the confidence to join closer to the group. Laura Scott a big well done to you.
