Bright Animal Training

12/01/2025

Update on services: Just to let everyone know, I have no longer been taking on new clients. This is because I am due to have a baby in March, and I don't want to start sessions with anyone that I can't finish or achieve a reasonable amount with first.

I am still contactable by message for questions and updates, but bear with me as it may take longer for me to reply!

10/01/2025

It's sad to see people being told to invade all areas of their dogs life. Let's assume that like us, they want agency, undisturbed rest and that they have the right to manage their meal without strange human interruptions.

09/01/2025

Photo overload!

I am so very proud of these two!

Echo's story:

Echo (formerly Milo) is Inka's full brother, so a Belgian Malinois x GSD. I was heavily involved in the birth, upbringing, care & rehoming of the litter to help their original owner, who is a vulnerable adult. After Milo's first home quickly didn't work out (no fault of his) out of desperation to find good homes for the remaining pups, I contacted Puppy Scheme Supervisor, Jim Wells from Norfolk Constabulary. After just 5 mins playing with baby Echo, Jim snapped him up - check out Echo's first introduction to the police station aged 3 months old! Echo was then brought up by two lovely police puppy fosterers, before starting his police dog training this autumn. Jim kindly kept me updated throughout on Echo's progress.

In November, I and others involved in the qualifying dogs' care were invited back to Norfolk (nothing was going to stop me!) & we got to watch them passing their 'exams'. Whilst Echo clearly didn't remember me (I hadn't seen him since he was 3 months old) he absolutely smashed it & is now a fully licensed police dog!

Steve's story:

Whilst working for a local rescue kennels this summer, I cared for & helped train RSPCA Westmorland Branch's 2 year old GSD (who the police renamed Steve!). Steve was struggling to cope in kennels & some staff members were having problems with him, leading to the conclusion that he was likely unrehomable. One of the problems was that his love of balls was deemed problematic - which made him a perfect police dog candidate! The prison service gave Steve a trial & brought him back within days for being 'too nice' (prison & police dog roles are very different). I absolutely adored Steve & there was no way he was being pts, so I contacted Jim again. Jim made the long journey all the way up from Norfolk (& back again the same day) in June to see Steve. After 10 mins of playing with Steve & seeing how strong his toy drive was, Jim put a great deal of trust in me & took Steve back with him (much to my relief). No pressure eh! Again, Jim kindly kept me up to date with Steve's progress, & admitted how much he loved him - he said Steve is one of the best dogs Jim has worked with in 20 years.

Steve couldn't license in November due to a paperwork issue, but I got to see him again - & he remembered me! I blubbed like an absolute softie. Then this January, Jim told me that Steve has successfully licensed & was outstanding!

Well done to Jim, PD Echo & PD Steve, & their handlers! To think that these two rescues boys from deprived backgrounds are now out there living their best lives, where all the things about them that most people would hate are being celebrated and utilised, when most of their canine colleagues have come from expensive specialist breeders, makes me so happy!

Pics of baby Echo & Echo on licensing day with his handler & Jim (& me with a stupid grin on my face), & of Steve when I used to look after him & on his licensing day with his handler & Jim. A massive thank you, too, goes to Jim for rescuing these boys, for all the videos, pics & phone updates to me for months & months & ensuring their wellbeing for the rest of their lives.

Proud doesn't cut it! 🏆🏆🏆

09/01/2025

I've been thinking recently about the value of teaching our animals confidence in problem-solving. In the horse world, this has often been referred to as developing a 'fifth leg'.

This is something that I focus on a lot on my training with both my horses and dogs.

In this photo, you can see that one of my horses (I suspect Clio) has broken the ice overnight to be able to have a drink. I have been up 3 times a day during this very cold snap to break the ice on the water anyway, but it gave me great satisfaction and relief to see that the ponies can also do it for themselves rather than solely relying on me.

I'll give some other examples.

With both of my ponies but especially Clio (as she is much more flighty as a whole, and standing still is her least favourite behaviour) I have taught them to step out of anything that gets tangled out of their legs, and to stand still and wait for me if this is unsuccessful.

I have recall trained both ponies: this means that once, when Clio got loose on an in-hand walk and went completely over threshold (she galloped off) she came straight back when recalled.

Horses are typically bubble-wrapped: they are often rugged (over-rugging is more of a problem than under-rugging) all the time during winter, and risks are minimised (never feeding haynets from the ground; minimising turnout to reduce the risk of injury for competition horses - which is a misnomer - the rider counting and measuring - to the inch - every stride into a fence when jumping ...

I have always made a point of leaving 'debris' in the field - branches dumped in random places and on top of each other, small jumps where I have not measured the distances between them, feeding small-holed haynets off the floor (never had a hoof stuck), hanging floaty things from the shelter ceiling. When riding her, I let Clio choose the path she takes over difficult ground: as a dyspraxic person, she is a much better judge of the best place to put her feet than me! I want my animals to be able to resolve problems themselves without following my lead blindly and without thinking. Encouraging and reinforcing this way of thinking bleeds into all sorts of situations.

I find that my youngest pony, Clio, is a particularly confident problem-solver, whereas Edna is not. Considering that both of them were rescued from severe neglect and starvation, it is likely that Clio survived from watching other horses problem-solve, including her mother; and that Edna sadly ended up in a state of learned helplessness. This is likely because Clio was young and her ability to problem-solve enabled her survival. I can see this in her behaviour now: she is a skilled escape artist to get to better grass. Of course she will be! This may have been what enabled her survival in her early life, versus the horse that 'respects' a fence and won't even try to get to food on the other side. Hence rather than just create bombproof fencing, I prioritise her feeling she has enough food in the paddock she is in. Trauma such as this can create excellent survivors, but more often than not it affects animals' self-efficacy, problem-solving skills, self-confidence, personality (pessimistic traits, for example), expectations that only bad things can happen to them and that any attempt to problem-solve or escape will not work - so they don't even try (which is learned helplessness). Training has helped enormously with this for Edna, but will not undo beliefs she will have developed during 12-13 years of trauma and neglect.

I think that horses in particular are often taught to obey their handler no matter what, and not to use their own judgement: what if the rider gets a stride wrong into a large fence? Would we want the horse to wait for the rider to correct it, or correct it themselves? If the horse is on a hack and gets stuck, do we want them to try to sort themselves out or not even try and wait for direction?

When one of my dogs takes umbridge at a nearby dog or person, I respect that and give them space. My dogs are MUCH better at reading other dogs than me (even as a trainer) so rather than assume I am right and they are wrong about a dog that may be communicating threat, I listen to them and move away.

Giving our animals genuine choices where possible, and respecting them, is another great way to create a two-way conversation rather than the traditional human-centred dialogue.

I usually (unless I know the weather is going to be sh*te and that the ponies really do need their rugs on) give my ponies the choice about whether to have their rugs on or not - then, even if I disagree, I respect that choice.

Some examples re. my dogs:

- When Inka (it's usually him) alerts to a possible threat outside the house, I always attend to it. He quickly learned to alert and immediately look to me to solve the problem. Great teamwork and to know that he dog trusts me to keep us all safe!
- When Freja plants on a walk (which is common at the moment with all the shooting that goes on in our valley) and wants to go home, we go home - even if I would rather go further and don't 'agree' that there is a threat there.
- When Blue barks once to say he needs the toilet, I always attend to him. Blue has Canine Cognitive Decline and will ask to go out constantly sometimes, but even if I know he doesn't need the toilet I always attend to him: sometimes he gets stuck moving from one room to another, or wants more food. It's frustrating as I can be up 12-13 times a night on a bad night, and I could easily ignore or bo***ck him saying 'he's fine, he doesn't need anything' but I always respond nontheless.
- Inka can open doors. He already did this himself (as a confident problem-solver like Clio) and I put it on cue. It means I need to keep my front door locked all the time just in case, but I like to think that in an emergency, he could get himself and our other dogs out of the room/house (our 2 other exit doors are always unlocked).

Being responsive is another way to create a two-way conversation and great problem-solving skills in animals. When your horse/dog alerts to something, gets to threshold or spooks, or encounters a problem, do they know they can ask you for help? Or do they expect a telling-off or to be ignored?

How can confidence in problem-solving be achieved?
- Giving your dog/horse genuine choices over small everyday things
- Being responsive to your horse/dog's mood state, needs and communication
- Don't micro-manage your dog/horse - give them opportunities to think, process and make decisions themselves (whilst still keeping them safe)
- Regularly giving your horse/dog achievable problems to solve rather than doing it for them
- Pay close attention to your dog/horse - what does their body language tell you in different environments? What, given the opportunity, little choices and preferences do they make on an everyday basis that are easily missed?
- With your dog, consider activities that let your dog be a dog and involve senses and skills that you do not have: i.e. mantrailing, scentwork etc
- Giving your dog/horse free work and enrichment regularly
- Reinforcing when they do problem-solve - including the 'tries' even if they have been unsuccessful.
- Don't bubble-wrap your horse!

07/01/2025

01/01/2025

22/12/2024

17/12/2024

Throwback to Clio's very first time being sat on, 2.5 years ago.

All achieved using cooperative care and careful, easy, slow training.

No force, no restraint, no pressure. No 'big' fear-based behaviours such as bucking and bolting - all of which are far too normalised in the equestrian world, especially with young horses.

17/12/2024

Check out the beautiful Kobi!

Kobi's family got in touch with me for support with his anxiety-related behaviours. Kobi is a rather anxious dog, bless him, which causes reactivity out and about towards dogs and people. Looking at his history, it is likely that Kobi has struggled with anxiety since birth. Whilst very worried about me during my first visit, Kobi warmed up by the end (it helps that I quickly become The Biscuit Lady!). We will be focusing on overall confidence-building for Kobi, giving him plenty of outlets to self-soothe, and helping him to feel safe around dogs and strangers in the outside world.

I particularly enjoy working with dogs that struggle with chronic or generalised anxiety as a clinical problem, and am looking forward to seeing Kobi's progress as we go.

Here's to team Kobi!

On a side note, interestingly reactivity is by a long way the most common behaviour problem I am asked to help dog guardians with. I can only recall one dog over the last 14 months that I've been asked to help with, that did not struggle with reactivity.

15/12/2024

Meet the stunning Reiver!

Reiver's guardian got in touch with me recently for training support with some groundwork areas with Reiver.

We've started by establishing a solid foundation of clicker training with a focus on target training (the most useful physical tool in clicker training horses, in my opinion).

Target training (teaching the horse to touch a stationary item with their nose - my preference is a fly swat!) can be used for:

- Reducing arousal when the horse becomes anxious or over-excited
- Grounding an anxious horse
- Counter conditioning & confidence-building novel/scary items (so spook-busting)
- Teaching stationary behaviours such as standing tied & at the mounting block
- Teaching all movements, from walking in-hand & cues for paces when backing a horse, to turning on the forehand & rein cues.
- Teaching physical boundaries to a horse (ie for bargey horses)
- Strengthening the horse-guardian connection
- Teaching cooperative care for veterinary procedures, tacking up, worming etc
.. I could go on!

15/12/2024

Inka veterinary update:

Inka had his back & hips x-rayed last week, & as I suspected he has now been diagnosed with mild hip dysplasia. 😣

This means no more runs with my partner, off-lead time, long walks up the fells, or ball or frisbee throws (which I only use during training as his reinforcer). Probably ever. Whilst he doesn't need surgery now, he may well do at any point in future - whether it's 6 months or years away.

Inka is now on pain relief, which he will likely need for the rest of his life, & will be starting regular hydrotherapy sessions in the new year.

I cannot emphasise enough the role of pain in behaviour.

At 3 months old, Inka found his voice & began to bark. A lot. I assumed it was a breed trait kicking in, but now I wonder if it was pain-related. At about 4 months of age, he started to show reactivity out & about.
Again, some of this I put down to other things (genetics - his dad was very reactive - impulsivity, emotional regulation, the influence of breed traits again) but now I know for sure that pain will at least have been a factor. At 6 months of age I strongly suspected chronic pain & first took Inka to the vets for it. 1 year later, we have it confirmed. And Inka almost certainly has had hip dysplasia from birth.

What were the other signs?

- Lack of muscle over Inka's hips, which always looked bony
- Sometimes chewing his front legs & back feet
- Grumbling once when picked up
- Grumbling once when gently moved whilst on the bed
- Small increase in resource guarding, including guarding the bed once from Freja

That's it. Nothing major. No obvious limping etc that most people expect from a dog in pain.

I must emphasise that this is a high energy, high drive, boisterous 19 month old dog, who I now know has been in pain every day (and a lot of the time) of his life.

There is a good reason why learned trainers & behaviourists bring up pain/medical problems when assessing & treating behavioural problems with your dog.