Jenny Gould Sports Dog Training

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Jenny Gould Sports Dog Training

Sports Dog Trainer. Reward based training. Available for private/group/online training

16/07/2025

🥳 My Sports Edition members currently have access to approximately 350 video articles covering everything from individual exercises, to the live chats, to engagement, to training rounds....the list goes on!

⛔️ The doors have not re opened since it's launch in January ... some 7 months ago!

🐝 We have all been the busiest of bees in there and the club continues to evolve thanks to our amazing community and their feedback! I am so incredibly proud of what we have all achieved during the first 7 months!!

To give you a sneak preview of what you can expect here is a just a very small clip from one of my training rounds articles. Training rounds are something so many people struggle with and they are very much an art. It is a subject I love!

If you would like priority access to our club for future do drop me a PM.

11/07/2025

When you've been judging obedience in 32c all day and a 2 hour journey home turns into 4 hours....

10/07/2025

🎉🎉🎉 Last weekend was a super successful weekend for our Sports Edition members!

🏆 Sue & Lara win their second Pre-Beginners class in obedience
🏆 Shelly & Kea qualify UD in working trials
🏆 Jacky & Sully qualify Level 1 and 2 x Level 2 in rally
🏆 Mary Rose & River win their 3rd B class in obedience
🏆 Louise & Solo gain their 3rd qualifier for Championship Ob
🏆 Susan & Zachary win their 2nd Beginner class in obedience

We also had a whole host of personal wins that do not include a first place!

Our community is awesome. They share in the ups and downs of everyone's journey and are the most supportive group EVER!!!

Congratulations everyone ... so proud of you!!!!

03/07/2025

Training rounds are a favourite of mine. I love them!!

They are an art in themselves. That seamless blending of training and competing leads to success!🏆

Training rounds ensure we maintain not only attitude but also accuracy and reliability. Keeping them guessing is key!
Many people struggle with how to conduct one so here are my top tips....

🐾 Plan! Know what you want to achieve before you enter the ring. Is it engagement/chaining/a specific exercise for example?
🐾 Be flexible. Always have a plan A, B & C
🐾 Adjust your training rounds as your training evolves
🐾 Keep up a good ratio of training/competing round to ensure you maintain attitude/accuracy/reliability.
🐾 Accept that they will not always go perfectly. Embrace these as learning opportunities and utilise the information to progress.
🐾 Be polite! Always ask the judge for permission and do not take up more time that a competing round

This little video is of one of the Sports Edition and GSD Club members with her young GSD conducting a training round. The plan was to reinforce some engagement and to ask a little heelwork if engagement was strong.

I think we can safely say assignment✅ and the bonus was a beautiful rosette for The Best Training Round!🏵

02/07/2025

'My dog won't eat treats so I cant train him!!'

Yes you can!

It is not all about food...in fact it should never be all about food.

Utilising ALL of the options available to us provides us with an opportunity to use a rewards hierachy system enabling us to 'pay' the dog accordingly.

Using only one type of reinforcement restricts our options and can create complacency. Maintaining the 'jackpot' effect keeps the dog guessing thereby increasing their efforts.

Why food?

🐾 Readily available
🐾 Enormous variety
🐾 Best for creating stability of position
🐾 Perfect for scatters
🐾 Lowers arousal for most dogs

Here is Jekka with a brilliant smorgasbord created by her owner Jade. Jekka was notoriously fussy as a young dog, as is very common with GSDs. She was most definitely one of those where her owner would understandably have said 'she won't take treats when she is out' or 'she isn't into food' or 'I can't train her with treats'. Look at her now!

Food drive CAN be increased. You CAN teach a dog to value food both generally and when out on walks. For sure it can take effort but good and thorough dog training always does.

The rewards, if you excuse the pun, are massive!

30/06/2025

☠️THAT phase!!

✅THAT phase which can knock our confidence
✅ THAT phase which makes us feel it will never come right
✅ THATphase where we wonder what happened to our lovely pup

If you are training for dog sports you will have been there. Maybe you are there now. Your dog hits adolescence and suddenly we have nothing.

❌No focus.
❌No ability to think.
❌No retention of skills.
❌No relationship.

Chitta was a really drivey little pup. She was one of those who would train and train and train given half a chance.

Yet still she went through THAT phase.

She hit around 10 months and could not concentrate for toffee.

Did I work through it? No. I left her sports training alone.

This phase does not worry me. Most of my dogs have gone through it and I leave well alone during this time period. I want my girl to be able to take in the environment around her at that age where she suddenly becomes more aware than ever.

I want her to learn to deal with her hormones and I want her to learn that there is no pressure from me to 'perform'.

I do not want to poison either our relationship or her association with any of the sports training so we work on anything but sports training.

💚💚💚 In this exact same environment 8 months ago all of our work was environmental engagement. Now, at 16 months old, Chitta can not only rehearse her known behaviours but she can also learn new ones.

❓How did I do it? I let her guide me. I watched her and I waited.

🕣Sure enough she came through it and your dog will too if you allow them the time to work through this phase.

27/06/2025

🎉🎉🎉 GSD Club and Sports Edition member Sophie and Cobba won their second Novice class last weekend meaning they now move up to the next level....Class A.

Congratulations!!! So proud of you from both a breeder as well as a trainer perspective!

Looking forward to you watching you two progress💜💜💜

26/06/2025

Tove is naturally more highly driven than my other dogs so she is a dog who will take as much training as I wish to give her. However, just because she can it does not mean she should.

I often train daily for several weeks and then give the dog a week or so off to allow them to process. This is when latent learning does it's thing. It is also the perfect opportunity to allow them to just be dogs.

We are currently away on a DIY training camp so all of my dogs will be trained far more than they would at home. Sure enough they will get time off when we go home to give them a chance to process.

Additionally from time to time we may struggle with a particular exercise or concept with our dogs. We may feel that we are getting nowhere, stuck in a hole essentially.

This is where I find training a little every day can help the learning process. I then leave it alone for a few days or longer and come back to it. This is when you really get to see what the dog has learned and retained from those training sessions.

Often you will be pleasantly surprised.

25/06/2025

🎉🎉🎉 More of our news from last weekend is our Club and Sports Edition member Denise Holland with the super Teddy❤️❤️❤️.

This pair won their second Beginners class...now off the first rung of the ladder and I can still remember this fabulous feeling from many years ago!

So, so chuffed for you Denise. Novice and upwards here you come!

24/06/2025

🎉🎉🎉 It has been a simply awesome weekend for GSD Club & Sports Edition members.

🏆 First up is Louise with her stunning Solo. This brilliant pair won Open C! This is the most nervewracking of the 4 qualifiers needed to qualify for Championship Class.

Halfway there Louise! Congratulations!

❤️❤️❤️ Totally totally chuffed for you! ###

22/06/2025

🙌 Bring On The Bias....

There is no one size fits all in dog training. Learning theory can help of course but it is only the beginning.

We need to look further. We need to recognise both ours and our dogs' bias BEFORE we begin to address a behaviour. This in turn can make a huge difference in our likelihood and speed of success.

Compare a Labrador's natural sociability with a much more aloof breed such as an Afghan Hound. It is obvious that your ratio of allowing interaction would be 1/10 for a Labrador whereas you could probably increase the ratio to 10/10 for an afghan and it still would not give a damn about deigning to interact with anyone!

Even within a single breed there will be variation. In my most recent German Shepherd litter all puppies are confident and social with humans and other dogs. My own puppy Tove however is less of a human social butterfly than some of the other puppies. Add to this fact that MY own bias is to encourage a very strong focus on me and you can see that I can afford to be more generous in allowing her freedom of interaction whilst still young.

Take a specific exercise such as retrieve. Is your dog naturally possessive? If so then the dog is highly likely to grab the item from you but the odds of that dog staying within your vicinity is low. With the less possessive dog you will likely need to work harder to gain interest but the dog is not so likely to disappear off into the sunset with it. Knowing your dog's bias before you start this exercise will enable you to take a more educated guess at how to train it. Believe me when I say not all gun dogs want to retrieve and not all Bull breeds want to possess!

Know your own self. Is YOUR own natural bias likely to inhibit a puppy or are you likely raise a wild child? Dog ownership and training is a two way street. BOTH of our bias' need to be considered if we are to do the best job possible.

Sit back and consider who you are as well as who you have in front of you BEFORE you begin to teach.

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Sports Dog Trainer

“What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” - Erin Hanson

I am Jenny Gould and live in Bristol UK. I have trained and competed 3 home bred German Shepherd Obedience Champions and a fourth home bred dog now qualified for the Crufts Obedience Championships 2020. I believe that our dogs should have a choice whether they compete in sports competitions alongside us and that we owe it to them to show how wonderful it can be. The joy and love experienced throughout a sports journey is the most amazing feeling.....go take that leap!