Bonnie's got that Friday feeling 💃😆
She always makes me smile with her enthusiasm and joy for life 🥰
Hope you guys have a lovely weekend with some time to relax and recharge as we come into a busy time of the year 🐾
Whistle Recall
Training tips for coming back when called
Use rewards that your dog absolutely loves, no scrimping or being stingy here as we want them to really want to work for it
For our foodies that might be chicken, cheese, sprats, anything a little special that they don't usually get
For our playful pups that might be a game of tuggy or fetch with a special toy we keep for playing together
And last tip for today
Practise coming back when called regularly when you don't need to, when it's calm and quiet. This builds up a big positive bank balance of coming back when called.
Then when you do need it, around distractions you can afford to take out a withdrawal from your recall bank balance.
Letting your recall balance go into the red, go into debt means you will begin to struggle with recall especially around distractions
Hope that analogy makes sense but any question at all let me know 🐾
Ps. Angus hasn't heard a whistle in 3 years but as I'd lost my voice I brought it out yesterday and he remembered instantly. Shows that good training sticks so don't ever worry about how little time or energy you may have, creating those positive associations will always be worth it, so just plug away when you can wherever you are at in your training.
A little bit of Agility training 🐾
Super proud of my Wallace training at a guest trainer's workshop in a new place, people and dogs
He's a bit like myself quite shy and worried in new situations but you can see how much he gains confidence from his agility training as he loves the movement and energy, and having fun working together
Training should always be fun and build you and your dog up, learning to work together and understand each other
🐶 Quick Training Tip 🐶
Many people struggle with how to achieve training around distractions that your dog gets overexcited around.
This might be people they would love to say hello to, dogs they want to play with, wildlife they want to chase or any other distraction.
Today I thought I would film a little bit of this type of training with my teenage sheltie Wallace to show how to begin this work.
Being a herding dog, movement can be very exciting for him so the crow is his distraction in this video.
🌟Training Steps🌟
Starting at a distance from the distraction, I check does he want to engage with me rather than stare at, bark, pull towards or run towards the distraction.
Will he take food, can he look away from the distraction easily and mostly focus on me? If not we move further away from the distraction until he's able to do so.
If he's looking at me, staying close to me, wanting to engage with me then we move slowly closer to the distraction.
Checking all the time if he's still calm and engaged with me. I reward with food frequently to reinforce his calmness and focus.
This should be done on lead first for safety and to prevent your dog from running up to strangers etc.
Any questions on this method or how it could work for you and your dog? 🐾
Hand Touch - Trick Training Tutorial
🌟 How to teach a "Touch" trick 🌟
Our first tutorial in our trick training videos covers a nose to hand touch.
This teaches our dog that when we present our hand with a voice cue such as "touch" or "nose" they will bop their nose into the palm of our hand.
This will be the basis of many future tricks as it gets our dogs interested in following and targeting our hands with their nose, and where the nose goes the head and body follows!
It's also a super useful every day skill that we can use to help move our dog whether thats in and out of cars, off of sofas or onto scales at the vets, and a great tool to use for our lead walking and coming back when called too. This trick really gives you a lot of bang for your buck!
Give it a go and get practising ready for our next trick tutorial 🐾
Why not send us a photo or video of your hand touches and I can put together a lovely little compilation video of our fab dogs 🥰
How do we achieve good walking on lead and recall?
We start inside our home, in our garden, on our driveway and street 🏡
We need to learn to crawl, before we walk, before we run 🐾
If we go to somewhere really busy with lots of distractions and expect to achieve perfection with our training, we will end up really frustrated and our dog will be confused on how to get things right 😕⁉️
It would be like taking a learner driver onto a motorway and expect them to be good and to cope well 🤷♀️
We need to start with the basics at home where our dogs can learn and gain experience, then slowly bring it on the road in slightly more challenging situations working at your dogs pace 🐶
For our dogs behaviour to change, we need to change our behaviour ✅
We need to be realistic about our training and manage our expectations of what our dogs are currently capable of, and then put the responsibility on ourselves to put in the effort and work to improve our training 🌟
What a lovely video from recent puppy graduate Lily doing fab with her recall out and about 😍
"Just a wee video to show you how well lily is doing x thanks for the confidence yous gave us with her"
I'm so delighted to hear how well Lily and her family are getting on with their training and continuing practise after classes 🌟
🌟Fun Game - Improve Recall 🌟
Fun, fast and exciting this game will improve your dog's recall
Simply throw a treat out away from you and your dog, "go get it" and allow your dog to go and find the treat. Back away and call your dog as soon as they lift their head from the floor, add lots of praise and excitement as they come to you!
Over time throw the treat further and back away further, this is building up a nice long distance recall
Top tip for this game - choose your surface and treats wisely, doing this on grass or using small treats that are hard to see, will slow down your dog as they have to sniff more to find the treat and may confuse them to what they are doing. Keep it easy, light hearted and fun, enjoy!
😴 Importance of sleep for our dogs 😴
Research suggests
💤Adult dogs need 10.5 - 14 hours sleep a day
💤Pups under 12 months need 12-16 hours sleep a day
💤 Young pups may need up to 18 hours sleep a day
💤 Older dogs also need additional sleep
Lack of sleep and rest in our dogs can contribute to a lot of problems:
🐾 Over excitement
🐾 Excessive barking
🐾 Excessive nipping and biting as puppies
🐾 Grabbing with mouth as adults
🐾 Humping
🐾 Can't settle down always doing something
🐾 Difficult to walk
🐾 Grumpy in general
This has become more noticeable over the last year or so due to people working from home, previously our dogs have had peace and quiet while we have work and school but now some dogs rarely get any time alone to sleep deeply.
Before you can start training, addressing your dog's needs such as sleep, exercise, diet etc is an important step to resolving issues.
You may need to start enforcing calm, quiet times using a separate room, a baby gate over the kitchen door, a puppy pen or crate - whatever suits your situation. Giving them a quiet, calm and peaceful space away from the action with a nice chew, blankets, soft music to cover any noises that might annoy them etc to make it cosy for your dog.
A short sniffy walk or some gentle, easy training or enrichment activities before putting them away with their chew for their nap can help get out some energy and settle them.
The video is to show what your dog and especially puppies should be doing most of the day - resting, with most periods of activity in the morning on waking and also in the evening.
People sometimes think having 3 dogs would be mad and just playing and running about all the time but this is the reality of my three and having calm times is so important for their wellbeing and makes for a happy, calm household.
Wallace demonstrating some nice recall 🐾
Its important for puppies to get chances to be off lead in safe or secure spaces, giving them opportunity to run and sniff to their hearts content, great for their physical and mental development.
Even if we can't get a secure spot, using a long (5m or longer) lead gives them the opportunity to move properly contributing to good muscle development, rather than constantly pulling at the end of a wee short 1m lead which gives them no chance to be a dog.
While there is a time and place for teaching puppies to walk close by on a lead, this type of exploration walking is much more beneficial for their development.
A video showing how our training suits all breeds, ages and abilities. Look at the amazing results that can be achieved, lovely dogs showing off their nice lead walking with no pulling.
Makes me so happy, as for me this is what training is all about, being able to enjoy taking your dog out and about and having adventures together side by side as a team!
Haven't I been lucky to work with some incredible dogs 🐾
How to save your sanity and your furniture 😂
Puppies are such brilliant mischief makers and even with loads of toys and chews to pick from, they tend to find their own entertainment!
Pens and baby gates are the best way to contain their mischief and damage until they have got out of the habit of chewing and mouthing. Some downtime may encourage them to actually stop for a moment and have a wee snooze they so desperately need. Also stops them from going behind the sofa to do a little number two!
Yes our puppies should have lots of supervised time out toddling about the house but if you can't keep an eye on them, have already told the puppy no, leave or stop more than a couple of times or are busy making dinner with hot pans and don't want puppy underfoot then contain your little puppy for their own sake and your own sanity.
Add some chews, toys, food, water and comfy blankets/bedding (that you don't mind being destroyed!) and they will be content to have their own wee haven (den of destruction 😂)
🐾 I Love My Name Game 🐾
Teaching your puppy that their name means positive and lovely things is important when they come home. Simply say their name and then give them a piece of food, play a game or give a fuss.
For new rescue dogs or dogs that struggle to pay attention to you outside this is the first step, if your dog can't respond to their name in the house or garden they will find it difficult when out on walks with distractions. So top up the value of their name in the house and garden, and pay them well for responding to their name so that it motivates them to listen to you more readily.
At the start you may just say their name and give them the reward regardless of whether they respond or not. This is teaching them that their name equals positive things. You will see the 2nd time I say Wallace how quick his head turns, that shows he understands and is motivated by hearing his name which can take a few repetitions.
Top tip - avoid using your dogs name as a punisher, not only will it make them feel wick but they will be less likely to pay attention when you call them as they don't want to be scolded by you
Bonnie is a prey driven dog so this does not come easy at all for her, but look how she does with just praise and a small treat, no harsh words or punishment.
It can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around it but there is no need for punishment, positive training works for all issues and doggies 🐾
Why I Love to Teach Tricks!
