New location and a little impromptu test.
I had a handful of pebbles with my scent in my hand and I dropped them all in the search area while she was searching. She did not show any interest.
Then a piece of a kong was added.
She did rush the beginning and was running too much for my liking and we will be addressing it in the next session.
This is a video from July that I never posted.
We did some training in the rain with Lisa and Bran Evolution Dog Training
I thought it would be a good experience for Liefje to search alongside another dog. Lisa was working on her gundog excercises.
It’s a good example how teaching your dog to be neutral to their environment makes life easier for them and for you (at no point did Liefje try to interact with Bran or was worried by him during this exercise)
Nettle and Liefje having fun 🤩
20 minutes into a motivational search for a full kong.
Life hack for the cold and rainy days 😉
Cerys and Pongo from our membership group working on ignoring distractions from the handler during the indication training 🥰
A great example of how I want my dogs to behave around cats…and everything else really: neutral and with eyes on me
Walking by a barking dog.
It used to be just a sight of a dog (even friendly or neutral) that scared Liefje.
All I did is make sure she knows she is safe when we are together, regardless of what’s going on.
This meant I did everything I could not to break her trust and not to put her in situations where she can be confronted with an unknown dog or a person. As her confidence has increased I am introducing her to some new dogs.
I still wouldn’t want her to get frightened or overwhelmed during interactions with dogs as this can often lead to reactivity in herding breeds.
Awesome sniffing intensity from Tarka (who is working on her search stamina).
And a great example of a free object that can be a great tool for scent detection.
You absolutely do not need to buy anything specially made for scent detection or expensive in order to train a dog to a good standard.
It has been 11 months since I took Liefje out of the pound. Back then she was scared of everyting including, people, cars, dogs, loud noises.
Here is her today searching with distractions of everyday life and not paying a slightest attention to them.
Problem with an out is one of my favourite things to work on workshops. Moslty becuase it quickly turns out there is no problem 😉
This is the first time I met this lovely dog and I was told (as I often do) that we cannot use toy as a reward becuase it makes her too crazy and she won’t give it back.
That’s when I say this is exactly what we are going to use. To fix the issue rather then to manage it.
Here you have a result of a short session with a 5 year old dog that has a history of not wanting to put the toy.
Liefje on a walk in London today. It wasn’t a very busy location but still a nice environmental for her. I do like that she was walking ahead of me and exploring as when I got her she would not dare to move away from behind me.
We also played and trained.
She has come on loads in those…almost 11(!) months 🥰
Stress behaviour in a spaniel.
This video is a good example of how a stressed spaniel looks like.
Unfortunately this is often seen as just excitement, drive or ‘acting silly’ while in fact it is a response to a stressful situation and a very common tactic for spaniels.
Most people have heard of Fight or Flight but there are more strategies out there and one of them is called Fawn (which you can see in the video). It is sometimes also referred to as ‘fiddle about’ , ‘fidget’ and ‘flirt’.
Unfortunately this strategy often gets spaniels in more trouble as people misunderstand it and keep their dog in uncomfortable situations, it can also activate prey response in other dogs.
(Nothing dramatic happens to the dog in the video and stress is part of life but it is important to understand what our dogs are communicating to us)
Morning Workout in a new location 🐶
Morning off lead walk in a place full of squirrels 🐿️ but we are too busy to notice 🤓
Gilbert showing off his brand new skill of searchig with high intensity 💪🏻
He is a great example that breeds less popular in scent detection can still have fun with it and do well.
Positively Canine
Spaniels have to run and have a free search…I think little Frank would disagree.
He is a show line cocker spaniel at the very beginning of his scent work journey and he is smashing it ☺️
And as all the spaniels that come to the workshops he is learning to use his nose in a effectively and not to waste energy running
She woke him up and was biting his leg 🙄
I did step in so he doesn’t have to correct her again (not to put him in that situation but also so she doesn’t learn she can ignore it)
I generally don’t need to manage my dogs interactions with each other and they are regularly left together but if I see any bullying I will step in.
One of the most common issues I see while teaching is a lack of motivation to search for the target odour. Yes the dog will plod along and possibly find it but there is no passion and no fire. And often the same dog will give it all to find a toy.
Unfortunately many dogs are still taught to search and respond scent more like an obedience or targeting excercise rather using dogs natural drives to use their nose to find things that they value.
I feel pretty confident I can recognize dogs trained that way in at least 95% of cases; they are definitely not having as much fun as they could.
It’s easy enough to fix but you have to understand it’s a problem first.
Health and Behaviour
Here is a video from September 2021, Nica suddenly would get spooked by things in the environment while searching (which normally doesn’t happen). I asked a friend to film as I was trying to figure out what was going on (you can see her jump twice in this video).
She also struggled to find her target scent even though she was searching well and trying really hard.
What cuased it? ….Baldder infection
She returned to normal two days after the treatment finished and has not behaved in this way since.
Changes in behaviour were the first signs something was wrong before there were any physical signs she might be unwell.
How it started vs. how it’s going ☺️
We did not adresss his behaviour issues in our sessions we just made sure he feels safe and has fun using his nose.
Scent detection can be a great outlet for anxious/nervous dogs and a safe space for their owners to have fun together without worrying about all the things they need to work on in every day life
And even though we don’t directly address behavioural problems those excercise have a positive impact on them.
Lunch break fun (other three did a session on knotweed)
Nice example of an IGP 3 dog going from being social with the helper to doing bark and hold excercise.
Clear head and stability 👌🏻
Life is full of wonderful distractions so why not harness them to improve our training 🐮
Yes she was under pressure but she was able to work through it and that’s one of the most important things a dog can learn.
What a difference feeling safe can make ❤️
Viscious spaniels chasing poor Dutchie 😅
Some intesne social play. Liefje loves being chased by others and initiates this often.
Nettle doesn’t like it and is actually chasing her to stop her rather than to play.
Nica is having fun and being playful.
Fenix sometimes will join in, but more often than not he will stop them when he feels it’s getting to intesne.
And more often than not I stop them so Nettle doesn’t practice those controlling behaviours (I called her off in this video when she was getting too much)
Liefje doesn’t show interest in chasing others but if she did I would stop it immediately due to her breed predispositions.
I’m so glad to see him being himself at the vets again.
He is a gentle giant and all he did that made me worry (after screaming during the injection) was to hesitate to walk through a door to the exam room on his follow up. It might seem very unimportant but not for a dog who had never hesitated to walk through any door in his life. He is always forward, confident and optimistic so this was a big change for him.
Was it possible that he will return to normal once his wound heals? Possibly but I would rather be proactive and make sure he does.
It makes such a big difference for everyone when we don’t have to stress about those visits.
Fenix went for a social visit at the vets and I’m pleased to say he was back to his normal confident self.
We used game of tug (his favourite) to make sure visit was super fun for him.
If you ever wonder what life with a cocker spaniel looks like 😉😅
They all had the same amount of excercise this morning and it was a really hot day but Nettle was up for more 🤣
Clip from the relationship course today: Setting some boundaries and establishing rules of the game.
He has a lovely temperament just needs some clarity (calm clarity)
