Rupert & Milo had a fab run around today on their walk 🐾🐾
One thing that we love to talk about with puppies is socialising! 🐶
Socialising takes many forms; meeting dogs, meeting people, hearing new sounds, watching vehicles, seeing livestock etc!
It’s so important for new owners to understand that a social dog is not a dog who meets every other dog but one who can ignore dogs when necessary & play appropriately when allowed.
When socialising a new puppy with other dogs, it’s much better for pups to meet older, well-versed dogs. These dogs will have the appropriate body language and play style to help puppies learn.
One thing to look out for when your puppy is playing is for equal play, pauses in play & each dog reading the other.
Equal play is exactly what it says. Dogs take turns. For example if one dog is on the floor the whole time, with the other mouthing at him, that’s not equal. But! If the dog rolls around, the other has a little mouth but then stops, steps back, allows the other dog to get up and then they change play style, that’s much more appropriate.
This leads to pauses in play. Dogs can intensely play and especially for puppies this can be overwhelming. Pauses in play is a great way for dogs to assess the situation.
If your dog does not pause in play then pop them on the lead or encourage a pause.
When dogs pause, look for signs of them wanting to continue or wanting to stop play. Wanting to continue may be seen as play bowing or running around to encourage chase.
Signs to stop may be one dog walking away entirely or going off to sniff. If you see a dog snarling or snapping then the play has gone on too long and should be stopped entirely & both dogs separated.
Reading the other dog applies to both the above. Some dogs love to wrestle, others love to be chased, some just want a quick hello and then off they go. If your dog is wrestling but the other dog isn’t retaliating then stop play - does the other dog come back to play or wander off? Whichever they choose, you know what to do next.
Freya & Rupert had a lovely play today!
Gosh it’s got chilly ❄️❄️❄️
A video from last week but very appropriate for today! Giant puddles are very fun 😂😂
Barnaby and Archie have enjoyed that it’s been raining 😂😂
I love trick training! Here’s Nova & Kimble doing a spin - just a fun trick!
We also train tricks that are handy to use for example;
🐾 off and on (or up) - this can be used for going in the car, getting on the scales at the vets and moving them off the sofa etc if needed.
🐾 paw - paw is actually very handy! Nova gets sores on her paws sometimes so by asking her to give a paw, it gives her more choice.
🐾 middle - I like to use middle as a focus exercise but also it’s a great position to get my dogs in to keep them out the way. We also use it at the vets with Nova when they need to look at her as she finds it a safe position and means we can hold onto her in a positive way.
What tricks have you taught your dog? 🐶🐶
A behaviour a love to teach is a hand touch.
This involves getting your dog to just touch their nose on your hand.
This can be used for many things;
🐾 Focus - it gets your dog focused on your hand instead of everything else going on. You can always draw them in close to you and ask them to touch multiple times in a row to keep the focus.
🐾 Recall - it gets your dog doing something rather than just coming back. Generally when they do something we like, we praise them a lot more for it! Plus those dogs who like to keep busy, will much prefer to come back when being asked to do something else.
🐾 Handling - once your dog knows a touch, you can gradually build it to a sustained hand touch and use this in cooperative handling.
🐾 Lead walking - we can use it to keep our dogs close and help them to learn staying close is reward, in turn this helps lead walking.
🐾 It’s fun! - we can get our dog running to the hand, have the hand high or low, run away whilst they chase our hand and they get lots of tasty things for doing it!
Here’s Loki during his first session of hand touch, clever pup!
Reya & Savana practised a settle whilst out today in the shade!
Teaching your dog to just be out and chill is so important!
We want our dogs to enjoy walks and get to run around but they also need to know that when out and about, we don’t have to be doing a lot!
Teaching a settle is great for places like;
🐾 The pub (very important)
🐾 At the vets waiting for their appointment
🐾 In queue
🐾 Going to family and friends houses
When these two are together, they love to run, run, run so getting them to chill in the shade meant they could relax, have a drink and refresh themselves - especially in this heat!
Well done girlies!
Gorgeous Coco the cockapoo puppy on her visit this afternoon learning ‘down’ 🐾 she’s super clever and very enthusiastic too 😂
We have spaces for 1-2-1 training and training walks - get in touch for more information 🐶🐶
Pepe, Murph and Buddy having a great time today! I think the sunshine helps too ☀️
.
.
.
#dogwalking #dogsofinstagram #dogwalkingbristol #dogwalkingbath #dogtrainingbristol #dogtrainingbath #puppies #dogs #dogsofbristol #bristolwalks #positivetraining #dogtraining #instadogs #dogsofig #woof #miniaturedachshund #cockapoo #brusselsgriffon
Bruce showing off his super recall in slow mo today! 🐾🐾
Another little bit of easy enrichment for you!
All you need is treats and a towel 🐾🐾
