Steve’s owners are away and I’ve been doing some training sessions with Steve to keep his very smart brain busy! 🧠 today I focused on something I know his owner has been struggling to teach Steve, to lie down on cue. I would typically lure a down from a sit but this doesn’t work for Steve, it could be that he finds it physically challenging due to his confirmation or that he doesn’t understand. So instead, I did a movement with my hand and waited to see what he offered me. Steve hasn’t been taught to paw so it’s not a behaviour he offered as many dogs would have and within seconds he offered a beautiful down. We will continue to work on this in the training sessions I have with him and see if we can build up to another behaviour that would be useful for Steve - a stay.
As I always see Steve in his harness on usual sessions, I’ve not had to put it on him before and he’s been unsure of this when I’ve tried so another useful behaviour I worked on with him today was putting his own head through the harness! He’s very familiar with me but putting equipment on dogs can be hard for them and takes a lot of trust. This is a great skill for all dogs to learn as I work with many owners who chase their dogs around the house to get it on. If we can teach our dogs to put their own heads in it a) avoids the chase around the house b) allows our dogs to communicate when somethings wrong, if they know they’ll always get something good for putting their head through the harness but one day they refuse, we know to investigate why and c) it helps the relationship we have with the dog hugely by allowing them to approach us with the equipment rather than chasing them and putting it on. Not to mention it is a skill that can transfer to different people when needed 😊
Steve is absolutely wonderful and such a smart boy, a real post boy for Shar Peis who are often labelled as difficult to train…
#sharpei #positivereinforcementworks #positivedogtraining #liedo
Sand spreading dog
I’ve got 8 bags of 800kg of sand to move and spread over these mats 😱 I very quickly got tired of that so I attempted to palm the work off on Marty… I thought collies were supposed to have a strong work ethic? He gave up quicker than expected 🙄🤣
I’ve now asked the farmer to use his digger after I moved three bags worth by myself 🤦🏼♀️ for all clients I work with this week, this is the reason I’m walking really slowly 😂😂
Training two dogs at the same time can be difficult but not impossible 🙅 teaching both dogs to start to balance on objects to build up better body awareness and eventually move on to other conditioning exercises… for both dogs I’m using some of their evening meal and this activity requires a lot of thinking from them! #DogTraining #positivedogtraining #dogbalance #twodogs
Blaze building his confidence every day and learning to engage more on his walks. Very early stages of teaching “close” and he’s still working out how to manoeuvre his huge body 😂 he is a wonderful boy and it’s such a big deal that he’s happy for me to handle him now to demo techniques to his owner. He has grown in confidence a lot! His engagement is much better also. Huskies are another breed that are often labelled as stubborn but they are incredibly intelligent and emotionally sensitive 🥰 they just appreciate a bit more time! #husky #dogtraining #positivedogtraining
Chloe and Spaniel Rufus during their SECOND scentwork session. How amazing is this boy?! 🤩I start off all sessions by warming the dogs up with some exercises where we place pieces of Kong (the odour our dogs start off searching for) into various containers and condition an emotional response for the dogs. Basically we associate the smell of Kong with a food reward! The owners then continue this at home and build up a strong indication. To keep things fun, we start straight away with testing the dogs ability to search and detect Kong in a variety of objects and exercises. At this stage, the owners know where the Kong pieces are and are able to reward even the slightest indication early on. It’s not long before our dogs are able to offer a clear, freeze indication when they find the Kong piece. I’m super impressed with Rufus who usually shares his sessions with his friend Max but this time it was a 1-2-1 for Rufus and he excelled! 🥰#scentworkuk #scentdetection #dogtraining #positivedogtraining #positivereinforcement #spaniel
I have met so many wonderful people and dogs over the past year. I wish I could have put every single one into the video as I am so in awe of the progress you all make every day 🥰
My approach to owners and their dogs is to increase the understanding of why our individual dog behaves in the way it does. Every owner has advice that is tailored to suit their individual dog. The emphasis is always on the dog being happy, relaxed and stress free. THAT is where we always start and in no time at all, the dogs are able to learn new skills. The owners are able to communicate with their dogs without the need for pressure or confrontation. The dogs become so responsive because they know they always get something great, something that truly motivates them.
So if you want to dive deeper into the understanding of dog behaviour and create an outstanding relationship with yours, get in touch and we can get you started 🥳
Rachel Phillips Behaviour Consultant
I have met so many wonderful people and dogs over the past year. I wish I could have put every single one into the video as I am so in awe of the progress you all make every day 🥰
My approach to owners and their dogs is to increase the understanding of why our individual dog behaves in the way it does. Every owner has advice that is tailored to suit their individual dog. The emphasis is always on the dog being happy, relaxed and stress free. THAT is where we always start and in no time at all, the dogs are able to learn new skills. The owners are able to communicate with their dogs without the need for pressure or confrontation. The dogs become so responsive because they know they always get something great, something that truly motivates them.
So if you want to dive deeper into the understanding of dog behaviour and create an outstanding relationship with yours, get in touch and we can get you started 🥳
I hope you enjoy the beginning where Marty gets a bit of stage fright, he does what he does best and displaces his behaviour in the most awkward of ways when on camera 😂😂
Steve and owner Nick walking down a busy prom last week 🐕 Steve had lots of opportunities to sniff and explore after a longline run on the beach and here he is practicing snippets of focusing and staying close whilst lots of other dogs, people, prams, all sorts pass by! Perfect obedience isn’t the goal here. Steve has been taught that responding to these cues is really rewarding and starting his walk with more freedom and energy means he is in a better emotional state to respond 😊 Steve is young and interested in the world, he’s offered lots of time to watch and process what’s going on around him which means those things are less interesting. He offers walking at his owners side lots now which creates lots of opportunities to reward this useful behaviour 😁 #sharpei #puppy #dogtraining #positivedogtraining #looseleadwalking #adolescentdog
I took Steve out today for a walk along the beach and the prom 🏝️ I don’t usually train dogs without their owners but in this case I am supporting with teaching Steve the skills he needs and then handing back over to his owner. Steve is 9 months old and going through adolescence, something that all dogs struggle with 🐕 Steve is finding things much more distracting and is keen to pull over to and interact with other dogs he sees. This can be problematic for any dog but Steve being a unique looking breed can sometimes invite negative responses from other dogs as he approaches them. Today I practiced asking Steve to check in, both when distractions were present and when they weren’t! He practiced walking close to me for short periods - ideal when passing dogs on narrow areas and he was able to offer this lots as we weaved past other dogs on the prom 😎 we also worked on ‘Let’s go’ a quick change of direction cue. This will be ideal to help keep Steve’s attention from being drawn to other dogs that are approaching fast. Steve is very social and has plenty of opportunity to engage with dogs and helping him to feel less inclined to engage with random dogs on walks will help to keep him safe going forward ☺️ he did wonderfully and I enjoyed a lovely training walk with him! #dogtraining #positivereinforcement #sharpei #puppy #dogonbeach #beach
Dekka’s progress with the car 😊 this boy finds the car so worrying and always has. We’ve really taken things slow to help him to start to see the car as a positive thing. His body language is still worried with his tucked tail but those emotions will take time to change 🕰️ we can see so many subtle changes that mean he is progressing all of the time. Like today he was up and in the car before we’d even set up! He is happy to stay in there for longer whilst I close trhe gate and he doesn’t feel the need to panic when he wants to get out. Many people would be quick to trying to close him in once he was in the car which would work once and then he would reset to avoiding it. We are preparing him for eventually wanting to go into the car many times but to do that we have to: ✅ Make sure he feels safe ✅ Allow him the choice to leave in these early stages ✅ Build his confidence up with each element of the car - getting in, being closed in, the boot closing, engine on, short journeys etc I’m really impressed with Dekka’s improvement and I can see the work that is being done in between sessions 🥰#dogafraidofcar #dog #car #dogincar #bordercollie #positivereinforcementtraining
After a really challenging walk today with Lulu, I am just so desperate for the world to change, just a little bit 🌎 I want more and more people to understand that dogs that are growling, lunging and barking need one thing and one thing only from you (and your dog) - SPACE. Can we create a world where we help and support each other? Instead of rolling your eyes or judging the behaviour you see, try harder to understand it. When dogs demonstrate such big behaviours, they are more often than not afraid 😢 by stopping or just adding a few extra seconds to your own day by standing out of the way or moving back, you could start to change how a frightened dog starts to see the world. You could change the life of an owner who is trying so hard to help their dog to feel safe ❤️ I work with so many people with scared, reactive dogs and whilst we do everything we can to help that dog to cope with this unpredictable world they live in, the answer is not actually in changing all of the worried dogs, trying to make them into something their not but rather educating society on what they can do to make a difference. Resulting in more and more owners not giving up on their dogs, resulting in more worried and nervous dogs finding homes and creating a society where we take others into account and help them where we can. Please share this if you can, there are so many dogs like Lulu that never find that person who will fight to keep them safe in a world that doesn’t understand them 💔#dogreactivity #dog #collie #lurcher #dogbarking #positivereinforcement #rplus #misunderstood #rescuedogsofinstagram #rescuedog
A first for me yesterday helping Dexter the Cockapoo feel happy about riding in the bike buggy. Dexter has recently had surgery and is still on limited exercise but his active owners still want to bring him along on adventures if they can. Dexter had mixed views on the buggy before I arrived and would howl lots when it was moving. We started off really slowly and at a point Dexter was comfortable. His owners have done a good job initially with building a positive association with the buggy and we built on this. In the whole session Dexter didn’t bark or howl once and actually found the buggy quite enjoyable, especially when we paired it with the things he loves - food! 🐶 Very impressed with him and looking forward to our next session where we will help him to get feel just as positively about his owners’ boat 😁#cockapoo #adventuredog #doginbiketrailer #bikebuggy #positivedogtraining #positivereinforcement
