The Dog Log

25/08/2024

Have you had a few days at the beach this summer?

Have you experienced an unwanted dog addition to your picnic? Or maybe a dog running up and playing with your ball?
A lot of this comes down to early socialisation and getting the foundations right.

Teaching your dog that relaxing around other dogs and people without wanting to say hello to everyone is part of our puppy socialisation course.

We need to teach our dogs how to relax and settle otherwise they won’t succeed in these harder environments. As Ken Ramirez wrote “Training is not a luxury, but a key component to good animal care.”

Visit our website to book into our puppy socialisation course starting mid September.

https://i.mtr.cool/vnqhkjnyng

22/08/2024

You must have come across trainers using acronyms and logos on their websites. Nathan and I are proud members of APDT, the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. APDT provides top-notch education for dog owners and aspiring dog trainers. We have both successfully completed their foundation and advanced training, and I have also completed Part 3.

The assessment and full membership process are rigorous and comprehensive. The assessment consists of a theory paper, requiring a demonstration of in-depth knowledge of dog training theory, and a practical element, where we train behaviours in a class setting. This can be quite challenging as we work with unfamiliar dogs, demanding quick adaptation to cater to their needs. After this, we face questions from assessors and anxiously wait for the results.

Once part of APDT, annual CPD and adherence to their code of ethics become mandatory. This ensures that only kind, fair, and effective methods are employed, assuring the public of the ethical standards we maintain.

APDT's affiliation with ABTC further emphasises our commitment to upholding professional standards. Additionally, building a good relationship with your trainer is crucial, and you are more than welcome to observe our classes before making a commitment.

20/08/2024

This post is Not Dog Related

Please scroll by if you are here for dog only content - I won’t be offended.

Macmillan Cancer Support is a charity who do a huge amount to help anyone effected by cancer.

There are many of us affected by cancer in one way or another whether that be personally, family or friends.

On the 14th September I am walking 26.2 miles as part of the Might Hike to raise money to support the work they do.

If you feel able to sponsor me in any way that would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Louisasquires?utm_medium=proxy_fundraising&utm_content=Louisasquires&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

18/08/2024

I often see this question being asked, but as we haven't discussed it recently, and as we offer a class related to this topic, I thought it would be good to touch on it again.

One aspect of socialization involves interacting with other dogs. This is crucial, and many people consider it the most important. It's vital for our dogs to understand how to engage in good play with other dogs, and they often need some guidance in this area. For instance, they may have great play body language but don't understand that not every dog is interested in playing. Another common issue we see is dogs getting overly excited during play.

Socialization also extends to other aspects of life, such as new environments, new people, and new sounds. These are all experiences your dog will encounter, and feeling comfortable in these situations can lead to a more relaxed life for both you and your dog.

Our classes provide you with the knowledge on how to handle these situations. After practicing some of the techniques, we aim to facilitate off-leash play and support you in pausing and restarting the play when necessary. All our training is done without the need for aversive methods and aims to strengthen the bond between you and your puppy.

If you are interested in enrolling in our puppy class, we have a new block starting in September on either Friday or Saturday, both at 10 am in Kirkley.

16/08/2024

📅Booking open for our next courses

Our classes provide

🐾 Small class sizes
🐾 2 APDT registered trainers
🐾 BSc Canine Behaviour level trainer using knowledge of current science
🐾 private training space in kirkley
🐾 a family friendly environment where questions are encouraged
🐾 reinforcement focused training

The links for booking will be in the comments

Edited to add that the Saturday APDT Good Companion class is now full too.

14/08/2024

💬 What’s that you say??

🐶 A full weekend of everything dog??

Lucky for you we have The North East Dog Festival in a few weeks.

The wellness Tipi is a chance to hear a variety of professionals talk about things they are passionate about.

As many of you know, Nathan is passionate about many things relating to dogs and one is the human side. When training our dogs, a huge portion of the success (if not all??) is down to us, the handler, but what does that actually look like?

If you’d like to hear more on this topic then come along to the wellness Tipi for 11am on the 31st August.

📣 General info

The festival is on the 31st August and 1st September at Kirkley Zoo.

It is an amazing event where dog professionals from around the area come together in one location.

We will be there providing have a go Parkour.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/6Ya5hmZxec86QfWX/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Did you know that your festival ticket includes access to two full days of amazing seminars?

The wellness tipi provides visitors with a weekend packed with expect speakers covering a range of topics. Plan your day with our handy timetable ❤️

🗺️ Kirkley Hall, Ponteland, NE20 0AQ
📅 Saturday 31st August and Sunday 1st September
🎫 Get your early bird tickets online now and save money on gate prices just visit our website for details.

19/07/2024

As we look to the summer holidays and (hopefully) some nicer weather you might be wanting to take your dog with you for some off lead runs.

Here is a video Nathan did last year with some handy hints and tips.

It’s important to work on recall in a situation they can manage first and build up. It’s also important to continue using a lead in some situations like near live stock or on a road however solid your recall is.

Nathan has a degree in canine behaviour and we are passionate about training without the need for aversives.

If you’d like some support with anything please get in touch. We do book up in advance so currently booking people in for September.

10/07/2024

We love this event each year.

It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet dog trainers and other dog professional from our region.

We are very proud to be joining them again for a have a go dog parkour.

I would suggest following their page so you can see the exciting updates as they come out.

We are always amazed at the sheer amount of different breeds that visit our festival so we are starting to put together our Breed Hang Out timetable.

What breed would you like to see listed this year?

Looked after again this year by the team from Guide Dogs North East

Visit the specially set aside area (on our map) at the designated time and hopefully you’ll be met by plenty of fellow lookalikes - great for paw networking, insta influencers and group photographs.

04/07/2024

Please can I ask a favour of our north east followers?

If you could share this post to either your personal page or community groups you are part of then we can make sure that anyone in the north east who would benefit from and enjoy this talk knows it is happening.

Thank you

We are really excited to be hosting this seminar by dog law specialist Trevor Cooper.

If you want any more information please do ask.

I will try to pop a link to the booking in the comments below. Booking is directly with Doglaw rather than via us.

28/06/2024

We’d love to hear what you would do with these obstacles which Nathan used in this weeks Parkour class.

24/06/2024

🐾 Leave it 🐾

A very common phrase that our dogs hear but what does it mean?

Here our duaghter is teaching it to her Nanny's dog. The dog knows this cue with her Nanny but has never had Emily teach her before.

Having different people work with our dogs helps them to proof behaviours and makes it more likely the dog will be able to do that behaviour in different situations.

Didn't they both do well?

19/06/2024

I’m trying to build my fitness back up and train for my mighty hike. One way is to build exercise into daily life and to know when to push yourself and when to consolidate some learning/exercises.

🚴‍♀️This was how we did the school runs today.

Fitting exercise into my daily routine is similar to fitting dog training in which I mentioned in a previous post.

I said I would come back and discuss push, stick, drop so here I am.

When teaching something new I like to do 5 reps at a given criteria and see how many times we get it right out of those 5.

💚If we get it right 4 or 5 times then the likelihood is the dog understands what we are asking and we can make it harder.

💜If we get it right 3 times then it’s best to stick where we are and do another 5.

💛If we only get it right 1 or 2 times (a little note here that if you’ve done 3 reps and its not been a success then stop there, please don’t continue onto the last 2 as we know it won’t increase your chances of moving on just yet) then we need to drop the criteria and make it easier.

An example - SIT

Criteria - when I say the word sit once the dog puts their bum to the ground.

🐾 Push - I could wait till they’ve been in a sit for a couple of seconds before rewarding, I could go somewhere more distracting, I could move food away from me and go and get the reward when the behaviour has been completed.

🐾 Stick - do exactly the same again, the dog needs a few more repetitions to fully understand what has been asked.

🐾 Drop - to help the dog understand what sit means I will add the lure back in. Say sit, wait a few seconds (you never know….they might just sit without the lure) then use a lure to show them a sit. If they can follow a lure without the food present and just pretending you have food then go for this.

This methods helps prevent us getting stuck at the same place whilst also preventing us from moving too quickly. Clear criteria helps both human and dog.

I'd love top hear if you find this helpful or do you already use this maybe? If you are struggling to think of the next step or how to make a behaviour easier then comment below and we can brain storm it together.

17/06/2024

We are really excited to be hosting this seminar by dog law specialist Trevor Cooper.

If you want any more information please do ask.

I will try to pop a link to the booking in the comments below. Booking is directly with Doglaw rather than via us.

15/06/2024

Do you think someone worked hard today?

15/06/2024

This puppy was nailing loose lead yesterday.

Here they were practicing without the lead first. The lead is there for safety rather than to move the dog and this is a wonderful way to take that pressure off and give the puppy the choice.

You’d be surprised how often their choice is to be near you.

12/06/2024

Did you get a puppy and maybe forget how time consuming they can be? or maybe life is different now from when you last had a puppy.

Fitting in training round our often very busy lives can be hard.

We can empathise with this. As a busy family of 5 humans (3 are under 6), 2 dogs and 2 guinea pigs and a family business we really are time stretched.

One passion of mine (Louisa here btw) is to find ways to help keep our training focused and to fit into your busy lives.

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My current favourite is cup of tea training. Here are the main steps

🐾 think what your training priority is

🐾 where are you currently with this behaviour?

🐾 whilst the kettle boils do 5 reps of this behaviour with your current criteria

🐾 pop the tea bag in the cup and add the water

🐾 do 5 reps at the next criteria (keep an eye out for a later post on the concept of push, stick, drop)

🐾 depending on how strong you like your tea I recon you could get 10 or 20 reps in whilst the tea brews

🐾 take the tea bag out and add any extras (milk/sugar/whisky 😜)

🐾 get another couple of reps in whilst it cools

🍪 grab a biscuit of choice and sit down with a cuppa knowing you’ve done some good training (maybe a little scatter in a snuffle mat for pup)

12/06/2024

A Parkour Place has become available!

Last minute spot has become available for tonight’s 5:50 - 6:50 Parkour Class.

This is the first course of the year. We will be running through the basic behaviours needed to navigate peculiar and unique objects. Working through confidence building of dogs to move in their own particular way and much more.

If you are interested please get in touch and we will get you booked on!

10/06/2024

Want to develop your bond with your dog?

Find new enjoyment in walks or have fun with others?

Maybe one of our classes will help.

We have -

🐾 Loose Lead And Recall - as it says in the name. These are our two most commonly requested skills to work on in sessions. Tuesday 4:15pm 11th, 18th, 25th June, 2nd, 9th and 16th July

🐾 Hoopers - a low impact alternative to agility. Instead of jumps there are hoops to run though, barrels to run round, tunnels to go through and a lot of fun. Tuesday 12:15pm 11th, 18th, 25th June, 2nd, 9th and 16th July (dogs need to be able to remain near you whilst off lead for this class please)

🐾 Talking Dogs Rally - a calm and collected sport where completing exercises on a course has you and your dog working as a team. Saturdays 1pm 15th, 22nd, 29th June, 6th, 13th and 20th July.

🐾 Parkour - otherwise known as dogs on logs, can provide a lot of fun and good ideas to enhance walks whilst building confidence. Currently full but keep an eye out for more courses over the summer.

I will pop a link in the comments to book these classes.

08/06/2024

What does solo parenting with 3 children under 6 and 2 dogs look like??

Organised chaos.

Nathan is away working this weekend so I’m on my own. We’ve reduced the number of classes but I’m still running some of them.

Organisation and management is key. I am using lickie mats, snuffle mats (including natures own snuffle mat of the lovely long grass) and long lasting chews to my full advantage.

You never know when something might come along to throw your routine out the window. That’s one reason I recommend having missed walk days every so often, use enrichment so your dog anticipates it and knows it’s worth sticking at. Crate training and being comfortable when separate from us is really important too.

This photo shows a lovely peaceful moment in my day. I’m not sure the photos of the chaos would be as nice to look at.

06/06/2024

Is your dog a bit over confident or uncertain with new things? We’ve had them all in our class and love the variety and different personalities.

Here is an overview of the puppies in one of our recent courses. Can you relate to any of these personalities?

🐾 One was small and confident who learnt how to listen to the other dog’s cues.

🐾 One really needed to learn the value of interacting with other dogs (came on a ton in a few weeks with great handlers).

🐾 One could be intense and didn’t know what to do with the joyous play energy so started to hump. Small adaptation to the interactions and the hu***ng disappeared.

🐾 Final dog was a bit bigger than others and could be distracted by the world and struggle to come away from other stimuli he found interesting. With the appropriate coaching and motivation choice the dog learnt that coming away is actually a good thing and then he is still able to have access to the infinitely interesting environment.

If you’d like help in supporting your puppy then get in touch.

Our Saturday puppy class is usually full but we have spare spaces for the course starting on the 8th June.

05/06/2024

Do you have a puppy under 20 weeks and are looking forward to a summer of fun with them?

Our puppy class is designed to equip you with the tools to achieve just this. We work on being calm around other dogs, how to introduce them to other dogs and how to help and support them when they miss the mark a bit.

Giving you the support to enjoy life with your new puppy and helping them fit into our often busy routines is our passion and we have some rare space on our Saturday puppy classes which are starting this weekend. They are at 10am, last 6 weeks and cost £120.

As well as our classes with two APDT registered trainers you also get a free weekly use of our field to practice some of your new skills and access to our online video tutorials.

If you have any questions please contact us via messenger or email or visit our website (link in comments) to book onto the puppy course.

05/06/2024

Attack of the spring w**ds!!! Help Needed!

Next week we start our parkour classes for the year.

Our parkour area got over run whilst we were away with the family last week. This evening I am going to the land to w**d as much as I can.

If anyone else would like to join me I would be so grateful for the help. I can repay in a constant stream of thoughts about dogs and behaviour whilst w**ding.

03/06/2024

Here is this terms timetable.

As you can see some classes are already full. We know a few people have been asking about Parkour and I'm sorry if you have not managed to get booked on. I have had to prioritise current clients looking for a class. We will be putting on a second parkour class on a Saturday at the end of July and then some extra daytime courses over august.

Please contact us directly to book Rally or Hoopers as there are a few requirements for these classes.

The rest will be found on the website. I will post a link in the comments.

03/06/2024

Holidays are amazing but the admin always seems to pile up while away.

Over the next few days I am taking some time to try and catch up. First thing will be to let everyone know what classes are available so keep an eye out for that later today. Some classes will fill up quickly.

If you are in need of some support and haven’t heard back from me by Wednesday please do reach out. The best way to contact us is via email on [email protected].

I hope you all agree that cake and coffee is a must for admin catch up and who can resist these amazing cakes given to us by one of our dog/human teams.

02/06/2024

I’m extremely proud of the journey this dog and handler have come on. From the most mouthy puppy I have ever seen to a titled level 1 TD Rally Team. I’m beyond proud.

We are called The Dog Log because it’s about writing in your log and seeing that training is constantly journeying together. Well done Team Obi! Continue the journey! ❤️🐾

29/05/2024

We’re having a lovely day celebrating Nathan’s birthday with his family. 9 children together is a lot of fun but it can be a bit noisy sometimes.

We are really excited to get back to classes when we return with the start of new classes next week.

I will post a full list in a few days but for now if you want to book onto the puppy class there is a link in the comments. They are are 10 am on a Friday or Saturday and last 6 weeks.

07/05/2024

Why is this photo important to me?

This photo came up as a memory on Facebook. 10 years ago!

This was before Nathan and I lived together and I had a cat and he had a dog. We weren’t dog trainers then but managed to introduce Barney and Chelsea to each other slowly.

A few things I love about this.

Chelsea has her spot high up which is important to cats. I’ve seen some wonderful set ups recently which allow cats to move around the house higher up than dogs.

Barney is nice and relaxed and not staring at her. In this photo it’s hard to tell if he is watching Nathan or fully relaxed but not staring at the cat is the main point.

Finally, it reminds me of Nathan and I when we first met. We were set up on a blind date. I asked my friend why she felt he was a good fit and she said he had a puppy (there were other things but they don’t stick in my memory as well). Well, we spent most of the date discussing our dog and cat. I mean we knew how to have fun!

With dog training it’s useful to picture what it is you are after and why. Have that picture in your head and you can work out what behaviours are needed to achieve it.

Please get in touch if you need any support breaking behaviours down into achievable steps, we might just have a class which can help you out.

23/04/2024

“I’m just happy to have my dog back” is a pretty good sentence to hear when finishing a block of sessions with a client.

18/04/2024

When we have a new behavioural case we start with a fact finding zoom call. At the end of this call we give some first aid advice. This advice won’t “fix” a problem, however it can really help start the repair.
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I’ve decided it might be nice to share a couple of examples on Facebook so let's get started with resource guarding. Firstly, don’t forget that a resource can be many things food, beds, water, toys, people….
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If you had some of your favourite food and someone walked past and took it from you, how would you feel? Then if they repeatedly did that would you feel positive or guarded when they approach you.
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What does this look like for the human with a dog? If you swap the item they have for something equal or better then you can get that initial item with no negative feelings. If this is something you do straight away then your puppy/dog will anticipate you approaching with something good happening. If they are already resource guarding then throwing some food down for them without taking the item will be a great start.

We would always still recommend seeing a professional as this is not enough to solve a resource guarding issue but is a good start.

If you would like to discuss resource guarding with us then please contact us either via Facebook or email.

16/04/2024

Do you have a puppy who is 5 months and under?

Would you like to get your puppy ready for those lovely summer walks in the park?

We have availability in our Friday Puppy Socialisation class starting this Friday 19th April at 10am.

Having a puppy enter our lives can be absolutely amazing, however it can also be a big challenge. Having someone there to help support you can make a big difference and going over the foundations in a group setting can really set you up well.

Our classes are held in our private venue in Kirkley and are small classes with two qualified trainers.

They include

🐾 recall
🐾 loose lead
🐾 how to train your puppy
🐾 how to help them settle - this includes our lovely coffee shop set up (sorry no actual cake or cups of tea)
🐾 what they can do instead of jumping or mouthing
🐾 answer many more questions

A big focus is also on how they can play with another dog. Our venue is perfect for facilitating this once the foundations behind it have been mastered.

If you would like to book I will add the link into the comments.