PLACE COMMAND
The place command is just a fancy word for a down-stay. It teaches the dog to have an automatic ‘off switch’ on command. As soon as they’re in place, all engagement should stop and the dog usually ends up falling asleep until you release them. No matter what is going on around them, they are expected to stay on their place.
Cara’s owners had started working on this command with her, but she would only lie down on one surface in their house and she wouldn’t stay there once the owners walked away. It is important to her owners that they can tell her to lie down and stay still on any surface, no matter where they are.
This is how Cara earned some of her breakfast this morning. She now has a clear understanding that place means - lie down, calm down and don’t move until I release you.
We are moving fast from place to place in this video, purely so we can work on fast downs on any surface I point to.
During Cara’s board and train with me she has held a 2-3 hour place command every day. I have built up the duration, distance and distractions gradually throughout the week and she’s done brilliantly. I hoovered around her, brought other dogs in the house and let them sniff her, did a HIIT workout right in front of her.... she didn’t get up once because the command was solid before I added major distractions.
She goes home today and then she’s back for week two in January! 😀
Getting some impulse control training done today! A man walking past actually asked me if I’d hypnotized the dogs.... 😂 nope, they just know their boundaries! Very proud of them.
Environmental exposure is something I work on a lot with my dogs, they like attention from strangers and they like other dogs.. so asking them ignore all of that used to be tricky. After doing a ton of engagement training and then gradually exposing them to many different locations where I expected them to focus on ME only, we have now got these results!
I take them in almost every shop with me, put them in a down stay and then walk away and browse (keeping a close eye on the people around them of course!) I put ‘do not pet’ collars on them so that people respect that they are working and don’t distract them. For Rolo not to move when this lady was looking at the clothes behind him made me so proud, 1 - because he chose to look at me rather then stand up and pester her, 2 - because of a stranger had stood over him a year ago it would have terrified him! ❤️
Leave it..... is so important. I could drop an entire roast chicken on the floor and my dogs would look at me before they thought to go anywhere near it because the foundations are sewed into their brains. They know it’s not allowed, they’re aware of the boundaries and they know to look at me for advice. Eye contact and boundaries are so important, put the work in and you’ll see beautiful results 😊
I promise they won’t steal your food.... 😁
Sadie my black lab is not finding it easy to stay in a sit/down position for more than a few seconds so I’ve started practicing her positions on surfaces so she is more inclined to stay until she here’s me say ‘OK’. She’s a lovely, intelligent old girl and just isn’t used to doing it, so by putting her on a surface she finds it much easier to STAY as a pose to on the ground. She may be 8 going on 9, but “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is a total myth and so inaccurate. If the dog is healthy and willing to learn, the possibilities are endless! Sadie has already come on leaps and bounds and I couldn’t be happier with how she is doing, she is beautiful inside and out! ♥️
Does your dog actually know their name? Do they actually respond to it? Or do they just come to you when you shake the bag of treats, run away from them, or start saying their name in a threatening tone from half way across the park...... or do they just totally ignore you altogether when on a walk.....? #areyouengagedwithyourdog?
There are so many ways you can make sure your dog knows their name and knows to pay attention to you when you say it. It’s just foundation training, something that should be done very early on in their puppy life.
Get the foundation + engagement training nailed early on and you’ll have a much better chance and setting your dog up to succeed in the future. It’s much harder to undo the lack of training which leads to ‘bad/undesirable behavior’ then it is to just do the training at the beginning. 👍🏽😀
Downstays as soon as I ask. Whenever. Wherever.
Walking in Windsor Great Park is pretty amazing and mostly very quiet, but we do see a few cars and cyclists most days so it’s super important that I can get my dogs out the way as quick as possible when I hear the car coming. I was running with Zsigi a few days ago and heard incredible engine noises only to turn round and see all of these beautiful cars heading our way... so I told Zig to down and said nothing else until they’d all gone past, what a good dog 🙂
Watch at your own risk of dying with laughter.... and watch till the end when Lola shows you her best smile. #thatsallihavetosayaboutthat #hernamewaslola #lolathesnerd
Water Confidence 🐟
I know so many dogs who are terrified of water and it’s such a shame because not only could they have so much fun, but swimming is such a good workout for dogs.
As most of you know, my dogs live in Arizona now and there aren’t many places we can take them to swim! They used to LOVE it in England and swim most days in the lakes!
So next weekend they are starting #dockdiving and in preparation for that I wanted to build up their confidence in the water again. I’m sure a lot of dogs would have just thrown themselves in the paddling pool... but my two aren’t overly confident with new things and I knew they’d be nervous about the water.
We have a LOT to do this week and I’m not expecting miracles when they begin dock diving on Sunday, but I’m doing it all for their confidence & happiness and to continue building my relationship with them because that’s all that matters. ♥️👍🏽😊
Amazing week with Henry. This video probably doesn’t look like much, but to me it shows SO much progress. This week Henry and I have accomplished so much and I’m so proud of him. We had the best time together 😁
He is now staying with my grandparents for 48 hours and they usually can’t walk him as he will pull them over/down the road. However this morning after Henry had spent 5 days with me he went on a walk with my Granny and didn’t pull her once, walked in a perfect heel and auto sat at every curb when she stopped. He also played fetch at the park with her and listened to her when she asked him to drop the ball (something he was terrible at) but he has now learnt that if he drops the ball the game continues and he gets rewarded for it 👍🏽😀
I put in a ton of time and effort training Henry this week and literally loved every second, but the icing on the cake was getting such a positive text from my Granny explaining how perfectly behaved Henry was on their morning walk. 🤗
Downstays: something I need to practice with these guys a lot more than I am, I’m now making it a priority to find some shade and practice a 5-10 min downstay once or twice every single walk. It looks simple but actually it’s far from it... these dogs are mid walk, fired up and super excited to be out with their friends running around. So when I stop and put them in a down unexpectedly they find it tough, but we’re gonna work hard at it everyday until none of them make any little mistakes like slowly inching themselves closer to me, standing up and walking around, inching to get closer to the dog next to them... etc etc. First I’ll work on the duration of the stay, then I’ll add my distance and walk further away from them and lastly I’ll add distractions, although because of where I walk there’s already a whole ton of distractions that I can’t control! Love my dogs and so proud of all of them ♥️
Craziness is only allowed when I say OK 😆 Having a release word for your dogs is super important, just make sure the coast is clear before you release the lunatics. 😂
Once in a blue moon I get some time alone with JUST Souki, and it’s always so productive and so much fun. Souki was my first client and my for the first few months I was working with her, it was just me and Souks. Now she has to share me with 3-4 other dogs on a daily basis and since Souki is one of the easiest in the group, I have to focus on the younger dogs more. Tonight I took her for a run around the lake and of course squeezed lots of training into that too, we had a blast and she went home exhausted 😂👍🏽
Resource guarding!
... is your dog possessive over their food or their toys? Would they ever happily eat their meal in a small space with 4 other dogs watching? It’s a pretty serious issue and can get nasty really quick.
Today I gave one of my dogs her lunch before I took her home, when I first put her bowl down the dogs all tried to have a good look at what I was giving Poppy. All I said was “no”, and they backed off immediately to let Poppy eat her meal in peace. Not once did any of them try to steal any or get too close, Poppy took her time and ate her meal 100% comfortably in a car filled with 4 other very polite dogs. It’s seriously good behavior but it’s also what I expect of them, and they know that.
I provide a ton of structure and training on my walks everyday and that’s why these dogs behave the way they do, I am not saying they’re perfect though!!! I don’t just wave a magic wand and boom they all behave, it takes time, patience and training and I absolutely love it.
Fancy joining us for lunch? I promise they won’t steal your food 😉
