My own guys had a load of training over the bank holiday and they did so well! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful dogs to be my teammates ❤️
Maggie Mae Training Walk 21st May
Maggie Mae has joined the training walk crew! It was her first walk and although she knows me from our 121 programme, she was a little confused why I was taking her out without her mum so we mostly focused on her just having a good time and getting to know how she most enjoys working and walking. The main focus for her walks is loose lead walking, as you can see she walks very nicely when things are quiet but gets very distracted when people or dogs come past so I need some top tier reinforcement strategies to use when distractions are present which I spent a bit of time figuring out on our walk. Well done Maggie Mae!
Hoopers 21st May
Chilli & Lily had a great session in Hoopers yesterday. They're now both working on the same courses which is so exciting! Chilli learned about having a longer gap between the hoops and to target the hoops even when her mum isn't right next to her, she was also introduced to barrels for the first time. Lily wasn't feeling her start lines yesterday so we focused on keeping her moving and having fun - so important to adjust plans for the moods of our dogs as well as ourselves!
Scrabble Training Walk 21st May
Scrabble did amazingly in his training walk yesterday, we really worked on his recall and as you can see he did super! He's not quite ready to recall away from other dogs so we'll be focusing on that in subsequent weeks. Well done Scrabs!
Reactive Rovers 22nd May
Reactive Rovers Mila, Boris and Obi had a great session last night! It was the first time the dogs were all out on the floor together working at the same time. They all learned about look at that and most importantly, how to implement this on their regular walks as it's one thing learning the skills but another skill entirely applying them in the real world!
Scent Club 15th May
My Wednesday Scent Club crew had a brilliant session last week! Kobie did some beautiful searches, he's so clearly understanding the game now. He looked at his indication so that he can tell us more clearly when he's found the hide. Ruby smashed her searches, she's understanding that cones don't always mean food is on the floor! We got her searching for some KONG as well as for the gun oil we normally work with which was a nice change for her. Maisie did her first proper searches, she's coming along so nicely even though a full class is suuuper tiring for her still. She'll have the stamina to keep up with the adults soon!
Scent Club 20th May
Scent Clubbers Timon and Potato had a great session yesterday! Tim has really benefitted from going back to basics and searching some simpler items whilst we work on his indication more. Potato learned about line searches and that sticking your nose in the first pipe you come across doesn't necessarily get you a mark! Well done pups.
Myrtle May Session
Gorgeous Myrtle had the second session in her behaviour programme. Having addressed some of her reactivity out and about in her first session, we had this session at home to really unpiece some of the issues Mrytle has brought into a multidog household and taught her and her canine housemates some behaviours to keep them all safe and secure when tensions flare as well as discussed how to reduce tensions flaring in the first place. Here is she is working on her go mat behaviour, a behaviour I use almost daily to help keep Sonic and Pumba safe and happy around each other. Well done Mrytle!
Scrabble Training Walk 14th May
Super Scrabble did amazingly on his training walk yesterday! He was neutered last week so we had a shortened walk and did the remainder of his 'walk' doing some training at home. He absolutely smashed his loose lead walking as you can see! After that I started some recall training by teaching him a word that means good stuff happens with whichever human is with him. Well done Scrabble, see you next week!
Reactive Rovers 14th May
Reactive Rovers Boris, Obi and Mila had their first exposure to other dogs in the class last night. Everyone did amazingly as I know there was some trepidation and skepticism amongst the owners that their dogs would be able to work at all, let alone not react. Boris and Mila didn't react to another dog at all and Obi only reacted when he spotted other dogs during breaks rather than during purposeful exposures to the other dogs! Fabulous work everyone! Thank you for putting your trust in me, it's the part of teaching this course that never fails to get me a little emotional
Hoopers Club 14th May
Hoopers Club had a fantastic session yesterday evening! Lily had barrels introduced to her, I was a little concerned that introducing barrels would encourage her to crab inwards again and make her run sideways so she could keep an eye on her mum whilst running but I shouldn't have been! She did struggle a little more than she has in previous weeks to stay out on the course, however it was nowhere near as bad as it's been previously so we'll keep the barrels in Lily's courses and build up some more forward drive to move forward. Chilli's mum has done some incredible homework and her start lines are a thing of beauty! We put the start lines into a little mini course for Chilli and introduced her to hoops on a slight curve this week, more courses coming Chili's way in the following weeks! Well done everyone
Scent Club 13th May
A new scent pup has entered the Monday Scent Club chat! Welcome Potato (which I think will go down in history as one of the best names ever)! Potato and Timon used their noses to do some freework so that I could really watch how they both naturally chose to search, and give me a chance to get to know Potato more. Then they both worked on their gun oil indication. Well done pups!
Canine College 13th May
Yesterday in Canine College, Edith showed us that some of her reactions were frustration based as well as fear based. Whilst pups Rocky and Wren worked on some play, as well as calming down in order to have their play continue again, it was the perfect opportunity to show Edith's mum how to handle a frustrated reaction versus a fear based reaction which is what we had been working on. So important for families to understand the difference and know how to respond when one emotion drives a reaction over another. Well done everyone!
Sonic Agility 11th May '24
Sonic's agility is coming along so well, the amount of time and effort I've put into her foundations are showing through now that I'm getting her going on courses. I'm so careful to maintain her startline, always keeping her guessing as to whether she'll be sent forward or if she'll be sent behind, as you can see in the video - my Hoopers Club crew will be familiar with this! I love how once I've sent her into the first tunnel I can pretty much rely on her going straight to the next tunnel, allowing me to focus on the A frame contact. Love running my best girl <3
Wednesday Scent Clubbers had their session outside last night (not even a week after I had to cancel work for a weather warning 🙄🤣) Ruby brought her a game and loved the longer searches we got her doing, Kobie thinks outdoor searching is the best thing since sliced bread and boy has he gotten into this game! Little Maisie from puppy classes has joined the club and had her first session getting used to the kit, showing us her searching style and learning that gun oil brings her good things. Love teaching puppies about the fun of scent 😁
Bodhi braved the heat with me on Tuesday afternoon for her training walk. Poor girl has been in the wars with her paw so she hasn't had her usual exercise level and was a smidge feral to start our walk 🤣 she calmed down beautifully however and we managed to get some work done. Her family requested some work on a down at a distance in preparation for emergency situations so we did that as it was paw friendly. I'm sure you can agree she did so well!
Scrabble Training Walk 7th May
Scrabble had his first training walk yesterday. It was the first time I met him so I spent the session getting to know him, teaching him some marker signals that I could use to build behaviours with. We mostly worked on loose lead walking via a number of different methods as you can see in the video, Scrabble aced it and was a joy to work with! Well done little man, see you soon.
Reactive Rovers 7th May
Reactive Rovers Mila, Boris and Obi started the course last night! They all did so well, not a single reaction to any of the other dogs and all of the dogs were able to learn the skills we covered this week. We looked at teaching the dogs to sniff on cue, turn 180 degrees quickly with their owner and muzzle training to help the dogs get the space they need when out on walks. Fantastic work everyone! See you next week!
Hoopers Club 7th May
Lily and Chilli did fantastically last night! We increased the distance between the hoops that Lily is running through on course so that she has to really commit to the next hoop in order to stay on course, she did so well with this going in one direction but struggled in the other direction so we did a bit of a hoop targeting exercise to help her out. Chilli has smashed her target training and start line homework so she learned about the behind cue to maintain our startline, and got a bit more hoop value for multiple hoops and building her drive forward away from her mum. Keep up the great work Lily and Chilli!
