𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴!
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘳!
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘯.
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.
𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 ❤️
"𝗛𝗶 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗮, 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁
Junie owners were kind enough to supply us with a "before" working with us video, and we have provided the "after"
After doing months of training, doing what they thought was the right way, they soon realised it wasn't working.
If you're not getting good growth on your training, you need to re look at why?
Whether that be more consistency, a different approach, and skilling up, the list goes on.
The content of the information you provide your dog determines the outcome.
Training is a progressive journey.
Things can always get better.
Only ypu can make that happen.
Each dog is case by case.
It's not a case of one size fits all.
Behaviour is complex.
•Be open to learning.
•Seek professional help if needed.
•Set yourself goals.
Predominantly, you are the only ones that have to live with your dog.
The years are short, make them enjoyable ones.
Small group this am, working on their reactivity, all three dogs have very different motives to why they react.
However all worked super well around each other.
Cuba
You may recognise her from a previous board and train 18 months ago.
Cuba has come to join us 1 x a week to maintain her work and exposure.
Her main struggles are reactivity with men and small dogs.
While she has made immense growth from where she started, she still can have her moments.
You can see at the start of the video when a guy approaches, how I work through it.
Cuba is a classic example of how food can create arousal in some dogs. She loses all ability to self-regulate when rewarded with food. Movement, fulfillment through play and vebal praise are more suitable to work with in this case.
Sometimes less is more.
A few clips from our client coachings this week and day-train modifications.
Today we started Junie. 🤍
Junie is what I would call hypersocial, she really struggles with containing herself around people and dogs.
She is a current client who has been having owner coaching, however there's a few things we needed to tidy up, and for that we needed to utilize longer time frames to hang out with her, in the situation she's struggles.
So today was her first day of her exposure day train program.
I look forward to sharing her progression with you all.
We had a few changes happening around here lately.
Many of you will know Maddison Hare. She has done some wonderful work with many dogs during her time spent here at Positive Paws.
I would like to take the time to wish her well on her new career path and thank her for her hard work over the past two years.
Always bittersweet losing a team member.
However, as we close one book, we open another.
We are very fortunate to welcome Todd to the team.
Todd comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience with high drive dogs, having a very successful career with his personal dog in IGP.
He brings a whole new set of skills and advantages to the table.
He is very passionate about the behavioural side and is currently studying at uni tec in Auckland, becoming a certified trainer.
We are excited for this new chapter starting.
✨️𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.✨️
Did you know we have a whatts app just for our client base to stay supported.
Thus enables them to share their wins, fails and over all growth. We also share all updates of our day-trains videos on there.
From Cuba owner..
"𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩. 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘨𝘴. 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘉𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴. 𝘊𝘶𝘣𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 (𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴) 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺"
We got the pleasure of meeting this little pocket rocket, Zoe.
Spending her first 7 months in the pound, she lacked a lot of important exposure in her critical development stage and having some pre disposed genetic make up added to the mix. She struggles with hyper arousal, dog reactivity, lacks focus, and is environmentally sensitive.
While this seems like a lot, she also ozze's great potential and is lucky to have a super committed owner.
The first consult we really focused on leash skills, using movement to motivate her, creating fluid engagement, to help her start to self regulate her impulses.
While this is nothing fancy to watch, it was super important for Zoe and her owner to understand the leash concept. While the leash won't fix her problems, it's a great place to start to build a line of communication and reinforcment.
After this, we had a very successful walk, past many triggers, we spent time working through behaviours, and Zoe and her owner ended up doing some excellent work.
I am super excited for the journey that lays ahead.
Beautiful morning for our maintenance walk ☀️
A good dose of cuteness for your Sunday!
Holly is a little sensitive to her surroundings, so today, before we even tried to get any work out of her, we focused on building her confidence, allowing her to warm up and take it all in.
Towards the end, we got some super growth in her responses.
Can't wait to be part of her development
Struggling with reactivity?
Find yourself crossing the street at the sight of another dog or person, avoiding certain places, walking at times no one is around?
Sound familiar.
Having a dog that has big feelings about stimulus isn't easy.
I know I ve had one!
Over the last couple of months, we have been working with Barra, the boxer, and his owner to help him self-regulate his emotional response when in proximity of other dogs and people.
While Barra intent isn't to cause conflict, he could cause conflict by rushing at a novel dog, or jumping on a person, which is also not idea.
Today he really did show how far he had come, we were faced with many challenging situations, kids running, balls being thrown, off leash dogs and he not only remained engaged he stayed neutral even in the presence of a reactive dog on a longline.
He had every opportunity to take off, and he didn't even think about it.
Super session!
Need help with reactivity?!
Flick us a DM or a 📧 [email protected]
Polly loves having a random audience Cornwall Park
It's safe to say her and Bugsy are pals, but they are also so much more than just that.
She handles him so we'll and he trust her in situations, for many dogs would find challenges.
While Bugsy is in my eyes "bomb proof" when I am present, this moment when Polly was independently on her own with him, he stayed focused on her and nothing else.
While Polly spend a lot of time taking a keen interest in training Bugsy, he is often never far from me.
It's lovely to see him and her doing their thing ❤️
Meet Miso, the little Frenchman.
It's a bit of a late introduction as he's been working with us for a few weeks now.
Miso struggles with regulating his impulses when around other dogs. This can cause hyper arousal, which folds into him, becoming a bit too intense and leaving him too high to listen to other dogs' cues.
Over the weeks, we have been working on him being able to co-exist around dogs on leash, focusing on building the important foundational work and value in handler.
Starting with low critiera of simple being able to work around dogs in proximity, lowering expectations of greetings with novel dogs.
He's is doing great, and we are certainly starting to see him making much better choices. His emotional response is becoming much calmer and regulated.
Thank you, Cornwall Park for providing such an awesome, safe environment to work in.
Great work, Miso.
Is your lacking motivated when it comes to training?
Do you want your dog to choose you over distractions?
Try adding Movement.
Movement is rewarding, it can increase the value of the reward/reinforcer in that moment.
It will strengthen the reliability of successfully outcome.
Over time movement can always be dialed down, once the dog has value in the exercise and understand the concept.
I spent 2 years problem solving with Albie, he lacked any food drive or drive in general. I now see I put too much pressure on the outcome.
Do you want your dogs response to be reliable.
Get in touch to let us help you reach your goals.
📧[email protected]
www.positivepaws.nz
Positive Paws
How well does your dog know their marker word?
For those who dont know what a marker word is, a marker word is a tool we use during the learning stage of certain behaviours or verbal cues. It allows clear communicate to the dog that what they were doing in that exact moment was the right thing. A marker will be followed up by reward of something the dog values, food, toys, access to freedom.
I use the word "YES" as a Marker.
Do you have a marker word?!
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘨!
𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.
𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘺𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬.
𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭.
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴.
𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢
In typically Davina style, I turn up to the vet at the wrong time.
While we had some time to kill, we went over some handling drills he knows, in preparation for his visit.
It's our job to ensure our vets are kept safe in these situations.
While Ablie is tolerant to being handled, it's our jobs to help keep the vets safe. They are not behavioural experts, they medical experts, two different ends of the scale.
If you know your dog isn't comfortable at the vets, prepare, condition to a muzzle if needed, contact a professional to get some strategies underway.
Don't wait for a incident!
