🐾 “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks… “ 🐾
This old wife’s tale couldn't be further from the truth, in fact teaching your senior dog something new provides them with mental stimulation and helps strengthen your bond all whilst keeping their brains active
Sadly over 25% of dogs aged 11 to 12 have some form of Canine Dementia and this increases to over 65% once they reach 15.
Canine Dementia can also affect younger dogs too, so get out there and exercise their minds.
Here I'm teaching Jazzie "Place". We have not long started out and I help her by walking with her to each mat to ensue she is successfully. I'm not interested in her performing this exercise perfectly this is just all about keeping her mind occupied and celebrating with her. 🐾
🐾 Chill & Train 🐾
Out on our morning walk and up pops a rather large seal 🦭
Even with their dogs on a lead some people may tend to panic and rush in the opposite direction or head back to their vehicle. What do you think this teaches your dogs ??? Your dogs will sense you are uneasy particularly if they are prone to be reactive around wildlife or stock. This will only reinforce and confirm the picture they have created around the stimulus.
So seize the opportunity, position yourself at a safe distance and with your dogs under control just relax, take a seat and let them just sit and observe. If they see you are not bothered they won't be. Reward and praise them for remaining calm and just watch for a while. Do this enough and it will help alter their mindset and their response to the stimulus.
You can spend a small fortune on "indestructible" toys and licki mats etc. I know because over the years I have. However you don't always need to, so get creative and use what you have around you. There's nothing more fun for a dog than tearing up an old box or spread something yummy on an old carton. Always supervise your dogs and ensure there are no staples or sharp edges on whatever you have to hand. This provides them with mental and biological fulfillment by working their noses and brains, aswell as being great fun.... 🐾
🐾 Luca 🐾
You may have seen early posts staring this stunning girl. Having got her and her owner accustomed to going to the vets it was time to start work on the next challenge. In Luca"s Mums words "I want her to feel comfortable out in the big wide world" There are no short cuts it takes time, patience and work and it all starts at home. Lucas Mum has a fantastic bond with her girl and has done a great job with the foundation work needed to move forward.
When I first offered to take Luca for a walk so I could gauge where she was at, her Mum said good luck with getting her out the gate and down the drive, she will pull you over and you will need to hang on to the fence post…… Well check out this video, this was session number 2 and it wasn't me that was walking this 46 kg powerhouse down the drive !!!
It’s early days as we begin to change the dogs picture, but I felt today was a massive turning point and I’m extremely proud of them both and to witness this turnaround was worth Luca’s weight in gold…
A view from the other side
🐾 Sarge 🐾
So now we are starting to put all of that work on Impulse Control together and begining to incorporate it into leash work. This little man is a superstar and has learnt so much in a short space of time. It's very important to set your dog up for success and not to have unrealistic expectations during learning. So I helped him out by walking towards him when he didn't come and didn’t worry about him wandering away too much and I also let it go at the very end when he took off before I released him. The fine tuning is for another day... I'm happy with how far he has come...
🐾 Impulse Control 🐾
🎥 Number 4
Sarge is really beginning to learn that if he keeps his emotions in check it will end in a desirable outcome. This is a big test for him, he is ready for his tucker and is excited but look how hard he is trying. After jumping a couple of times I could clearly see that he suddenly remembered what works and what doesn't. He has a tendency to bite on the lead too so I use this opportunity to really put him to the test. Super proud of this little man.
🐾 Fear 🐾
Whatever happened to the boy that used to run away when he was taken anywhere near a vehicle...
Time, acceptance and understanding of your dogs deep seated fears and then the patience to work with them at their pace is what's required to get real life results.
We may not always know the history of why our dogs are fearful but that doesn't mean we should just accept that's the way they are
🐾 Impulse Control 🐾
🎥 Number 3
One of the best ways to train is make it fun and rewarding for the dog. My dog Wallace is helping young Sarge learn the rules of the game. They are pretty simple, control your emotions for a few seconds and bang the game continues. I’m not worried about Sarge sitting every time I throw the frisbee but during early learning I find it helps to make him reset and engage his brain. The little man is smashing it.
🐾 Impulse Control 🐾
Video Number 2 staring Sarge
Getting in and out of vehicles is a fantastic opportunity to work on impulse control and could just save your dogs life. Start out at home with minimal distractions and slowly add duration before continuing on to new environments.
🐾 Impulse control 🐾
Ok so in my opinion the most important thing you can instill in your puppy or dog is Impulse Control... There are a number of extremely important life skills such as an off switch and recall etc but self control is the fundamental skill that everything else is built upon. If your dog has no impulse control then you are fighting a losing battle trying to teach anything successfully. Trust was mentioned and yes this goes without saying and as you work with your dogs this will go from strength to strength.
There are lots of ways to teach your dog to control their urges. Many can be taught by interacting with your dog whilst going about your everyday activities. Simply by putting some boundaries in place and being consistent will slowly teach your dog that a little self control will lead to a desirable outcome. We worked a lot on this with Sarge and I will be posting a number of short videos on how we went about this.
In this the first video, Sarge wants out of his crate but instead of opening the door and letting him bust out we teach him to wait, it may be for a split second to begin with and then very slowly we add duration in his case a second at a time. He very quickly learnt that if he could contain his excitement he would not only be rewarded but he would also be free to just go be a dog.
Using food to reward and reinforce behaviors.
🐾 "Willl I have to feed treats forever ??" 🐾
Here's a question I get asked all the time and the simple answer is no. However you need to work through the different phases of training in order to get there.
So when you have a new puppy or you are teaching a dog an unknown skill you do need to reward each and every rep. As you move through the different phases of training and the dog has an understanding you can overtime begin to reduce your level of reinforcement (food/treats) used to train.
The end goal is to build a relationship and develop a strong bond with your mate rather than having a dog that only works to get paid, then it's s transaction.
In this video I'm practicing recall with Wallace, he fully understands what's required and we have worked through the different phase of training and have practiced in this in lots of different environments. He is at the point now where he will come back without any food reward or the use of any tools and his helicopter tail tells me all he is a happy boy.
Food is of course only one way to reward your dog the key is to find out what works for yours.
🐾 Remember every dog is different so always be led by your dog🐾
When you first learnt to drive did you on your very first attempt behind the wheel head out on a 6 lane highway in the middle of rush hour ? Chances are you started out in a paddock, a car park or a very quiet road with little or no traffic.
Training a dog is much the same, you need to start out at home or in a familiar environment and once your dog has mastered and fully understands what you are teaching you can then move on. Much like once you have got basic driving skills under your belt you head out to a slightly busier road in an area you know. You then continue to practice until eventually you have the skills and confidence to go and tackle that 6 lane highway. In this video this boy is honing the skills he has learnt but in a new environment with added distractions beside a busy road.
Deep seated fears
Zoey
There are lots of reasons why a dog is fearful and the vast majority of the time it's due to a lack of exposure/socialization. Fear in dogs is exhibited by either fight, flight or freeze. In Zoeys case just the sight of the lawn mower causes her to flee from the garden and go and hide at the far end of the house. So we set about changing her mindset and by breaking it down into bite size pieces we can begin to show her that it's nothing to fear. In this video I'm using a combination of giving her a job, play and reinforcing her calm non reactive behavior. She did incredibly well and her progress blew me away. She was even eating food off the mower by the end of the session.
Good job Zoey 🐾
Prior Peparation Prevents Poor Performance..
Train for the unexpected because at some point it is very likely to happen. If your dog doesn't have a rock solid recall then it needs to be on a lead. Want to give it more freedom use a long line. The potential consequences of what could happen if it all goes horribly wrong are pretty dire.
