And that's a wrap from us for 2023!
Thank you to all our wonderful families who have entrusted us to look after, care for, coach & learn from…it’s been another fantastic year together and we can't wait to catch up with everyone again for more adventures 2024!
We wish everyone a very happy, fun, festive and safe Christmas & New Years!
❤️🤍❤️🤍
Happy 4th Birthday to this beautiful, cheeky, goofy soul! 🎉 boy am I lucky to have you!
We’ve learnt so much together & met so many wonderful people…we’ve travelled, trained, hiked, swam, paddle boarded, walked alone & walked with friends…made memories and an unbreakable bond! 🖤
We love you Buddy & cannot wait for what adventures we get up to next! 🐾
xx
🎓Billy's Puppy Board & Train 🎓
As Billy's time with us draws closer to an end, it's hard not to reflect on the past 3 weeks..not only has this mini tornado turned my house upside down (as all puppies do!) he's woven himself into a special place in my heart! 🖤🤍
When dogs come through our board & train programme all with different training & behaviour goals, my goal for them all is to establish a line of communication, confidence, new skills, life experiences and social skills that they can take home with them and build on with the support of their owners.
This montage of photos & videos are a tiny testament to Billy's hard work, fun loving time with us. He has grown not only in size but in skills and understanding of the world he's found himself.
So, as Dr Seuss once wrote...
"Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!"
I can’t wait to follow Billy’s journey through life together with his person!
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If you're heading away and looking to add specific training goals to a homestay, or you simply don't have the time to implement the necessary training yourself, then this is the programme for you!
Check us out at:
www.caninecoach.co.nz
Highlights from the week!
Despite the rain, wind, hail & thunder we had some awesome training sessions & adventures!.
www.caninecoach.co.nz
We are now live!
The Canine Coach website is ready to view - www.caninecoach.co.nz
(link in bio)
I have new training & behaviour packages, board & train options, & homestay services available. There’s also a little about my journey back to my original passion - dogs!
If you’re looking for support in living & raising a happy healthy dog, or know someone who might be - DM me 😊
Thank you to all my loyal, hard working, dedicated clients along with your dogs who have made this moment possible - It is a dream come true!
And to Sarah @Dossier for her professionalism, seeing my vision & ordering my thoughts. This was a bigger project than I realised, which would never have made the finish line with out you - thank you!
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#newwebsite #dogtrainer #dogtraining
Belly rubs…an essential part of all training plans!
Max loving life 💕
#puppylove #bellyrubs
Gratitude Post 🙏
I love what I do.
There is no bigger privilege than to be entrusted with the care of another’s furry family member! 🐕
But to receive chocolates & beautiful heart felt card at the end of a homestay is the icing on the cake 🧁 & yes, there are chocolates missing already (I live with teenagers)
Thank you to ALL my clients & supporters🤍
xx
Anyone else have a counter-surfer???
The intermittent windfall of your leftovers can make this behaviour hugely reinforcing.
Dogs love to forage!
It’s instinctual, satisfying and a great way to serve up morning and evening meals.
Abbey is a counter-surfing superstar and therefore management is key to prevent her perfecting this particular way of seeking out food along with providing more appropriate outlets for this behaviour!
A handful of her brekkie in a paper bag kept this busy beauty foraging and mentally working this morning!
#canineenrichment
Why I talk a lot about Engagement & Focus and what it means.
Engagement & focus is our dogs being able to have sustained focus & motivation 🧐 It’s a pre-requisite to all of our training!
However we need to teach it! 🎓
It’s probably not news to you that our dogs aren’t born wanting to pay attention to us all the time! So I often talk about the teaching process as engagement.
Essentially, I like to teach dogs that paying attention to me, around whatever distractions are going on is rewarding!💰
Without our dogs attention, training gets a whole lot more difficult!
#payingattentionpaysoff #dogtraining
This guy👇
Not even his training day but he NEEDED to play before I stole his sister for the day 🐕
Socialisation isn’t playing and interacting with everyone & everything…it’s exposure, desensitisation and habituation towards sounds, sights, smells, people, animals, etc. you’ll likely come into contact with.
So introducing Daisy to an unfamiliar dog doesn’t mean play and interaction, having short quality time together co-existing without too much nervousness or excitement and with the emphasis on quality not quantity was my goal.
This doesn’t mean they won’t get to play and interact in the future.
I’d love Buddy to become one of Daisy’s canine friends and another social facilitator to assist in building her confidence - a journey best taken slowly 🐌
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#socialisation #desensitization #exposure #behaviourmodificationindogs #changingemotionstakestime
Recently I’ve been considering how I can control the arousal level of the dogs I train - I usually love a little pushy, nose smooshing, teeth nibbling attitude and consciously teach a lure with this in mind.
However what if I’d like more precision in the behaviour? Could I lure using a different technique to get a more precise behaviour with less arousal.
So today, Buddy and I gave it a go and the below video is on our our third short session.
Focusing on the food we found easy however once we started to build in movement, controlling his arousal became more challenging and you’ll see there were times he just couldn’t help but reach out to grab the food.
So baby steps for now and our plan is to slice the criteria a bit finer next session.
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#lowarousalluring #dogtraining #luring
Luring….so I like to teach a lure with a little spunk & speed initially.
Luring is essentially placing food in front of your dogs nose and moving it around to create behaviours, but to do it well I like to consider the arousal level of the dog…do I what snappy behaviours or slow precise behaviours? Will I use a high arousal or a low arousal lure?
Taking the time to teach the skill of luring well will help the rest of the teaching and learning experience for both the learner and teacher.
In this session Rockie and I worked more on our pushy high arousal lure, luring in straight lines and with turns and rewarding when she was really nibbling and pushing into my hand to get the reward.
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#higharousalluring #dogtraining #luring
Want a great off leash recall?
Be someone your dog wants to come back to!! 🤗🥳
Build a great relationship and have fun together!
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#recall #dogtraining #dogtrainingtips
Better than GOOD! 🐾
Getting a quick clean drop on cue can be tricky!
Dogs tend to do what works for them and if your dog has a history of dropping their favorite item(s) and having them taken away, who wouldn’t be reluctant to ‘drop’ in the future?
The secret to getting that quick and eager drop is to teach your dog that dropping on cue predicts GOOD things, in fact BETTER than the good thing they already have in their mouth.
Dozer LOVES the pullers, this makes them the perfect tool to train a drop. He prefers the pullers in motion or being tugged making the second puller presented following the ‘drop’ cue BETTER they the motionless puller in his mouth. This is reinforcing to Dozer meaning he’s more likely to drop on cue in the future.
Training shouldn’t feel like training, it should feel like a play session where you sneak in some learning. If you and your dog are loving the session it’s likely they’ll remember and learning becomes easy!
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#pullers #dogtraining #dogtrainingtips #dogplay #playwithyourdog #fetch #makelearningfun #betterthangood
Learning through play!
✅ relationship building
✅ chase & catch outlet
✅ impulse control
✅ opportunity to teach new commands
✅ proofing Buddy’s ‘place’ command
✅ fun!!
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#learnthroughplay #dogs
This little pocket rocket has been working on her wicked recall!
We practice and practice, slowly increasing distractions and distance and this was our reward today!
I paid her well but even more rewarding for her work was being released back to continue her play!
Recall doesn’t equal the end of the good stuff! 😉
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#rocketrecall #dogtraining #dogadventures #dogsofinstagram #dogs
Recall…the most important skill to teach (in my opinion), it can save a life and equals freedom!
Bodhi isn’t yet 12 months old and his previously reliable recall has recently been less reliable especially when there’s dogs to say ‘hi’ 👋too or birds to chase! Just like humans, dogs also go through adolescence when their ears seem to fall off and the environment/friends all of a sudden are super exciting.
I want Bodhi to think I’m Christmas every time he recalls (all the good stuff happen when he come back & checks in) I do this by having some of his favourite treats, his favourite tug and also when he comes back I sometimes let him do what he wanted to in the first place (sniff, chase a bird, say hi). In short, when he’s off lead and has a choice I need him to WANT to come to me every time!
It doesn’t signal the end of the walk, it signals all this favourite things to do!
Bodhi nailed it today around, dogs and people (at a distance) and birds all around 🙌
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#dogtraininggoals #reliablerecall #dogtraining #makeitfun
Alfie looooves his muddy puddles! We found a few on our adventures today 🤣
