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Dog Matters NZ Dog Matters offer complete training and behaviour solutions, specialising in home based board & train
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Lovely day for Marlowe's forest debut. According to his gps tracker he walked 9.5km, so he should be ready for an aftern...
24/11/2024

Lovely day for Marlowe's forest debut.

According to his gps tracker he walked 9.5km, so he should be ready for an afternoon nap.

Someone has discovered the toy box...
23/11/2024

Someone has discovered the toy box...

A solo stroll through a busy Orewa, back along the beach, and a drink at a cafe where Marlowe got to practice settling c...
22/11/2024

A solo stroll through a busy Orewa, back along the beach, and a drink at a cafe where Marlowe got to practice settling calmly and ignoring nearby dogs and people. Good boy!

Marlowe is really getting the hang of this posing business 🤣
21/11/2024

Marlowe is really getting the hang of this posing business 🤣

Couldn't agree more, resist the bungee leashes!
20/11/2024

Couldn't agree more, resist the bungee leashes!

PSA - if the leash stretches or the harness looks like this, I don’t care what the ad on Instagram says. It will make your training journey harder and I will tell you to put it in the bin.

Stretchy leashes build drive in pulling into the leash, give you less control and generally make teaching leash walking a pain in the butt.

Running with a trained dog or using designed for purpose bungees in building drive (ie making dogs pull harder and be more intense)? Yes.
Walking down the street with any control or training a pet dog? No.

The popular harnesses promoted all over Instagram that look like this might look easy to put on, but are actually terrible for your dog. Cutting across the chest horizontally means it restricts natural movement, which with repeated use can cause long term gait issues. Cutting so close to behind the shoulders is also a problem in this department. Not only this, but a back clip harness will mean you have no control of the front end of your dog and will find it much more challenging to control your dog when needed - especially when training.

As a dog owner you’ll likely be seeing ads from a few different companies selling these very similar harnesses and leashes among other junk. Don’t buy into it.

Stick to a standard fixed length leash and a well fitted collar, made with proper metal fixings and high quality materials. If a harness is your preference, look for a “Y” shape which doesn’t impede the shoulders and gives lots of room behind the elbows. It’ll last you much longer, be better for your dog and be much more helpful on your training and dog owning journey. 🙏🏻

20/11/2024
Spy and Chills have been quality testing the new food toys....
20/11/2024

Spy and Chills have been quality testing the new food toys....

Marlowe went for a stroll through the town, back up the river walkway, then popped into Mitre 10.He did an amazing job a...
19/11/2024

Marlowe went for a stroll through the town, back up the river walkway, then popped into Mitre 10.

He did an amazing job and I'm so proud of how far he has come. His loose leash walking was amazing, he coped well with a number of scary distractions in a new environment, and best of all he managed to walk politely past a number of dogs at close proximity (even one who reacted at him). Pretty impressive Marlowe!

19/11/2024

Whilst her brother Nemo has done a bit of scent work, Hana is really just beginning. Here she is learning to work containers, and to indicate on the hot tin among a few blank ones, with the hot one looking different in different reps (ie it's the odour that pays not just sticking your nose on a tin).

Marlowe's stay is all about confidence building. He can be wary of all sorts of novelty, so going to new places is impor...
19/11/2024

Marlowe's stay is all about confidence building. He can be wary of all sorts of novelty, so going to new places is important.

On this walk he saw horses, dogs, had to negotiate some varied terrain, and was brave enough to paddle in the water.

18/11/2024

Hana has apparently become increasingly reluctant about nail trims at home.

The good news is that because she has had a long history of good handling practices and is a generally sound and confident dog, this was a lot easier to resolve than I anticipated.

This is only the second session. I added a front foot target to give her an opt in start button, and paired the clip with high value food. She is free to leave at any stage and I will stop, but she chooses to stay in this case.

If only they were all this good!

18/11/2024

Jack's searches yesterday at the Scent Snouts Games.

Superstar!

Good Beanie!
16/11/2024

Good Beanie!

One VERY wet morning but the dogs are well walked now!
15/11/2024

One VERY wet morning but the dogs are well walked now!

14/11/2024

Two hides (same odour) in a new location for Jack

Marla had fun swimming today
13/11/2024

Marla had fun swimming today

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Whilst her brother Nemo has done a bit of scent work, Hana is really just beginning. Here she is learning to work containers, and to indicate on the hot tin among a few blank ones, with the hot one looking different in different reps (ie it's the odour that pays not just sticking your nose on a tin).

Hana has apparently become increasingly reluctant about nail trims at home. The good news is that because she has had a long history of good handling practices and is a generally sound and confident dog, this was a lot easier to resolve than I anticipated. This is only the second session. I added a front foot target to give her an opt in start button, and paired the clip with high value food. She is free to leave at any stage and I will stop, but she chooses to stay in this case. If only they were all this good!

Scent snoyts Games Jack
Scent snoyts Games Jack

Jack's searches yesterday at the Scent Snouts Games. Superstar!

Two hides (same odour) in a new location for Jack

I love this search by Jack! He is keen, confident, stays focused and on task with minimal help from me, and he nails the indications. At the last training day, Jack apparently had some conflict about leaving one hide to find the next one, but here he shows a good understanding.

Marla thinks it might be dinner time 🤣

Nemo working on turn taking.... This is a vital skill for dogs living in a multi-dog home, and it's a key concept for a sport dog learning to cope with the frustration of watching other dogs run or play when they have to wait. When we build drive for playing chase or tug games, we need to also train in enough control that the dog does not become THAT dog on the beach who mugs other dogs and can't be recalled away.

Nemo's first attempt at a couple of searches in a novel location....

I'm super impressed with how quickly 6 month old Nemo is picking up scentwork! We stopped any work on scent until we had trained a 'hold'. It can make shaping a hold harder if the dog has a significant history of being paid for a sustained nose target. Now we have a good understanding of hold and retrieve, it is time to revisit the scentwork. I picked it back up yesterday, and he is really starting to get the idea and gain confidence in searching. He is going to be good at this game!

Nemo proving he is indeed a retriever....

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A bit about me.... (Corinne Barker)

Whilst Dog Matters Ltd has only been established since February 2019, dog training has been my all encompassing passion for at least the last 15 years (although my love of sharing my life with dogs goes back a lot further!). I originally joined Norwest Dog Training Club, ended up competing in obedience (my first dog earning the title of Obedience Champion, and my second dog Obedience Grand Champion), and eventually volunteering as a trainer for group classes. During this time as well as working with my own dogs, I fostered dogs for the Humane Society, gained a huge amount of hands on experience with a variety of dogs and problem behaviours, and went on to provide training services for other foster homes and owners of some of the adopted dogs.

For the last ten years I have been working part time as a professional trainer, spending almost every waking hour, outside of my day job, working dogs, competing, attending literally hundreds of hours of seminars, taking courses, reading text books, and moderating two force free training pages. Continuing education is a passion for me, with this year alone already having involved four webinars on Dog to Human and Dog to Dog Aggression by Michael Shikashio, an 8 week online course on Effective Behaviour Change by Sarah Stremming, and an in person three day obedience seminar by the brilliant Anna Herzog, Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference 2019 with Ken Ramirez, two day seminar with Kamal Fernandez, and plans are also underfoot to complete the Diploma of Canine Behaviour Science and Technology from the Companion Animal Sciences Institute.

The time has finally come to devote myself 24 /7 to dog training!