Fluent Dog

02/08/2024

Can’t believe Riff hasn’t found his forever family yet. He really is the sweetest boy and is the best movie/morning cuddle buddy

09/07/2024

📣New puppy parents!
Lewis has a few places left on his online puppy course. This is an excellent opportunity to learn from an incredible trainer. You only get those all important, first few weeks once and so many issues can be avoided with access to the right information 🌟
Pop Lewis an email if you have a new pup and would like to know more about this great learn along course 🐶 🐾

**** I NEED 4 MORE PUPPIES TO JOIN MY NEW ONLINE PUPPY PROGRAMME! ****

Have you got a new pup and want the very best for them? Or do you know someone that could with a little help with their new addition to the family? Please let me know and Ill get you signed up!

So many problematic behaviours that dogs develop as they get older can siomply be avoided if you know what you are doing when you first bring a puppy home.

We see too many dogs that develop issues as they age which cause so any problems long term for themselves and their owners.

To prevent this and create a great companion you need to know what you're doing from the start! This programme is going to be very helpful for anyone that has just gotten a new pup.

I have a foster pup that I will be training alongside the participants and so I will be sharing all that I do and know when it comes to raising a puppy.

If you would like more info or to sign up please email me [email protected] and I will get it sorted.

There is a very limited number of puppies I am accepting so let me know sooner rather than later.

Cheers!

21/06/2024

Our next Puppy Pre School course is now enrolling! Classes will be starting 6th July in Silverdale! 🤗

This 5 week course is designed to help you get the best out of these very important early weeks with your puppy

What you will learn:
⭐️ What socialisation really is and how to implement it well
⭐️ How to read your puppy's body language
⭐️ How to build behaviour and teach them 'all the good' stuff
⭐️ How to prevent your puppy learning the 'not so good' stuff
⭐️ How to get the very best out of your puppy and what to expect during their development
⭐️ What good play looks like and how to manage dog to dog interactions in public
⭐️ Basic foundation training for recall / loose leash walking /Sit/ Down

These classes will be kept small so spaces are limited. Email [email protected] now to secure your space 😉

12/06/2024

Our July Puppy Pre School is enrolling now 🐾

20/05/2024

Very excited to announce our Puppy Pre School will be starting 1st June in Silverdale! 🤗

This 4 week course is designed to help you get the best out of these very important early weeks with your puppy

What you will learn:
⭐️ What socialisation really is and how to implement it well
⭐️ How to read your puppy's body language
⭐️ How to build behaviour and teach them 'all the good' stuff
⭐️ How to prevent your puppy learning the 'no so good' stuff
⭐️ How to get the very best out of your puppy and what to expect during their development
⭐️ What good play looks like and how to manage dog to dog interactions in public
⭐️ Basic foundation training for recall / loose leash walking /Sit/ Down

These classes will be kept small so spaces are limited. Get in touch now to secure your space 😉

Looking forward to meeting you all! 🐾

Certified dog trainer providing training and behaviour modification in person and online

12/02/2024

I went through a period of a few years recently, living with chronic pain.

During this time my behaviour changed. A lot.

I was more sensitive to touch and would react if I thought someone might be about to bump into me or even just touch me on some days.

I lost a lot of confidence and would become hesitant (sometimes fearful) if I needed to do something that might trigger my pain in some way or there was a chance I might fall and cause more damage.

I didn’t always want to do things when people asked me to and my overall ability to cope with stress reduced dramatically.

All these things affected my quality of life and I became a bit of a miserable sod. Sometimes I resorted to coping mechanisms that were not entirely healthy.

I tried so many times to get in shape and modify my behaviour to live a better life and I just couldn’t do it. It’s hard to try and make progress when pain can be such a huge variable from one day to the next.

Pain changes behaviour. Sometimes it might be big dramatic changes that appear to come on very quickly. Sometimes it might be a lot more subtle or a bit of a slow hum that starts to creep up over time.

While I fully appreciate that we are not supposed to anthropomorphise our dogs, sometimes we really need to put ourselves in our dog’s experience of life to have a chance at understanding what they may be going through so we can help them.

Pain isn’t an emotion. It’s an actual and very real sensation felt by all sentient beings at some point and to some degree. Chronic pain has the ability to make us even more sensitive to acute pain.

Possible pain and underlying health issues should always be a priority consideration for any trainer working with you and your dog. Good trainers know how much of an impact these things can have on behaviour.

The hard thing with many dogs is that they can be incredibly stoic. Sometimes the dopamine released by doing something fun in the moment can be a much bigger pay off than the avoidance of doing something that afterwards may make pain worse (or more difficult when that dopamine isn’t around).

To make things even more 🤯 for us as pet guardians, physical examinations can make it very difficult to assess some underlying pain.

Some dogs just find physical exams so stressful that they do whatever they need to, to get it over with. Including being very still and showing very little reaction to the stranger bending their limbs around or prodding and poking them.

My experience with my own pain showed me that sometimes a second opinion is needed. Multiple trips to the GP resulted in me being told there was nothing wrong with me.

It was only after a referral from and incredible physio for an MRI that the cause of my pain and necessity for surgery was detected.

It’s okay if you as an owner wish to get a second (even third or fourth) opinion on whether your dog may be struggling with an underlying health issue or pain also.

If I hadn’t advocated for myself, I would still be living with that pain every day (and I had the ability to communicate verbally with those around me how much my life was being impacted). Our dogs don’t have that luxury…

So it’s up to us to advocate for them and make sure they are as healthy and pain free as possible.

This should always be the first thing we address before we start trying to change our dog’s behaviour to make our own lives easier. Even something we go back and reassess regularly throughout that journey as we get better at watching and reading our dogs 🐾

29/12/2023

Is socialisation what you think it is?

I nipped into my local pet shop today to stock up on some treats for my clients. As I entered I saw a beautiful Kelpie puppy who must have been around 15 weeks old.

The first thing I noticed was what a stunning puppy she was (can’t help myself, it’s the ears!). Then I noticed how ‘wired’ she was.

Her owner was paying at the till and pup was struggling at the very opposite end of the leash, desperately trying to get at the world around her. Neither of them had any clue of what the other was doing.

I instantly knew my proximity to this puppy was not going to set either her or her owner up for success, so I swiped a few feet to the right.

As soon as my movement captured this puppy’s eye, she turned in fast beaming excitement and launched her full body weight at me. Her poor mum being yanked to the side as she struggled to carry her shopping and manage a very over excited young puppy.

I gave them even more room.

To some that may seem strange. Surely it’s important for that puppy to meet as many people as possible during that all important socialisation period?

Well no, it’s not. The quality of what she’s learning from an individual experience is.

If I hadn’t moved and puppy had gained access to me (no matter how nice and friendly I am) I would have made that lovely lady’s job so much more difficult.

Arguably more difficult in that moment but absolutely more difficult longer term.

What would pup have learned? That other people are way more interesting than mum? That I can throw my weight around and it gets me closer to the lady who smells like sausages? And that the pet shop is “THE BEST PARTY EVERR!”?.

If she were to continue being put in situations where it’s too much for her and she’s always trying to get at what she wants and being forcibly stopped by a leash there’s also a chance she might learn leashes and harnesses are yucky because “they stop me getting to the things I want”. That constant frustration in these early experiences could bring with it a whole host of other issues down the line.

Is all socialisation good socialisation?

I really dislike the label “socialisation”. It feeds into this myth that, in those all important first weeks, a pup must go everywhere, see everything and meet every dog, no matter who our puppy is as an individual.

We could talk about how impactful genetics/ early experiences of Mum and Pup are here and yes they are incredibly important to consider as part of the ‘whole dog’ picture. But ultimately socialisation comes down to what that individual baby dog in front of you needs to learn how to navigate the world

There is no one size fits all. It should look slightly different for every puppy.

I see countless puppies happy to be calmly cradled while their owners shop in that pet store. I see other older puppies calmly exploring on a leash in that store. That’s what they need.
But what they need during their critical socialisation period is very different to what the pup I saw today needs. And that might be different again to what your puppy needs. Quality of learning for that individual pup over quantity of experiences wins every time.

Yes pups need to learn to navigate the world and be exposed to crazy things this modern world might expose them to. But if they can’t calmly explore or watch the world around them, or they have no clue you exist in a particular environment then it’s good to reassess early on how you’re doing things.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by knowing what to do to help your pup learn to navigate the world don’t wait to reach out for help from a good, skilled & knowledgeable trainer that has your dog’s welfare at heart. Those first weeks count for a lot 🐾

22/11/2023

There is so much beautiful communication taking place in this video between Tilly and her Mum 🥹

Tilly doesn’t always like to be touched and historically would escalate her behaviour to prevent/stop people from touching her when she just wanted to be left alone 🦈 🦷

With a few little adjustments to
how Tilly’s family physically interact with her she has now learnt that she has some autonomy over how and when she is patted and that she doesn’t need to use her teeth to say no. The beautiful result of that is this video.

Tilly’s family ask her when she wants to be petted. If she wants some lovin she’ll let them know and if she doesn’t, she now chooses a very different behaviour to say ‘no thank you’ and Tilly’s incredible parents are more than happy to accomodate that choice.

You’ll notice her Mum stops petting every few seconds to check Tilly is still enjoying the interaction and Tilly is using her behaviour beautifully to say ‘more please’.

I’m so proud of this team and how far they have come in a relatively short space of time. They are so in-tune with the subtle behaviours their girl shows and incredibly dedicated to helping her feel happier day to day.

Can you guys adopt me too now please? 😁

17/11/2023

It’s easy to get a bit too focussed on training and ‘obedience’ when it comes to our dogs if we’re struggling with their behaviour.

But most of the time it can be much more beneficial to focus on our relationship with our animals and finding ways to help them feel happier as a priority.

It’s a lot easier to change behaviour when a dog is happy and having all of their needs met 😉

Thanks so much to for giving Willow and I the chance to just have some fun today 🐾

14/11/2023

What do you do when you catch your dog doing something they are not supposed to?

Is it really difficult to interrupt them and get them back with you? Sometimes even stressful?

I get it. Here’s a few things that help with Roo when she’s doing something I’d rather she didn’t (like digging up all the veggies Dad spent ages planting 😬)

The first thing we do is prioritise management A LOT. That means Roo doesn’t just get left to practice those 🙄 things when we’re not around.

We’ve taught her a really solid recall should management fail and to enable us to give her more freedom.

We make a conscious effort to maintain important cues (such as recall) by giving her something she loves when she performs the behaviour associated with that cue. For example if she recalls in from the the garden I’ll grab a little treat from the tub by the door. Easy as.

Because Roo has a really big reinforcement history for these behaviours, it means it’s much more likely that if she’s doing something I don’t want to her to do (but something she enjoys)I stand a better chance at getting her to come away without any stress or big feelings for either of us.

The next thing I do is consider, what that behaviour she did was telling me? If I look at this particular example it’s that she’s probably in need of some extra enrichment today.

So to meet that need I might scatter her breakfast around the garden and in her digging pit to give her an opportunity to forage for food and dig.

Then I might give her a card board box to kill so she can practice some of her natural hunting behaviours such as biting, shaking, and dissecting. I’ll stay with her while she does this though so I can cheer her on and make sure she doesn’t try and ingest any of it (yep she’s one of those 😅). She might get another little scatter of treats after that.

Then we might have a play session where she gets to practice lots of stalking, chasing and biting again. We’ll make it fun but perhaps include some of her cues (like recall and wait). This way I have an opportunity to keep them strong by following it up with Roo’s favourite thing, toys. Doing this also helps Roo get lots of practice at responding to cues when she’s in a more aroused state and maybe not able to think and respond so clearly. Most importantly we both have loads of bloody fun.

Meeting her needs this way means on days like today she knows there’s value in coming to me when I call her. Even if digging Dad’s veggies is another option 😬

Meeting another dogs needs might look different to the above. But if there’s things you’re struggling with in terms of your dogs behaviour it’s wise to ask yourself, ‘are there little things like this I can do to maybe help them feel a bit happier?’. Behaviour improves when needs are met. It’s not the whole part of it but it’s gonna make things a whole lot easier for both of you 🐾

12/11/2023

The belief that shoving your hand in a dog’s face is the best way to let them get to know you is so damaging and dangerous. But it’s also so deeply ingrained into our dog loving culture that it’s the right thing to do.

It’s not. It’s dangerous. At best a dog may tolerate it, at worst, a dog may resort to using the only way they know how to tell you to keep your hands to yourself.

Contrary to popular belief a dog approaching you to sniff you is also not an invitation to get your fingers all up in their grill.

(Apologies to all the Daves out there who don’t feel the need to get all ‘jazz hands’ in dogs faces but got lumped in for the purpose of my point 😬 💙. Those Daves are awesome)

05/11/2023

👌

04/11/2023

Rehoming Dogs…

I feel so many emotions when I see a person who’s posted about re-homing a dog and others feel the need to comment hurtful, judgemental things.
The main one is disappointment.

Disappointment that the person making the comment often hasn’t given much thought to the person on the other side of that post and the utter emotional turmoil they are likely in at having to re-home their dog.

In all of the cases I’ve experienced of re-homing, it was the kindest, most loving thing that person could have done to give that dog a chance at a better life.

My own girl Roo was a re-home and I am grateful every single day to her first family. I am grateful to them because they tried so hard to do everything to meet Roo’s needs and they were incredibly loving. I am grateful also to them that they made the heartbreaking decision they did to re-home Roo. She would never have come into my life if they hadn’t.

If they hadn’t made that hard choice, I would not have this incredible dog who has taught me so much about, not only dog training and behaviour but life in general.

It’s really easy to jump to an assumption about a post we might see on re-homing or feel a certain type of way about the individual posting. But one thing that is important to remember before commenting is that that post is not the whole picture and that it is not “all how you raise them”.

In fact, it being “all how you raise them” couldn’t be further from the truth. Genetics matter, environment matters, learning history matters and who your dog is as an individual matters. And more importantly, how all of those things come together matters. We can forget that the needs of the human part of the relationship matter too.

The individual on that post might have considered all of this and done all of the research and tried really hard but life has thrown them a curveball.

It might be that they have spent 100’s of dollars on trying to learn how to meet that dog’s needs. They may have spent weeks playing through what that dog’s life might look like in a home that could meet more of those needs. Or cried and lost sleep over the fact they have to say goodbye to their best friend in order to help them.

Yes there are always going to be those who do not deserve dogs or try to re-home irresponsibly. I don’t speak for them.

But don’t always assume that is the case from one post. That person very likely loves that dog and wants the best for them and their family. That post might just be the hardest thing they’ve ever had to do 🐾

25/09/2023

🛑 How do I stop my dog from…

15/09/2023

Training isn’t always just about training 😁

11/09/2023

𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜

For Roo I’ve created the habit of voluntarily checking in with me, especially if she’s starting to feel a bit spicy and there’s things that may dare to move around her (insubordinate 🦆 trying to get out of theirs rows! How dare they, right Roo?).

We do this ‘habit’ pretty much every time we are out walking and even when we’re not. The habit I’ve created for Roo is each time something new changes in the environment run back to me instead of getting your knickers in a twist and telling everyone off 👮‍♀️

𝙏𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨…

𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 🙅🏼‍♀️
For example if there’s a chance your dog will blow off your recall use a longline while you’re teaching them what to do instead.

𝙐𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩 🥓⚽️as much as possible. If you want that behaviour strong you will make your job so much easier if your dog knows ‘this cue/behaviour = good s**t’. All the time, not just when you give up calling them in and wave the treat bag at the back door (no judgement, we’ve all been there 😁)

♻️ 𝙋𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 ‘𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩’ 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 (don’t forget the ‘good s**t’ bit above).

𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧
🥳 Throw in easy wins. No one likes leg day everyday.

🎧 𝙏𝙧𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜 𝙗𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙪𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣.
Go back and check you’ve actually taught them the thing you’re asking? If the answer is yes go back anyway and consider if there’s something under the hood that might be affecting your dog’s ability to respond.

🐶 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜!
Play with them, figure out what makes them tick. and teach them that learning with you is pretty cool.

👀 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙜
Like really look at them. Get to know the individual ways they communicate how they might be feeling with so many subtle behaviours and shifts in their body language. Learn to listen to the whispers, don’t wait for the screams.

📈 𝘽𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩
You can’t feed them scraps at the table occasionally and then get annoyed if they start to hang out there waiting for more good stuff. That’s a bit confusing 🤯

🖤🤍 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨
This is a snapshot of behaviour. Will Roo now make excellent choices all day long in every scenario? No. Not at all.

But the habits we’re creating make for much nicer experiences for both of us☺️

09/09/2023

Sometimes she does the cutest things to say ‘please’ and I want to squish her.

But I like my fingers so I don’t

The end

😂

08/09/2023

Teaching a dog to self disengage from a trigger does not need to look exciting, dramatic or even TikTok ♥️ worthy.

In fact if we are setting a dog up for success it usually looks pretty bloody boring. Like this video 😂

But, there is so much going on here and so many little choices being made by me (and Willow) that went into making it pretty bloody boring.

This session was only a minute but I’ve slowed it down to show just a few of the training decisions that were made here.

The trigger Willow is looking at is 8 excited, off leash Border Collies that had just exploded out of the back of a Ute onto the field we were working in. (I know right?! 💩 Worst nightmare!😂)

After using our ‘let’s go’ cue to get distance I was able to see these Collies were actually under incredible control, none of them had any interest in us and the owner kept a great distance from us.

More importantly I was able to see Willow. Was she coping? Taking food? Able to play? Yes. In fact she was at that sweet spot where she’s under threshold but just close enough to it that it’s a little bit difficult.

I don’t have a dramatic before video. I work really hard to ensure my clients don’t go over that threshold. And if something happens and they do, all of my focus is on trying to help them out of that situation.

There are always so many things to consider to helping dogs with big feelings but the training choices we make when we are considering the physical and emotional well being of the dog rarely make for very dramatic or ‘entertaining’ viewing.

But for us, this session was huge and there were so many wins. Well done Willow you absolute babe 🐾

17/08/2023

I absolutely love this post from Jennifer


If you’re struggling with going through behaviour modification with your dog or they have big feelings about something, she gets it.

As an owner going through long term behaviour modification with her gorgeous dog Dax, she’s been through it all. I love her content as you get to see the reality of the challenges that can come with behaviour modification for you lovely lot. The human side.

Yes we make a priority to try and meet all of our dogs needs when they are going through some stuff 🥺 but you matter too.

Sometimes it can be really lonely and if progress is gradual, it can be easy to feel like you’re doing it all wrong. You’re not.

If you’re feeling like you need a pick me up remember, progress isn’t linear…and go give Jen a follow.

Thank you for sharing your amazing journey Dax and Jen. You guys are just the best team 🐾

07/08/2023

Living with a high drive dog with behaviour challenges…

I recently looked back at this video from last year and came away with a few thoughts.

Firstly how far Roo has come. She’s 3 now and on the other side of adolescence. She’s sooo much easier to co-exist in semi harmony with now😅

But that doesn’t mean training with her is over.

She’s the kind of dog that will likely need close to lifelong “training” or some form of management. But this is not because she needs fixing or because I want her to be anything other than the incredible dog she is.

It’s because she needs it. I need it. Our relationship needs it. We are very similar in that sense. We both need our brains exercising or we start to get up to mischief 😅

The other thing that struck me was how much these unflashy tricks actually play in my day to day life in living with a dog that was so not designed for this modern pet dog life.

All of these cues that Roo knows really well now (and has been paid handsomely for) have been practiced a lot, just to give us both a chance to keep our brains sharp.

But they’ve been practiced a lot when we don’t need them, in every day life and I still choose to give Roo something yum or fun for doing them. Why? Because they allow us to live together with as little conflict as possible. Sometimes the things she wants to do have potential to put hers or my safety at risk. These cues often provide us a middle ground that allows us to navigate those situations especially when the 💩 has potential to hit the fan.

Here are just a few of the ways these tricks help us avoid pi***ng each other off in daily life:

🏠 🧠
I need you not to eat that thing I just dropped on the floor “in your crate”. Great now you get a handful of treats in the crate away from the thing while I pick it up. Then we’re gonna go play because ‘what a legend’.

I need you to move over here … “touch”. Great, here’s a treat now I can weigh you at the vets without yanking your leash or physically forcing you onto the scales when you’re already feeling stressed.
⚖️

I want to take a cute picture of you “Paws Up” 😅 here’s a treat for indulging your mum’s 500th picture of you that day.

We’re not chasing those birds guarding their nest Roo “leave that”. Great now you get to chase this toy instead and have some fun with me 😉

Yes there’s a lot more to living with a dog like Roo safely. Buts it not about fixing her or making sure she ‘knows her place’. It’s about finding ways we can live together safely and in a way that meets both of our needs. And sometimes we both just need snacks 😬

10/07/2023

Let’s face it, it can feel pretty overwhelming trying to fit everything we need to in a day.

The kids need sorting, you’ve got zoom calls coming out of your ears, the washing needs doing and oh yeah 🤔 did you drink enough water and exercise today?

It’s really tough trying to do all the basics, let alone create new habits that we’ve never really had to before.

If you have the resources a good trainer can really help with things if you’re struggling with your dogs behaviour. But the reality is, your dogs are learning all day long so one hour a week with a trainer isn’t going to make much difference by itself.

Building behaviour is a bit like trying to build muscle at the gym. One session alone at the gym with a PT isn’t going to give you bigger biceps. But making some easy key, consistent changes to your lifestyle and training regularly each week is.

For almost everything you might be struggling with, there’s going to have to be some changes you make at home to create any real longer term behaviour change in your dog.

Easier said than done I know but here’s a few tips that can make training a little easier and help keep you consistent when you already have a lot to do 😉 🐾

05/05/2023

What do you do when you NEED ALL THE TOYS but only have one mouth?
Adapt, improvise, overcome 🥇

03/05/2023

“That dog needs training”

I see this comment on various Facebook threads so often and it always makes my eye twitch a little.

There’s a few reasons it makes me look like I’ve just sucked on a lemon or sat on my keys.

Yes, very often the dog in the video would likely benefit from good training where the quality of life of the dog and the owner is prioritised. But this comment irks me because it’s often accompanied with very questionable advice or other statements that show a limited understanding of canine behaviour and the multiple factors that can and do have an impact on how our dogs behave.

It also perpetuates the myth that training just ‘fixes’ everything (often with the expectation this happens in just a couple of sessions).

Many people would look at snapshots of Roo’s behaviour and say “that dog needs training”. Take this video of me doing my post surgery re-hab for example.

Many would believe that a dog who thinks it’s okay to start trying to bite (however gently) Mum’s foot is not acceptable. Before I became a trainer I too would have believed that and that training would ‘fix’ this.

Roo isn’t doing this because she ‘thinks it’s okay’ or because she’s not had any training.

She’s had a lot of training and in many situations is now able to do something other than what multiple systems in her body are telling her to do. Herd that s**t! (or get frustrated for not being able to do so).

The reality is, Roo is always going to be triggered by movement. She is genetically wired to be responsive to it or things in her environment and to use her behaviour to impact that movement.

Training has given me the tool of being able to ask Roo to do something else.

Training doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be new things that she hasn’t experienced before and her brain defaults to what she was designed to do. Training isn’t going to take that away. The next time I do my re-hab I’ll ask her onto her bed before I start to give her a little more clarity and the opportunity to practice what I’d like her to do instead.

Training is a journey for us, not a 2 session bish bash bosh job.

Roo will likely always need a bit of micro management in new situations until she learns “ah okay this is actually my job in this situation”. She’s a working dog. She thrives on being told what to do and I’m happy to help her learn.

So while training isn’t going to give me a lazy Basset Hound that just wants to nap on the sofa all day and has no desire to destroy my broom, it is going to give my dog a repertoire of skills and alternative behaviours that make learning how to cope in this world she wasn’t designed for a lot easier. For both of us 😅