Pet Pro Trainer

23/01/2025

Sisters! They're quite different girls, but I think they understand each other just fine 🐶🦴

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22/01/2025

When I saw it was a friends birthday today, Winnie had to send best wishes for rescuing her 8 years ago! We are forever grateful for the rescuers, the ones that stop, that patiently coax, that take time out of their day to help dogs wandering, hungry and/or unloved. Those that find them families or return them to their loved ones! We are forever grateful! Much love from Winnie the Pooh

22/01/2025

Something that comes up very, very often with behaviour enquiries is anxiety!
But what is anxiety and what does it look like?
The definition of anxiety is ..." a feeling of fear, dread or discomfort around a perceived threat or anticipated trauma" . Very often the response to the 'trigger'(a thing or set of circumstances that the dog considers predictive of possible danger) seems over the top in respect to how we perceive the situation... but to the dog... the threat is very real!
Sometimes dogs can have so many potential triggers that the feeling of dread is generalised to many things and the dog doesn't have adequate chance to decompress or relax. A dog in this kind of state for extended periods of time can be very detrimental to their health due to the high elevation of some hormones.
Now I'm not saying that every behaviour problem has anxiety at the root cause of it but its definitely something we should watch out for.
So what does it 'look' like?
Dogs display anxiety in different ways. There may be tension around the facial muscles, panting, pacing, hyper vigilance, hyper activity (can't keep still) OR a dog may strongly internalise those feelings and sort of shut down...and how then, do we work with it?
Again, the answer is a frustrating "it depends!" . No 2 dogs are alike. However these are the key points I work with initially.
1. Assess - what is the trigger and is there past history?
2. Safety - how are the behaviours expressed and do we need to take safety precautions before working on the training.
3. Confidence - Can we help the dog to feel confident in unrelated ways? Can we boost confidence and the ability to push thru their comfort zone (in other small ways) and succeed?
4. Responsiveness and engagement - can we boost our ability to work as a team? This takes trust and lots of practice but ultimately if you want to show your dog a new way to deal with a situation, you need them present with you to give them guidance.

seeing it from the dogs POV also really helps. Most of the time the dogs aren't being awkward or stubborn; they aren't 'acting out'; they are just doing the best they can with the knowledge and skills they have.
Do you have a dog you believe suffers from anxiety and how is that displayed in their behaviour?

22/01/2025

We're hiding from the sun 🌞🫣
On hot days like this we take the shady route that follows a stream, perfect for keeping cool!

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21/01/2025

First morning, mr D getting reintroduced to the girls and the first teeny session of ‘keep this on your nose for treats’ with the head halter. This boy is big and strong and has the impulse control of an adolescent lemming, so we want to condition him to the head halter for a little extra control when needed.

21/01/2025

When does your relationship bank pay off?
The answer usually is, ‘ when something goes terribly wrong’
Newly back from the vets and still feeling a bit chuffed (that’s pleased for anyone not understanding the slang) that Winnie’s gum has started healing really nicely, filling up watering can when I turn to see Winnie dancing around with a garden fence panel attached to her. She was getting increasingly panicked and more tightly stuck the more she tried to get out.
In the dim past we trained an emergency stop so I quickly turned the water off, yelled “stop” loudly several times and got my hands on her. She calmed instantly but did cry a little whimper. Managed to pick her and the fence up in one piece and call for a helping hand. Winnie was tightly in there at this point and I didn’t know if I could keep her calm and try to pry her out. Fence was so tight (she’d pushed her whole head and shoulders through before the pressure presumably pulled it free of the ground)and I was worried about pulling her hair with the wire.
Thankfully she stayed calm and the wire eventually gave way at the join after some pulling.
The ordeal reminded me that relationship and trust matter, it matters in the good times and most definitely matters in bad times.
No pick of Winnie stuck in a fence cause how could I but here she is recovering and refusing to go back near that nasty fence that bit her 😞

21/01/2025

Is this a lion in our jungle of a garden?
No, it’s another board n train visitor!
Meet Mr. D!

19/01/2025

I’m literally sitting here watching chickens. Behaviour is fascinating! Whereas the bigger chooks want to challenge the new girl, the other little red hen, who was fairly feral on arrival is skirting around her and sprinting past cautiously. Time and patience and just keeping an eye on things so they don’t go too far is my strategy. The new hen is confident but usually sensible to know she’s no match physically for the big girls. So we work with management, barriers and gentle integration. Of course chickens are not dogs but the principle of bringing a new dog into the home follows the same principles. Residents should feel comfortable that they aren’t being challenged for the things they have, comfortable beds, access to attention, food of their own for in that comfort is security and certainty which is the basis for good relationships down the line.
If you are bringing in new pups or dogs and have resident dogs already and you want some help with setting a foundation for good relationships down the line, drop us a line ;)

19/01/2025

It's so much fun to play with a frisbee! Woody is very sensible though and finds time to rest too 🐶🐾

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19/01/2025

💭Ok the treat is worth it 😋

I love this big goof 🐶!

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19/01/2025

💭when is she gonna give me that treat? 🦴

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17/01/2025

There's nothing quite like that feeling 😂

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16/01/2025

What a beautiful day for a walk! ☀️ 🐾 ❤️

16/01/2025

If you're finding the thought of going back to work daunting, take a moment to think about how the change in routine might effect your dogs!
Most dogs have had it good over the holidays with a lot more company and engagement from their people. If a lot of that is going away with the return to work next week, lets at least take the weekend to prep them...
1. Ease into it! Think about your schedule and try to transition your dog by giving them smaller absences now.
2. Start adding in food toys (if you'll use them) with these smaller absences, maybe even with you in a different part of the house. If we pair a food toy straight away with a days absence, you can emotionally 'poison' the presence of the toy/food
3. Provide adequate exercise before hand even if that means getting up a little earlier. Needs being met go a long way to help the dog start in a good place.
4. Make provisions now for long days. have a standby option if your regular walker isn't available. Although most dogs sleep a good portion of the day, they still crave company and I make it a good rule to not leave my dogs more that 4-6 hours (much less if I can help it).
5. Age appropriate considerations! Puppies should have supervision for most of their day esp. the young ones so if you are getting a pup but starting work make sure you have a carer to help in the first month or so. Older dogs require less, maybe sleep more, so their needs may be different. Adolescents require a lot more stimulation as a rule but they also require rest and recuperation to try to ensure they have the right balance.
I hope you have a good start back to the year and you manage to ease your dogs back into their new 'old' routine.

16/01/2025

We have rolling enrolment until next Saturday on these puppy classes so sign up and get your puppy the best start in life!
bookwhen.com/petprotrainer to register :)

Learn and Play Groups Will be selectively arranged ! Another set of Puppy classes start in January: 3 practical sessions at Island Bay Scout Hall in Berhampore.

16/01/2025

Got a few spots left for the puppy class starting this Saturday in island bay for anyone in Wellington with rolling enrolment til next week so spread the word if you know anyone. 🙂
bookwhen.com/petprotrainer to register

16/01/2025

Poor old Winnie had to have a badly cracked tooth extracted. She’s on ‘soup’ for a while. I’m forever thankful that she’s an extremely good patient. My vet visits have not always been so smooth… I feel penniless but lucky ;)

13/01/2025

Greyt , aren’t they! I have some questions tho. Such noble and amazing creatures are the greyhounds and very much in the fire front of the media recently due to the ban on racing. My interest lies in the pet greys. Do they need a specific exercise regime? How many trick greys do we have out there?
Grey people? How do you keep you hounds in tip too mental and physical condition… aka happy and healthy :)