AVS and IAABC Accredited Dog Trainer. Fear Free Certified Trainer. Certified Family Dog Mediator
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Motivating Canine offers a range of 1 to 1 private Fear Free training services to help your furkid. Apart from general dog training, Motivating Canine specialises in attending to rescued dogs of all ages through motivational techniques. These techniques use rewards and positive reinforcement to mould a dog's behaviour, rather than fear and punishment. Our Trainer Jennifer is IAABC Accredited Dog T
rainer, AVS Accredited Dog Trainer, Fear Free Certified Professional Trainer, Certified Family Dog Mediator. Being a member of IAABC, members are to adhere to the use of LIMA, also known as least intrusive, minimally aversive training methods. This means creating training plans with the most humane and effective training methods that are most likely to succeed in the training or behavior change. LIMA does not justify the use of punishment in lieu of other effective interventions and strategies. In the vast majority of behavior cases, desired behavior change can be affected by focusing on the animal’s environment, physical well-being, and operant and classical interventions such as differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior, desensitization, and counter-conditioning. Motivating Canine understands the possible worries, stresses or frustrations that resulted from the dog's behavioural issues. The goal for Motivating Canine is to help dog owners and their dogs build a healthier long-term relationship with better understanding, trust and bond through motivation, positive association, fear free and reward base training methods.
Behaviour Modification
DSCC protocol by Toto's mom and family helper: To help Toto with his reactivity towards dogs by using positive association, desensitization, and counter-conditioning. The goal is to elicit positive conditioned emotional responses in Toto when he sees dogs, so he learns that encountering dogs leads to good things and there's no need to react to make them go away. Toto did excellently well while observing the beagle sitting under the bench.
Congratulations to Toshi and his pawrents on the completion of Puppy Foundation and Basic Obedience Programme!
Beautiful Ellie is a shy girl. She has yet to comfortably open up fully to her adoptive family. They are giving her the space and time to work on her confidence so she can open up to them completely with trust.
During our session, we guided Ellie's family on how to help Ellie learn positively about things that she is wary of, and how to help her cope better. We demonstrated how to conduct DSCC with some of the things she fears like plastic bags and movement of the curtain.
In the meantime, Ellie's family will work on conditioning the harness so Ellie can be comfortable wearing it instead of going into freeze mode once the harness is worn. When she is ready, we will then have our outdoor session. Hope to see you soon Ellie!
Panda and his adoptive family are a perfect match made in heaven. Panda is an extremely calm and collected boy with a happy-go-lucky spirit. His family exudes the same energy, and they adore Panda deeply, providing him with the best care and love.
During our session, we demonstrated how to teach Panda the "leave it" cue as requested. Panda was such a fast learner that he picked it up very quickly. We then had his mummy take over and continue the training.
We think Panda's family is truly awesome, and we are honored to meet another wonderful family who opened their home to a Singapore Special.
Occasionally, we encounter cases that break our hearts when we learn about the dogs' difficult pasts. However, it warms our hearts to know that these dogs are now in better hands, living better lives filled with immense love and understanding from their new families.
Smokey has an incredibly sad history of neglect and abuse. At the age of 10, when dogs should be enjoying their senior years comfortably with their families, Smokey was given up. He had a bad skin condition, was sensitive to touch, showed a high level of distrust especially if it involved physical contact, and had a fear of being outdoors. His new adoptive mummy looked past these challenges and is slowly nursing him back to health, building his trust and confidence.
During our sessions with Smokey, his new mummy, and their family helper, we provided guidance and demonstrated how to carry out various cooperative care and conditioning exercises to gradually work on building Smokey's trust towards having his collar and harness put on, as well as having his paws wiped.
We were genuinely impressed with the love and patience of Smokey's humans. They diligently worked on the assigned tasks, and we could see the difference within a week.
Having been kept away for 10 years, Smokey gets very stressed and struggles to cope when outdoors. Building confidence takes time hence his humans will work on outdoor socialization through gradual habituation. When he is ready, we will then work on decompression walks and loose leash handling.
We look forward to seeing you again soon, Smokey!
Jisoo is a rescue from Korea, and the meaning of her name is "Wisdom and Beautiful," which aptly suits her.
We had a great time with Jisoo and her mummy, Jisoo quickly learned the game of DSCC protocol and fully engaged with us as we showed her mummy how to use DSCC to build Jisoo's confidence through positive reinforcement.
We also appreciate how Jisoo's owner believes that because it's Jisoo's walk, it's important to encourage sniffing and decompression walks.
Jisoo is truly fortunate to have found herself in a loving home with amazing pawrents.
Behaviour Modification
Ankle biting can be reinforcing to the dog if they achieve a reaction from the human that they bit. Being bitten constantly at the ankle can be painful and frustrating to the person.
During our session with Mocha, we guided his humans on how to reinforce walking around the humans instead of biting the ankle.
Mocha is a fast learner and he quickly learned that walking and stopping beside the human is more reinforcing without biting.
Yuki the Jindo is so fortunate to have found herself a loving home with wonderful people who adore her to the deepest. Our sessions with Yuki and her humans will be to guide them on helping Yuki build confidence and learn basic skills.
Sora would previously mouth her mummy because Sora didn't like the hairdryer. After much conditioning efforts from her mummy, we are happy to receive an update that Sora can ignore the hairdryer and no longer mouth her mummy's hands to get her to back off.
"Hi Jen, thanks for the guidance. I have managed to blow sora without her mouthing me!!! So happy!"
Behaviour Modification
One of the behavior challenges that Chester's family faced was his reaction to being touched. Chester developed a habit of nipping at hands that tried to touch him, which became a problem when his humans tried to groom or leash him.
Dogs can develop negative associations with hands if they link them to uncomfortable or fearful situations.
During our session with Chester and his family, we explained the reason behind his behavior and guided them on how to help Chester feel comfortable with the humans' hands through positive associations.
We're happy that Chester's humans now understand him better and will patiently work with him to rebuild their bond and improve his confidence.
Puppy Foundation Programme
Welcoming Lottie the Cockerpoo puppy who has joined us for his Puppy Foundation Programme! At a young age, Lottie has begun displaying resource-guarding behaviours. We spent our first session guiding his pawrents on the prevention protocol and teaching Lottie the "Leave It" cue. Lottie is a fast learner and understood the desired behaviour very quickly.
Behaviour Modification
When introducing a new dog to a home with an existing dog, it can be stressful for both dogs, especially if there is an energy mismatch, with one being extremely active while the other prefers to be alone.
During our session with Nono and Yoyo, we guided their owner on safety management, how to avoid creating negative associations for the dogs, and how to help each dog learn about each other positively.
Lack of management can lead to scuffles, causing tension and possibly escalating into fights over time. The home becomes a stressful environment for them to live in, and long-term stress can be detrimental to their health. It's important to never leave the dogs to sort it out themselves because they may learn to defend and protect themselves, as nobody helped them get out of difficult situations with the other dog.
Life Skill Advance Obedience Programme
Being a large dog, it can be challenging if Lobster pulls. We had Lobster wear a harness instead of her previous walking tool which can cause discomfort thus leading to negative association and potential injury. Here is Lobster walking on a loose leash with her mummy and she can respond better to her mummy.
Congratulations to Lobster for acing the Life Skill Advance Obedience Programme. Thank you for the slurpy love. Stay goofy and cool always!
Behaviour Modification
Sora the Borderdoodle does not like to be brushed or have the hair dryer used on her. When she doesn't like something, she mouths her mummy's hands to get her to stop.
During our session with Sora, we showed Sora's mummy how to do cooperative care in small steps to help Sora have positive associations with the brush and the hair dryer.
Sora's mummy now understands how to help Sora learn positively and will continue to work on the cooperative care exercises we recommended.
By the end of the session, while we were talking to Sora's mummy, Sora started nudging and pawing the brush for treats. This was a change from the beginning of the session when she would flinch and avoid the brush. Well done Sora!
Life Skill Advance Obedience Programme
Meet Lobster, the Great Dane. She's a gentle giant, extremely sweet and goofy. She's loved and adored not only by her family, but also by her neighbors. Lobster completed her Lifeskill Advance Obedience Programme with us and aced it like a champion!
Due to family scheduling reasons, we will have fewer training slots available from 24th May 2024 to 29th July 2024. Our weekend slots are still available as usual. There will be no weekday slots during this period.
Thank you and any inconvenience caused is regretted!
Behaviour Modification
Dubu and her mummy on loose leash and decompression walk. With a longer leash, Dubu is able to respond to his mummy more and able to feel more relaxed while they both enjoy a calm walk.
Rudra the black charmer from Korea has found himself in a warm and loving home. As Rudra is still new in the home after his quarantine, we guided his family on making him feel safe, helping him adjust and integrate faster into his new home.
Honoured to meet up with a great reward based trainer and behaviour vet in taipei. Greatly appreciate their invitation and hosting us at their school. Had an awesome engagement!
Please be informed that we will be away from 6th to 14th May 2024. We will still be responding to emails and messages but do bear with us for any delays in response.
Puppy Foundation Programme
While teaching Ollie the "Leave It" and "Take It" cues, we noticed that the other dogs from the same household were observing the training session intently and social learning from Ollie. So, we took the opportunity to teach them at the same time!
Puppy Foundation Programme
Biscuit learning mat placement. Her mummy took over and continued the training after we demonstrated on how to teach and encourage waiting on the mat.
Behaviour Modification
We met up with Mantou, the Dachshund cross Spitz, and her family members to address her fear of strangers, triggers when outdoors, selective reactivity towards other dogs, and over-excitement which causes her to jump. We discussed various canine enrichment activities to promote her calmness.
We are happy that Mantou's pawrents understand her better after the session and are committed to help Mantou cope better as they want the best for her.
We will be meeting Mantou again to guide her pawrents on how to help Mantou with her triggers in the outdoor environment during her walks.
Puppy Foundation Programme
Ollie's pawrents faced a challenge when it came to walking Ollie. He refused to walk on the leash, opting instead to sit down and not move.
We replaced Ollie's short leash with a longer one and provided guidance on loose leash handling, including for their family helper. With these small changes, Ollie was able to take his longest walk without any resistance.
It's great to see the huge progress Ollie has made, and we commend their family helper for learning quickly and confidently handled the leash so well.
Butter spending her time on the snufflemat, using her nose to sniff out the food that is filled inside.
Sniffing is an activity that releases dopamine, which helps to lower the heart rate and calm dogs down.
Canine enrichment activities have various benefits for dogs. They help in building confidence, and for dogs that require such confidence-building, these activities are even more beneficial.
Sweet girl Butter is a Chow Chow puppy who is in her second phase fear period. She is relatively shy, gets startled easily, and is still warming up to her new pawrents.
During our first session, we guided Butter's pawrents on how to help Butter decompress and settle into her new home by allowing her space and time to open up to them.
We had Butter engaged with our snufflemat to activate the release of dopamine to help calm and relax her.
When we saw that Butter was getting slightly more comfortable with a more relaxed body language, we introduced a recall game with Butter to get her comfortable moving between mummy and daddy while she worked her own confidence at her own pace.
Butter's pawrents were extremely happy to see Butter more willing to go to them voluntarily and since that session, Butter began opening up more is more willing to engage with mummy and daddy.
Invitation to Paws & Play event at Hort Park.
Behaviour Modification
We had a major breakthrough with Leo! Leo was a victim who was previously chained and abused before he was rescued and rehomed. Currently, he is staying with a kind fosterer along with Bonzai while waiting for their flight date to his mummy.
Due to his past traumatic experience, Leo is highly sensitive to his neck and anything that goes over his head. This makes Leo more of a home dog than one that enjoys going for walks outside. Leo's fosterer attempted to take him for a walk, but it was challenging to handle as Leo would panic and pull hard on the leash, causing choking. Consequently, choking can cause even more negative associations with being outdoors.
We introduced Leo to a harness and put him on a longer leash to provide more freedom of movement. During our session, we guided his fosterer on how to handle a loose leash, acknowledged his check-ins for bonding, and taught her how to encourage decompression walks to allow more sniffing for Leo. Sniffing releases dopamine which relaxes Leo and helps him learn positively about the outdoor environment in a calmer state.
We were all very happy for Leo, especially his mummy who is overseas. This major breakthrough could not have happened without the love, patience and understanding of Leo's fosterer.
Well done, Leo!
It is wonderful to see Leo and Bonzai once again! These boys are very fortunate to have met a kind foster family who took them in while they wait for their flight to their mother. Our support for our clients is long term, and we are always happy to assist and guide their foster family when needed. We are all working together to ensure that the boys have a smooth journey to their loving mother who would do whatever it takes to fly the boys to her.
Tai Seng
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Behaviour Modification DSCC protocol by Toto's mom and family helper: To help Toto with his reactivity towards dogs by using positive association, desensitization, and counter-conditioning. The goal is to elicit positive conditioned emotional responses in Toto when he sees dogs, so he learns that encountering dogs leads to good things and there's no need to react to make them go away. Toto did excellently well while observing the beagle sitting under the bench.
Sora would previously mouth her mummy because Sora didn't like the hairdryer. After much conditioning efforts from her mummy, we are happy to receive an update that Sora can ignore the hairdryer and no longer mouth her mummy's hands to get her to back off. "Hi Jen, thanks for the guidance. I have managed to blow sora without her mouthing me!!! So happy!"
Puppy Foundation Programme While teaching Ollie the "Leave It" and "Take It" cues, we noticed that the other dogs from the same household were observing the training session intently and social learning from Ollie. So, we took the opportunity to teach them at the same time!
Behaviour Modification Snowy the Samoyed learns that staying on the floor is more reinforcing than jumping on the humans including their family helpers.
Puppy Foundation Programme When teaching your dog the "leave it" cue, the goal is for them to ignore any food or item completely and then deliver the reward separately. Some owners make the mistake of teaching "leave it" while placing food on the floor, then cueing "ok" for the dog to go for it. In this scenario, the correct cue to teach is "wait" instead of "leave it". Teaching "leave it" is essential to prevent the dog from picking up food, dead animals, or dangerous items outside. If the dog was previously taught to receive the reward on the ground, then they may have learned that the reward is what the guardian has cued to "leave it". Here's an example of Toshi and his dad practicing the "leave it" cue. Toshi is a fast learner and understood the desired behavior quickly.
It's not uncommon for puppies and dogs to bark, chase, or even bite vacuum cleaners if they're not comfortable around them. However, positive associations can be created by pairing the sound and movement of the vacuum cleaner with good things. Buttercup's family shared with us that she would often chase after the mop, broom, and vacuum cleaner, and they wanted to learn how to help her with this issue. It's vital to understand that what we perceive as harmless household items can be frightening to our pets. As their guardians, it's our responsibility to help them learn through positive associations to make them feel more comfortable around these stimuli. Scolding or punishing them, or leaving them to deal with it on their own, will only exacerbate their distress. We began by pairing the visual sight of the vacuum cleaner with positive reinforcement, followed by gradually introducing movement in small steps. We noticed that Buttercup was coping well, so we proceeded to introduce the sound, and eventually, we vacuumed the area. Buttercup had the choice to move away if she wanted, but she chose to stay and wait for rewards while we vacuumed. Well done, Buttercup!
Do you know that dogs can watch TV? Although dogs can see limited colours compared to humans, they can still observe sights and sounds from the TV screen. This is why some dogs barked at the TV screenings when they were not previously accustomed to seeing movements and hearing sounds from the TV. Some TV programmes have a calming effect on dogs hence the creation of DogTV which was meant to be a canine channel. DogTV programmes have been known to have a calming effect on dogs. We tried watching it before, trust us, it’s sooooo calming that we fell asleep. What was it that we were watching? Two dogs having a long stroll through the forest while doing lots of decompressing and sniffing. About thirty minutes later, they arrived on a beach and started chasing seagulls and then it was another thirty-minute stroll along the beach. Zzzzzzz…. Thinking of ways to promote calmness in your dog? Try letting them watch a canine channel. Here’s cute little Yoshi watching his favourite movie “The Lion King”. Video courtesy of Yoshi’s pawrents.
We will be collaborating with Pet Coach Singapore to take furkids for adventure outings! DM Pet Coach directly to sign up. Your dogs will be in good hands handled by Fear Free certified and AVS accredited trainers.
Silvor's family bought a bell and during our session, his mummy asked if we could teach Silvor to ring the bell for food. And Silvor manage to learn it quickly in less than a minute. His mummy is definitely impressed with Silvor!
DSCC - to Desensitize and Counter-Condition Creating positive association with the sight of dog for Wang Wang. Wang Wang was previously bitten by dogs which resulted in him learning to react and defend himself when he sights dogs. We guided his mummy on how to execute DSCC to help him feel less threatened whenever he sees a dog. During the session, we started with a further distance because Wang Wang reacted even though the assistance dog is Wang Wang's friend. As Wang Wang progressively copes better, we slowly decreased the distance. Before the end of the session, we were walking together in parallel with his Sheltie friend. We also guided his mummy on loose leash handling, how to execute emergency u-turn and how to help Wang Wang get out of situation where he finds it too hard to cope, so that he can learn to depend on his mummy to help him. Altering of emotion state takes time. Whether Wang Wang will be completely at ease with other dogs depends on him. It is not for us to determine if it is a big deal or not a big deal. How traumatic the previous bite incidents were for him, is experienced by him. What is important is for him to learn that there is no need for him to react and that his humans will help him when needed, good things happen when dogs are sighted and the good things come from his mummy so he can focus back on his mummy instead.
Hunter learning "Leave It" cue together with his mummy. Hunter learnt quickly and understood in just a few repetition. Well done Hunter!
Progress update from Alena's amazing humans. From refusing to go beyond 50 metres near the car pick up point, to able to run around the car. From inability to relax and eat near the car, to being able to take treats on the car's frame. Proud of you Alena! Celebrate small wins!
What a beautiful update received on a Monday morning from Kayla's mummy on the progress with Kayla. For years, Kayla had been self reinforcing for barking scary people away. She's re-learning that people at the door is a good thing. Well done Kayla and great efforts from her pawrents!
Coby learning mat placement and waiting at the mat while the main door is being opened. This is for Coby to learn to move away from the main door and stay at his mat instead of running towards the door to bark people away when his pawrents need to attend to delivery people at the door.
Ollie’s daddy has been actively involved in training Ollie since day one. During our previous session with Ollie, we taught him the “leave it” and “take it” cue. It took awhile for Ollie to settle down from his over excitement when we arrived, before he can calm down and start learning. Once we found that Ollie understood what is the behaviour we want when we cued “leave it”, we had his daddy take over the engagement. The “leave it” cue must be strong in the home setting before it should be attempted in the outdoor setting. Because Ollie’s daddy has been diligently doing the homework tasked, here is a video update sent by Ollie’s mummy showing Ollie leaving the food that was tossed on the floor near him. Thank you for the video update and well done to Ollie and his daddy!
We visited Alena to help her with confidence building on crossing physical barriers and addressing her fear of car rides. During Alena's daycare session, her family found that Alena struggled with crossing the physical barrier of the entrance gate at the daycare. They wanted to help Alena learn to jump over low barriers as she would rather not move and wait to be carried. We first set up a temporary soft barrier using nylon strings. This is so that in the event that her leg hits the barrier, it would not startle or scare her. Alena initially tried to remove the strings by pulling on it but didn't work. She attempted to go under but changed her mind. We spent sometime with Alena inside her confinement area to gradually build up the engagement with us. Eventually, we demonstrated to her how to cross over and Alena did it! When trying to build confidence for the dog to learn, allow them to work at their own pace. Break down into micro steps and make it as easy and fun as possible. Don't forget to celebrate progresses no matter how small! Play with sound and you can hear how happy everyone is. Well done Alena!! So proud of you!
Even though Alena is on motion sickness medication, due to the previous car rides experiences that made her feel unwell, she started having negative association with the car that she wouldn't even go beyond 50 meters towards the car.. End goal is for Alena to relearn that car rides are fun and she will no longer feel sick from motion sickness. Thank you Alena's humans for such a beautiful update. Celebrate small progresses!
Truffle the Maltese puppy learning the "Leave it" and "Take it" cue
Thank you Churros mummy for sharing this update. When you create positive association with sound outside the door, the function of "barking the sound away" decreases.
What a lovely update received from Bono's daddy with Bono's crate training. Celebrating progress! "Hi Jennifer, just wanted to give you an update on Bono's crate training. We just moved into a new house, and had some workers assembling furnitures, but he was very calm and relaxed!"
