Wags and Wisdom

12/02/2025

ARE YOU WORTH COMING BACK TO?

I’m often horrified when I watch people trying to get their dogs to come back to them when they call.

They call and call and get increasingly angry and frustrated as their dog keeps ignoring them.

When their dog eventually comes back, or has been chased and "captured” by the now really angry person, they get screamed at, yanked about, or punished in some way for taking so long and not listening.

Why on earth would a dog want to return to someone who does this to them!

The most common reason dogs don’t come back when we call is because it’s not a positive experience.

A new environment is generally far more rewarding, stimulating and exciting than coming back to us.
An exciting scent or seeing something to chase can all override a response to recall.

Make coming back to you well worth it by always making it a rewarding experience and keep practicing this throughout a dog’s life.

Have a little patience if it takes longer than you would like, let your dog finish what they’re doing before calling them, practice in different locations and environments and never reprimand or punish them for coming back.

There is never a guarantee of a perfect recall each and every time, but making it a rewarding experience will greatly improve the rate of success.

12/02/2025

Re-sharing. Happy Monday! .secret.dog.walker

08/02/2025

Welcome back Lily, after your holiday away 🥰🐾💚

08/02/2025

🚨Can I have your attention please‼️‼️

🐾We have a new member to the Wags and Wisdom pack, 🙌🏻 please everyone welcome the very Handsome Gus!

🐾 After a successful habitation program, of meet and greets and an introduction to dog on a walk (the amazing Hendrix 🤩)
Gus was set up for sucssess when joining the group walks🐾💚🙌🏻

08/02/2025

🐾Thursday’s group day walks 🐾🐶🚶‍♀️
Out in the fields with the pups all day
As you can see in the photos 📸 there were lots of happy pups running with their friends.
Their were quite loud bangs on one of the walks, Jersey and Ted did so well, it’s important to listen to them when it’s too much, so it was back to the car for snuffle mats and licki mats, this helps your dog start to decompress which is so important.
We bumped into Sits & wiggles with her pups on rhe 4th walk it was full of fun and chase with intervals of scavenger hunts to keep the levels nice and chill. Finishing the day with my pups and Rose 🐾💚

08/02/2025

🚨Can I have your attention please ‼️‼️

🐾We have a new member the to the Wags and wisdom pack 🙌🏻🥳

🐾Please everyone, Welcome the very Handsome Bruno, who will be joining us in solo walks 🐾💚

05/02/2025

Wouldn't have it any other way 🐶💚

.secret.dog.walker

05/02/2025

How the heck do you change a dogs emotions ?
I know this looks complicated but it can change EVERYTHING ✅
Reactive dog ❓
Anxious dog ❓
This is one very important graphic and the information it contains really CAN help.
If you are banging your head against a wall or don't know where to start, understanding this is a great first step.
I will put some videos in the comments which can help and one talks about this process some more too.
This is available as a handout through https://www.abcdogsnz.com/product-page/abc-dogs-nz-under-5-to-desensitise?srsltid=AfmBOoqJYXiQNkPqIIUige_L1l3nMXLlsMBULzSvbV89VpVUccoHdEeQ

03/02/2025

Do we have "different rules"❓Does your dog truly understand those ❓
We may enthusiastically greet and encourage jumping and paws on us when we return home, yet want them to stop doing this to our children and visitors ❗
All those little (and what we may see as insignificant) issues can affect everything in the much bigger picture.
Our influence, what we do, our approach and how we interact can have a positive or negative affect.
If we don't take that into consideration, we can always "blame the dog"....when the reality is we may have given clear signals that unwanted behaviour is absolutely OK.
Of course dogs can indeed navigate "different rules" but they are less likely to do that when they are up and over that threshold.... sometimes we need to take a deeper look at how we influence their behaviour.
Often it is eye opening.
This dog training handout is available through https://www.abcdogsnz.com/product-page/abc-dogs-nz-we-influence-behaviour-everyday?srsltid=AfmBOorrx85EqfpWY30s9fkbVXO_d5jvi9vISJoCfmrvPx8uFexOKaTE

02/02/2025

Our next session is with Lochie working on his Recall, at one of his most favourite places, where he’s likes to chase the rabbits and sniff out the moles. Hendrix came along for the adventure 🐾💚

02/02/2025

My Saturday started with Winston, continuing with our loose lead work 🤩🥰🐾💚

02/02/2025

What an amazing end to my Friday, with a training session with Maggie and her owner My, battling the wind 💨 rain 🌧️ and waves 🌊
We have worked on Maggies demand barking within the home rewarding the calm and the self settle in previous sessions, now it was time to take Maggie out to a trip a coffee shop, something that is usually avoided.
The goal is, teaching and rewarding the calm behaviour when queing and then settle, when we were seated and not looking for attention from other customers.
This picture below captured Maggie laying down calm and settled 🙌🏻🥳
no demand barking at other people in the coffee shop or any reaction to noise,
I’m super proud of Maggie and My and all the hard work they have put in 🙌🏻🐾💚🥳

30/01/2025

🧡🥰

30/01/2025

Blue skies for miles and happy dog smiles!
What an epic day with the pups on their group walks!
Recall and voluntary check ins were on point, lots of praise and sausage’s for the pups with some scavenger hunts along the way to work those nose 👊🏻🙌🏻🐾💚

26/01/2025

Next session is with Lochie.
Lochie has attended group walks with me since he was 4 months, his owners wanted to sharpen up his recall skills as when out on a walk with his owners and Bumble, he likes to follows his nose and go on an adventure.
We worked on building value to them, different recall techniques, focus work, then finishing off with some loose lead 👊🏻🙌🏻🐾💚

26/01/2025

Training sessions started back up yesterday, and I couldn’t of asked for a better way to start the day on my birthday with Winston 🤩🥰
Working on those loose lead skills, all the hard work Karen has been putting in, set this session up for success 🤩🥰🐶🐾💚

24/01/2025

The pups 🐶 bowing 🌬️ the cobwebs 🕸️ away

24/01/2025

Good morning, everyone, walks are still going ahead today, but due to the high winds, walks times will be reduced.
If there's any problems, please do not hesitate to get in contact with me