The Twinkle Diaries - Puppy Training

06/01/2022

Twinkle & I had a go at Man Trailing last week & absolutely loved it😀

29/08/2021

Second weekend competing for Twinkle & this time she put in a lovely clear round & won her class, clever girl 😄

16/06/2021

Twinkle’s latest video; teaching Middle 😀

https://youtu.be/7CCL0PfWMcU

22/03/2021

A crate, indoor kennel or puppy pen can be a really helpful piece of equipment when training your puppy; whilst many people don’t like the idea of crates as they believe it is wrong to put a dog in a cage, if you think of the crate like you would a child’s playpen you may have a better appreciat...

15/03/2021

Sorry folks, I haven’t been posting much new stuff lately so here is a little bit on recall 😀

12/03/2021

How a house line can you help to train your dog or puppy the rules of the house!

22/02/2021

One year old today, how did that happen? Happy birthday Twinkle 🥳🥳

12/01/2021

For any of you that fancy learning some scentwork with your dogs, head over to my good friend Jenny's page where she will be showing you how to get started. It's fun to do & suitable for dogs of all age and breeds :)

13/11/2020

Another Quinn video to keep you going with training https://www.facebook.com/animalbehaviourcentre/videos/1962162867359559/

08/11/2020

I really haven’t had time to post much lately due to such a busy time at work but this just came up in my memories & it’s a nice little video of my Quinn when he was a puppy; introducing a clicker & teaching a hand touch 😀

05/11/2020

This may help some of you over the firework period.

11/09/2020

We are getting quite a lot of new members at the moment, I am also posting much less now as I have gone back to work; if you are a newbie then please just click on videos & you can scroll through all the previous ones i have posted that cover the early days & include advice on mouthing, crate training etc. :)

30/08/2020

We unexpectedly came across some cattle on our walk today & I was so pleased to see that all of Twinkle’s early training has paid off 😀

22/08/2020

Here is an interview I did a little while ago for the brilliant Julie Hill at Dog Cast Radio, this time we are discussing the prevention & treatment of separation anxiety.

15/08/2020

This weekend Twinkle went to her first training camp & she was such a little star; lots of firsts for her, she camped in the campervan, trained in a new place, did some new agility foundation exercises & ran & trained for someone else as unfortunately I am quite broken at the moment & cant run!
Hopefully she will have a future career as an agility dog but for now I’m just so happy with her great attitude & the way she takes everything in her stride.
Thanks Nicky Holden for stepping in to help us out 😘

06/08/2020

Buddy needs a home, he is currently with us in Surrey; needs an active home where he can use his energy & brain. Agility, flyball, HTM etc.
Experienced owners only please.
Homecheck & adoption fee apply 😄

22/07/2020

Pulling on the lead often starts even before you leave the house; teaching your dog to leave the house calmly & under control is the first step to teaching them to walk on a loose lead. 😀

12/07/2020

This is an alternative way to teach ‘drop’ & may help some of you that have puppies that constantly like to steal things. Chirag & I used to work together 😀

This video takes a look at an alternative way of teaching a "drop" compared to the usual swapping based techniques. I have found it works really well. I woul...

30/06/2020

Another interesting post that is doing the rounds at the moment. Technically some of these are habituation rather than socialisation but I totally agree with the premise, it really isn’t all about letting your puppy play with other dogs.

30/06/2020

Some really good information here, particularly for anyone thinking about getting a puppy. 😀

PUPPIES ARE NOT CLEAN SLATES!
You often hear people say 'get a puppy they are a clean slate'

As a behaviourist and breeder I can confidently tell you this is not true. Nature and Nurture has a huge impact. A puppy will inherit genes from its parents and these genes will impact the puppies genetic potential to behave in a particular way.
Such as :
Using aggression as a strategy to deal with difficult situations
Sociability towards people and dogs
Fearful responses
Strong instinctive behaviour to hunt, chase, grab and hold.
Trainability including the ability to learn self control as humans desire it
When people breed dogs they sometimes select for specific traits and sometimes not. If someone is breeding for a particular look or just money then these traits can become altered becoming stronger or weaker.

Then the puppy is born and the first 8 weeks learning with the breeder will have an huge impact on the development of all these genetic traits.

Puppies I have bred have all come from the same parents and been reared in the same environment. They have very individual personalities. The training and socialisation they receive in their new homes will only influence the genes and first learning, it won't change their personalities.

So if you are looking for a puppy
Firstly learn about breed traits and instincts and make sure you pick a puppy that will suit your lifestyle. For example there no point getting a breed that is 'aloof with strangers' if you have 3 young children and lots of friends.

Secondly meet the parents or (genes), see what they are like. Make sure you are meeting the actual parents, some people buy in puppy farmed litters and then 'hire' an adult of the same breed to pretend the puppies were bred there!!

Thirdly make sure the puppy has had plenty of early neurological stimulation and learning before it leaves the litter. Ask these questions.
1) What have the puppies seen?
2) Who and what have they met?
2) What have they learnt?
3) How have they learned to play?
4) What do they do if they get frustrated?
5) What do they do if they get bored?

A professional trainer can help support and guide you on the process of looking for a puppy. Don't wait till afterwards for help.
Prevention IS better than Cure. This goes for training and socialisation too,

First Learning is the strongest, make sure you get it right first time.


Jane Ardern BSc (Hons) Dip.CABT

27/06/2020

So here is the short film that Twinkle had her little starring role in, there is also a guest appearance by big Brother Quinn as the naughty dog! 😀

Dr Roger Mugford is a world renowned animal psychologist specialising in canine behavioural therapy and science and founder of Company of Animals. In this vi...

25/06/2020

Hi everyone, I am aware that this page is not particularly interactive, I do however get quite a lot of PMs which I always try to respond to. So I thought it would be interesting to ask if there is anything that people would particularly like to see covered in a video or if people would like a FB live Q & A session? Or indeed, if you are happy the way it is!
Let me know , Fiona xx 🐾🐾

25/06/2020

Brotherly love 💖💖

23/06/2020

A walk on the Heath with big Brother Doyle for company & to add a positive example. This isn’t formal recall training as such, more just encouragement to want to stay with me when there are distractions.

22/06/2020

Tonight we are looking at multi dog lead walking & lead grabbing during walks .

20/06/2020

A little bit of cat training on our walk tonight; what you can’t see is the cat’s initial reaction before I started filming, it was quite aggressive & didn’t look a particularly healthy individual!

Whilst it might be tempting to let such a cat come & have a go at a puppy to ‘teach them a lesson’, beware that can be a ‘kill or cure’ method of training; a tough breed such as an ACD may actually then learn to hate cats & be aggressive towards them rather than avoid them in future. I would rather use caution & just encourage Twinkle to leave the cat alone & come back to me for a reward instead! 😀

20/06/2020

So yesterday, Twinkle did her first little bit of media work in a film about walking dogs safely in the countryside; she was a super star & I was really pleased that all her previous training kicked in & she responded brilliantly around the sheep & cattle. She was a little bit unsure about the llamas but finally decided that after giving them a good ‘socially distanced’ checking out that her best plan was to return to me. 😀
Normally, Twinkle would have been exposed to livestock on a near daily basis as the behaviour centre where I work is based on a working farm but of course, I haven’t been to work since Twinkle joined the family so this was the first time she had walked around the farm.
I thought I would share a few clips of the filming on here & hopefully I will share the actual film once it is finished.

20/06/2020

The whole gang! 😀

19/06/2020

Here’s the lovely Deafdogologist Vickipet again with some great advice about chasing dogs when they have stolen something 😀

18/06/2020

For anyone in the Surrey/ Hampshire area that is looking for puppy foundation agility classes. Twinkle & I have a space 😀

**FULL**
1 space remaining!
Foundation Agility Group
Starting Tuesday 14th July
Time: 8.15pm
5 handlers per group
Contact Nicky for more information
[email protected]
0773 803 4976