SuperDog Training

14/08/2025

Punishment!
How often do you tug the lead to control your dog? Shout? or even hit the dog?
Would you allow this to happen to your child? How long would it take to teach your child if you never showed them how to do it, you only punished them if they didn't. Imagine the anxiety if every time they tried something new, they had to wait to see if you punish them to know if its good behaviour.
You want them to be curious, confident and care free. The same applies for your dog. If the dog barks at passing dogs, how long will it take him to work out a different strategy when the only clues they have is you pulling the lead, shouting NO and getting angry? The answer is never, because by that point they are acting out of habit, reinforced by your attention they get from you (good or bad) when they bark.
There is another way. Punishment is not a fair strategy for any dog. Nurture, positivity, fun, treats... that is how you teach your child, rewarding good behaviour is a powerful tool. Bouncing back from failure is essential. Seeing what works for them without fear of punishment. So why do you expect your dog to be smarter than a human, and work all this out by themselves, while you offer no more than shouting and yanking the lead. That is why we use positive training.

26/01/2025

This is the 7th short session of training. A session only lasts 5 minutes, it can be intense and each dog has an attention span that varies. Once you feel you have achieved a realistic target, then the performance starts to lag, and that is when it stops and the ball comes out. Which for Ziggy is the reason for doing training, to get access to the ball, although the hot dogs help. One video shows a sitting Zig, then I wait a while, and then ask for a down, building up behaviours, always asking for more. The lesson aim of waiting is to maintain the dogs attention, and to keep eye contact. The other video shows a matt command, and as the matt command is obeyed promptly, I ask for a down and click when the belly hits the floor. In this way I build complexity into the training. Always reward at floor level, if like Zig your dog loves to jump up, in this way, all good things happen between either mine or Zigs feet. Clicker training is all about timing. This is a clever way of telling the dog exactly what I am rewarding him for. If a clicker is not used or not available, then we use a 'good' command, quick and concise. A slow 'goooood boy Zig' takes a second or two to say and if the dog has a chance to do something else like moving his head, then we haven't defined what we are rewarding and maybe the dog thinks we are rewarding him for moving his head and not the command.

15/01/2025

its not easy with treats, phone and clicker, so I was a bit late with the clicker. Here I always use a come at this early stage, as recall is the most important behaviour. This is the 4th short 5-10 minute session. He started by offering a paw, without being asked, and then clawed to get food. It took a few minutes to get rid of this, I will re-introduce it later, but for now, its more important he does what is asked. So I ask him to come, then sit. As the bum hits the floor, click and reward. He had no problem with this, so I introduced a down. Here we get a come, then sit, then we lure him with a treat between the front feet and as soon as the head comes down we move our hand back so he has to stretch the head forward, then to follow my hand he has to either stand or lay down. If he stands we start again, no treat, no verbals. If he lays down as soon as the belly touches the floor, we click and reward. If we have success for a few goes, we introduce the command 'down'. Notice how we get the behaviour first, then we associate the behaviour with the command. Then we start to increase the criteria, which means we make it more complicated by making him wait for the click, sometimes I walk back 1 or 2 or 10 paces, wait for 0 or 2 or 10 seconds, then walk back before I click and reward. The important thing is to keep increasing the criteria in small steps. We want him to win every time, big steps means he might fail, so we backtrack a bit and make it easy again. Then we try a smaller increase. I also introduced a touch command, a through the legs command, and a stand command. Ziggy is so smart, and ultimately he is doing all this in the hope that I get the ball out at the end. Of course I always do.

15/01/2025

13/01/2025

I am training a lovely collie spaniel cross at the moment. They are super intelligent, and a quick learner. So quick, that it is not easy to keep up with him. He is absolutely obsessed with balls, or frisbees, and so he will break off to go hunt a ball every now and again, but despite this distraction, which I think is an expectation of our playtime history, he will bounce back to training mode in an instant. Of course unless he finds a ball, then the excitement ramps up. I have had 3 short sessions with him and we have gone through recall, sit, down and touch, so quickly, and also recall through my legs to sit facing away. Handy for putting the harness on. The funny thing is he has a white eye and a black eye, and when he locks on to my eyes, he has a completely mad look!! Very funny. Pictures and videos to come. I am using a clicker, and those long hot dogs that are great for training. Next is to nail down those activities and start mat training.

30/11/2024

2025 offer. £60 for 4x 1 hour sessions until this offer stops. You will get...
1) 1hour - meet, assessment, agreement on problems, training plan. Depending on the problems identified, we cover rewards, clickers, time management, and general concepts of positive training methods.
2) 1 hour - Adjustments to plan. Progress and increasing the criteria, recall, recall, recall. Variable rewards. Games to help training.
3) 1 hour - reducing anxiety, increasing attention. The 'stop' command, loose lead. Sniffing.
4) 1 hour - Becoming a responsible owner, health, food, increasing your stock of wanted behaviours and extinguishing those you don't.

This is just a general outline, basically we show you the techniques and you practice, practice, practice, in very short sessions, we ramp up the difficulty very quickly, so you learn the concepts until you are able to carry on on your own.

Please contact me on [email protected]

I will send you a link for a quick form to fill in giving me a few details of you and your dog and the current situation, so I have something to refer to later. This is private and just for me.

Then I will contact you to arrange a visit.

Sometimes we will need to go for a short walk depending on the situation. For example reactive dogs, leading pulling, etc.

31/10/2024

So how does it work?

Training Process:

Training dogs involves various stages, each tailored to the goals, problems, and mental states of both the dog and the owner. Here’s a breakdown:

1. Information Gathering: First, we get to know the owner, the dog, and their relationship. We assess both general and problem behaviors and set achievable goals with a timeframe.

2. Setting Up a Training Plan: Using the gathered info, we create a training plan. We define rewards and props that will be used.

3. Training: The fun part! Over the next few weeks, we introduce training to both the dog and the owner. We build up a repertoire of behaviors, like good recall, essential for off-lead runs.

4. Re-assessment: Plans don’t always go as expected. After the initial excitement, we reassess to accommodate lifestyle changes, owner time constraints, and the dog’s response to the methods.

5. Lifelong Training: Training is ongoing. Whether it’s about achieving good recall, walking with a loose lead, reducing anxiety, or calming high-energy dogs, the aim is to equip you with the tools to tackle any future issues, resulting in a happy and confident dog.

By following these stages, you and your dog can build a strong, positive relationship and handle whatever life throws your way.

31/10/2024

Just read a fascinating book that debunks the whole alpha dog/wolf theory. It argues that dogs descended from the now-extinct grey wolves, so most research has relied on the American timber wolf—a completely different creature. Since studying these wolves in the wild is tough, researchers focused on captive animals, forced into groups with no escape. It's no wonder the findings don't align with how domestic dogs live! The idea that your yorkiepoo wants to go through a doorway first to dominate you is almost laughable. Unfortunately, this misconception fuels punishment training, which involves shock collars, prong collars, ear pinching, and more. Most trainers, myself included, favor positive reinforcement for training dogs. It keeps them happy. Sadly, some 'alphas' still believe in hitting and shouting, insisting that the only reason your dog is behaving badly is because there is no 'alpha' around to bully them.

30/10/2024

Pulling on lead. Probably the most requested behaviour after recall. There are many reasons why your dog is racing away from you, predation, excitement, even long legs, so unless you want to run along side the dog, what can you do? Plenty is the answer. Starting with getting out the door... Does the dog rush out pulling you along, while you struggle to close the door. This is all self reinforcing behaviour, the quicker we get out the quicker the dog gets to the exciting stuff. Self restraint is not something that happens naturally, we need to teach the dog that access to the good stuff happens when they behave. We reinforce the behaviour we want to see, and ignore the behaviour we don't. No shouting, no pulling back on the lead, no punishment. Training is as much about controlling our selves as it is about controlling the dog. Next post will be about doors, pinch points and kerbs.

25/10/2024

"My dog doesn't like treats, therefor I can't train my dog". Sound familiar? A hungry dog rarely refuses food. Solution - Feed your dog after you have finished training.
" My dog doesn't like treats". Have you tried hot bacon? Free range chicken? Hot dogs is a winner. You can train with toys etc, but treats are much more repeatable, and easier to become a habit which we are trying to achieve.
"But all this food is too much for my dog". You can reduce the food in the bowl to accommodate the treats.

There are sometimes factors that can disrupt the training program, but we have many solutions to most problems. This is rarely something to do with the dog, and quite often just the owners reluctance to change lifestyle.

25/10/2024

After a wait of 2 years, I finally have my hearing aids, so now I can actually have a phone conversation. This has meant I had to suspend activities for a while, but I am back now.