Big wins for Skye 🥳 - a little girl in a big (and sometimes scary) world!
Skye was adopted as an undersocialised farm puppy, and her family have been doing an amazing job building her skills and confidence, and working on gently exposing her to life off the farm.
Skye and her mum came to me for help with her dog reactivity - Skye would bark and lunge at any dogs other than her doggy brother. After working on it independently for some time, Skye was stuck being able to work around dogs at a (large) distance, but not being able to get much closer. Thanks to all the great training they've already done, just a bit of a boost was needed! We made a few tweaks and added some extra techniques into their toolkit, and now after weeks of wondering whether all those small wins were just flukes, Skye has made TWO new doggy friends 🤩🥳
This video was taken from the last half of Skye’s first session working around and meeting Spot. Watch the delightful communication between the two of them as they figure out their relationship - can you spot (😉) the calming and appeasement signals being offered?
👉 Often with reactive dog rehab, progress seems painfully slow/nonexistent 😩. Big feelings and reactions 🤯 will still happen, but should start to decrease in intensity and duration, and we'll usually see that recovery, redirection, and staying calm gets easier - it's important to remember that rewiring brains 🧠 takes time, and progress isn't going to be linear ↗️, but all the little successes will start to add up to big ones!
Way to go, team Skye! 🏆 I'm so thrilled with how far you've come and I'm looking forward to more happy dog hangouts 🐶❤️
Jazz Up/Settle Down!
Ian Dunbar introduced me to this game many years ago, and it is a great way to provide an appropriate, structured outlet for rough and tumble play. This personal play can meet natural needs for interaction and physical contact, strengthen your relationship and communication, and help your dog learn to regulate their excitement and arousal.
Sometimes people are worried or scared that their dog might be too big, rough or bitey, or that it will accidentally encourage unsolicited wrestling.
I often find these reasons are exactly why it's a good idea to practice this - so we can establish clear boundaries and cues so it is enjoyable for everyone.
Spot had a period where he was REALLY into wrestling and would try to get met to play nipping me in soft parts when I least expected it 😬🙄. Here, Spot is demonstrating how he's learnt when this activity can start and when to stop, and how to relax in between each round. Now there are rules and control over these interactions, and we can still have fun.
As a result, unwanted wrestling attempts has decreased drastically (thank goodness), Spot is better at calming down when he's excited and it's also been easier for me to interrupt play with other dogs and the cat, which is a nice bonus!
How do you like to play with your dog?
Recently had a lovely first session with Billie, Buzz and their mum to work on a few different things, including loose leash walking 🐾
Walking two dogs can be difficult enough, but is even more challenging when one dog is reactive, another is a constant strong puller AND a (human) shoulder injury to recover from!
We discussed set-ups that would make managing both dogs easier for mum and then worked on communication, connection and loose leash skills with Billie (the puller) before adding Buzz (with big feeling) into the mix. Together, we enjoyed a gentle stroll down the street (with zero pulling!)
Being able to move together through the world with minimal leash tension (and stress) is such an important foundation skill that has huge benefits for reactive and/or excitable dogs and their humans.
I believe everyone can and should be able to enjoy walks with their dogs and I LOVE helping people get there - it usually takes (at least) a little patience, consideration and practice, but it's possible!
Teaching a dog not to chase things can be a challenging task! Especially with a fast, active dog with strong instincts to hunt and herd like Spot.
Some people believe corrections and punishment is necessary for this,but is possible (and kinder) for a dog to learn to leave potential prey alone without aversives and force by:
🐇 implementing sensible mangement
🐑 providing appropriate outlets for natural hunting and herding behaviours
🪿practicing impulse control and arousal regulation
🐀 reinforcing alternative and/or incompatible behaviours at high rates
Here Spot offers lots of preferred responses that I can (and do!) reinorce: lying down, looking at the ducks, looking at me, crawling and sniffing. I allow him to track a little bit becase he loves it, and check he isn't in full hunt mode by calling his name (which he turns to).
This makes walking past the ducks an easy and low-stress experience for everyone (ducks included!).
I'm super proud of Spotty and his (sometimes flailing) adolescent brain today! Celebrating all wins, no matter how small, is essential for maintaining sanity and hope with young dogs 😅.
Forte doesn't normally bother to play with my foster puppies, but Spot has worn him down/figured him out and now these mouth fencing matches happen on a daily basis.
Just like humans, every dog-dog relationship is unique and giving dogs the time, space and support they need to feel comfortable with each other, and figure out (together) how they will get along is crucial to encouraging healthy, happy friendships.
For these two, I have to make sure Spot isnt being too annoying and that I intervene before Forte runs out of tolerance and gives a proper telling off, that Forte is able to have some quiet big dog time (on his own) when he needs it and that Spot has opportunities to interact and play with dogs that can better match his active play style. Managing a sometimes wild puppy and a very not wild older gent is not easy by any means! But it is totally worth it, seeing the two of them happily wrestle together ❤️.
Celebrating some big wins! Had a lovely social session with Freya and Louie (and the help of Spot). Freya and Louie are both strong bully breeds who are recent rescues with dubious social skills; their amazing proactive humans contacted me for training help so they could be confident and able to enjoy taking their dogs out and about.
Over the last 3-4 weeks, we've worked on their communication, cooperation and leash walking skills so dogs and humans were on the same page, then we really tested them in this session by having Freya and Louie practice some polite (and successful!) greetings with Spot, as well as some close proximity passes.
It was so wonderful seeing these two, who started out pulling in all directions, jumping up and having to be dragged away from dogs, now being able to walk nicely, notice and disengage from dogs all on their own (aside from one little Freya moment 😅). All achieved without force and aversives!
I'm so proud of these two teams and what they've been able to achieve in such a short period of time, and I'm very excited for their future adventures!! Way to go Louie and Freya 🥳❤️
Pre bedtime training doodles, working on brains and self-control with a high value toy. How do you think wee Spotty is doing?
Another day another walk spot with Spot - the little dude got to practice some off leash skills by the river and was introduced to cows (at a distance), for what I assume was the first time.
Spot has a "bark first, think later" (🙄)approach to weird things that we are working on, so after helping him calm down after the initial startle, we found a distance where I could help him notice, process, and work through that novelty until they were ho-hum (even with all that aggressive mooing).
When we have dogs with big feelings and reactions, it's tempting to stick to safety and avoid all the triggers so life is easier and less stressful (honestly even I considered turning around and skipping the cow practice). However, making the most of those opportunities where you can create the time, distance and set-up to expose them safely and successfully to tricky things is how we best teach our dogs how to make good choices in those situations.
Of course, it's often easier said than done and that's when getting some professional support can be very beneficial ❤️
Need help with a barky reactive dog? Get in touch!
Canine conversations (thoughts in question form)
Spot is growling at Forte. But is it an angry growl? How can we tell? What is he trying to communicate?
How does Forte respond? What is he saying (or not saying)?
How does it work out for Spot? And Forte?
How might things have panned out differently?
Puppy recalls!
It is never too early to start working on this essential skill. Training a super recall isn't super complicated (in theory):
🎉 Always make being near you and coming back to you (when asked or on their own) an enjoyable choice for them (remembering that the dog will choose what they enjoy more)
🤓 Make your recall cue predict amazing things for them 100% of the time (and yucky things 0% of the time). Don't make recalls always mean the end of freedom.
🤞If you don't trust your recall will be successful and/or you won't be able to enforce your recall (by getting your dog and giving them an easier chance to get it right), then use something else to get them back
🤩 Only give your dog as much freedom as they can handle! Manage and practice around distractions until you are confident they will choose your recall over the other fun alternatives.
How's your dog's recall? Get in touch if you need help!
P.s. Spot is up for adoption through @poundpawsrescue. Who needs a clever little lovebug in their life 🐶 🥰
#recalltraining #positivereinforcement #fosterpuppy
Here's a messy unedited training session with Spot this evening.
He'd just spent the last 10 minutes trying to eat my slippers (while on my feet) and nibble my inner thighs(we've recently been working on middle - with now much regret 😩) so safe to say I was a bit frazzled when it became a good time to practice sending him to his crate in the midst of crazy puppy brain 🤯. I started with pairing the "crate" cue with treats tossed in his crate a few times (not videoed), then once I was getting a solid response, switched to toy play and no treats (until the end).
Bonus points for anyone who can spot my mis-cues/non-cues - feel free to put me on blast in the comments (😬😅).
One of my favourite things about training with positive reinforcement is that any random variability (i.e mistakes) is likely to come out in the wash without any negative effects (other than maybe a little confusion and extraneous reinforcers).
P.s. does anyone want to adopt a spunky little black and white puppy (who is an angel when he's asleep, I promise 😇😂)
Loose leash walking is an essential life skill and a bit of an art - being able to move together through a sometimes very exciting world with a completely different species takes understanding, communication and connection.
The principles are simple:
1. Pulling is bad - don’t reinforce this
2. No pulling is good - reinforce this a lot
... But unfortunately, the practicalities are not 😅. Once we start to walk (in ways inherently different to our canine buddies), and introduce distractions, actually doing these can get tricky!
We can prepare our dogs for loose leash walking by building up foundation skills like (engagement, moving together, releasing leash tension) - getting these solid before taking them out in the real world can make real walks easier.
Often because I’m lazy (or maybe just super efficient?), I skip the pretraining with my foster pups and we learn on the go. This video shows some of the tips and tricks I used to help Spot the foster, who had zero leash experience, learn to walk nicely in just over a week:
🐾 Helping him keep the leash loose as much as possible by handling the longline with two hands and gradually letting the line out when I could
🛑 Never pulling back on the line, only slowing him down (to a stop, if necessary) with gentle leash pressure if he started moving too fast and before he hit the end of the line
🍗 Reinforcing voluntary and incidental check-ins very well
🗣 Using clear and consistent cues to let him know what was happening and what I’d like him to do
🧠 Giving him time, space and support to process the environment and work through distractions
Does he still pull? Sometimes! But that's ok - he's still a baby - walking together is a never-ending conversation and process that develops with input from both ends of the leash.
Are you and your dog struggling with walks? I can help! Get in touch ❤️
