It’s okay for our dogs not to want cuddles all the time!
Loki was super cute in this video, he was loving the cuddles (well I’m pretty sure he was flirting to get some treats 🤣)
In the video you can see how I regularly take my hand away to check if Loki is still enjoying the affection especially since he can be very sensitive to touch 💚
Shelby demonstrating her “drop” and “leave it” cue 🪵
Recall back ups 🐾
The environment can be a very distracting place and sometimes our recall attempts may not pan out how we want, having back up games we can play to get a recall is super important.
Cherry originally didn’t give me any attention to her name therefore I’m not going to waste a recall. Instead I used the Hidden Treasure game to get her attention and she quickly ignored the sniff and came back 💚
Enrichment doesn’t have to be expensive 💰
A great enrichment idea is to use cardboard boxes/recycling. Here Shelby has smaller boxes packed into a larger one with treats scattered inside. It’s a great way to get their noses working, give them an outlet for that natural scavenging behaviour and they can destroy the boxes afterwards 😆
It’s been a busy month so far and social media has kind of gone on the back burner but here’s Paddy showing off some skills we’ve been teaching on our walks ⭐️
My camera skills definitely need some work!
Shelby’s new summer pool since she rips through all the softer ones 😅 the water doesn’t last long 🤣
£7.99 in Aldi, I got mine last week (Thank you to Daisy’s mum for the heads up)🍦
Hector and Hamish modelling some lovely calm behaviour whilst the sheep pass so we can carry on our walk 🐑
One of the arguments I often see on social media which promote the use of shock collars is that they are needed to control dogs around livestock. But all we have used with these guys is a dog lead and some kind and simple training methods 😆
Snow white moment 😆
I was asked to feed the wildlife when looking after my clients rabbits and when I was told that some of them would feed from my hand, I was very excited 🤣
Mr Robin did not disappoint!
Being a greyhound Charlie has an extremely high prey drive so I thought I would get my furry tug toy out and see how he reacted…
Fair to say he loved it 💚
Things like this allows Charlie to have an outlet for that prey drive, it can also be used as a reward and something to focus on when we are out on walks 🐇
The 3 main reasons why our dogs struggle with loose lead walking!
1. The Environment.
The world is very exciting to our dogs, there’s lots to see and smell. Things to explore and lots of information left by other dogs to suss out.
2. Natural Walk.
Every dogs natural pace is much faster than the human one, even those tiny dogs have a faster walk than us. This means when we ask them to loose lead walk, they are having to go against everything that is natural for them.
Have you ever been stuck behind a slow walker in town? How frustrating and hard work it is to slow down our own natural pace, that’s exactly how our dogs feel.
3. US.
The biggest reason why our dogs struggle with this type of training is because we don’t give them consistent and clear rules. One minute we expect them to LLW and the next we have forgotten all about it and they are off ahead in front of us sniffing. So they don’t understand what they are expected to do.
We also have super high, unrealistic and unmanageable expectations of them. LLW training takes a long time because it’s so difficult, and we can often get ahead of ourselves and expect them to do much more than they can cope with.
However with a few easy principles and lots and lots of practice we can help our dogs slow down and save our shoulders 🤣
Listen to those sniffs 🐽
Don’t forget to get those noses working this week! The benefits are endless!
Why is play so important to our dogs?
🐶 It helps build connection and improves your relationship
🐶 The better the bond we have with our dogs the more trust we have
🐶 Builds better focus and engagement. The more fun we are the less they will care about the world around them!
🐶 Stress relief for both players, mental stimulation and simply because it’s FUN!
Each dog plays differently so it’s important you find the right play style for your dog. Whether that’s tug, being chased or being the chaser, rough play, gentle games! Try some different styles out to see what you dog likes the most.
What’s your dogs favourite game to play?
