Teach your dog to back up 🐕
Backing up is a GREAT exercise for your dog to build back end awareness and fitness. Most dogs don’t use their backend as much as they should, and that’s why many dogs get injured in the back part of their body. This little exercise is great fun for you and your dog and help shape the back end muscles.
This is what you need:
👉 A towel or something soft that your dog won’t be scared to put their feet on, but has a different texture to the surrounding floor.
👉 Treats (of course!)
All the training steps are in the video above.
Have fun!
Who out there have tried running but just end up quitting after a few weeks?
✋I’ve done this over and over again. Every spring I think ‘this year I’ll run all summer’, but a few weeks in to it, I get injured or just bored and stop. It feels like it’s impossible to love running sometimes.
So this year I decided to do something different. Instead of running, I try to squeeze in a power walk a few times per week. This is my alone time and my solo walk where I can listen to podcasts and be alone for a little while.
Let me tell you, power walking is hard, but it’s so much more fun than running.
So next time you go for a walk by yourself, why not pick up the pace? 💪
Is your dog in pain? A normal vet check up will not give you the answer! 😣
For years I thought my vet knew best. I mean you pay good money to go there and they pull and poke at your dog so if they say they’re not in pain they’re not, right? Your dog is not limping so they must be fine, surely?
Sadly that’s not always true. Physical discomfort doesn’t have to lead to limping. Just look at yourself.. you probably have had issues with your back or neck at some point and that didn’t mean you started limping right? The body is more than legs, but I believed vets knew everything for a long time.
But it all changed when I read a study that showed that of those who came to a vet clinic and reported behaviour issues 25 - 80% were in some kind of pain or discomfort. Reactivity is a huge red flag for physical discomfort, and the reactions themselves, when your dog is lunging as hard as they can on the lead, will probably also take a toll on their body and muscles. 🤯
So what can you do to help your dog stay as healthy as possible?
🩻A n x-ray or ultrasound is the most expensive action but will give you clear answers.
💊 Your vet can put your dog on a short period of pain meds to see if behaviour improves. I only recommend this if you are quite sure they are in pain and if they are, it needs to be followed by more invasive procedures.
🏋️♀️ See a physiotherapist for a check up and get personalised muscle building exercises - my recommendation for ALL dog owners.
If you are quite sure your dog is in pain, you should see the vet. But if you just want a second opinion and some help and guidance, physiotherapists are amazing and they will help you restore muscles and prevent injury.
Let’s spread the love, tag your favourite doggy physiotherapist here below. 👇
Do you have a dog that doesn’t want to sleep sometimes?
Maybe you get toys laid in your lap constantly, get barked at for sitting down or pawed at when you’re watching TV? A lot of dog trainers would say to exercise or enrich your dog more, but I know that doesn’t work. So, what should you do instead? 🥰👇
Well, let me tell you about Hela. A lively little Sprocker that came to me for private coaching a while back. For as long as Sara, her lovely mum, had her she’d barely ever seen her sleep during the day. She was constantly barking at noises and wanted attention all day long.
However, the transformation we saw in her in just a few weeks was amazing and I’m going to tell you the top 3 things we did to calm Hela down.
😴 A calm place to relax – First we gave her a calm place where she could rest more during the day. She loved the couch and that’s what we choose for her.
👀 No lookie! – Hela was very triggered by movement and noises outside the house so we set up the room with calming music and curtains so she couldn’t not see out. This helped her relax and forget about all those outside triggers.
👃Go sniff! - We also added my favourite calmness exercise on her walks so she could learn to slow down and relax even outside.
Just with these few tweaks Hela started transforming. She started sleeping during the day, she reacted less to noises and stopped barking at her mum constantly! It was amazing to see. 😇 I saw her just this last weekend and she is such a cool girl now.
Would you like the same transformation for your dog?
comment MINI-COURSE to get started with my 5 favourite games, including the go sniff game and a bed game to help your dog stay calm at home.
Do you ever feel guilty when you can’t spend enough time with your dog? 😔
This week has been hectic for me and Bruce has not been my priority. I go through periods like this from time to time, and since having kids it’s hard because the mum guilt kicks in too.
However, to give yourself grace and to say out loud that “it’s OK to be busy. My dog will be OK” is powerful.
Give me a ❤️ if you have ever felt like this and tag someone that you think might need this message today.
The @perfectfitharness is the harness I LOVE and have used for all my dogs.
I still have Stellas harnesses from when she was a puppy until the day she died.
Sorry for the sad note but it’s worth noting that Stella was a 40 kg Rottweiler that was reactive and lunged and barked at other dogs. Even so, none of her harnesses ever broke. They are super sturdy but still comfortable since they are fleece lined.
They are put together by 3 parts which all have different sizes making it the perfect size for your dog. It’s only the top that have different colours but they have many to choose from so I’ve never thought that was a bad thing.
Sadly I don’t sell them anymore but check out their website for more info: @perfectfitharness
https://perfect-fit-dog-harness.com/PFSizing/
Is your dog barely looking at you outside? Let’s inject some fun into your walks! 🥳🕺
If you want more focus from your dog, well then you have to be more fun. Sorry! 🫣
A simple “good boy/girl” or a boring dry treat isn’t enough for most dogs when they have 1 million smells to smell and 5 thousand things to watch. All of which are more fun than you.
You’re like a grandma wanting to be invited to the teenage rave. It’s just not going to happen. 🙈
So, how do we make YOU more fun for your dog? By being more unpredictable and bringing the party to your dog. It needs to be worth it to look at you… and it will be once you have implemented the surprise reward game! 🕺
This game turns you into a slot machine where your dog can win the jackpot if he just looks at you a little more often. I’ll explain all in my video so check it out! 👇
This game can be done with treats or a toy, just remember that a toy will bring more energy so you might have to help your dog calm down by giving them a scatter feed afterwards.
You don’t have to have your dog off lead, like in the video. This works just as well on lead.
Don’t do this around other dogs because chances are that the other dogs might think you are more fun than their own owner, which means they’ll want to join the party.
Have fun and play around with this focus game! 😀
Do you ever feel frustrated or angry at other people you meet on walks? 😡
We’ve all been there. A person walks towards you and your dog goes crazy. Surely they will give you space…. Right? Nope! 😠They walk straight on giving you no help whatsoever even though they see you are struggling.
It’s easy to become angry or frustrated in a situation like this. I see it all the time in Facebook groups: “why are people such a** h***s!?!” 🤬
I get it, and I would lie if I said I’d never been angry at another dog owner.. But it’s just not worth it. You can’t control other people. Period.
Don’t waste your own energy caring about someone that so clearly doesn’t care about you. It’s not worth it.
Instead, let’s have a look at all the things we can control:
👉 Where you walk
👉 What pace you walk in
👉 What treats you bring
👉 How you hold the lead
👉 How you talk to your dog
👉 How you train your dog beforehand so they can handle stressful situations
👉 How you speak to your dog
👉 Your own body language
👉 If you bring spare treats to throw at loose dogs if they run up
There’s lots you can do! 😀
So instead of wasting energy on others, let’s make sure you set yourself and your dog up to succeed. Then you don’t have to feel upset about other people’s behaviour. And if you get upset that’s fine too, but try and shift focus from “how annoying that person was” to “what can I change so this doesn’t happen again”.
Comment ❤️ if you are going to try this and hit save for a day when you are struggling.
See the before and after! 😮 From lunging and barking at cars, to calmly walking past them.
This is Harry, a Springer Spaniel that I have worked with for the past few months.
He is reactive, and reactive to quite a few things, but cars and buses passing by was a huge trigger for him.
He used to stare, lunge and bark when he couldn’t chase them. You can see from the video below how it used to look (warning for barks!) vs how it looks now. 🤯
We worked on many things with Harry. By starting with a stress detox he became calmer in general and could listen and learn around traffic, which meant his owners could teach him to disengage from the cars. Disengagement was the main thing that Harry’s owners said helped with his car reactivity.
His reactivity towards cars slowly disappeared during our time together and he’s now super cool around most traffic.
If you have a reactive dog you need disengagement as part of your toolbox!
Would you like to have my best disengagement game for FREE? Comment MINI-COURSE below and I will send you my 5-day mini-course and a free lesson on how to give your dog a mini stress detox. 👇
Want a sneak peak? 👀
Taking a leap, not knowing what you get on the other side is scary. That’s why I’ve put together this little sneak peek of what you get when you sign up for the Reactive Dogs Club. 👆
This course, The Calm Canine Journey, is the backbone of the club and your step-by-step plan for training your dog. When you sign up you immediately have access to the first 3 modules, all focused on giving your dog the deepest of stress detoxes so that your dog can sleep heavily inside and walk calmly outside.
The following modules will teach you:
🌟 How to improve your dog’s diet and health for maximum calmness
🌟 Getting your dog the confidence he deserves, with easy games you can do at home
🌟 Teaching your dog to walk away instead of lunging and barking
🌟 Boosting your dog's patience and impulse control
🌟 And we tie it all up by talking about how you advance the training, how you set goals and how you keep motivated.
This course has EVERYTHING you need, but that’s not all....
You also get all this when you sign up 🥳
✅ An amazing workbook to keep you motivated
✅ Group training via Zoom every month
✅ New videos every month after the end of the course
✅ A membership to the clubhouse
🎉 Bonus 1: Happy Handling Course
🎉 Bonus 2: Body Language Lesson
🎉 Bonus 3: Visitor Stress Lesson
🎉 Bonus 4: Group chat with other participants
🎉 Bonus 5: Digital Ulrika
...and much more!
Doors close tomorrow night so click my link in the bio or comment CLUB and I’ll send it to you.
“It’s a hopeful course” ❤️
I know, I know we've talked a lot about the Reactive Dogs Club.
…but it's the plan I've used myself with my 3 dogs, and lots of coaching clients' dogs too.
My dog Stella started barking at other dogs when she was 6 months old. I felt hopeless and cried almost every day. But after many years of study I finally found a method that worked and slowly but surely she became calmer and less reactive. In the end we were able to pass other dogs with just a bit of staring, but no lunging. Since then I have helped hundreds of owners do the same thing.
You might be thinking:
🤷♀️ I'm not an expert, I can't fix this without someone coming here and helping me.
😫 I have so much to do every day, I won't have time for this.
🤔 I've been to so many other trainers, I don't think this course is any different.
If you can relate to this, I want you to watch this reel!
Sure, reactivity won't go away overnight and you will most likely have to work with your dog for their entire life, but it can get SO much better.
If you are ready to see the same results as my previous clients, don't hesitate to book the Reactive Dogs Club today. You won't regret it (but even if you do, of course you'll get your money back).
When you are ready to invest energy and time in your dog's future, meet me inside the Club, click the link or comment CLUB 👇
https://ulrikamarwick.com/reactive-dogs-club
Ever stayed up late googling, trying to figure out how to help your dog? 😩
If you’re anything like me, you need a plan to get where you’re going. Without one, you’ll get lost.
Simple as that.
It’s easy to be distracted by “shiny objects,” or feel downright uncertain of the right next step, endlessly scrolling for answers. 👀
That is why I have developed a method that really works for reactive dogs and I call it, the 4 cornerstones of calmness:
🪨 Cornerstone 1: Stress Management - Because less stress is the key to long-term learning.
🪨 Cornerstone 2: Diet & Health: So you can calm your dog from the inside out.
🪨 Cornerstone 3: Optimism and self-confidence - Because your dog must feel confident in himself to dare to be calm.
🪨 Cornerstone 4: Disengagement: Teach your dog to go from staring to not caring about those dogs/people you encounter on your walk.
The Calm Canine Journey course is built around these cornerstones, so you get all the knowledge and exercises you need to take your dog from stressed and reactive to calm and confident, and best of all... this 10 week course is part of the Reactive Dog Club.
If you feel frustrated by your dog's reactive behaviour and want to work with reward-based methods - Then this course is for you! 🚫 Stop listening to what everyone else is saying.
Don't waste your precious time googling which exercise is right for your dog - let me be your guide instead, and we can start today because as soon as you book the club, you'll get access to module 1-3 of the Calm Canine Journey.
Comment CLUB and I’ll send you the link or click the link in my bio.
See you on the inside! 🤓
