Animal Behavioural Care

14/08/2024

Remember Snowflake. Promised some video proof. Well, here he is rocking giving paw. So proud of him and his mom!

30/07/2024

Finn - Deaf - now almost 6 months

Look how tiny he was and look at him now! Fast asleep after we did some mental stimulation. Training a deaf dog is almost like training a hearing dog. But not quite. Finn has taught me so many lessons while working with him and I can now incorporate it with my hearing dog training and help make a difference in some of my students' training. I know my dog is enjoying the different (extra) hand signals we use. We take for granted the verbal markers (click). Adding a hand signal to this changes the significance for them drastically. Very cool to watch. And one day when my dog is old and cannot hear anymore. We will still be able to communicate.

Love that my work is making a difference.

30/07/2024

Procrastination in its best form!

30/07/2024

Meet Snowflake - Pomeranian - almost 3 years old

Absolutely no issues. We just wanted to work on some trick training with him. His sit, stay, down (as you can see in the photo) was going beautifully until we realized he does not use his paws. For anything. His way of communication is to lick you to death. So it took us some out of the box thinking and today it happened. His paw hit that target and kept going. What an amazing feeling when they GET IT. On top of that he did a perfect roll over today. I was so excited I totally forgot to take a picture of the famous paw on target moment. Watch this space. Coming soon.

07/07/2024

Had some beautiful weather on Friday to do some puppy training @ HAWS before the storm hit. Was a great session thanks to the awesome volunteers. Tons of fun with some skills thrown in between. The puppies rocked it. Training is not only about the puppies. Behind every great puppy, is a great empathetic handler with clear signals.

01/07/2024

Remember Rudi? Our clown. Well today I got totally side tracked due to this little guy. While talking to his mom he decided to go and test out the equipment all by himself. I stopped my sentence in midair and just started giggling. Where other dogs will start demanding attention or just wandering around sniffing. He went straight to the cavellettis and after that he tested the seesaw. Videos not that great, but you get the idea. He just loves it. And after our last session going onto the steps. His mom has no problem getting him up at Hoy's Koppie anymore. And there are a lot of steps!

01/07/2024

LOVE my work environment. Working with Lucy to give her self confidence back after something very scary happened along their favourite walking route. Unfortunately we do not know what happened. Her mom put in a lot of effort and she is walking nicely again along the beach strip where previously she refused to set paw on.

25/06/2024

Graduation day. Well done in completing the 6 week skill training intermediate course. Great class with great pet parents and students. Love doing what I do!

21/06/2024

When you are supposed to train 1 and suddenly there are 2!

21/06/2024

Congratulations Salvadore and James in completing the 101 Skill training course. It was unfortunately too dark already for the final certificate picture. Sal kept up the good name of Golden Retrievers everywhere by being playful, funny and affectionate. He aced the sitting calmly next to fences while dogs walked passed and not reacting while going on a walk. But give him half a chance and he will go and lick them to death. Here he shows off his goofball personality with some moments of concentration.

17/06/2024

Leia - Golden Doodle
I am sitting being cute, and still sitting....hey wait a minute! Mom, Django is taking over my photo! Talk to him.
Working with two dogs at the same time can be very challenging. The mom of these two is managing just fine. Very proud of her!

17/06/2024

Rudi- Airedale Terrier
These pictures tell a story. The first time on the climbing stairs. He aced the ramp. How cute is he! And a real clown. Some extra confidence building is always good and the pups love it.

17/06/2024

Congratulations Juno! Passed with flying colours the CGC Silver test. Well done.

13/06/2024

And before I forget about the Hermanus Animal Welfare puppies that gets training most Fridays. Dingo and Lenny rocking it. These two are such clever pups.

13/06/2024

Say Hi to Juno. She is stealing hearts wherever she goes. What a pretty Rottweiler. And beyond clever. Basic skill training a breeze for her. Love what I do!!!!

12/06/2024

Meet Bertie. What a handsome boy! He is an English Springer Spaniel. We are working on his confidence and helping him to understand our world a bit better. Having good communication and understanding between a pet parent and puppy brings them closer and builds mutual trust and a strong bond. Photos of him staying in a perfect sit - stay for almost 8 seconds the first try and his first down on cue ever. So proud of him. He was not trusting the phone, while taking pictures, but he kept his down. Great first lesson.

04/06/2024

Friday puppy training at HAWS. Great to be back and having these amazing, skilled volunteers training the puppies. This group of puppies just did everything right. There was even a middle and an unintentional watch training. Teaching a puppy to follow the lure hand is vital in the beginning of training. And these four got it so quickly.

31/05/2024

Got my diploma from Pet Sense College for Progressive Dog Trainer - Level Two Higher Diploma. As well as ICOES, International Council for Online educational standards. Hard work, long hours. Happiness! Great confirmation that you and your dog are in good hands.

15/05/2024

Playing hide and seek. Fun recall game. Darwin turning into an excellent student. Good job!

15/05/2024

After some homeschooling Ragnar came for training at the academy. His mom is doing an awesome job with him and he only has eyes for her. 🥰

13/05/2024

Congratulations Nugget and Nadia for completing the Co-operation 101 course.

09/05/2024

The one day that I got a chance to go and do some training with the puppies it started to raining. And this is where I ended up......

09/05/2024

Faces of Hunter: at 6 and a half months old

As you noticed. I have been a bit absent from facebook......again. Done my last exam and project last Friday and now waiting for my results from Petsense college for the Progressive Dog Trainer - Level Two Higher Diploma. In between we had tons of fun training. Here is the Faces of Hunter at the academy. He is growing up so fast and such a great, focused puppy.

16/04/2024

THIS! Love this! Best way to build relationships. Animal and human alike.

Why can't we reassure before we rebuke?
We are programmed to think everything that doesn't go our way is a battle to be won..
What if sometimes it's a bridge to be built.
Stop. Breathe. Consider.
When it comes to horses.. A refusal for forward, or any undesirable behavior is a communication of concern.
"Disciplining" a horses communication might stop the behavior, but it shuts down the communication channel.
Then we get surprised when a horse "explodes out of nowhere".
We punish every attempt to tell us they are struggling, but when they finally face more than they can deal with we label them as unpredictable.
They're not unpredictable, we don't listen.
Stop. Breathe. Consider

14/04/2024

How cute is Oscar!😍

14/04/2024

Leia. Ready to go home..... or is she? 🥰

14/04/2024

Bella! I could not find one photo with her not wagging her tail. ☺️

02/04/2024

Took Lea to a restaurant and she was a model dog. The kids playground was a few meters away from where we sat. So very proud of her!