Happy birthday Nessa!
November 6, 2011
Happy birthday November 5th to Nessa! two years old and a grown up girl!
The photo’s show Nessa at various ages and bring back some great memories for me as I have had the privilege of being a part of most of Nessa’s training life!
Even Nessa can't get this ball in her mouth!
What hole?!
Nessa shows her disgust at West Ham's result!!
New dates!
October 11, 2011
Brodie (Tuesday night puppy class)
Events
Recall Training sessions
These 2 and a half hour sessions focus on lead walking and recall. Foundation training takes place in the safety of the fenced garden at Barbary Cottage, once the building blocks are in place we take the training to the outside world, the paddocks and fields surrounding Barbary! There are a maximum of 5 dogs and handlers in a group.
Fee: includes Tea/coffee £50
Times: 10am – 12.30pm
19th October Wednesday and Saturday 29th October
Training day
A full day devoted to training your dog, whether you are keen to improve your dogs general obedience or are interested in trying some obedience tests this promises to be a fun day out with other dog lovers!
Monday Times: 10am – 4pm
Fee: £75 includes tea/coffee
Venue: Barbary Cottage
Date: November 7th
Harley keeps cool in the October sun!
A frequently asked question!
October 4, 2011
Dog training classes have an issue that other evening class don’t experience, at least not that I know of? How many soft furnishing course tutor’s have students ring them to say, “I can’t get there this week, can I send my husband instead”? Or cookery tutor’s asked “I am poorly, is it okay if my son/brother/aunt/neighbour comes this week”? 🙂 I know you are smiling now! But however often I tell people that they are the ones learning, they still think the dog is being trained! And yes I have had a request for all of the above surrogates to bring the puppy to class!
I know that Mum’s get fed up with taking responsibility for everything domestic, believing that at least someone could get involved with training the puppy! The reality is it really is the handler I train, and this dog training lark is a skill, it is learning to communicate with another species and teach them to be obedient and good mannered! In fact the more people involved in the training the more the process is slowed down! For every person involved in the training, the poor puppy has to learn yet another set of physical and verbal commands, how hard is that?
The truth is that if one person takes on the job of training the family pet it will all work out fine, promise! The dog gets trained faster, everyone in the house gets to learn through observation, (there is nothing like a bit of successful dog training to get everyone mimicking the able dog trainer). I have witnessed first hand how, when my clients stop wanting involvement from the rest of the family and get on with the job themselves, success comes rapidly, the dog suddenly starts to get it! As a result the rest of the family want to walk or train the dog, because they are a joy to take out!
These photo’s feature the Thursday class, theyhave taken on all the training and are very successful in their dog training!
Edna and HarleySid is perfect!
Badger
Badger and Lucky
A great photo and some brilliant training!
September 29, 2011
Well trained dogs, ponies and children!
Many thanks to Georgie for sending me this photo! Georgie lives just down the road from me yet it was only last week that I saw her out with all the family! Congratulations Georgie on some great training!
New puppy groups this month! And honestly dogs do not speak english!
September 28, 2011
Evie (a miniture Schnauzer ) started puppy class last week!
It doesn’t matter how often I say that dogs don’t speak english I know that not everyone will hear me! Even clients who have been coming to training for some time tell me they forget, so it not surprising, for those new to dog training,take a while to really appreciate that dog language is body language and even if their puppy is a good guesser that is all it is guess-work, the puppy doesn’t understand words, it takes a lot of time and effort for the to learn words. Next time you find yourself repeating a word to your dog over and over again, stop talking and think movement and action! 🙂
Not watership down!
September 6, 2011
It is sadly that time of year when the rabbits have Mixie again! I luckily saw Betty “playing” with a mixie rabbit in the garden this week, lucky because I was able to let her know that I didn’t like her doing that! I would have liked to have put the poor creature out of its misery, but sadly I cannot find that ability in me.
There was no way I want Betty to learn how to kill any creature, she won’t know the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy one. Plus once she learns to enjoy the kill her recall for me would be come unreliable and I would be concerned that she could end up chasing a rabbit across a road! by seeing the bigger picture I can avoid creating problems later on.
By viewing all dog behaviour through a magnifying glass many of the dog behaviours I am asked to help with never have the chance to develop!
Butter wouldn't melt!
Hitching a ride!
August 30, 2011
Hitching a ride!
The Poodles are called Rumpus and Merlot and they really know how to travel in style! Both Standard Poodles belong to Corinne and Michael, the ones doing the work up the front are called Hugo and Jason 🙂 This may be an unusual sight but not around Great Canfield as Corinne and family regularly drive out from local Ashfields Carriage and Polo Club. I cannot claim any credit for the brilliant dog training, Merlot and Rumpus are all the work of Corinne, who runs a business looking after animals while people are away, what a great advert for her!
What else can we blame Disney for?
August 8, 2011
Wouldn’t it be great if our dogs could talk english, be the sort of characters that appear in the Disney films? 🙂 I know these stories influenced me as a child! I also remember the day I became disillusioned by my dog when I was about 20, it was a horrible shock to realise my dear little dog had not only killed but eaten one of my cats new-born kittens! That doesn’t happen in Disney films nor in the romantic world I had created for my pets. The experience did not stop me from idealizing my dogs completely, but now I have a more realistic view, shaped by even more life
Tallulah (Shar pei)
experience of reality.
The problem is not the Disney films, it is when we forget to remember that our dogs are real life animals.
When we leave the dog to decide, yes they do that in Disney movies, and guess what, the dog makes the best decision ever! What happens in real life if we leave it to the dog to decide:
- where and when we walk?
- when we feed?
- when we stroke?
- where they sleep?
we make the dog leader! And what do we get when the dog is in charge?
I await your answers on that:)?
The reality is though that most dogs do not want to be leader, they may want to be a Prefect, even head girl or boy but few are born to be headmaster/mistress and they really do not want that job! which is why dogs that are given too many choices are not happy!
Disney dogs are happy, at least they are by the end of the film, and live happy ever after too!
In real life we must be clear and make the important decisions for our dogs, to ensure our dogs live happy ever after lives!
Events and help please!
August 3, 2011
Lewis or is it Louis? 🙂
I haven’t been including events on the blog before, I am not sure why! Here are some dates for your diary, if you have attended one maybe you would like to add a comment and tell others about your experience please? And I would appreciate some dog photo’s please?
Recall Training sessions
These 2 and a half hour sessions focus on lead walking and recall. Foundation training takes place in the safety of the fenced garden at Barbary Cottage, once the building blocks are in place we take the training to the outside world, the paddocks and fields surrounding Barbary! There are a maximum of 5 dogs and handlers in a group.
Fee: includes Tea/coffee £50
Times: 10am – 12.30pm
August: Wednesday 10th and Saturday 20th
September Wednesday 14th and Saturday 24th
Fun Agility x 3
For anyone wanting to enjoy some fun agility with your dog, tiny jumps so suitable for the younger puppies, this is more about the mechanics and fun rather than difficulty!
3 Monday evening sessions August 8th -15th and 22nd
Times: 7pm – 8pm
Fee: £75 (for 3 sessions)
Tricks Workshop
Wednesday 21st September 10am to 12.30pm
For owners who have a sense of humour in their dog training!
This session is suitable for dogs of all ages and abilities!
Fee: £40
Training day
A full day devoted to training your dog, whether you are keen to improve your dogs general obedience or are interested in trying some obedience tests this promises to be a fun day out with other dog lovers!
Monday 19th September
Times: 10am – 4pm
Fee: £75 includes tea/coffee
Venue: Barbary Cottage
Ring craft
A day training show craft, for those that either do show their dogs in breed classes or want to! Come and learn the tricks of the trade!
Saturday August 13th
Times: 10am – 4pm
Fee: £75 includes tea/coffee
Dog behaviour/psychology course
For those that want to know more about how the dogs mind works and what they are thinking!
Dates: Commencing Saturday 3rd September fortnightly for 6 Saturday’s
Walt Disney has a lot to answer for!
July 20, 2011
Sasha
Roy and Sasha
I love Walt Disney films, the more fantastic the better and always a happy ending, so I can relax and enjoy the film knowing everything will turn out okay! My first dog knowledge came from Disney, unconsciously my love of animals must have been fueled by the wonderful portrayal of talking (and much more!) animals! Dogs that rescued their owners or each other, travelled vast journeys to get to their masters side! Who wouldn’t want a dog after watching a Disney film? Disney has sold more puppies than I can begin to count!
Today I know that it is partly because of Disney that I have so much work to do with pet owners, unconsciously they too have been given this magical image of dogs. Just think about this for a few moments and tell me you haven’t been affected?
I think there is a huge amount we can all learn about our dog behaviour, through becoming aware of the influence of Disney and other media, maybe not in the way we would like :)! I am going to do a series of blogs from this perspective, starting today, I would be most grateful for your feedback?!
Take titbit training, I spend a lot of training time convincing owners that the use of food for dog training is a good thing and makes training fun. Why would anyone believe that a young puppy or dog would not respond better if there is a treat involved? Well Disney is the answer! Owners want dogs to do stuff for love! In the film love between the human and the animal is instant, even if time passing is implied, it isn’t always apparent because of the limitations of the media.
I am not immune to believing my dogs love me, but I am realistic, the love only comes over time, the bond deepens and grows, it takes 2 years to have a good bond with any dog. There may well be an instant bond of sorts at the start of a relationship, all dogs want to be in a pack, but it is only over time that trust and true partnership can develop. Feeding a dog treats as rewards for correct behaviour will encourage a feel good factor around dog and human and therefore increase the bond. Plus when we successfully communicate with our dogs in positive way we are deepening the understanding and therefore the love and bond between us, I know this through some wonderful experiences, both with my dogs and by watching my clients!
In time as the dog truly understands our commands, viewing our commands as a fun way of communicating (not being bossed around) the training becomes less dependant on food. But I have never out grown enjoying a treat, from a friend or stranger:) and my dog won’t either! The problems come if we expect this from our dogs before we have earnt” it” over time!
Even Nessa can't get this ball in her mouth!
Avril Munson's Blog 