Recall training morning at Barbary Cottage!
April 28, 2010
Sarah giving great body language for the recall
Sharon looking great on heelwork!
Sarah looking very pleased with Charlie!
We start by getting the short recall right!
more short recall for Charlie
Jane and Freddy can do the short recall too!
A lovely shot of great lead work!
We all need a tea break, well we had worked hard!
We had a great morning, and the sun shone for us too! The dogs responded well to the strutured training, by the time we felt brave enough to leave the safety of the fenced garden and go into the paddock, the dogs were responding well. Anne and Sharon had been to the training session a month before so were able to advance more, I was thrilled to see the improvement in their dogs and in their handling!
Recall on the long line out in the fields
The long line is our safety net!
I found a new product last summer to help with those brown patches on the lawn and bushes, it is called “dog rocks” and is a rock mined in Australia. You put the rocks in the dogs drinking bowl and this naturally occurring rock does the rest. It takes about six weeks to kick in so get some now to get the process working for you!
Visit the site for more information or go to my links page for link.
What is okay for puppies to eat?
March 11, 2010
For first time dog owners the world can seem a dangerous place for their precious puppies! But I have to tell you puppies have remarkable constitutions, this is a born scavenger and nature equipped them with a stomach that can withstand most natural materials and decomposed matter!
If you allow your human squeamishness to interrupt your puppy eating rubbish every time, and this will be frequent while the puppy is young, you will be giving out this message: I want what you have, it is something I am interested in and I am competing with you to have “it” first! Young dogs learn from older dogs in the pack what is valuable in this world, if the other dogs are interested then it must be good! You or the humans in the puppy’s life play this part in a human home.
If you don’t want your puppy to keep showing interest in stuff then you must not either! If you are too disgusted use some tasty food to distract your puppy from the thing, do not let your puppy see you remove “it” or you will be back to encouraging again. By using something tasty to distract you will be actively demonstrating that there is something better to eat as well as demonstrating your lack of interest which over time will teach your puppy not to go for inappropriate things to eat.
Stones are one of the commonest problem that I come across especially in new dog owners, though some more experienced owners do make the same mistake. The reality is that puppies will pass small stones easily, and they are bound to consume a few in discovering that stones are not food, by distracting the puppy over and over with a tasty tit bit you will soon persuade them to leave stones alone! If not this problem can soon escalate to eating larger and larger stones that could block the bowel and endanger your pets life or incur large vet bills.
The other downside of not addressing this issue is that the puppy can become possessive over something as simple as tissue if you constantly remove them from her.
here is a list of stuff that puppies can and should be allowed to explore that are harmless and will if ignored soon be forgotten:
- Tissue, including kitchen roll, toilet paper
- Paper in any form
- Cardboard
- Wood pieces (do not throw or play with sticks)
- Tea towels (leave old ones lying around until they get bored or old bits of cloth)
- Ash, bits of coal
- animal excrement!
Dogs will take food that is left out, if I leave my kitchen with food on the side I don’t expect it to be there when I return! It is the nature of the dog to scavenge, and fighting this natural behaviour will just give you a headache and spoil your relationship with your dog.
If your dog is already possessive about any or all of these items please contact me, this is curable!
What to look for if you think your puppy has eaten something dangerous
- Lethargy
- Sickness
- Diarrhea
- Loss of appetite
call your Vet immediately!
Preventing or curing food possession in your dog!
March 4, 2010
Let the training begin! Here is the first step of preventing or curing food possession in any dog, any age!
Follow the steps on the clip and repeat every day for 2 weeks, if your dog is already food possessive you may need to continue for a month, it will work, if you have any questions or comments please post them?
Dry food is ideal for this process, wet food can be used, but if you have a food possessive dog please consider changing to a good quality dry food. Contact me if you want more guidance.
Please show tell all the dog owners you know about this simple method of preventing food possession, it will save lives and injury to people!
More information coming on upcoming posts, watch this space!
How I want my dog to behave around food!
March 4, 2010
When we want or don’t want a dog to behave a certain way we have to consider the outcome that we are seeking. With food possession by being clear about this result could never be more important. There are still people that believe that if we take a dogs food away from it we are proving he is seeing us as the boss, this is not so. Even the most submissive animal in a wolf pack will not give up food to a superior wolf, even the pack leader! Animals respect ownership of food, it is too dangerous not to. So must we, I would not tolerate anyone repeatedly taking food from my plate, let alone my plate of food, you might get away with it once or twice but with repetition I would become guarded and dangerous! 🙂
The reality is that when a dog is eating it is necessary that we can move near the dog without him feeling threatened or on guard, the worst case scenario is that someone trips up and lands in thd dogs bowl, and what we want is for the dog to not react negatively.
The video in this post demonstates the out come that is required, over the next posts I will teach you how to achieve this behaviour!
Please give your comments and questions!
Today at the BBC Essex Radio studio!
December 2, 2009
I hope some of you managed to listen in to hear me on BBC Essex today, if you missed the show you can still log on and listen to the show on the BBC Essex Web site. It was a very appropriate day for me to be at the station, following the tragic death of a four year old boy in a dog attack in his Grandmother’s home. I had a sense of carrying a big responsibility as I drove to the studio. I felt strongly that some sense has to come from such a tragic event, if we can only get through to someone out there and save another child or hopefully children.
I can honestly say it is the most passionately I have spoken at any time on the radio! I am glad to say there was a strong response to the show with many calls, so many we had no hope of addressing them all, sadly, but at least we had peoples attention! I pray that even more were affected by the dog behaviour we discussed.
One of the controversial calls was from a lady with a 2 year old Golden Retriever, the dog had recently bitten her badly on both her arms, 2 vets had recommended the dog destroyed and one dog behaviour professional had alledgedly said the dog’s behaviour could be changed and they were prepared to work with the owners. This lady has a 13 year old son, would you recommend her to train this dog? Professionally and personally I would not, if there were just 2 adults in the house that would be there choice, but with a child present I would not and will not. It is a tough event to walk into the vets to have a dog put down, I know I have had to do it, but that is the responsibility we must embrace when we live with and love dogs, people and especially our children must come first.
With any dog attack there are always or almost always warning signs if we don’t heed them we can find ourselves in a similar position to the lady with Golden Retriever or worse. Nip it is the bud, do not ignore dog aggression, prevention is always better than the cure, for once a dog has bitten to this degree there is no way back!
We all had a great morning training our dogs!
December 1, 2009
Pepe having a drink!
The recall training session this saturday was great fun, the thing that struck me most was how good the handlers were at concentrating on their own dogs! Not easy when they were all off lead, but the dogs responded to the handlers concentration and stayed focused!
We had 2 Jack Russell Pups and 2 GSD pups, all of which were great fun, the owners have done a great job of playing hide and seek with their puppies before the training session, which proved the value of this exercise once again, as the puppies were much more interested in their handlers than the other dogs and handlers!
Pepe and Janice were in attendance and Janice very kindly forwarded me this photo of Pepe which I am glad to share with you. Pepe is a huge handsome GSD, Janice has put in some great work with him and it looks to be paying off! I know Sue Horn has been a great support Janice, so well done to both of you! I look forward to working with you again soon!
Helping other people lose their fear of dogs!
November 24, 2009
As dog owners I believe we all have a responsibility to help members of the public that are afraid of dogs, not by pushing our dogs at them, but by demonstrating the dog is under control and therefor no threat!
Never dismiss anyone’s fear of dogs, it is real and respect of another’s feelings is the first step to helping them get passed their fear.
I was out with one of my dogs one day near the beach, I stood by the car changing my boots, my dog Teddy, was running round nearby, when someone walked into the car park, Teddy was near the entrance and though not taking any notice of the person was obviously to close for comfort for this person, I saw the scared look and the person freeze, my first instinct was to call out “it’s okay he won’t hurt you” but immediately realised that was irrelevant for this person and instead shouted “down” to Teddy, who hit the deck immediately and I called him to me, once I had him with me I apologised for the scare they had had, and put Teddy on the lead to further reassure them that they were safe.
I knew they were safe with Teddy on or off the lead, but this person did not, I could see the surprise on the persons face and the relaxed look that soon replaced the scared look. Teddy and I did more in that moment he obeyed me than any verbal reassurance from me could ever have done!
Inspiration!
November 23, 2009
This last weekend I attended a horse weekend with the Parelli’s, what an inspiration they are and not just to horse owners! As a dog trainer I found the weekend fascinating and absorbing! Making me rethink dogs is so refreshing for me, the experience gave me a new way of looking at dogs that I am sure will affect me for some time to come.
Although dogs and horses may be different species they do have similarities, and it was horses that I worked with first on leaving school, so I am excited that it is the horse element that is inspiring me once again 🙂
I will be writing a post later today that is a direct inspiration from the weekend to encourage all of you to be re-inspired about your dogs training!
I have added a link to the Parelli site which I hope you will follow to get more information about Pat and Linda and get a new slant for yourselves on there horse thinking!
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