Set your dog up for success by starting this exercise at a distance and in an environment that is super easy and non distracting for your dog
Your dog doesn’t need to fail to learn. In fact, errorless learning will provide much quicker success. Plus, this ensures your dog doesn’t get frustrated by the learning process and instead builds confidence and a positive association with training
Remember training with your dog should always be fun, for the both of you.
Each dog is different; some dogs don’t need the help of meds to learn to feel comfortable being home alone, and some dogs do. And for some of those dogs the anti-anxiety effects of a single medication may not be sufficient.
Wolfgang has been on Clomicalm for a while, with great results.
However, her brilliant vet and I have discussed trying Gabapentin additionally as she suspected potential neuropathic pain. And after consulting a vet behaviourist on the matter, we decided to give it a go.
And wow, Wolfgang, who is 11, has (almost) transformed into a puppy again.
And she’s doing even better with her absence training!!!
I am excited to announce that Wolfgang's Way Dog Training has won The Business Concepts Award for 'Most innovative Dog Training Service 2023 - Scandinavia'.
I really do thoroughly love and enjoy my work, especially always thriving to develop bespoke ways to help my dog and human clients, and to be recognised like this is just the (most wonderful) cherry on top.
Wolfgang is currently opening a bottle of champers to celebrate while I'm preparing her favourite sausage cake for her ;)
Thank you so very much to the research and voting team at The Business Concept who've thought Wolfgang's Way worthy of this Award.
In light of the recent horrific attempts to injure, and potentially kill, dogs in Malmö with placing spiked food out on the streets (bread buns containing sharp pieces of metal or shards of glass), here are some training tips on how to manage and prevent:
Teaching your dog that good things happen when they check in with/ look at you - and therefore keeping their focus upwards/ on you, rather than downwards and potentially picking up food from the floor.
You can use a marker word (I.e. ‘yesss’ or ‘good boy/ girl’) or a clicker for this, depending on what your dog is used to.
When out walking (on the streets or in the park), mark the moment your dog checks in with you, then feed a little treat.
My favourite way to teach ‘drop’ is outlined in this training video by the incredible Chirag Patel. The video takes you through the training steps to ‘automate' this behaviour (meaning your dog can’t help him/ herself but to open their mouth when they hear the word ‘drop’). This of course takes time and effort but results can be achieved fairly quickly if you work on this a little every day (make sure your dogs know you pay VERY WELL - get those meatballs rolling)
This video takes you through the training steps.
Start practicing the behaviour and associated cue at home, then generalise to the outdoors.
You can eventually turn ‘food on floor’ into a cue to check in with/ look up at you -preventing your dog from picking up food from the floor in the first place, as it’s raining cheese, chicken and bacon from you every time they spot some food/ rubbish on the floor.
Yesterday, Wolfgang got a special, big treat (‘cause she’s the best!) in form of a sausage. And whenever she gets too big a piece and it needs dissecting, she usually finds herself a quiet spot to attend to it.
But we were all cosy on the sofa and I saw in her little face how she was ‘debating’ over whether to pop down or how to go about it.
So I offered my cupped hand and said ‘Do you want Mami to help?’. And she immediately dropped that juicy sausage on my hand and sat back, looking at me in anticipation while I broke it up into bite-sized pieces for her. Patiently waiting for me to feed her every delicious bit.
And these moments of trust are what it’s all about (for me, at least).
For a dog to let go of such a high value food without a worry in the world (and no, I’m not in her head but she looked blissfully zero bothered).
I use the ‘can I help’ cue for all sorts of situations including:
When she stepped into something and can’t get it out of here paws (I walk to her or she hobbles over to me).
When there is a little poo stuck and she can’t bum-shuffle it off (and gets quite freaked out over it).
When she tries to get to the end of the Kong but can’t quite get that last bit right at the top out.
If she tries to get to something but can’t quite reach….and much more
Learn to talk dog so you can understand and communicate with your dog, and within this….
Allow your dog choice and control over their environment
ALWAYS be your dogs safe place
Don’t mess with your dog’s resources, AKA what’s important to them.
That includes simply letting them eat their meals rather than making a whole song and dance around waiting for five minutes, then reciting the alphabet before they can dig in.
Accept your dogs personality: teach them cues so you can easily navigate this human world together but also accept that they might not want to allow strangers to pet them and that they, too, have crappy days where they might react to the environment.
Don’t use aversive methods!!!!
Let’s face it, us humans are prone to be a little lazy (me included!) and what’s not to love about a cue that you can use in all sorts of different scenarios and for a variety of different behaviours.
Plus, we often forget our dog’s cues when we are caught up in a stressful situation, so having one or two words to fall back on will make every day management delightfully smooth.
Here is how to teach your furry friend these cues.
You are working with your reactive dog on making the world a less stressful place for them…
You are out and about socialising your puppy….
You are training with your adolescent dog, ironing out a couple of teenage tricky behaviours…
One moment the world is at peace, then suddenly something happens that sends your dog into melt down frenzy (out of fear, over-excitement, frustration…).
In this heightened emotional state most dogs struggle to respond to a cue, and management is key.
The following force-free management tools will help you to swiftly, and positively, get out of a potentially messy situation.
First things first, dogs bark! It’s a dog, it’s what they do. You wouldn’t ask a lion to stop roaring.
However, the fact that dogs live in our homes makes this often an issue for us humans. And of course we often expect our furry friend to behave perfectly, in all sorts of ‘human’ situations.
This article is about understanding why your dog barks and how to deal with it, including teaching alternative behaviours, providing outlets so they don’t need to bark in the first place as well as preempting, managing and, let’s say, tone it down a notch, or two.
Before I delve into the different types of barking and how to deal with these, here are some things to consider that can impact on most barking behaviours:
I've just received a wonderful review from a client who I've been working with on separation distress (for their rescue hound mix Daisy, isn't she the cutest).
We've been working together for a while, months! As that is what it (mostly) takes to help a dog over separation related issues (commonly known as 'separation anxiety').
We went from helping her to get over initial departure triggers (I.e. the human putting on shoes or a coat - slowly changing her association from panicked to relaxed) to slowly building up duration of absences (3mins, 5mins, slowly slowly is most often the key to success, teaching the dog a routine that surrounds the human coming back).
Daisy happily copes with 90 minutes now, sometimes even longer. Any longer is still difficult for her though so we are taking it back to baby steps, to help her over that hurdle gently.
Also, she went from hating long car journeys to breezily traveling along now. And from pulling like a truck on the lead to happily bouncing alongside her humans. All down to her humans' effort and care, being patient and understanding and just so so wonderful with her.
I do love my job!
Go Daisy!
While the Will Smith / Chris Rock Oscar shenanigans are still circling the worldwide media, we too have an Award to announce [cue trumpets announcing Wolfgang entering the room riding naked on a white horse…).
And we even got a wonderful one page feature in the winners book….
So please excuse ourselves as we hop into a champagne bubble bath (with sausage dippers for Wolfgang of course)….
As most of you will be aware, dog theft is on the increase, certainly in the UK, and most certainly since the start of the Covid pandemic.
Dogs are being taken from people’s homes, gardens and even in parks when out on a walk. The increased demand for puppies and dogs since Covid lockdown has turned our furry friends into a booming business opportunity, sadly and terrifyingly. Just watch the Vice documentary ‘The Gangs That Steal Your Puppies’, it’s eye-opening, to say the least.
My puppy and dog training programmes have always included teaching ways to keep your dog close by when walking off-lead, for a multitude of reasons, so here are some tips on what you can do to keep your dog safe when out on a walk:
Practice check-ins (engagement); mark (with a marker word such as an enthusiastic ‘yesss’ or a clicker) when your dog turns to look for you, then throw a little (you’ll be throwing plenty) treat. This teaches them to stay close by, after all food might fall out of their human and they can make this happen all by themselves. What’s not to love. I give Wolfgang a little something 90% of the time she turns up walking next to me (when she’s off lead), the other 10% I forget, I’m only human after all….I think it’s brilliant that she knows she can have a little snack when she feels peckish, and it doesn’t make her less responsive to her cues and she doesn’t even ask all the time. It works really rather well for the both of us.
Bullet-proof your recall; practice every day and make it fun and rewarding for your furry sidekick (food, play, game of chase, whatever works best for your dog). This means, you can quickly call him/ her back to you if they amble out of sight or are eyeing up a stranger for food or scratchies. And on that note….
Do NOT allow any strangers to give your dog treats, EVER. All the good stuff should come from you. If they learn strangers mean food, most dogs will be off to try that human-treat-dispensing-machine.
Teach an arsenal of behaviours that make your dog come back to you, such as a hand target, a leg weave, ‘middle’ (where your pooch swerves in and ends up sitting between your legs) and so forth. This means you have plenty of ways to quickly get your dog to come back to you and you don’t run the risk of over-doing it with your recall cue.
And while you are working through the above outlined training methods or if you have a rampant adolescent or adventurous adult, please manage their access to their environment with a long training line attached to a well-fitting harness.
And there’s even more you can do now! I’m so excited to learn that one of my former clients, Dave and his wonderful Labrador Bo, has launched a business to help dog owners get reunited with their pet if stolen or lost.
LAB+BONE is a subscription-based dog identity service that proves a dog’s identity via their DNA. Thieves can, and are, disabling microchips, leaving the dog unidentifiable. Which is where LAB+BONE comes in: if a dog is found, one of the cryogenically stored DNA samples is then profiled by their laboratory partner, and test packs are sent out to any potential matches of the found dog. If a positive DNA match is made, the owner can prove ownership using forensic evidence to legally reclaim their dog.
If you want to find out more about LAB+BONE, have a perusal on their website.
So, stay safe and happy training xx
Naturally, we don’t need an excuse to spoil our dogs and especially at Christmas. Here are some ideas or you and your furry friend:
The Underdog International Calendar for you and your pooch to keep abreast of all those important doggy dates. This sustainably produced calendar features 12 wonderful images of some of the charity’s rescued dogs, now living their very best lives.
The Underdog International Charity’s ethical online shop also offers fashionable bandanas for your dog and some very cool tops and bags for the non-furry family members. Everything is made from up cycled fabrics or donated stock so the products have virtually no impact on the world’s resources. Plus, 100% of sales goes directly to their life-changing projects helping children and dogs.
Buying Christmas presents while doing good, mission accomplished!
Porch.com have recently asked Wolfgang’s Way to contribute to an article about how to care for your pets (in our case dogs, of course) at home.
I love the fact that there are now so many companies outside the pet industry that show interest in this subject (Porch provides software and services to several home service industries including real estate, contractors, moving and much more).
After all, we need to spread the message about how to look after our beloved pets positively, there’s way too much misleading information out there as is (especially when it comes to dog training and behaviour)!!
Our question was about how to ‘keep your dog active’ and whereas this is a rather broad subject (and one would ideally like to write a ten page essay about this), we’ve tried to accommodate the most important bits within a few sentences.
If you’d like to have a read of what we’ve contributed, plus what other industry people have said about everything from how to start training to how to care for your reptiles and cats (diverse!), click here.
The festive season is well and truly upon us. The tree is going up, decorations shall be hung and soon the house will be filled with an abundance of visitors and the smell of delicious food.
It’s important to remember that the festive season can be a stressful and unsettling time for your dog so check out our top tips to help keep the festive season merry and stress free for your dog.
Plan ahead
It is not always possible to take your dog to visit friends and family, always plan ahead and book your dog walker/sitter well ahead of time. It’s not fair to leave your dog with just anyone so choose carefully and make sure that your dog is happy and comfortable around whoever you choose to leave them with.
Try to keep your routine (as much as possible)
Dogs thrive on routine so it is important to keep their routine as normal as possible over the festive season. Even when you’re full of Christmas feast, your dog should still get their evening walk. Maintaining their feeding and exercise routine will help to keep them calm and happy.
Let’s face it, our dogs have very little choice and control over their day to day existence. They have no say over when they want to eat (or how much!!) or how much time to spend in the park. Whether they actually want that stranger to pat them on the head (while they can’t get away ‘cause there’s that thing called a lead that renders them stationary) or if this really is the ideal time to go to bed.
So whereas there are some things that we of course do no need to decide and manage on their behalf, in order to ensure they stay safe and healthy, providing choice for your dog wherever possible will make a huge difference to their overall wellbeing and will certainly improve the relationship you have with your furry friend.
Choice as well as being able to predict what happens next, whether that is via a routine or offering choice, make dogs feel safe. And feeling safe means less stress and more contentment; resulting in a confident, healthy and happy dog. What’s not to love?
It’s fair to say that Wolfgang has never been quite so keen on kids. Totally at ease with any children passing or being close by and ignoring her but not so happy with kids approaching and trying to interact. And considering she still looks like the cutest puppy most kids want to cuddle her and pick her up…..not knowing that deep inside this little Jack Russell Terrier mix’s soul, there is a big wild wolf!!
Coming from a home with a toddler who, as I could tell when we picked her up, was quite full on with her as a very young puppy (AKA chasing after her, throwing toys at her, etc) to not being exposed enough to children when young. it can be difficult to get hold of kids when you or your friends don’t have any at hand for socialisation purposes, just sayin’….
In addition, her rather sparkly personality to choose ‘fight’ over ‘flight’ when given the opportunity (the ‘fight’ being a surprisingly loud and rolling bark, for such a little furry person, combined with a moving toward rather than retreating) never quite helped the overall situation.
