The life of a dog trainer

Nathan here, it’s been a busy ol’ week!

24 home visits we have made over the last 5 days with a whole host of different issues. So busy we haven’t had time to post, so here are a few highlights (with a lot of “give me treats” faces)!

Buddy the Patterdale is dog reactive. We started developing the guardian-dog relationship with him and teaching him some focus outside, we then taught him a marker that will be used for teaching him dogs aren’t so bad and managed the environment to prevent rehearsal in the meantime!

Rosie and Ella the Westies. We first met these 2 cuties in puppy class during the lockdown, when they were showing signs of reactivity. This has now developed and their guardian needed some extra help. He was doing the “watch me” cue, which just wasn’t working as the food wasn’t delivered in time! So we scattered instead. By the end, a dog would appear and they looked back for treats

Dexter the Rhodesian Ridgeback. This breed is bred to hunt lions, so as you can imagine, this dog is HUGE! Dexter pulls on the lead and reacts to dogs. Due to this, there has been a relationship breakdown between him and his guardians, so this is the first thing for us to fix, with some specific training tailored to this, they’ll be back on track in no time

Missy the Staffy. Missy is a lovely pup but jumps up and goes crazy when she meets people. In this session, we taught her an automatic sit for attention when she approaches, when someone approaches her and when someone enters the room - she did fab

Effie the cat chaser. Effie is a mixed breed foreign rescue who we first met in puppy classes. Her guardians were struggling with her chasing the cat, as you can see by the photo we had her relaxed and getting stroked in no time! She will also be taught to go to her bed when the cat appears so that she always moves away rather than towards. Well done guys

Poppy the Bichon frise x shih tzu. A lovely pup that was super cuddly but now has a few issues with the children in the home and resource guarding food. The first step is always a full vet check with RG to rule health issues out. Next, we taught a bed cue for while human food is on the go and started teaching that someone approaching her meant good stuff, not losing stuff. Poppy did awesomely and will be just fine

Toby the Chocolate Lab. Toby has shown a bit of aggression towards people coming to the home and the odd person outside, including children. Toby does have a bite history, but this is limited to people coming into the home. We have put management steps in place for him, and taught him to go to a certain area when someone approaches the door. Well done

Oscar the labradoodle x border collie. Since our last session, Oscar learned to focus on his guardian and build-up environment confidence, which stopped a great deal of his reactivity. We have reactivity to dogs and motorbikes left to sort, by the end of this session, Oscar heard and saw these triggers then automatically looked back to his guardians for guidance (and treats). Great work

Maggie the Cockapoo was a school dog that developed anxiety when she went back to school after lockdown. Maggie loved the kids but took issue with some male teachers. She has developed some other anxieties too so we started helping her with these like good stuff happens when guests come over. Maggie did awesomely and will be just fine

Cooper the Cavapoo. This was meant to be our second session with Cooper, however, when we got there, we found out Cooper hasn’t reacted to any dogs since our first session and there wasn’t a need to finish this one

If these cases sounds like your dog and you are having a similar issue, or a different issue entirely, book a FREE assessment call with us by clicking HERE.