How Max and Gina survived the school holidays - part one of the progress reports

An update from Gina with Max, one of our amazing dogsbodies as well as being a dedicated client! 

Laura’s recent blog about how Parkour had made their holiday more enjoyable got me thinking about the last few weeks while the children have been off school. (missed the blog? catch up here)

I guess most people who have a dog, but no children don’t give much thought to school holidays.

However, for me and my dog Max it has previously been a challenge that we have survived, but only just.

The problem is that I live in Bridlington right in the middle of the tourist area and Max struggled around pretty much all dogs and most unfamiliar people, not a good combination on a sunny August day.

Previously we managed the situation by either getting up at the crack of dawn or driving somewhere quiet hoping that we didn’t meet anyone else.

This summer we not only survived the tourists, we have actually made progress towards our goals. 

We started with Well Connected Canine last year, initially with 121 help then progressing on to rehab club.

However, more recently we signed up for the special workshops designed for dogs that struggle in normal class situations such as Scentwork for Sensitive dogs, Parkour and the Foundation Skills weekly classes.

I had previously under estimated the benefits of Max being able to work in safe set up scenarios and the difference has been amazing and lovely to watch.

The classes usually take place at Paw Park, so the open space makes it easier for the dogs to cope and each dog has its own “safe area” allocated which is screened off from the rest of the class.

We are currently working on a “wait” while I peer suspiciously around corners, walls and cars in search of any dogs or dubious looking people before deciding if Max can move forward or we do a quick let’s go in another direction.

So, is everything perfect with Max now?

Not yet - I still have to think about where we will walk, I have to constantly check Max is relaxed and coping when we are out.

The difference now is I have learned to be more relaxed myself and have more skills in my training tool box to use, although scent work is by far the most often used and I can often be found throwing and sticking cheese around Bridlington.

My next goal is to get Max closer to other dogs without him becoming worried, so I have booked on to Social skills for dogs that struggle, I want to be your friend?!

Who knows on my next update Max may have a new friend, that’s if I have not been taken in for questioning regarding my odd behaviour lurking around corners and throwing cheese around the town.

I know there are new classes starting soon and would recommend anyone who has been attending 121s or rehab to talk to Morag, Clare or Laura to see if you and your dog are ready for the next step. 

Gina and Max 

Since this was written Max has also been practicing his small talk at Social Skills for Dogs That Struggle. Learning how to politely greet Seamus, quietly flirt with Summer and more...having a new BFF might not be that far away!

The next blog will have a rather mixed bag of updates from me (Morag), Clare and Laura...

What's on at WCC for Sensitive Dogs?

If you feel like you have a Sensitive Dog, get in touch to talk about how we can help you both enjoy life together with less stress (email: info@wellconnectedcanine.co.uk)

Completed an Orientation or Behaviour Assessment with us already? One of these activities might be just what you’re looking for!  Look in the private Facebook Group or email us for the booking link (that way we can make sure you book onto the most suitable session)

The unanticipated side-benefits of training (or, why you should just listen when Morag tells you to do something…)

So last week Laura sent me a draft blog article.

It's always nice when I get a wee break from writing, and it's even nicer when the title is basically - do what Morag told you to in the first place!

And though I might claim otherwise, it's not really because I have all the answers. But it turns out some of the core skills that are important to me actually help with a whole range of other potential challenges.

For background, remember that the first dog all of my very own that I adopted (Finn) was a beautiful but troubled border collie. We had to work through baring and lunging at dogs, biting people and children, and much more.

So it was essential that we had good lines of communication, Finn needed to be able to focus on me and respond quickly, plus my sciatica meant that walking nicely was non-optional.

Does loose lead walking and obedience training solve everything? Heck no!

But when your dog understands

• it's important to check in
• that dragging you down the street isn't a good choice
• calm behaviour pays dividends of cheese....

then suddenly life in general can become much easier to deal with.

Read all about how some simple training games helped Brian and Seamus cope with seeing other dogs AND two cats on their walk two days after the session - it's the closest we can get to a magic fix!

I have to start this blog with a small confession – I have never really got round to training my dogs to walk nicely on the lead.

This isn’t to say that it hasn’t been on the training list but, fundamentally, I have small(ish) dogs who I do like to pull for some activities and the fact that they pull at other times hasn’t really bothered me.

So it keeps getting pushed back behind other priorities.

Recently though, Brian and Seamus have been getting quite barky on walks when they see other dogs – Seamus just wants to be friends with everyone and Brian has had some unfortunate encounters this year that have left him a bit suspicious of bigger dogs that he hasn’t personally vetted.

To combat this, we’ve been working on switching their brains on at the start of walks with a combination of nice lead walking and focused attention.

Today, we went for a twenty minute toilet walk and used our strategy as usual, with the result that we were able to be calm with all 10 (!) dogs that we met on route.

Then, as we left the little nature reserve that we walked in, we saw a cat dart across the road.

Seamus and Brian’s usual response to cats is best described as horrendous.

They forget anything else exists and it involves a lot of barking, squeaking, scrabbling and straining on the lead because WANT TO HUNT THE CAT - it is deeply obnoxious.

So, I steeled myself… …and they both just stared.

Intent focus, yes, and a little bit of squeaking from Seamus, but with their brains pre-switched on, there was none of the usual cat-related chaos.

They were both able to check in with me (ish) and even walk almost-nicely past the spot where the cat had run into.

Then we turned the corner and I watched as Brian saw a second cat ran away from us down the street and just sat down, while Seamus stood next to him and visibly shook with the effort of holding himself back.

A few more check-ins and we were even able to carry on walking nicely all the way home.

Self control is a muscle, not just for our dogs, but for us as well. It would have been so easy for me to just not bother with the training regime this morning (“eh, it’s only a short walk for toileting and I’m tired, what harm can it do?”).

But then I doubt we’d have been anywhere near as calm with the many dogs we met on our way round, so by the time we met the cats Brian and Seamus would have been wound-up and already frustrated.

I guarantee we’d have had all the usual chaos, and I’d never have had the chance to see how calm and controlled my boys can be if I set them up right.

And really, if that’s not motivation to carry on with the training plan, I don’t know what is!  

Laura, Brian and Seamus

 

What’s on at Well Connected Canine in York?

New 5 week class blocks starting on Mon 8th and Wed 10th April covering sports foundation skills, good companion obedience, sniffing school, parkour AND bodywork plus relaxation.
You can see the full programme here:
grab a weekly class!

And if you’re not sure what’s right for your dog just email me to chat it through (morag@wellconnectedcanine.co.uk)

Or if you’d rather opt for a short, sharp focused set of lessons, why not try a three week intensive to concentrate on nice walking (Stay By My Side), coming back (Baby Come Back), and polite behaviour (Mind Your Manners).

These have been really popular so make sure to book on early or you might miss your chance!

3 week intensives here


Want to try out a new sport?

Why not check out our evening Taster Workshops in Parkour (urban agility for dogs of all ages and breeds)

Getting Started with Parkour


Or enjoy running with your dog as a team!  Canicross really is for any breed (over the age of 1yr)

Canicross Introduction (evening)

Are you ready to dip your toes into breed specific training?

Try our half day workshops (Gun Dog Games or That’s Not A Sheep – for herding breeds)

Gun Dogs and Herding Breeds - Oh My!

*whispers* have you set any resolutions yet?

So it’s a new year, apparently! 

I have to confess, I’m not super into the whole new year-new you/new training thing. Not because I don’t set goals, but that’s not a once per year thing for me.

Here at WCC we run on 4 x mini years (12 week years, or Morag Years as Clare likes to call them!), which gives us four times as many new year – new start opportunities!

The problem with most resolutions is they’re unachievable, much too vague, and the deadline is so far away that we lose any sense of urgency…

Working in shorter blocks of time, with clearly defined goals really does change everything. 

If you’re not convinced, why not read the lovely message that came in from Laura & Roman.

They’ve worked so very hard through 2018, and made amazing progress from taking long car trips, attending rehab class, relaxing during firework season and having “Monty Don” moments in the garden!

"If anyone's feeling determined but also a bit unsure about how to go about making some real progress with their dog, can I recommend working with Morag on a 12 week plan. I did this with my lurcher, Roman, last year and we made huge and unexpected progress.

Morag helped us define our overall goal, then break it down into smaller objectives, which we worked on for 12 weeks, adjusting as we went along. We had regular Skype calls to keep us on track which really helped.

Our overall goal was to go to Morag and Clare's Rehab Club, so we could practice being around other dogs. Unfortunately, the location is about an hour's drive from where we live, and Roman was very unsettled in the car on long drives. 

Before we could think about how Rehab Club could help us, we had to think about getting there! So our smaller objectives were for Roman to be able to travel longer distances in the car, without getting anxious, to be more relaxed about visiting new places, and to be more settled in the car on his own.

Each week we had specific aims, like introducing new drives, increasing the length of drives, practicing the Relaxation Protocol in different places and in the car.

By the end of the 12 weeks, we'd progressed to a couple of practice drives to where the Rehab Club takes place, and have now been to Rehab Club about 5 times, where we were able to work on Roman's reactivity to other dogs, which has also improved a lot. 

I found the plan quite intensive but the structure helped me keep on track. I was also able to see clearly how much progress we were making. And of course, I couldn't have done it without Morag's patience, encouragement and humour"

So what’s your small, achievable and clearly defined goal for the next few months?

Feeling brave? Post it in the FaceBook group, that’s where I’ll be putting mine shortly!

 

What's going on in WCC Land?

Don't miss out on your WCC fix this month, we have seminars, workshops AND adult classes start back on 21st January.

• Book 10 week classes or 3 week intensives up front and pay online (don’t forget to use your codes) 
• Book a 10 week class but spread the cost over three payments (instructions here ) 
• Book 10 canicross classes and get one free OR book each week individually

Book an evening seminar


Book 10 week block classes

Book a 3 week intensive

Special Reward Codes

Our glamorous assistants can use their special discount codes, and anyone in the WCC family who books more than one class (paying up front) can use your special dedication code. If you think you should have a code, but can’t remember it please email the office for help (info@wellconnectedcanine.co.uk)

Don't lose sight of how far you've come when you realise how far you have to go!

It’s the start of a new year, which tends to result in lots of retrospectives and a helping of unrealistic resolutions.

What we’re less good at is giving ourselves (and our dogs) credit for the progress we have achieved.

Clare posted about some of her thoughts and plans in our special WCC Rehab “virtual coffee and cake” FB group (you’re welcome to join if you use our behaviour services or attend rehab club)

The last week before Xmas was pretty hectic for me, and I’ll be honest I was dreading Laird’s last Helpful Hounds class.

The previous week had been rather eventful (one grabbed and bruised hand, stolen toys, complete inability to concentrate, and a total failure to complete any task). I’m so grateful to my ever patient class mates!

But for final week, Laird really did pull it out of the hat.

We opened doors (“shove” = push the nose target), we closed doors without breaking them (“tug it” = grab and pull the tuggy on the door handle), settled beautifully without stealing stuff.

And then the really amazing bit.

The dog that steals and eats basically any plastic related items…waited while I threw out a plastic pot before retrieving it to hand when asked *shocked*

Even better, when we went to the pub later on Laird managed to socialise calmly and even settle for 10 minutes without any non-consensual humpage! I think that because the girlies handle pubs perfectly, I forget how much work went into that bit of their training.

So, since Laird came home with me in May 2018, he’s made some pretty amazing progress.

Are we done? Heck no!
A brief Xmas trip to the Lakes emphasised that his interest in hunting has gotten much stronger, and we need to bring that under control asap. I’m not even going to start listing the things he ate, or the number of times he stole toys from my parents new dog.

 I’m looking forward to the next year with my UltraCollie Freya, ShoutyDog Bronte, and BigYin Laird – life is guaranteed to be interesting!

Are you thinking about next year's training goals?

Determined to crack that reliable recall or learn a new set of skills?

Choose from three week intensives to 10 week block classes, and don’t forget we’ve a new programme of evening seminars too – these let you find out a bit more about special topics before committing to a workshop or full class block!


Book an evening seminar

You asked us for more payment options, so here they are!

• Book 10 week classes or 3 week intensives up front and pay online (don’t forget to use your codes) 
• Book a 10 week class but spread the cost over three payments (instructions here ) 
• Book 10 canicross classes and get one free OR book each week individually 

Book 10 week block classes

Book a 3 week intensive

Special Reward Codes 

Our glamorous assistants can use their special discount codes, and anyone in the WCC family who books more than one class (paying up front) can use your special dedication code. If you think you should have a code, but can’t remember it please email the office for help (info@wellconnectedcanine.co.uk)

Happy New Year!

Morag and the WCC Team 

Behaviour is communication, but are you listening?

Standing in the hall and trying to wriggle out of boots heavy with mud, it was frustrating to have a huge dog head shoving against my hip.

I carried on getting my boots off, then got distracted by an incoming phone call.

Two minutes later, still standing in my hall, I realised Laird was still rubbing one side of his face against me.

Rub, stop, look up.

Rub, stop look up.

Finally it sank in that this really wasn’t normal for Laird.



I mean, sometimes he likes to share his beard but that’s more of a scrubbing both sides of his face against anything he can reach!

Stepping away to get a better look at Laird’s face – and I found a dratted burdock seed head thoroughly matted into his beard.



Bless his little heart for standing patiently while I worked it out, and for being so persistent about telling me he needed my help!

So, next time your dog does something that annoys you or even just seems out of the ordinary – pay attention.

Maybe your dog is barking because they’re frustrated, or excited, or worried – the barking is the communication attempt. Our job is to figure out the message, and help our dog feel more relaxed, calmer or safer – not just stop the barking.

Happy frosty walks and hope you avoid the evil burdock seeds this week!

Morag and the beasts
 

What’s going on in WCC Land?

Half day workshops to learn new games to play with your dog before the winter really sets in,  all are morning sessions at the Paw Park near Sand Hutton

• Saturday 1st December: Gun Dog Games with Clare ONE SPACE)
• Saturday 8th December: "That's not a sheep!" Herding Breed Games with Morag FULL
• Saturday 15th December: Terrier-tastic Training Games for your little hunter! with Morag  FOUR SPACES

*just click the links to see more information or book your space 

Xmas Snifftacular

Wed 19^th December 7.15pm at Yorkshire Museum of Farming
Get your special invite here – limited numbers and only 8 spaces left….£15 per family
Take me to the Snifftacular!
 

Social Cani-Run (approx. 5k)

Sunday 2^nd Dec 8.30am, meet at carpark outside coach entrance for Beningbrough Hall
To download directions click here
 

Last Sunday Social & Sports Club of 2018!

Our last Sunday Social of 2018 (16 December) is fast approaching and we thought we'd do something a bit different for this session, a group social walk

We'll be setting off from the usual place for a 3.5 mile(ish) route at approx 2.15pm. There is a bit of a hill to walk up (and back down at the end!) and probably a fair amount of mud so come dressed appropriately! 

After the walk there will be hot drinks and mince pies. Dogs can be showered off with an outdoor heated shower before you pop them back in your car too. 

Dogs will need to be happy walking with other dogs and all dogs will be kept on leads. 

As usual, let us know if you can make it, we don't want to set off without anyone!

I'm coming for the Xmas Social walk

Confession - conversion rates make me giddy (Love Your Business)

Conversion rates make me giddy

Really they do. And I’m okay if that makes me sound even more weird than normal *grins*

Do you know how many initial contacts from potential clients turn into actual paid work for you? I mean email enquiries, phone calls, FB messages, random texts and the like.

Not just what does it feel like.

But what are the numbers?

How many enquiries did you deal with last month? How many of those paid for one of your services?

“Conversion rates” sound like suspicious marketing language, but they’re the life blood of your business especially in the early days.

Here’s an example of what we track in my behaviour business to calculate our conversions:

• # initial enquiries sent screening info (email, phone, text, FB etc) & followed up
• # enquires that pass screening, sent application form
• # phone consults booked
• # behaviour packages booked

We’ve been transitioning to a new accounting package since April 2018 and back dating a lot of our information too. This has given us a whole year of really detailed accounts – not just totals and figures that mean stuff to my accountant.

Combining the information on our income and expenditure for the “behaviour” workstream with the data we’ve collected on conversion rates means we can accurately predict how many (paid) initial phone consults we need per month to give us the right number of behaviour package clients!

I am unbearably excited about this!

No more guessing and estimating.

No more taking on too much work just in case, or too little work because of a false feeling of security because we were super busy one month.

Cold, hard, reliable data.

Today’s thought for you – do you track any of this data right now? It might be enquiries versus puppy class bookings, it doesn’t have to be about behaviour cases.

And if you don’t track it, could you start today. Just a simple excel spreadsheet would do. We can worry about complicated Customer Relation Management programmes later!

Happy number crunching....

Morag

UltraCaniCrosser, Firewalker, Clinical Animal Behaviourist

Next webinar

There’s a wee break in the schedule partly because I’m going on holiday – yep, taking my own advice and going away for a few days! Conveniently it coincides with our quarterly shutdown week when we stop taking on new clients and just catch up with ourselves, bliss.

Thursday 11^th October – Gotta Love the Tech

We’ll be exploring how you can use technology to streamline your business processes, follow-up more regularly with your clients and work remotely to save on travel time among other ideas.

No tech experience is needed to attend!

https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13187434&appointmentType=category:The+Business+of+Behaviour

Accessing the recordings for longer

I’ve had several requests from people who haven’t been able to finish listening to the recordings within the 30-day limit. And I appreciate that you are working hard to manage your own work/life balance!

So, I’m going to compile the recordings and extra resources for all of the webinars into one online space. I just need to work out the details, and it means if you missed signing up for any webinars then you can add them on too.

This won’t be available until the end of December at the earliest so please do try and catch up with the recorded versions in the meantime.