The Dog Days of Summer (July 2019)

It's too hot for walks, chasing games or even just lying in the sun.

Even if your dog is sleeping the warm days away there comes a point when they start getting restless.

There’s a hint of boredom in those melting brown eyes that promises wickedness unless you can provide some entertainment.

 Right now two of the WCC dogs are injured, and on very limited exercise. So their tolerance for boredom is pretty low!

Poor Scout has an infected nail and clumsy Laird is recovering from three layers of stitches in his shoulder after spearing himself on a branch….

So here are our warm day/low exercise boredom busting tips! 

 

1. Dump the food bowl and get creative about freezing your dogs meals into food toys* 

• If you usually feed dry kibble add a spoonful of wet food to help it stick together. 
• My dogs adore a tin of mashed up sardines in olive oil. 
• Seal the top or edges with peanut butter (no added sugar or sweeteners or squeezy cheese/low fat Philadelphia for dogs like Freya who turn their nose up at PB 
• You will want lots of toys to help spread out the chilled meal time 

*Lots of people create complicated frozen treats and Kongs for their dogs, but when you have a multi dog household sometimes its better to keep things simple!

2. Quiet on lead Scentwork using simple directed searches along your garden wall (shaded areas only!) for 2-3 mins at a time

3. Frozen chicken feet – the canine ice pop of choice in my house!

4. Work on simple trick training that doesn’t involve much movement. Right now that’s building a sustained nose target and the beginning of “play dead” for my dogs.

And of course if you're Bronte, digging a cooling hole in the ground is just the best idea ever......

Last chance for a weekend workshop until September - August is just too hot!!

• "That's Not A Sheep!" (for herding dogs) is full

BUT there's a couple of places left on

• Saturday 27th July GunDog Games

• Sunday26th July Parkour Progressions

 Morag and the beasties

 What else is coming up in WCC Land?

Get Tracking - a three week course introducing you and your dog to finding a trail and following it! Open to sociable dogs who have completed a Getting Started Session or other classes with WCC. Starts Monday 5th August, 7pm at Yorkshire Museum of Farming

Sniffing School: Layers and Containers

Complex searches to challenge the keenest nose introducing baggage, postal sacks and more!

Open to sociable dogs who have completed our Progressions workshop or Level 1 classes, or equivalent - not sure if you are ready, drop an email to Morag!

Sunday 22nd September (morning workshop)

Sniffing School: Operation Salvage

Ever wanted your dog to find (and retrieve!) lost items? Maybe your keys, or even your wallet?

Open to sociable dogs who have played basic scentwork games before, retrieving skills not essential!.

Sunday 20th October (morning workshop)

Canicross Survival Skills

WHAT: Two half day workshops to boost your skills and enjoyment

• 09:30 Warming up and cooling down for canicross (includes 2k run)
• 13:30 Tackling REAL hills (includes 3-5k run)

WHEN: Sunday 15th September

WHERE: Yorkshire Cycle Hub, Fryup Dale, North York Moors  YO21 2AP

• Each workshop is limited to a max 8 participants (up to 2 dogs per runner), includes refreshments and kit check.
• Open to any canicross runner, ideal if you have completed an intro session previously
• £50 per workshop OR book both for £90

Choose your workshops here! 

Does your dog ONLY come back when you have their kryptonite handy? Laura has a plan!

“Find it!”

My own voice sounds pretty loud in the quiet of the icy field, and I’m pretty certain that the teachers in the school playground next door think I’m a bit strange, but I don’t care, because I have two dogs who are off lead and 100% focused on me and there isn’t a tennis ball in sight.

Why is this important?

Well, my boys have something of a variable relationship with recall – they are both mighty, mighty hunters and the training that works so well in the classroom and in the garden can wobble when it’s faced with the amazingly alluring smells of cat, or bunny, or squirrel, or deer, or…well, you get my point.

Tennis balls are our safety net, because Brian loves tennis balls.

But between moving house and Christmas and everything else the new year has brought, we’ve started relying on tennis balls too much. The problem with that is that when the squeaky is available, Brian doesn’t really care about me (so there’s always the risk he’ll just bog off with the ball, and take his brother with him!).

So, we’re back to using a whole range of other strategies to make sure that Brian and Seamus want to remember we’re walking together, rather than taking the first opportunity to disappear into the distance.

Check-ins and parkour and chasey games and tuggy toys and cheese trees are back to being staples of our walks and we’re already seeing the difference.

More importantly, our walks are already back to being more fun for me, and when I’m having fun, it’s much easier for the boys to have fun as well.

And isn’t that the entire point?

Wishing you happy, excited and engaged walks!

Laura and the troublesome twosome. 

P.S. Need help to get your training back on track after the chaos of Christmas? We have spaces coming up on our three week intensive courses for recall, nice lead walking and manners to give you a real push in building those skills!

Get your 3 week super boost booked

P.P.S. If you haven’t yet introduced your dog to the joys of cheese trees, why not come along to one of our Introduction to Scentwork sessions – I promise your dog will thank you!

Scentwork workshops and more

And don't forget, if your dog already graduated from Sniffing School Level 1, you're eligible for any of these advanced modules!

 

Winter is coming...

Darker nights, wetter walks, and cosy snuggles on the sofa with damp dogs.

Autumn and winter are the perfect time to work on small training games at home, especially if it saves you from yet another soaked-to-the-skin walk.

Some of our activity classes take a break over winter, because it’s not safe to run agility or parkour in the dark or on wet ground.

But for our canicross teams, the mud just adds to the challenge – who doesn’t love running on trails with a headtorch!

Winter class schedule

Bookings always open up early for everyone on our mailing list - if you DIDN'T get this as an email make sure you don't miss out by signing up for the weekly tips and news here: https://wcc.clareassoc.com/signup/

 

Classes start in the second week of October and run until Xmas.

Mondays with Clare (10 week courses)

6.15pm Helpful Hounds – turn your pet dog into an assistance dog! Picking things up, bringing things back, closing doors and more.

7.15pm APDT Good Companion Awards – brush up on your obedience and good manners, plus work towards gaining your Foundation Certificate.

Mondays with Kady (3 week courses)

7.10pm Baby Come Back (recall intensive)

7.45pm Stay By My Side (loose lead walking intensive)

Tuesdays with Morag & Laura @ various locations around York!

• Canicross Level 1 - a 10 week class to develop your canicross techniques, build on your teamwork and challenge you and your dog in a range of different environments. 
• Participants who have not already completed an Intro to Canicross session MUST book and attend for week 1
• Either book individual sessions OR
• Book all 10 sessions and use this code COMMITEDCANI-X to get one session free!

Wednesdays with Morag

6.15pm Canine Sports Conditioning - This class will teach you how to observe your dog for your sport, work on core skills, learn how to warm-up/cool down, develop a massage routine and much more.

7.15pm Sniffing School Level 1 - designed to challenge your dog's nose and build your teamwork skills for searching in new and exciting ways. You need to have completed an Introduction to Scentwork session.

You can grab your space here, and don’t forget the discount code if you’re booking more than one class!

Too many choices?

Not sure which class to choose? Email me with your questions or ideas, and I’ll help you pick the right sessions for your dog! (morag@wellconnectedcanine.co.uk)

Sad WCC News

We were all heartbroken to hear that Clare and Al had to let Beano go last weekend. Beano was an extra special collie (totally deaf and blind) who was dearly loved despite his quirks. Beano became ill very quickly, but was surrounded by love and cuddles right to the end.

Grief is never easy, and we all deal with it in our own way. Please don’t ask Clare how she’s doing if you see her at class or workshops, and give her the space she needs. Thanks so much for understanding.

One of our other long distance family member also passed away recently. Some of you will have met Veronica and dear Ffion the amazing scentwork collie at our Scentwork events. They travelled further than anyone else to work with us, and they were a joy to coach. 

Ffion and Beano – you are always in our hearts, and we are so grateful for all that you taught us.

Morag and the beasts

When a drool covered tennis ball makes your day...

Welcome to the Lunch'n'Learn weekly update!

Every week I'll share a story from my Lunch'n'Learn adventures, or a cunning idea that you can use to help reduce your dog's boredom when home alone.

Spencer: the scaredy boy who learned to trust through Lunch'n'Learn

Spencer might be a huge German Shepherd, but inside he's still such a scaredy cat. He gets worried about people, and sometimes other dogs, so going out with a dog walker is never an option for Spencer.

Instead, Spencer has been enjoying a mixture of Home Ed sessions with me to build up his trust and confidence. I met him with his owner first of all, and we went through exactly what Spencer needed from me.

To start with Spencer would play fetch with me, but the ball was dropped just out of reaching distance from me. Definitely no touching! It took a lot of self control to not stroke him, he is so gorgeous! 

 Each session followed a routine so Spencer could predict what I was going to do. Nervous dogs usually do better when they know what's going to happen - because they have less to worry about.

Having that routine with Spencer finally paid off when one day he dropped his sopping wet ball into the palm of my hand and asked me to throw it again for him. 

I’ve never been so delighted to receive something so disgusting! 

Is your dog feeling jealous?

If you want to know more about the programme sign up here for the application form.

Apply for Lunch n Learn

Already been accepted but haven't gotten round to booking yet? 

No problem, here's the link to choose between Home Ed, Out and About or a Mini Adventure, and there's more days of the week available too!

Book Here

Wishing you awesome adventures with your dog this weekend!
Kady