One of the greatest tools we have to improve our relationship with our dog is the amazing smart phone – because now you can video things without masses of forward planning.
I suspect you, like me, aren’t keen on being photographed let alone filmed.
Yet the power of working with a good trainer is when they spot all your little habits, and point them out.
Watching back videos of your own dog and your training sessions will give you that outside perspective.
That’s why we so often encourage you to send us videos of the problem situations, and ask you to film your homework between classes!
You can read Andrea’s take on having rediscovered a year’s worth of videos across behaviour consults and training classes at the end of this blog…. (Andrea submitted this blog back in the middle of the June rain storms - remember them?!)
I especially love the way Andrea uses the videos to spot where she gets things right not just as a way to critique their performance - top marks!
We have Co-operative Care/Handling and Advanced Bodywork coming up on Monday 15th July.
You'll be able to get so much more out of these classes if you can video between sessions - it lets us give you much more detailed feedback plus your dog may be more relaxed at home.
Drop us a wee message if you want to check the suitability of either class for your dog - we have space for one more student in each class or you can attend as a spectator.
More information and booking - click here
It has been a little rainy recently, restricting outdoor activities to a point and providing you with plenty of opportunity to tackle all those jobs you always intend to do, but feel too guilty to attempt if the weather is outright gorgeous.
One mammoth tasks is keeping your digital photos and videos organised and delete unwanted footage. It is so easy to create all that footage and before you know it, warning signs are flagging up that your storage is almost full and you wonder how the hell did this happen AND more so, what are all these videos off???
Without realising, I created a bit of a documentary of Nate’s journey since his return home and him starting rehab sessions and classes with WCC.
Watching the videos made me realise how far our little man has come.
During rehab sessions he has learned to cope better around other dogs and to communicate how he feels in his body language. I, on the other hand, learned to spot the cues and interpret his body language better.
Now, looking at some of our early videos, I see cues and signs in his behaviour and body language which at the time I did not “see”, but now, whilst reviewing the videos, are blatantly obvious to me. I see all the work we have done in classes and workshops and the subsequent homework we completed and, you guessed it, videoed diligently.
I now realise how much of a valuable training tool videos can be, as so many times I think we completed a task badly or it feels unstructured and chaotic, but when reviewing the video I spot so many things we did right and what we need to work on to get it done even better.
The progress we both made amazes me and I realise how differently I now handle situations with him, using all the tools I acquired along the way.
I can see how Nate responds more positively to my requests, is more attentive and how we communicate better with each other.
Of course, every day is still a school day (love that phrase) and we have good days and not so good days, but without all those videos, I don’t think I really realised how we have improved together and are working as a little team.
What a morale booster!
Thank you Morag, Clare and everyone else at WCC.
