What blind men and an elephant can tell us about living with Laird

In the last blog, I told you about Laird accidentally grabbing my hand (thinking it was part of a food wrapper) and struggling to let go. My hand was sore and a little swollen afterwards, but nothing more.

Our brains love to jump to conclusions, it's so much more comforting (and often efficient) to make an assumption rather than collecting yet more information.

Yet as the parable of the six blind men and an elephant shows, if we only have part of the picture we might make some pretty huge mistakes.

Here's what might have happened if I took the situation with Laird on face value, with a "dominance lens":

• Laird is unwilling to give things up to me
• He is stubborn, and does not respect me
• Laird should have given the wrapper to me, and by refusing to let go of my hand it meant......

and so on...

Stepping back a little, and looking at the whole elephant (situation)

• Laird was tired, so unlikely to be thinking clearly
• The kitchen was dark enough it would be hard to see my hand underneath (!) the wrapper (and his beard)
• On later examination, Laird had a claw split right down to the quick which probably happened on our afternoon walk, pain is well known to decrease tolerance and increase the chance of using an aggressive strategy
• Laird has NEVER acted in this way before, or since
• Laird has a history of struggling to give things up especially if he might be able to eat them

Did I have a dangerously dominant dog?

Or a grumpy, tired adolescent dog who was in pain and hasn't entirely learned to surrender treasure...

I hope you can see how badly this could have gone for Laird and I if I acted on that first set of assumptions!

A wee challenge for you

1. Notice the next time your dog does something that you don't like, or find annoying
2. And ask yourself why it might be happening?
3. Don't use labels as 'reasons' (stubborn, stupid, doesn't listen)
4. Do step back and look at the whole elephant....

I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts, and of course you're welcome to post in our FaceBook group with your examples or questions.

Happy thinking!

Morag, the Collie Girls and the Big Yin



(Freya and Laird showing off their new jumpers from Boo Woo)

Choose a Challenge for your Dog this weekend!

Unusually we have a couple of spaces left on some of our weekend activity workshops, up for grabs to the quickest fingers and keenest dogs.

Click the links for more information and book your space.

Saturday 19th October 13:30- 16:30
Parkour Progressions for Sensitive Dogs (S Rated for dogs that struggle around people/dogs)
PawPark, Sand Hutton

Parkour Progressions (S Rated)
 
Saturday 19th October 13:30- 16:30
That's not a sheep! Herding Dog Games
PawPark, Sand Hutton

Herding Dog Games

Sunday 20th October 09:30-12:30
Salvage Seekers -teach your dog to find your keys!
Sand Hutton Village Hall, just outside York

Salvage Seekers Book Here

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)

Why labels matter – is your dog “reactive”?

Human language is full of labels. It’s a verbal shorthand, one or two words to use instead of a long sentence of explanation.

But sometimes we might have different understandings of the same word or label.

And then that convenient shorthand gets in the way of developing our understanding.

In the dog world, there’s been a noticeable shift away from describing dogs as aggressive or dominant which might feel like a positive step forwards.

Instead you’re more likely to see words like reactive.

Beware of trainers who use the word “reactive” and then use" dominance reduction" and  punishment as a training technique. 


“Reactive” as a label can feel like it carries less judgement than “aggressive”, but it still fails to accurately describe what our dog is doing and how they are feeling about that.


Reactive usually seems to mean “my dog will bark and or lunge at….” either people, dogs, or both in a particular set of circumstances. So your dog isn't "reactive", they lunge/bark at men walking past wearing hats!

What about the dogs that "react" by going quiet?

Choosing to back away, avoid confrontation, retreat from the situation or even freeze.

So, from now on you’re more likely to see Clare and myself writing and talking about sensitive dogs.

Dogs that struggle in specific situations.

This includes dogs that find life difficult for whatever reason, and whose responses are problematic to both the dog and you.

Sensitive dogs might

• struggle to concentrate and fool around when they get overexcited
• lunge or bark when they feel frustrated, or threatened
• shut down when they feel like there’s a lot of pressure to do something
• get worried when they hear loud or unexpected noises

 Sensitive dogs often struggle to bounce back from stressful situations-but this reaction can look very different for each dog.

Practically here’s what that means for WCC!

S-Rated
We are updating our courses workshops and classes to clearly label some as S-Rated, that means suitable for sensitive dogs!

Social Skills
Rehab club has been revised and renamed to focus more on social skills for dogs that struggle

• I want to be your friend (I think!) is designed for dogs who really do want to make friends but might be lacking in the finer social skills. Frustrated greeter is another common label! 
• I want to be alone is designed for dogs who will have happier lives if they can learn to tolerate the presence of other dogs around them, but have no real interest in making social connections. 

We think labels matter.

Labels can make it easier to communicate about our dogs, their needs, and find effective interventions.

Labels can also conceal acres of misunderstanding, influence your attitude to your dog (are they stubborn or struggling to hear you) and sometimes accidentally exclude the very dogs we want to help.

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)

Have a wonderful weekend with your dogs!

Morag and the beasties

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! 

Why would you need to teach a dog to sniff?

Why do you need to teach a dog to sniff?

Isn’t it just something they do already?

It’s a reasonable question but as a scent-work trainer and handler, I confess that it did make me bristle a little when the announcer at a local charity event asked!

A great scentwork team is poetry in motion.

The dog is focused and thorough, able to sift through unimaginable layers of scent and indicate on the correct spot.

The handler observes and supports the dog, provides a template of patterns to help the dog search efficiently, and steps in to help when asked.

Is there such a thing as a natural sniffer dog?

Well.......sort of!

Some dogs pick up the job faster , and some seem to learn how to process the scent information more quickly.

But there’s still the essential skill of learning to work in a team with the handler…. And no matter how skilled the person and dog are individually the team work still needs to be developed.

That probably sounds like quite hard work, and I won’t lie, sometimes it is!

But l can promise you, scentwork is one of the most fun activities to share with your dog.

It gives us a rare chance to share their world.

Here are just a few benefits that scentwork can offer you and your dog*

Builds cooperation and check-in habits 

By using a teamwork based approach where you are an essential part of the search team, it’s very common to see dogs making more of an effort to stay connected with their handler. Much nicer than watching your dog vanish into the distance following rabbit scent!

Teaches you the handler to be more aware of your body position and signals 

As a WCC dog owner, you're probably pretty good about using your hands consistently but you may not have really appreciated the finer details (your dog will sniff where you gesture, so waving the search hand through the air is less useful than motioning towards a set of boxes).

Learn to really read that subtle body communication 

You’re watching and studying your dog to help identify their indications. This helps you to see all of the other kinds of sniffing or interest that don’t relate to the target scent. So, you are more likely to recognise the warning signs of interest in bunny rabbit sniffs on a walk and be able to collect your dog or stand on the long line!

Quick and effective way to refocus a barking or staring dog 

Sometimes we need something that will be more engaging and keep the dog busy for longer than just eating one treat. Dropping a couple of treats behind you, then reaching in front of your dog with the sweeping “search” sign will often bring the distracted beastie round and get them working away from the trigger.

Increases confidence and optimism

Yes, really! There's been some research showing that doing scent based training games rather than obedience type training actually pushes our dogs towards making more optimistic judgements...Scentwork really is that powerful!

*some of this is based on research findings, and some drawn from Morag and Clare’s ten years of experience in both teaching and handling dogs for scent-work. We've lots more information coming out soon on how to use scentwork to help work on specific challenges

Here’s how to get started, or push your teamwork on to the next level!

Morning workshops (20/21 July) - ONLY TWO SPACES LEFT

Weekly classes

Your very own private introductory session

Happy sniffing and don’t forget to send in pictures of your dogs using their noses….

Morag and Team Sniff'n'Snoot 

P.S. **EXCITING NEWS** We have a whole new Level 3 for Sniffing School coming in Autumn 2019

Bee stings and the magic of squeezy cheese

Poppy was stung by a bee at the weekend and has a poorly eye.

She needs eye drops twice daily.

Because we've done lots of handling and examination practice she allows Clare to apply the drops without any fuss in exchange for some squeezy cheese.

• Would your dog be calm and tolerate eye drops? 
• Do you dread vet visits because your dog won’t let you or the vet examine them? 
• Does your dog run away when they see their brush or the nail clippers? 

Lots of dogs don’t really enjoy being groomed, and worry about vet visits.

In fact most vets are surprised when a dog greets them with a wagging tail, or offers a paw to be bandaged.

You know you need to groom your longer coated or doodle cross dog…but how often do you manage to do it?

No matter how young, fit and healthy your dog is right now, they are going to get old eventually.

Managing the ailments of the older dog is SO much easier if you can handle them.

(Bonus wee video all about why you NEED your dog to love being handled, and it IS possible to change their mind if they don't)

And when your dog is relaxed about going to the vet it opens up treatment options like veterinary physiotherapy or acupuncture alongside (or instead of) drugs.

Clare is running our first specialist class dedicated to helping your dog be happier about handling, examination and grooming.

Class starts Monday 15th July, and lasts 5 weeks.

You’ll set your own goals, and work towards them with expert individual support.

Even if your dog can’t cope in class, sign up as an auditor to take part and submit video homework for comments.

This is the ONLY time the class will run in 2019, so if your dog needs this help please sign up now. We really want to run the course, but we need two more people to make that happen!

Happy Handling

Morag and the sensitive FreyaCollie 

Freya's paw of doom collage!

Thursday Morning Focus

“Why don’t we use the time for a training session for our own dogs?”

Last week’s disgusting weather forecasts had led to a client’s planned training session being postponed and we were throwing ideas around about what to do with the booked venue (because when you’ve got a session booked at the Paw Park already, it seems a real shame to waste it!).

What started as a throwaway suggestion turned out to be the best idea I (Laura) had all week.

 As trainers’ dogs, our canine families spend a lot of time waiting while we help other people train with their dogs. At home while we teach classes, in vehicles while we run training sessions or settled on mats waiting to be demo dogs for a particular skill or technique.

Their own training time tends to get slotted into the gaps in our days – two minutes while the kettle is on, five minutes during a walk – but location and convenience limit what we can work on and, on particularly busy days, it might get neglected entirely.

Setting aside that dedicated time – just us and our dogs in a field, with no other distractions – gave us the space to work on the things we really wanted to work on.

There were no other dogs to make friends with (Seamus), no deer to chase (Laird), no floor snacks to steal (Brian) and no squirrels to stare at (Freya).

We could work multiple dogs at once, set up the session in the ways that work best for us and, most importantly, we could just have fun spending quality time with our dogs.

Honestly, it went so well we’ve made it a weekly thing.

Whether it’s a structured class, a trainer-led individual session, or time that you put aside to spend with your dog, these longer training sessions are a great opportunity to introduce new skills, or remind yourselves of long since forgotten skills (think of something you learnt at school that you haven’t practised since – I bet you can’t remember how to do it!

Our dogs aren’t really any different so it’s always worth going back to some of those old habits to make sure we’ve still got them).

If we take that time to lay the groundwork, we can reinforce those new skills during those two minute tea-break sessions.

This week, I challenge you to think of something you’d really like your dog to be able to do that they can’t already.

This might be one of those essential life skills (like walking nicely on the lead) or one of those cool tricks (like playing dead).

Then (and this is the harder bit), find yourself a timeslot in the week to start working on it.

Try it for three weeks and let us know how you get on with learning your new skills!

Happy training time!

Laura, Brian and Seamus (#teamsmallbutmighty) 

PS If you think you need something more concrete to help focus your training time, why not book a practical coaching session or take a look at our summer class schedule?

We know holidays can make for disrupted summers, so we’ve reworked things to offer shorter classes which will hopefully fit with your summer breaks! All classes run on a Monday (except the special Reactive Dogs Life Skills sessions)

Just click on the class you're interested in for more information!

Monday classes	18:30 - 19:15 (with Clare)	19:00 - 19:45 (with Morag)	20:00 (with Morag)	20:30 (with Morag)	20:30 (with Laura)
15 July	Husbandry & Cooperative Care STARTS	Advanced Bodywork STARTS	Mind Your Manners Level I STARTS	Baby Come Back FASTER Level II STARTS	Canicross 3 week Intensive: This way, that way
22 July	Husbandry & Cooperative Care	Advanced Bodywork	Mind Your Manners	Baby Come Back II	Canicross 3 week Intensive: This way, that way
29 July	Husbandry & Cooperative Care	Advanced Bodywork	Mind Your Manners	Baby Come Back II	Canicross 3 week Intensive: This way, that way
5 August	Husbandry & Cooperative Care	Sniffing School Level II: Get Tracking STARTS	Baby Come Back Level I STARTS	Stay by my Side LONGER Level II STARTS	Canicross 3 week Intensive: Get on by
12 August	Husbandry & Cooperative Care	Sniffing School Level II: Get Tracking	Baby Come Back	Stay by my Side II	Canicross 3 week Intensive: Get on by
19 August	APDT Good Companion Award STARTS	Sniffing School Level II: Get Tracking	Baby Come Back	Stay by my Side II	Canicross 3 week Intensive: Get on by
26 August	Bank Holiday	Bank Holiday	Bank Holiday	Bank Holiday	Bank Holiday
2 September	APDT Good Companion Award	--	--	--	--
9 September	APDT Good Companion Award	Bodywork Introduction STARTS	Stay by my Side Level I STARTS	Mind Your Manners EVERYWHERE  Level II STARTS	Canicross 3 week Intensive: Descending without death
16 September	APDT Good Companion Award	Bodywork Introduction	Stay by my Side	Mind Your Manners II	Canicross 3 week Intensive: Descending without death
23 September	APDT Good Companion Award	Bodywork Introduction	Stay by my Side	Mind Your Manners II	Canicross 3 week Intensive: Descending without death