“The training worked!” When a plan comes together...

“How did you get your dogs to do that?” someone shouted over at me in the park yesterday.

I looked over, wondering what he meant.

Freya as usual, was insisting on training and doing tricks at me while Brontë wimbled happily by my side. Laird was thundering back towards us.

The chap wanted to know how I managed to get my dogs to come back when I called them. He had a little Lhasa apso who was very definitely staying on lead.

“With cheese and balls” was my mostly serious answer!

We had an interesting conversation about making sure we give our dogs a good reason to come back to us and how we might start training it.

And then, I came home to open my email and found a message from Jane and John (not their real names) who have been working hard to stop their big retriever crossbreed from charging off to greet other dogs and ignoring any suggestion from the owners that she might want to come back.

Your training works!

It was busy with dogs today so it was a good test for her. She did very well and we were really chuffed. We then met some friends who have 3 dogs. They kept remarking about how calm she was compared with when they’d last seen her 2 or 3 months ago. She was almost laid back with the other dogs!

Recall, or coming back when asked to, is one of those essential life skills.

It can turn walking your dog from a tiresome task into a pleasant enjoyable experience.

And when we talk about recall, I need your dog coming back promptly when you call or whistle them. Not just coming back at the end of a play session or after chasing the rabbit!

It’s a deceptively simple process, but you have to be consistent in your training and only take tiny little steps forward when your dog is really ready.

The not-so-secret Secret Recipe for Recall

• start playing games that encourage and reward your dog when they pay attention to you (parkour, scentwork, tracking, hand targets, and anything else) 
• stop letting your dog run off and ignore you (long lines are your friend) 
• start teaching a brand-new recall cue (a word or whistle pattern) and link it with the best ever reward for your dog (find their crack cocaine) 
• practice the new recall in very low distraction places to begin with (inside the house, in your garden, in a secure field and so on) 
• gradually build up the level of distraction and always be willing to drop back a stage if your dog is struggling

If you're reading this email or blog, and have an nagging sensation that your dog's recall is not as good as it could be, why not commit to recall being your summer training project?

• It’s never too late to sharpen up or introduce a reliable recall. 
• It really can save your dogs life. 
• And it will improve their quality of life and yours! 

I would love you to come and post in our small friendly private Facebook group if you’re taking on the summer recall challenge. https://www.facebook.com/groups/WellConnectedCanine/

What steps are you taking so that your dog isn’t practising the wrong thing?

And do you know what your dogs crack cocaine really is?

Of course, if you’d like a little bit of extra help and expert coaching, there is always our three-week intensive training programs.

Find a 3 week intensive

We offer level I and level II Baby Come Back courses to sharpen your skills, and you can ask us for a private course too!


Happy recalling

Morag, the big Yin (it’s nearly his one-year gotcha Day) and the collie girls 

P. S. Our recall is a bit of a work in progress. Freya is pretty reliable except if she gets too far away and finds a real bunny, but Project Squirrel has been a great success. Laird is pretty amazing unless he is actively on the hunt for something, and deer are our personal nemesis right now. But I promise we are working on it, and I’m using exactly the same techniques that we teach you in our courses!

P.P.S. yes, it has been a while since I emailed and blogged to you all, sorry about that! I've been a bit poorly lately and am still recovering so don't be surprised if it takes me a little longer to reply to emails or messages


What else is going on in WCC Land?

Sat 25th May Gundog Games

Sun 26th May Herding Dog Games 

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!

Stop trying to do it all at once!

Do you wake up some mornings determined to be a better human being, exercise more, make a smoothie for breakfast (and put kale in it!), work on your dog’s recall and get out to work on time?

Be honest – how does that work out for you?

For most of us, we manage about one thing on the list, once. And then we give up because changing more than one thing at a time is just too darn hard.

The truth is that setting focused goals, and concentrating on what will get us closer to those goals, is a much faster way to make progress.

That’s why we don’t offer generic obedience classes any more. We’ve tried them in various formats for years, but without ever feeling like we’d really gotten the formula right. 

Once you survive past early puppy hood, the big challenges are

1. Coming back reliably (recall)
2. Walking nicely on lead (loose lead walking)
3. Not jumping up or stealing things (calmness and manners)

And to teach all of those things we first need attention and focus! 

Classes that try to teach everything to 4 or more dogs usually end up with at least some dogs struggling and you feeling like you’re not getting what you need.

Solution?

Understand that your dog needs to want to and enjoy offering you his attention, and work on that first.

Then choose ONE priority challenge to concentrate on.

Of course working on one of those things generally has a nice knock-on effect for everything else, but you’re not worrying about that.

So if you want help with your dog who pulls on the lead, doesn’t come back reliably and still jumps up….we’re going to ask you to pick just one of those things to concentrate on first.

Get help with the basics in our Skills Clinics starting on Monday September 3rd. 

A three week block intensive focused on just one challenge with only two dogs in each session. It's like having a private lesson but more affordable!

Choose from (click the class to get to the booking page)

7.10pm Baby Come Back! Recall Skills

or

7.45pm Stay By My Side! Loose Lead Walking

Poorly dog update

Some of you may have noticed I’ve not been quite my usual cheerful self at classes. Freya has been very poorly for the last 10 days with what we think is a combination of a foreign body in her paw plus a deep bone infection in her toe.

Everything is crossed for the antibiotics helping the infection for now, and if I seem a little distracted please forgive me.

It’s proving a challenge to manage the exuberant teenage Laird, a collie who is in pain but also really wants to go on her walks, and Bronte who still needs some exercise but is retired from running *sigh*

Solutions thus far have included setting up play dates for Laird, Scentwork for Bronte and Laird, and working on key tugging for Freya plus some “cone of shame” practice which she loves!

Wishing for a peaceful week for everyone!

Morag and the beasts

Want to have more fun with your dog?

Canine Activities Foundations Workshop Sunday 9th September

In a world filled with so many exciting dog activities it can be difficult to know which to try first, or even which one your dog will enjoy most!

Come to our Canine Activities Foundations Workshop and let your dog try out three of our most exciting activities; Parkour, Agility and Scentwork!

Book your workshop here

Canicross Workshops

Try out Canicross (running with your dog) or build on the basics with race starts, passing and control.

• Getting Started: Saturday 22nd September (morning) Wigginton
• Improvers: Saturday 22nd September (afternoon) Wigginton
• Trails and Skills Adventure: 13th October (a full day in the Moors!)

Book your Canicross workshop