Are you breedist? And why it's hurting your dog training

“Why bother teaching a husky to come when called – it’s not like you can ever let them off lead”

Actually, you should teach a rock solid recall (because life happens and even if you never plan to let your dog run free, one day that lead will slip out your hand, or the snap will break)

And you can let most dogs off lead with a little bit of common sense (yes, even deaf- blind dogs, huskies, malamutes and more)

*braces for the influx of emails and snarky comments*

Last time I talked to you about breedist views, it was about aggressive behaviour in cocker spaniels. 

Putting the snarling down to “being a cocker” or “having cocker rage” would have meant not treating the dog for a painful condition.

Today I want to suggest that deciding that because your dog is an *insert breed here* that there’s no point trying to train *whatever* just means you’re severely limiting what you AND your dog might be able to achieve.

Why not start from a place of open optimism AND work hard at your training – who knows what might happen!

From Mark with Nanouk the husky puppy

 Thought I’d share a little victory. So we always knew recall would be a challenge with Nanouk as she’s a husky and does make her own decisions. 

But I’m glad to say the coaching and work we did whilst at WCC paid off as she’s now (within boundaries) great off lead. 

We do have to think about where we do it (prey drive is v high) but as Kady told us, it is possible.

She’s now 8 months old - the 12 weeks she did at WCC with Puppy Foundations and Puppy Life Skills from an early age has really helped her be a lovely pup. So I thought you’d like to see how she’s got on!

 

What’s happening in WCC Land?

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 (Sunday 9th Sept) and let your dog try out three of our most exciting activities; Parkour, Agility and Scentwork!

Book your workshop here

Sports & Social Club, Sunday 19^th August (2-4pm)
Free to all current WCC clients, staff and volunteers. We provide the space, equipment and tea - you bring the dogs and the cake!  Just tell us you're coming with this link to get directions and a reminder.
 
Tell us you’re coming!

Have a joyful weekend

Morag, the collie girls and the big yin

Ultra Canicross Runner, Firewalker, Clinical Animal Behaviourist

A day in the life of a collie in training!

Well Connected Canine is very lucky to have as part of our team the amazing Sue Pickering (Paws in Partnership) who offers rehab training alongside our behavioural services, as well as one-to-one sessions and residential stays for some lucky dogs.

One of these fortunate dogs is Pansy (NOT her real name!), a working border collie who ended up with her current owners after an unfortunate start to life. Pansy struggles with over stimulation, obsession with herding, territorial barking and finds social contact with other dogs difficult. Sue sometimes looks after Pansy for a full day to give her owners a break and do some intensive training.

We thought it would be useful to show the kind of schedule that works well for Pansy, and illustrates the importance of scheduled time to relax as well as training sessions.

Pansy's Day With Sue

9am – in car whilst I am at work (crate covered to prevent excessive barking )

10.30 – short walk to relieve herself also chance to get out of car & stretch legs in strange
surroundings, also used the time to practise wait before jumping out of car, loose lead walking to
grassy area, LAT* game with people in the distance. Calm wait before getting back in car.

10.40 – in car whilst I am at work (crate covered to prevent excessive barking )

12.15 – brief (5 mins) training session in Sainsbury’s car park, practising loose lead walking, LAT*
game; sit until released.

12.45 – Walk
1hr including about 15mins off lead in a field with no distractions. When let off the lead initially Pansy laid in front of me looking for ball to be thrown, but was then happy to go off sniffing & generally exploring & doing dog stuff instead, still quite manic, I’d like to see her more able to relax & potter about.
Pansy kept a nice distance, I made sure I noticed & rewarded any automatic check-ins (voluntarily looking back to see where I am) & also called her back to me regularly, I varied the reward, sometimes as she came back fast to me I threw the ball (but not far or fast) other times a quick tug game (literally a few seconds, swop tug for treat & release to do her own thing again) most times I asked her to sit calmly whilst I touched her collar, gave her a treat, then released her to do her own thing again.
A couple of times I also asked her to come back to me, lay by my side & do nothing for about 30seconds before releasing her to do her own thing again. All of this was done whilst quietly and calmly ambling around a field.

The rest of the walk was on lead around very quiet lanes, I had the head collar on Pansy as a precaution against any problems, however I still aimed for loose lead walking. We passed two groups of people (no dogs) one group stopped to talk & ask for directions, they paid no attention to Pansy & she sat patiently next to me. Throughout the time on lead we had no specific direction (apart from obviously getting off the road if a car came!) but worked on walking on a loose lead, sitting & laying down quietly for at least a count of 10 before moving off again. At the end of the walk I made sure Pansy sat & waited by the car until asked to get in.

13.45 – quiet time at home whilst I walked Tali & Merlin (my own dogs).

15.45 – quick trip into garden then practising calmly laying down & ignoring the tv.

16.00 – relaxation with rawhide chew

16.30 – relaxation (laid across my feet whilst I dealt with emails)

18.00 - home time!

*LAT = Look At That game from Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt

Aversive training methods and why they might work

This is a place holder - based on some experiences at Crufts 2011 and reading "remote collar training" websites (i.e. shock collars) I've been doing some thinking about why these methods can appear to help, and why sometimes they do. This does NOT mean I advocate their use!

I'll be back to write more shortly, but one of the key concepts that keeps popping up for me is that we have selectively bred animals that are pretty darn forgiving of us no matter what we do to them. Its really not that surprising that dogs continue to seek out affection despite abuse, or obey handlers who use aversive methods - while we might think it demonstrates blind loyalty, or the ability to forgive, these are characteristics we have selected for. The dog that responded to violence with teeth will rarely have been bred from...so in many cases we get away with our behaviour because we have set the situation up in this way.

That doesn't mean its the morally right thing to do, and just because it 'works' doesn't always make it okay either. Sometimes I wish the dogs I see would respond more obviously when they dislike something, so the owners can't tell me "oh he doesn't really mind when I smack him over the nose"....