general update

First things first, I have to say huge congratulations to my great friend Anna Giles on the birth of her new baby, Sebastian! 

At the moment, I am really leading a 'dog filled life'. My days are completely rammed with all things dog ... and I am loving it! Inbetween the 'day job' of walking and training classes and 1-2-1's, I have had Anna's Muddle to stay whilst baby Sebby settles in, Dave's Fame to stay whilst he has been of holidaying some where (lol) and two other boarders!!! Crazyyy! 

During Mud's stay we have been re-raining his weaves as he physically really struggled with the old distance. He seemed to find weaving difficult and it had made his association with the weaves a bit stressy. So, I have taken him right back to basics with the new distance weaves using Lucy Osbournes, entry and channel method. I have LOVED training Mud. He is nuts and has amazing toy drive, probably the best I have seen in a Border Collie!  This intensity and desire has now been transferred into his weaves ... the dog loves them and is swimming through super fast! Anna, are you sure I can't keep him!?

Fame is just perfect, a real natural and matched with Dave's great training I am sure she will be awesome. Her toy drive is also fantastic. With a low head, she powers into toys wether dead or held. Like Mud, its makes her so easy to train. 

Dare I say it, I am really happy with Ditto's attitude. There seems to be a culture in agility of being cautious of praising your own dog publicly, maybe in fear of being labeled arrogant or putting high expectations on dogs at their early shows. Speaking with Sian the other day, I said I always put myself down when it comes to training and I want to stop this. So there it goes, I have said I am happy with the direction Dit's is heading in! Her agility is looking nice but more importantly her life skills have improved so much :) she just makes me laugh all the time! 

Cody came back from his break WILD! It was hilarious. After a few training sessions he is now still wild but with a bit of control. The best news, the wait training is going to plan. Must keep it up! Note to self: stop putting off obstacle discrimination training!!!!

And Hat, well of course she is still the best dog in the world!

At the end of all my 1-2-1's and classes I always ask people what they are happy with. So at the end of Jan what am i happy with? The highlight has to be Ditto working in a  group in a new environment with focus and drive :D

Peace Out

xxx

"There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons."

"There are no mistakes or failures, only lessons."

Sometimes in life, we have to learn things the hard way. Over six months ago now, I had an awful experience with my own dogs and I now feel ready to speak about this in an attempt to save other people and their dogs from finding themselves in the same situation.

I wanted to increase Cody's fitness level, so along with Dave, took Cody and Dobby to a 'dog swimming pool'. It's amazing how much trust we put in people we believe to be professionals in their chosen field. In defence of the pool both dogs had previously swam at this pool with no problems.

After a short swimming session the dogs left the pool and were immediately sick. Twenty minutes latter and arriving home Cody left the van and collapsed. Ditto who had only been running around the edge of the pool started to vomit. We rushed the dogs to the vets. Worried vets treated all three dogs as an emergency. 48 hours later and all three dogs were still on a drip.

Meanwhile, we found ourselves at a dead-end with a pool unwilling to communicate with either ourselves or our concerned vets.

So we found ourselves asking why has this happened? And along came K9 Hydro Services run by Barbara Houlding and Maria Johnston. They kindly invited me to their very professional centre. On entering the building immediate differences were noted between K9 Hydro and the dog pool I was used to: it was so quite and calm, the pool was small, there were no toys and highly qualified staff were more than happy to help and greet my dogs.

Below are some of my finding following my visit to K9 Hydro as to what may have caused the problems:

·       At no point should a dog take a toy from or below the water level.

·       Emphasis should be on controlled water based physio treatments instead of random swimming.

·       Dogs should be calm and focused throughout the session rather than crazy or over excited.

·       Dogs should safely be assisted in and out of the pool, no jumping in.

·       Sessions with one dog to one therapist are essential for safe practice

·       Multi dog swimming is not therapy.

·       Qualified Therapists should have hands on contact with their canine patient at all times both in and out of the pool or treadmill and wet room.

·       Centres should have good water management and ventilation.

I urge you to research this topic, think wisely before selected a hydrotherapy pool and visit K9 Hydro or go to their website for more information www.k9hydroservices.co.uk

Above is a picture of little Frisbee the foster I  had over DINAS and KC Festival in her new home. She is so tiny!

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. Dale Carnegie 

With Camp one being so great, there was lots of pressure to make camp two even better! Monday afternoon arrived and the camping field was filling up with posh caravans, motor homes and Delphines luxury, 5 star tent (which came with a free ‘Inu heater’).

With no time to hang around, the jam packed schedule kick started with a learning theory and agility handling presentation. The first evening at camp is all about getting to know everyone, so to the pub we headed (this pub just loves our large groups ... not!).

Our first trainer, on day one of training, was Sian Illingworth. Words our ‘campers’ used to describe Sian after training were: fun, motivational, great people skills, inspiring, confidence building  and consistent ... these attributes combined make for a great trainer! Sians training focused on handling jumping sequences. The evening entertainment was an Indian takeaway, the entertainment being ordering it (have you ever tried ordering a takeaway for so many people, to be delivered to a place you don’t know and with a phone with little signal!)!

Day two of training and Lucy Osborne arrives as the trainer. Lucy’s morning sessions focused on contact training. Starting at step one with shaping the end position and then onto building whole contacts into short sequences. In the afternoon Lucy focused on handling including foot-work; a new focus for many participants. It was really great to have Lucy stay an extra few days at Camp and get into ‘camp spirit’, there are certainly no silent moments when Lucy is around!  All the participants loved Lucy’s training and learnt so much! A fun and filling BBQ made for an enjoyable evening.

Day three, was Munnings day. Not only was he teaching but it was also his birthday (and Lucy’s).  Dave’s sessions put together everything the participants had done throughout the week into courses. Wow, these dogs were looking great! Most of the campers regularly train with Dave so only quietly told me how much they loved his training, in fear he may up his prices!

The last night is always so fun at camp as it’s our farewell meal at the pub and ..... AWARDS! Ranging from most dramatic to sweetest person, the awards were taken in good humour as laughter took over the pub!

I have to say a big thanks to the trainers but an even bigger thanks to the participants for being so fun and easy going. Bring on next year J

Suggested reading

A friend asked me yesterday to suggest some books for a reading list she was putting together so thought i would blog my top ten dogs books, for all you fellow dog geeks!

1) How dogs learn. Birch and Bailey

2) Dogs: A Startling new understanding of Canine origin and behaviour. Coppinger and Coppinger

3)Dominance in dogs: Fact or Fiction. Barry Eaton

4) In Defence of Dogs. John Bradshaw

5) Dont shoot the dog. Karen Pryor 

6) Stress in dogs. Nartina Scholz and Clarissa Von Reinhardt

7) Controll Unleashed. Leslie McDevitt

8) The Culture Clash. Jean Donaldson

9) Jackpot! A simple guide to food rewards. Pam Mackinnon

10) Dog Behaviour Explained. Peter Neville

Update

There is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream - Author Unknown

My  latest foster, Benny, went to his new home today. There are always mixed emotions when fosters fly the nest. On one hand I am so happy they have found the perfect home, where they will be loved and spoilt rotten. On the other hand, there is sadness as it is time to say good bye to a dog who you have seen change in front of you as a result of hard work and patience and has become such a close friend. Enjoy your new home Benny :)

Code's agility is going nicely. I love this picture Jodi Lunn took of him ... he just loves it!

Ditto is maturing nicely. I love her work attitude she is full on, intense and non-stop. Shaping is by far the best way of tiring her out. I will make sure I get some videos of her tricks for my next blog.

And here is Hattie, having a great time at the camp last month.

The feed-back from last weeks 110% was brilliant. This workshop is really good fun and both Dave and I love teaching it. You know people enjoy it when they book on to the same workshop for the fourth time :D The workshop aims at creating 'attitude'. It's amazing how some dog and handler partnerships can change within a few hours.

Anyway,  best go and pack. Spain awaits me tomorrow. Job one for when I'm back ... finish the website!!!

D-Force Camp 1

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person.
Audrey Hepburn

So, the first D-Force Camp is over and what a success! The feed-back forms were full of praise in every aspect of the camp. The training and lectures were fantastic but what made this camp so great was the social element and the great people on the course. Every where you looked people were laughing.

The dogs on the course were fantastic. Dogs ranged from grades 1-7 but all were up to the challenge. Their motivation and toy drive were fantastic, all trainers commented on just how great every dog was. 'They really were a pleasure to train'.

The trainers:

For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward

For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward - Jim Rohn

Reward based training continues to make great steps in the modern world. Its evolution has been rapid; a testimony to its global success. Looking back just 10 years and dog training flyer's would advertise being 'top dog', instant results and 'trained by ex-police dog handler'! In my area there are still a few of these classes advertised and I often get the privilege to rehabilitate some of their 'failed' pupils.

So, I will introduce dog 'A'. Dog 'A' arrived on a thick choke chain, neck low, eyes staring to the ground, feet firmly planted in the ground, tail under and eyes bulged. Dog 'A' is just 4 months, from good breeding. Dog A's owner, in-between tears, explains just 2 weeks ago her puppy was confident, happy and 'all over the place'. I questioned what had happened to the dog during the last few weeks. To my shock it appeared the reasoning behind the sorry state in front of me was 'socialisation classes'. In the past I have seen clients with dogs displaying these traits as a result of training classes which are largely based on aversive, correctional techniques. But how could socialisation go so wrong ....?

Thanks to 'Dog A' who motivated me to write the blog below and Dog A's owner for allowing em to use their dog as an example :)

Modern, reward based training relies heavily on finding what a dog values and using it to achieve a set criteria. D-Force companion classes refer to socialisation as 'socialisation training', it reminds people to use this reward in their socialisation. Below is a video of a friends dog 'exploring the farm' - great job Danni. A treat is used in order to: create a positive experience, teach the dog what is wanted, reward confident approaches, control the situation, build value in exploring, aid bounce back. This puppy is a far cry from 'Dog A' but i have no doubt that with positive methods on board 'Dog A' will be up to this challenge in no time :)

Without rewards present, we can not refer to socialisation as socialisation training. Instead, we could call it flooding. 'Throw him in the deep end, he'll have to get used to it' type attitude. Flooding a puppy to encounter a new experience is dangerous. The chances are the puppy will experience fear, as a result survival instincts will kick in. Accept, Flight, freeze, flight (or fiddle about if your a Labrador :P) are the options we have given the puppy. Probability states the chances are the puppy will pick one of the undesirable traits (all but 'accep't). We have put our dogs in the situation where a new experience has become negative. This result is likely to be mirrored or exaggerated in your dogs next encounter with a new experience. We are creating a learnt behaviour in our dogs that is going to create a unhappy, un-confident, dog that is unable to deal with the encounters of daily life.

This is not to say I think dogs should never have to deal with a degree of stress. It is impossible to shield our dogs from stress in their lives and therefore it is important they learn to deal with it whilst young. However, i do not believe socialisation is the place for.

It's only three days till day 1 of D-Force Dog Training Agility Camp. I will try to keep you all updated with camp going-ons.