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My dog won't listen, I need to fix the behaviour now!!! It is important to heal a dog's emotions instead of focusing on fixing their behaviour because behaviour is often a symptom of an underlying emotional issue. If a dog is exhibiting unwanted behaviour, it usually means they are feeling anxious, stressed, frustrated, or fearful. Simply correcting the behaviour without addressing the emotional root cause may lead to temporary improvement, but the underlying emotional issue will remain. This could result in the dog developing other unwanted behaviours or the original behaviour resurfacing in the future. This is also like someone correcting you for a fear of spiders or feeling anxious about a situation. It isn't humane, so it isn't right to do this to a dog. When you do this, your dog will either go into shut down, learn you are not a support system and feel that they have to escalate themselves. Leaving them in a state of learned helplessness. Healing a dog's emotions involves identifying and addressing the underlying emotional issue. This can be done through learning about healing the emotions, desensitisation and counterconditioning, creating a positive and safe environment, and providing the dog with plenty of exercise and mental stimulation. By addressing the emotional issue, the dog will naturally begin to exhibit positive and desirable behaviours. Ultimately, healing a dog's emotions not only helps them feel better and lead happier lives, but it also creates a stronger bond between the dog and you. When a dog becomes over threshold, it means that they have surpassed their threshold for stress and arousal. At this point, their emotional state has taken over, and they are no longer able to process information and respond to cues. From a holistic perspective, this can be explained by the complex interactions between a dog's physical, emotional, mental, and well-being. When a dog becomes over threshold, their sympathetic nervous system takes over, triggering the "fight or flight" response. At this point, the dog's body is flooded with stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which can impair their cognitive function, cause physical changes such as increased heart rate and blood pressure, and limit their ability to focus and learn. Their body is also becoming physically drained at this point and something not often considered or widely known is that your dog can become poorly and need medical care due to being in situations which cause their body to go through so much stress. Which is why it is so important to move away from the ideology of fixing the dog and instead healing the dog. To prevent a dog from becoming over threshold, it is important to understand their individual triggers and manage their environment and emotional state. This can involve creating a calm and predictable routine, providing plenty of exercise and mental stimulation, using positive reinforcement training methods, and avoiding situations or stimuli that are known to trigger stress and anxiety. Overall, a holistic approach to understanding and managing your dog's behaviour includes considering their physical, emotional, mental, and well-being as interconnected and vital to their overall health and happiness. By addressing all aspects of a dog's well-being, it may be possible to prevent over threshold responses and help them learn and respond to cues more effectively. Guardians, listen to your dog's communications because it is the only way to truly understand your dog's needs and emotions. Dogs communicate in a variety of ways, including body language, vocalisations, and behaviour. By paying attention to these communications, guardians can develop a deeper understanding of their dog's personality, likes and dislikes, and needs. Some common dog communication signals include tail wagging, barking, growling, displaying teeth, licking, yawning, and avoiding eye contact. For example, a dog that is wagging their tail while their ears are pressed back and their body is stiff may be communicating anxiety or fear, rather than happiness. Similarly, a dog that is growling or displaying their teeth may be communicating discomfort or aggression, rather than being "mean". By learning to read their dog's communication signals, you can better meet your dog's needs and avoid situations that may be overwhelming or stressful for your dog. This can help build a stronger bond between you and your dog, and lead to a happier and healthier relationship. Additionally, listening to a dog's communications can help reduce the risk of dog bites or other aggressive behaviours. By recognizing when a dog is uncomfortable or anxious, you can take steps to prevent a situation from escalating and avoid putting yourself, them or others in danger. In summary, listening to a dog's communications is essential for understanding their needs and emotions, building a strong and healthy relationship, and reducing the risk of unwanted behaviours. Understanding that your dog doesn't need fixing, they need healing. This is the first step in truly understanding your dog and their needs. If you work on healing your dog, the rest will follow. Image description: cream background with Wolfdog puppy asleep, held in the arms of a person with a purple hoody in the centre. To the left is a title underlined which says: fix the behaviour Underneath this is a paragraph: Fixing dog behaviour has an attitude of the dog needs "fixing" creating a negative environment and connection. Under this is a checklist with the title: Fix the behaviour why? The checklist has red crosses in each box. Bothered what others think Don't like the behaviour Don't understand the behaviour There is red underlining underneath this. To the right of the image: The title: Healing the emotion for better welfare with a checklist with green ticks reading: Healing the emotion for better welfare Understanding of species behaviour Understanding the expression of a behaviour Understanding their emotions Healing focused The final text on the bottom right reads: Identify the need of your dog and why you want to "fix" their behaviour with green underlining. 
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Classical conditioning and habituation What do these words mean and why does my trainer/behaviourist insist I practise at home? The problem isn't at home. If you have a dog who struggles with their emotions in any context, the answer is simple, we change the emotion related to the trigger. How do we do this? Classical conditioning and habituation. If your dog is struggling it's no good trying to teach your dog a new concept outside. Why? Because of the language barrier. You will just be barking cues at your dog, setting you both up to fail, your frustrated, your dogs frustrated and your dog doesn't understand what on earth you're asking. Working indoors means that you can teach your dog a new behaviour. Such as look at that by Leslie McDivett of Control Unleashed https://youtu.be/1kulQ0AGj3w You begin with an inanimate object, why because you want your dog to learn the cue and the behaviour and pair the word with the cue of the behaviour. This becomes a simple way to communicate with your dog with no stressors. You and your dog have begun a conversation. When your outside and your dog is feeling overwhelmed they cannot learn or process anything you are asking right now. They have one agenda and that is to retreat to safety or go into fight mode to protect themselves. Keeping arousal indoors at an optimum level means that your dog is going to be excited to learn. You do this with their functional reinforcer. This is the high value reward your dog communicates to you is their reinforcer, not what you choose. If you don't know here's a test, grab a toy, grab a piece of chicken. See which one they go for, repeat to see if it was a fluke. No food or toy drive? No problem, go to Tug-E-Nuff - https://www.tug-e-nuff.co.uk/ every purchase comes with a free play guide! High quality tug toys which are super high value for your dog, whether learning the mechanics of play, puppy mouthing redirection or predation substitute training. This shop is amazing! Discount code - Miyagis I haven't met anyone yet whose dog has not been obsessed with the fur chasers from Tug-E-Nuff. You can also try troubleshooting games for play. https://youtu.be/jzawF6AA5FA https://youtu.be/aeccuja_pBY https://youtu.be/BXsaVri15zQ https://youtu.be/cP-e2jLHWSg Your dog's functional reinforcer becomes their reward system for your conversation. This is just step one. Then you begin to work on the new cues indoors and open a conversation and move to the garden and so on. Yerkes- Dodson law explains through the inverted graph that we need eustress, good stress to learn simple tasks. Anything beyond that curve of the highest point is where learning cannot take place, too low arousal also means there is simply no arousal or interest in learning. “As the difficulty of discrimination is increased, the strength of that stimulus which is most favourable to habit-formation approaches the threshold” (Yerkes and Dodson, 1908). If you constantly force a dog to face anxiety, for example make them go for a walk even though you know that you will both become frustrated or anxious, they will begin to predict and expect anxiety every time you grab the harness and lead. This means your dog is at the far side of the u graph and unable to learn. We want a bubbly and excited dog ready to go for a walk and engage with the environment, so they can engage in normal behaviours and process their environment whilst remaining in the optimal area of the u graph. We know this from (Mendel et al, 2010). They formed a correlation of discrete emotions and core effect. How the dogs emotional state affects behavioural output. Which then means we can measure the welfare of the dog and begin to compare their emotional state learning indoors vs outdoors. This enables us to then better your dogs welfare through assisting you. We don't want to use operant conditioning where the dog is punished for expression of an emotion or withdrawing something pleasurable because of an emotion. We need to recognise the emotion, meet the need and help our dogs by bringing arousal back down and helping our dogs to have a neutral emotional state to other dogs, traffic or people for example. We cannot do this if we attempt to teach a new behaviour outdoors with no previous conversation and learning. This is why it is so important that we learn about our dog. We learn about what gets them excited and motivated, what makes them calm and sleepy, what drives them and also what causes them to be in a state of distress (bad stress) and unable to communicate. Our learning is developing all of the time as an industry. It's important to learn about your dog, meet their needs, offer them rest and recovery time and work with them within their optimal learning states. Not as and when it suits us. It's also not ok to punish an emotion. This is why we ask you to practise at home, open that conversation, set yourselves up for success. It's a marathon, it's not a race. Enjoy the learning journey and meet your dog. References Yerkes, R.M.; Dodson, D.D. The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Psychol. J. Comp. Neurol. 1908, 459–482. Mendl, M.; Burman, O.H.P.; Paul, E.S. An integrative and functional framework for the study of animal emotion and mood. Proc. R. Soc. B: Biol. Sci. 2010, 277, 2895–2904. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/3/2/300#B28-animals-03-00300 Image description: inverted U graph. White background. Title: Yerkes - Dodson law in black open dyslexic font. The graph has the title on the left of performance and the bottom line has stress. The colour of the inverted U is separated into: pastel pink and orange with the title over the colours in black open dyslexic font: inactive, laid back, too little stress. The next colour is blue with black open dyslexic font with the title - optimum stress. The next colour is green - to the far side to the right the title in black open dyslexic font says: exhaustion. The next colour in bright pink - to the far side in black open dyslexic font says - burnt out. The final colour is red - in black open dyslexic font the text says - anxiety/ frustration. The text at the bottom of the graph says - Optimum stress is where learning can take place before frustration,hyper arousal or anxiety - before the height of the curve. Second image description is a black and tan and cream infographic. The top is black. In white open dyslexic font the title reads - Classical conditioning - Ivan Pavlov. The next row is tan with black open dyslexic font which reads - Learning of association between two previously unrelated stimuli to change behaviour. The next box is cream and has a bone with the text underneath in black open dyslexic font which says - food then in the centre equals and a golden retriever puppy paying attention with the text underneath which reads salivation. The next cream box is a golden bell, with bell written underneath and then equals in the centre and the golden retriever puppy with his back to the screen with his head over his shoulder looking disinterested. The text reads - no response. The next light tab box has a golden bell and a bone with the text - bell and food then equals salivation with the puppy showing interest again approaching the screen. The final darker tan box then has a golden bell and the text bell underneath, then equals in the centre and the golden retriever puppy facing the screen again, showing interest.
 Fear and fear relapses in dogs
Lots of people don't understand why their happy go lucky puppy becomes fearful as an adolescent and why fearful behaviours suddenly develop without a negative experience. We have discussed this before in previous blogs, as well as trauma incidents that can take place without being aware of the incident at the time. 1.https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/733493378573118 2.https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/719448776644245 3.https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/683802623542194 4.https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/670293268226463 The mothers experience during pregnancy can affect fearful behaviours developing through unborn puppies, the DNA can alter due to fear, or genetically be passed on trauma. And still a previously fearful dog was selected for breeding. Behaviour has a major genetic component and many traits are both phenotypically and genetically related. Salonen, M. et al. 2020 (1) So when we ask if the parents were seen and how the parents appeared to be in their behaviour, potential puppy guardians are seeing either mother in her own safe home and not in the world and possibly a photo of father or they see both, but again in the safety of their own home. So it can be hard for the guardians to fully understand this information or lack of and correlate their dogs behaviour with that of their parents. This can be distressing for guardians, many guardians feel embarrassed or don't feel equipped to help the dog and feel lost. Many guardians who work really hard with their dog can feel emotional and some even disconnected from their dog, due to feelings of pressure from onlookers or feelings of being overwhelmed. These are all very normal and valid feelings, as humans we can contextualise this and say lovely and supportive things. When we flip this and apply this feeling and reassurance to a dog and say "Hey, I get it, anxiety sucks dude, wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Yes, it is a scary world out there. But you've got this and I'm going to support you." But be genuine and not use toxic positivity. Essentially that's what we're doing, we are supporting our dog and validating their feelings. I've actually had deep conversations with my youngest around his anxiety and he's made more progress than myself with my own anxiety! It's OK to have a nervous or fearful dog, it's OK if they relapse, so if they suddenly become fearful again, they are not alone. Many humans can go through fear relapses, myself included after prolonged therapy treatments. So it makes sense that a dog can too. It doesn't mean you have failed, it just means that fear is so powerful that it is life changing as it changes the brain and DNA of a dog and us. Secure attachment, having a loving and secure relationship with your dog goes beyond just obedience. It establishes a bond of mutual trust and understanding between you and your dog, which ultimately leads to a much healthier and fulfilling relationship. Securely attached dogs have been shown to show less fear due to feeling secure in their relationship and of course for rescue and adopted dogs this secure attachment has to be built slowly. Vieira de Castro, A.C. et al. 2021 (2) This is why we encourage guardians to stick with behaviour healing and remedies through learning, I recently said in one of my recent blogs, how we take information from human psychology and apply this to dogs. Here we are again. Researchers found that people with a severe fear of flying by the end of their treatment were able to fly without feeling fearful, however once they stopped attending therapy and had to face flying again, they became fearful again. Craske, M.G. et al. 2014 (4) This can also be dependent upon changes within the environment such as moving home (relocation stress and loss), or the environment becoming stressful and the dog feeling like they cannot escape the stress. In humans we see this too whereas in stressful situations the person feels that they can control slightly and shows less impaired function. Hartley. T et al 2013 (5) This is why within holistic and positive reinforcement it's important that we are careful in how we help to modify the behaviour and address the emotions of a dog who is fearful. When we change the context from the dog being reactive, to let’s break down the emotions and find out what emotion is driving the behaviour we can much better support the dog, reactivity as a label is far too large of a spectrum to label a dog and can be unhelpful. When we fully attempt to understand the emotion, we can better support the dog. Instead of saying “reactive dog” we can say my “dog struggles!” So let’s talk about the methodologies that have been applied to dogs with fearful behaviours, we know that we learn from human psychology and apply this to dogs which means that we as humans have also experienced these methods, within therapeutic settings. We can also reapply what we have learnt from dogs to humans within psychology. We know extinction isn't helpful for humans or dogs overall, exposure therapy can be extremely harmful to both humans and dogs and has been found to typically cause a fear relapse. For example, would you do something that would terrify you for an amount of money? The incentive is the financial reward, not the removal of the fear. As well as being harmful and causing further frustration and emotional distress in dogs and doesn't actually address the emotion of the fear. Extinction can also fall foul to renewal, where many of us say that training in one place such as a board and train facility does not address the fear in the dogs natural environment, so when they go home the fear is renewed because it may have been extinct at a facility away from home. So we see upset guardians who feel even more frustrated as well as the dog as the emotion has not been addressed. You may or may not have heard the term "spontaneous recovery" which is such a misleading term used by psychologists as with the word recovery, we would typically associate this with recovery. This term however means spontaneous recovery of the fear. The human or dogs fear has naturally returned. Because fear is a powerful thing that alters the brain and DNA structures. A great example of this is trauma. Due to dogs also having memories and nightmares just like us they may go through fear relapses due to the memories coming back to them of the training that they went through to become conditioned to the fear. These terms are known as reacquisition and reinstatement. Goode, T.D. and Maren, S. 2014 (6) So what can we do to help? Holistic behaviour modification through healing, focused on helping the dog from a team of professionals to support you and your dog. Coming back to the blog series of "Considering your dog holistically" looks deeply into the team that would support your dog as well as helping them through their biological needs to address emotions. https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/674992084423248 https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/675783994344057 https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/676485464273910 https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/677148814207575 https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/678032940785829 https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/678844610704662 https://www.facebook.com/Miyagisdogtrainingandbehaviouristservices/posts/679682080620915 Guardians can also: 1. Secure attachment: Having a loving and secure relationship with your dog establishes a bond of mutual trust and understanding between you and your dog, which ultimately leads to a much healthier and fulfilling relationship. A secure attachment with your dog means that your dog feels safe and comfortable when they're around you, and they trust you to take care of them. This trust and security leads to a healthier relationship with your dog, as and a secure basis for them meaning they're less likely to exhibit fearful behaviours. 2. Create a calming environment: dogs are sensitive to their environment; therefore, creating a calm environment by reducing loud noises, using calming scents, and providing adequate lighting can help ease tenseness and anxiety, as well as Doggy Enrichment Lands which is a couple of blogs down that prevents dogs from being woken or disturbed by traffic in the home. 3. Nutrition, a healthy digestive system is the foundation of well behaviour. A dog's behaviour is not only controlled by the environment, but also by genetic, cognitive and physiological factors. Miklosi. A, (2014). Physiological factors in turn can be affected by nutrition. Bosch. G, et al, 2007 (7) The brain is full of an amazing communication system and within this communication are neurotransmitters and hormones and both of these components can be affected by the nutrition that a dog receives and when the brain is affected negatively or positively we can see these effects manifest through behaviour. In looking at the dogs welfare this is why it is so important to ensure that our individual dog is receiving the best possible nutrition that they can receive. The gut microbiome is the most important area of looking at the dogs diet as this area is needed to remain as undisrupted as possible, a healthy guy microbiome means that the brain communication system should be working well. When the gut microbiome is affected, the healthy balance is disrupted and many changes can occur such as inflammation, infections and the production of serotonin 90% of which takes place in the small intestine can be affected. Tizard. I. R, et al 2018 If you are concerned about your dogs nutrition, speaking to a nutritionist can really help to identify your dogs individual needs. 4. Use natural remedies: There are several natural remedies for calming dogs, including chamomile, lavender, and valerian root. These can be given as supplements, or used as aromatherapy or in diffusers. Pet remedy is a fantastic natural remedy for fearful dogs and Andrew Hale of Dog centred care is the behaviour consultant for pet remedy. You can go straight to the website here and see exactly how it works, https://petremedy.co.uk/how-it-works/ if you would like to learn more about Pet Remedy, you can send an email directly to gill@petremedy.co.uk 5. Exercise and physical activity: Physical activity and exercise are essential for dogs to maintain good mental health. Playing and walking your dog daily can help release stress and anxiety. When we look at physical activity and play it's important to be mindful that walks are based on sniffafaris rather than a human centred walk around the block or going places that dogs can find stressful such as social gatherings, markets and shows. Physical activity can also be enrichment within the home too! 6. Identify triggers: Identifying the dog's triggers and avoiding such situations may help mitigate fear responses. Rather than subjecting the dog to flooding or working through the behaviour. When guardians view a dogs fear like this, this is disabling the dog and causing the fear to become worse, show signs of shut down, learned helplessness or feel that they have to defend themselves. Working with a gentle and positive approach and focus on healing within a behaviour modification programme is going to be the foundation of helping your dog with their fear and recovery. 7. Integrative support: If the fear is severe, medication may be necessary or supplements. Consult your holistic or integrative vet for appropriate treatment that suits their needs. Integrative and fear free vets have a fantastic understanding of fear and addressing the emotions of the dog and how to help them within a multidisciplinary approach seeing the dog as an individual. Combining a multidisciplinary approach both at home, in your daily lifestyle and working with a multidisciplinary team can guide your dog to feel supported and secure in their attachment to heal the fear. In conclusion, remember that your dog hasn't failed if they do have a fear relapse, it's normal. Remember if you cannot place a trigger or a trauma to identify the fear, genetics can contribute. Work with a certified behaviourist to help you and your dog, remember holistic practitioners focus on a multidisciplinary team for supporting your dog, it isn't about ripping you off by sending you to all of these professionals but it is about helping your dog in the very best way possible to address their individual needs and support them. This will set you both up for success and offer long term support and recovery with less risk of a fear relapse. References Salonen, M. et al. (2020) Prevalence, comorbidity, and breed differences in canine anxiety in 13,700 Finnish Pet Dogs, Nature News. Nature Publishing Group. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-59837-z Vieira de Castro, A.C. et al. (2021) “Improving dog training methods: Efficacy and efficiency of reward and mixed training methods,” PLOS ONE, 16(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247321 Hiby, E.F., Rooney, N.J. and Bradshaw, J.W.S. (2004) “Dog training methods: Their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and Welfare,” Animal Welfare, 13(1), pp. 63–69. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0962728600026683 Craske, M.G. et al. (2014) Maximising exposure therapy: An inhibitory learning approach, Behaviour research and therapy. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4114726/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023). Hartley T; Lever C; Burgess N; O'Keefe(2013) Space in the brain: How the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24366125/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023). Goode, T.D. and Maren, S. (2014) Animal Models of Fear Relapse, Academic.oup.com. Oxford Academic . Available at: https://academic.oup.com/ilarj.../article/55/2/246/642875... (Accessed: April 23, 2023). Bosch, G., Beerda, B., Hendriks, W.H., van der Poel, A.F.B., Verstegen, M.W.A. (2007). Impact of nutrition on canine behaviour: current status and possible mechanisms. Nutrition Research Reviews, vol. 20, pp.180-194. Tizard IR, Jones SW. The microbiota regulates immunity and immunologic diseases in dogs and cats. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. (2018) 48:307–22. doi: 10.1016/j.cvsm.2017.10.008 Image description: titled if your dog is having a rough time. Light blue background with a spider web of text in white bubbles which reads… Breathe: Calming yourself and breathing can help you to equip yourself to help your dog Evaluate: Evaluate what's going on, any triggers or changes, use a multidisciplinary approach Rest & recovery: Allow them time to rest and recover, depending on the individual dog this can be a few days to a week Seek help: It's OK to ask for help and seek a professional, it doesn't mean you have failed. If needed seek help for yourself too! Make a plan: Forming a plan can be the best way to battle your own anxiety moving forwards Top right hand corner a girl with brown plaited hair cuddles a grey dog. The girl is wearing a green top with orange trousers. In water colour style. The left hand corner has a boy with black hair cuddling a black small dog near his lap. He is wearing a blue green t-shirt and has red trousers and black shoes. The bottom left hand corner is the same style watercolour, with an arm and hand with the flat to the dogs paw which is brown on a side view.  Your dog has big emotions and you feel alone. You aren't alone!
Lots of people bring a puppy into their family and everything is wonderful, you conquer each puppy's expected behaviour and you're doing great, they are happy, go lucky, walks are effortless and everything is going smoothly. One day they suddenly begin retreating, freeze or lunge, growl and snarl at another dog. They suddenly don't want to play with the dog that they have previously played with. Your world is shrinking, people are looking at you or saying unkind things, you want to run home. Your dog is perfect at home, why are they behaving like this? Why can't people see how wonderful and loving they are at home? You now go for walks in the dark and as early and late as you possibly can. They are reacting to passer bys through the window, they follow you everywhere and seem to be developing separation anxiety. What is going on? Dogs can develop fearful behaviours during adolescence due to a combination of factors, including hormonal changes, socialisation experiences, and environmental influences. Of course they can also display aggressive behaviours too, we are looking at the behaviours as emotions and what drives the emotions to develop the behaviours, moving away from the term "reactive" as reactive is simply too broad and doesn't look to a dog as an individual. During adolescence, which usually occurs between 5 months to 2 years of age, dogs experience an increase in hormones like testosterone and oestrogen which can cause them to become more anxious and fearful. In addition, if a dog was not adequately socialised during their early developmental stages, they may become fearful or aggressive towards people and other dogs. This can lead to behaviours like barking, lunging, or growling. Conversely they can also become frustrated and hyperactive if they were over socialised. Environmental factors such as encountering stressors like loud noises, strangers, or unfamiliar environments can also contribute to fearful behaviour during adolescence. It's very easy for hormones to be blamed and when people typically think of hormones they think teenagers as in humans. But what does this broad term "hormones" actually mean because it doesn't just cover testosterone and oestrogen, it actually covers the brain, the development and growth of the brain. The brain doesn't just grow in size, neural pathways are constantly being developed which passes on information to different areas of the brain for good and bad experiences, training and emotions. Neural networks and nodes are developing, the brain is alive and ever expanding with electricity, the brain doesn't even take a break during sleep, in deep sleep the brain is compartmentalising and storing memories! Brain chemicals are increasing and decreasing. The brain is effectively a 24/7 call centre. Dogs are still not fully understood as to the age that the brain is fully mature and grown, for small breeds this could be a year and for large dogs around 3 years. Researchers have now found however that this is far beyond breed or size and depends upon skull structure and morphology and have also found that even with breed selection placement of the brain areas such as the amygdala and other brain regions could be significantly different in placement and size. Hecht, E.E. et al. 2019 (1) They used a tool called a skull index to understand the MRI images and the cross sections of the brain, the neural pathways, size and development according to breed group and then broke this down further to categorise behaviour and whether there were significant changes within the brain to correlate behaviour and if not why not? They also broke the brain down and categorised the brain into six networks to understand bonding, secure attachments, learning, executive functioning, aggression, fear etc. While they concluded that studying the dogs brain is going to be a huge ongoing task, they did identify that behavioural variation is highly heritable. MacLean.E.L. et al, 2019 (2) So even if you do everything right and work hard at meeting all biological needs and ensuring a secure attachment and avoiding any risk of experiencing trauma, there can be heritability of behaviours from their breeding and selection by humans. Dry your tears, it isn't always the guardian to blame and we really need to move away from this mindset. This mindset has been set out on TV and by social media and misinformed professionals. If researchers can also say "we simply conclude that we don't yet know enough about the dog brain" and study MRI's for a living, how can we all know everything? Placing more emphasis on secure attachment, fear periods and development of the puppy and canine brain can be much more helpful in supporting you as a guardian. Helping you to become aware in layman terms to fully understand your dog and the why, because as humans we default and need to know the why of the behaviour. Addressing the why of the behaviour takes us on a new journey, we open a conversation with our dog, we look at the dog as an individual and not a breed or a series of genetics. We say "Hello, nice to meet you, you are as individual as me and it's time we started talking about how we can help you and addressing your emotions." Join me on this new series of blogs of understanding your dog's big emotions. We are going to steer away from reactivity as a word, it's too big, it's too broad and it's not helpful. We are going to look at emotions and help you to understand your dog and have a formal introduction to the beautiful individual that they are. Your dog has the brain of a 2-5 year old child. Coren. S. 2009 (3) 2-5 year old children have big emotions, become shy, become selective of who they speak to, they begin to form their personalities, they begin to express their likes and dislikes and they have a big range of emotions when they cannot verbalise how they feel. This is your dog, a 2-5 year old misunderstood child equivalent who cannot articulate their emotions for us to understand. Let's begin understanding and learning about our individual dog and what their emotion is trying to tell us. References Hecht, E.E. et al. (2019) Significant neuroanatomical variation among domestic dog breeds, Journal of Neuroscience. Society for Neuroscience. Available at: https://www.jneurosci.org/content/39/39/7748 (Accessed: April 26, 2023). MacLean EL, Snyder-Mackler N, vonHoldt BM, Serpell JA (2019) Highly heritable and functionally relevant breed differences in dog behaviour. Available from: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/509315v1. Chicago American Psychological Association. "Dogs' Intelligence On Par With Two-year-old Humans, Canine Researcher Says." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 August 2009www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/509315v1.. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090810025241.htm>. Emergency Alert
On Sunday 23rd April 2023 at 3pm an emergency alert will sound on all phones. This isn't great for dogs, especially not anxious, nervous or sound sensitive dogs. Especially in dense areas with semi detached homes, flats and housing estates. So what can we do: Stay indoors so that there are no unpredictable sounds or experiences in the outdoor environment as we all know we cannot control circumstances outside of the home. Turn your phone off or ask someone to take it outside away from the home. Play white noise and classical, reggae or soft rock music. Begin desensitisation now to the sound, here is a tutorial on us working on this with the sound. Remember even if you begin the desensitisation process now there is no guarantee your dog will be resilient to this on Sunday. So take measures to protect them. Work on desensitisation and counter conditioning slowly, gently and listen to your dog's communications such as their body language before it can develop into vocalisations or worse. Desensitisation wants to keep dogs under threshold to be successful and to not negatively impact them. This will set us up for success for the future as we don't know when the alarms will sound and due to that uncertainty and unpredictability we need to begin now to ensure their safety and welfare. https://youtu.be/uVbM33xVvAA  Off lead dogs and UK law
It's really difficult to see dogs being attacked by off lead dogs and the dogs who attacked being sent to kennels awaiting court dates. Two of my own dog's were recently attacked by my own home, my dogs both on leads and the two other dogs both off-lead and their owner not present and on their phone. This was distressing for them and us as their guardians. Not only was this scary but also meant that they needed time to rest and recover, putting off further walks and training sessions to allow for rest and recovery after this incident. They were lucky that they had no puncture wounds, but there was a risk that they could have become frightened of other dogs and undo all of the hard work that I've done with Zombie, my youngest. Unfortunately not all dogs are as lucky as mine were and suffer with life changing consequences physically and mentally. Many people across social media do not seem to understand UK Dog Law and that each council has their own by - law concerning this, so let's take a quick look. 1. The Control of Dogs Order 1992: This legislation makes it a criminal offence if a dog is "dangerously out of control" in a public place, which includes any place where the public has access, such as a park or a beach. 2. The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991: This act addresses specific breeds of dogs that are deemed as potentially dangerous and outlines restrictions on the ownership and handling of those breeds. 3. The Animal Welfare Act 2006: This legislation makes it an offence to cause unnecessary harm or suffering to any animal, including dogs. It also requires pet owners to provide adequate care and attention to their pets. 4. The Highway Code: This code states that dogs should be kept on a lead near roads and should not be allowed to run free in a public place unless they are under close control. 5. Local council by-laws: Many councils have their own by-laws regarding dogs in public places, including rules around dogs being off-lead and the use of designated dog exercise areas. (1) It is important to note that dog owners are responsible for their dogs behaviour and that their actions could potentially lead to prosecution under UK law. As a responsible dog owner, it is important to understand and abide by these laws and guidelines to ensure the safety of both your dog and the public. In the event of a dog on dog attack, what can actually be done as so many people report that their dogs have been injured, one husky at the moment with £14,000 in vet fees and still fighting for her life and no support locally from the services that should provide this. So I pulled out the Dog Law Handbook to refresh my memory again and get the facts right and also went to the UK government website as well as directing this guardian to Cooper and Co Dog Law. Town Police Clauses Act 1847 Under this Act it is an offence for any person in any street to: let an unmuzzled ferocious dog be at large so that it obstructs or annoys the residents or passengers in the street, or puts them in danger. To set on, or urge, any dog to attack, worry or put in fear any person or animal. A dog is not considered to be ‘at large’ while held on its lead and the word ‘street’ is given an extended meaning to include any road, square, court, alley, thoroughfare or public passage. (2) The Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in the UK can be used to address dog on dog attacks in certain public spaces. Local authorities have the power to implement PSPOs in specific public areas where there has been a problem with dog attacks or where they consider there is a potential for such incidents. Under the PSPO, local councils can impose restrictions or requirements on dog walkers, including requiring dogs to be kept on a lead, muzzled, or excluded from certain areas altogether. They may also require dog owners to use a certain area for dog exercise, rather than allowing them to walk their dogs off-lead in a public area. Breaching a PSPO can result in a fine or prosecution, and local law enforcement may take action against the owner of the dog that attacked another dog. Dog owners should be aware of the PSPOs in their local area and comply with any restrictions or requirements that are in place to help prevent dog on dog attacks. They should also take steps to train their dogs to reduce the risk of aggressive behaviour towards other dogs. (3) The term ferocious has not yet been described by the courts. (4) An example of dog on dog attacks being discussed in Parliament in 2017 with MP's highlighting that the laws that do cover dog on dog attacks are widely unknown by Councils and Police forces and called for more education. As well as local statistics for each county being held but not shared. (5) Here's an example below, I could pull statistics from local sources for counties but not as a country with an overall figure. Many newspapers report that it's only a prosecutable offence if a dog were to attack an assistance dog but as the laws and the debate in Parliament highlight this is not the case. The Liverpool Echo highlights cases within Liverpool where there have been successful prosecutions in the last five years. Although at the moment if a person is not bitten and only a dog is injured during an attack, the offence is civil, magistrates can still impose penalties as they see fit and due to the laws above which aren't widely known about police forces can pursue prosecution where they see fit as found within Liverpool. So in conclusion to this, please keep dogs on a lead, especially in public areas, especially if your dog doesn't recall and especially if likely to be distracted by a phone or your dog goes ahead of you. For your dogs safety too as many dogs who are great at recall and proximity can be attacked like mine when the other dog(s) are not on a lead. Packing a long line in a rucksack is a great way to allow your dog lots of space for sniffafaris and playing and enjoying their walk, this gives you space to practise recall as well as being able to spot another dog walker coming towards you and transferring your dog onto a shorter lead. If you really want your dog off the lead on walks, please book a secure dog field where you have the entire space to yourself for the booking time. There's no shame in using a long line, it's a safety barrier to keep your dog safe, there is no shame in using a muzzle, muzzles are another safety barrier to prevent bites and keep both parties safe. Muzzles are so accepted today and you can get amazing colours and styles because they are so widely accepted and used! We all have a duty of care to one another to protect each others dogs and to always be mindful of fellow dog walkers, so we all go home safe and incident free! References https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public... https://deednotbreed.org.uk/?page_id=47 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/.../public-spaces.../enacted Sandys- Winsch, G. (2011) “Ferocious dogs ,” in P. Clayden (ed.) The Dog Law Handbook . Second edition . Chippenham, Wiltshire : Sweet & Maxwell, p. 33. https://hansard.parliament.uk/.../D6A76E.../DogAttacksOnDogs https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/.../more-200-dog-owners...  Changing attitudes blog
People are finding it hard seeing holistic dog training and behaviour modification posts and are expressing this in their comments. It's OK to worry or feel like there is an ever growing shift in the dog training industry because there is. When I began on my own ten years ago I was met with a lot of amonisty from both other local dog trainers and guardians because I wouldn't do obedience and that's OK because I wanted dogs to have a happy and stable relationship with their guardians. People simply didn't understand, now holistic training and belief systems are becoming extremely popular very fast internationally and it's OK to feel worried. But it isn't personal to you as an individual, instead of negative comments, asking questions or reading and learning is much more productive. David Mech in 2008 who knows all too well what it's like changing attitudes and belief systems said "It takes around 20 years for people to change their belief systems." Below I'm going to explore why. Humans find it hard to change attitudes and beliefs because of a phenomenon known as the confirmation bias. This bias is the tendency to seek out, interpret, and remember information in a way that confirms one's pre-existing beliefs and attitudes. As a result, people often ignore new evidence that contradicts their beliefs and instead focus on information that confirms what they already believe. (1) In addition, attitudes and beliefs are often deeply ingrained and tied to a person's identity and values. Changing these beliefs can be difficult because it may require a person to reassess their sense of self and potentially risk feeling uncertain or uncomfortable. There are a number of reasons why humans may struggle to transition from aversive dog training methods to more holistic, positive methods. Firstly, aversive methods have been traditionally used for many years and may be seen as the "normal" way of training dogs. People may be unaware of the negative impacts of aversive training on dogs' mental health and may not have the education or resources to learn about more positive methods. Secondly, aversive methods may be more effective in the short term, as they can produce immediate results in behaviour modification. However, these methods often come at a cost to the dog's well-being and long-term behaviour. (2) Additionally, some people may have had bad experiences with positive reinforcement methods in the past, perhaps due to poor implementation or lack of knowledge on how to properly use the technique. This can make them hesitant to try it again. There may be societal beliefs that reinforce the use of aversive methods as the "only way" to train a dog, particularly in certain industries such as law enforcement or military dog training internationally. It's important to note that there is a growing body of research supporting the benefits of positive reinforcement training methods for dogs. These methods have been shown to lead to healthier, happier dogs that are more confident and well-behaved. Resources such as books, videos, and trainers that focus on positive reinforcement training should be encouraged to help humans transition to more holistic methods. (3) In recent years, there has been a growing trend towards positive reinforcement-based training techniques, as opposed to aversive methods that use physical punishment or intimidation to shape behaviour. Holistic dog training focuses on building a positive relationship between the dog and its guardian, utilising a range of non-aversive methods such as reward-based training, clicker training, and other forms of positive reinforcement. Some benefits of holistic dog training include: -Improved communication between guardian and dog -Stronger bond and deeper, more meaningful relationship -Improved behaviour and communication without resorting to physical punishment -Less stress and anxiety for both the dog and the guardian - A better understanding of dogs needs, communications, health and welfare - A much better understanding of dogs emotions and how to help dogs through their emotions and not suppressing them - Understanding dogs are a different species expressing their behaviours naturally the same as any other animal and so much more. In order to implement a holistic approach to dog training, it is important to understand the principles of positive reinforcement and to use positive reinforcement-based techniques consistently. This includes using treats and praise to reward behaviour, and redirecting unwanted behaviour rather than punishing it. It may also be helpful to seek out a professional dog trainer or behaviourist who specialises in positive, holistic techniques to guide you through the training process and provide support and guidance along the way. I hope this information was helpful in exploring the shift towards holistic dog training! Let us know if you have any other questions or concerns. It can be daunting that there are so many changes occurring, but it's a good thing, dogs will be happier on a mass scale and so will guardians! References: Nickerson, R. S. (1998). Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of General Psychology, 2(2), 175–220. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.2.175 Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press. Vieira de Castro, A.C. et al. (2020) Does training method matter? evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on Companion Dog Welfare, PloS one. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7743949/ (Accessed: April 15, 2023).  Self love, you and your dog
Did you know humans have emotional buckets too? It's easy to become so focused on dogs sometimes it isn't always realised we get a lot of our material from human psychology. The concept was originally designed by Brabban and Turkington (2002). Our buckets fill all of the time and sometimes more than others and that's totally OK. Sometimes recognising that you have an emotional bucket can begin to help you with initiating self care and a healing journey for yourself. You can download your very own emotional bucket here https://mentalhealth-uk.org/blog/the-stress-bucket/ Lots of people struggle with a secure emotional connection with their dog or puppy, especially in the first days and weeks and during adolescence or when adopting a dog. Feelings of frustration and annoyance towards the puppy or dog are big indicators of this, from barking, separation anxiety vocalisations, nervous behaviours, mouthing, not wanting to be friends with every dog they meet, showing nervous behaviours indoors and outdoors or not being able to cope with visitors, toileting, the list goes on and on. This isn't a criticism post, this is for people who want to feel connected to their dog or puppy and just don't feel it, this is the first step in acknowledging help is needed, gently explaining a lack of connection to people who aren't ready to hear it is much harder and not what this post is about. People can feel disconnected for lots of reasons, grief for a past dog, the puppy blues (which I'm obsessed with raising awareness with), anxiety, depression, life frustrations, work problems, problems at home or with family, not feeling good enough or feeling lost. Alternatively there can be far too high expectations or not realising that many behaviours that the guardian doesn't like stems from a lack of a secure emotional connection even when all of the five freedoms are met under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 (UK law). So how can you reduce these feelings and work on a secure emotional connection? First of all you need to heal yourself and show yourself some self love. You may not feel that you deserve it, but you do. Set time aside for yourself, remember if your puppy or dog seems to be connected to someone else in the home, the dog walker or trainer/behaviourist don't worry or focus on this. Focus on you and your healing and self care, then the emotional connection will come. You maybe healing from a personal trauma and need to work through the process of healing to securely connect. Going through a trauma is exhausting and you may feel deflated, alone, unmotivated, tired and emotional and that's OK! Trauma exhausts the body mentally and physically and guess what dogs and puppies also need sleep for their cognitive functioning and for their mental and physical wellness, so if you find your sleeping a lot, don't worry, even if your puppy or dog isn't right by your side on the sofa or bed and they are sleeping on the floor it isn't a problem. You don't always have to be doing things with your puppy or dog to begin securing an emotional connection with them, there isn't enough emphasis placed on the value of sleep for puppies and dogs. If you need to exercise and start becoming active little bursts of playing tug or fun scent games can be a huge pleasure for both you and your dog or puppy. Scentwork Foundations https://youtu.be/D_0Fn_VtRXE Tug foundations https://youtu.be/jzawF6AA5FA Going for a walk for your mental health and your dog or puppy, make it about sniffafaris, your getting fresh air, their getting mental stimulation and your doing another interactive activity https://youtu.be/OFf7kaFKp7w You formally have permission to remove all of the pressure, pressure of training, pressure of walks focused on walking to heel (because that doesn't meet yours or your dogs needs at all) , pressure of what others are thinking. When we do begin to process our emotions a lot of it can come down to what others think, especially with our dogs. Who cares what others think, it's about you and your dog or puppy, focus on your own well being, needs and mental health and that of your dog or puppy. Enjoy them for their personality and who they are, enjoy you for your personality and who you are. Ditch formal training and play games like pattern games, https://youtu.be/PrKaYbx9daM. Focus on some home made enrichment, you're making something which gives you a sense of achievement and you've made your dog or puppy something too, win, win! https://youtu.be/g9tY6cVwd5w Destruction boxes https://youtu.be/lwoNhx-2m1g Or spring is here, build an enrichment garden! https://youtu.be/JwUfqJXTCO8 Sensory enrichment with plants https://youtube.com/shorts/-VxBoY10jCU?feature=share Dig pit https://youtu.be/Yvt8C1UHc98 Remember that you need to focus on self love and enhancing your relationship with your dog or puppy begins with you taking care of you and don't bother with what others think, your relationship with your dog or puppy is yours, not theirs and your journey will not look the same as anyone else's. But if you follow the above and take one day at a time, your relationship will be so much more beautiful than theirs! References Brabban, A. & Turkington, D. (2002) The Search for Meaning: detecting congruence between life events, underlying schema and psychotic symptoms. In A.P. Morrison (Ed) A Casebook of Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis (chap 5, p59-75). Depending on device tap image to see full infographic and image description. Your dog doesn't need obedience, what they actually need is… Having a loving and secure relationship with your dog goes beyond just obedience. It establishes a bond of mutual trust and understanding between you and your dog, which ultimately leads to a much healthier and fulfilling relationship. A secure attachment with your dog means that your dog feels safe and comfortable when they're around you, and they trust you to take care of them. This trust and security leads to a healthier relationship with your dog, as and a secure basis for them meaning they're less likely to exhibit destructive or unwanted behaviours out of fear or anxiety. (1) On the other hand, an emphasis on obedience without a foundation of love and security can lead to a strained relationship between you and your dog. This approach often involves the use of force or harsh training techniques, which can result in your pet feeling scared, anxious, or even resentful towards you. This can also result in relinquishment to rescue and shelters. (2) Traditional obedience training techniques are based on the premise of establishing dominance over the dog in order to control its behaviour. This approach often involves using physical punishment or aversive methods, such as shock collars, choke chains or prong collars, to correct undesirable behaviour. Or in other kinds of obedience that aren't traditional, a general belief system can be that the dogs behaviour needs fixing or the dog is failing at the behaviours being asked, causing further frustration and damage to the relationship. Research has shown that using physical punishment to train dogs can have significant negative effects on their physical and emotional well-being. Studies have found that dogs subjected to aversive training methods often exhibit increased fear and anxiety, as well as heightened aggression towards both humans and other dogs. Furthermore, the use of punishment-based techniques can disrupt the bond between the dog and guardian, leading to a breakdown in communication and trust. Instead of fostering a positive relationship between guardian and dog, traditional obedience training can create fear and stress for the dog, making them less likely to want to participate. (3) In contrast, positive reinforcement training techniques, which involve rewards and praise for desirable behaviour combined with fostering a secure attachment based relationship, are more effective and humane ways to train dogs. These methods are centred around building a strong bond of trust and communication between guardian and dog, resulting in a happier, healthier dog. It is important to consider the potential negative effects of traditional obedience training on dogs and prioritise the use of positive reinforcement techniques. By doing so, we can ensure that our dogs are happy, healthy, and emotionally secure members of our families. In summary, a loving and secure relationship with your dog is more important than obedience because it establishes a foundation of trust and mutual respect, leading to healthier behaviours and a more enjoyable companionship. Of course absolutely engage in training skills, especially through games but focus on consent and activities your dog can enjoy through game based learning. Try continuously reinforcing your dog instead of differential reinforcement, set them up for success by keeping them under threshold and ask for alternative behaviours to reinforce rather than corrections or witholding rewards. References Vieira de Castro, A.C. et al. (2021) “Improving dog training methods: Efficacy and efficiency of reward and mixed training methods,” PLOS ONE, 16(2). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247321 Hiby, E.F., Rooney, N.J. and Bradshaw, J.W.S. (2004) “Dog training methods: Their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and Welfare,” Animal Welfare, 13(1), pp. 63–69. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0962728600026683 Bennett, P.C. and Rohlf, V.I. (2007) “Owner-companion dog interactions: Relationships between demographic variables, potentially problematic behaviours, training engagement and shared activities,” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102(1-2), pp. 65–84. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.03.009.  Toileting puppies, Rescues, seniors and poorly dogs
It can be really hard to begin a toilet traininhg regime, especially if your a first time puppy or dog owner, have rescued a dog, have a senior dog or have an unwell dog. Puppy pads cause so much chaos and stress and can be damaging when chewed. The Do No Harm Dog Training and Behaviour Handbook has fantastic protocols for toilet training and is available in paperback or ebook form from Amazon https://amzn.to/3PhC74z which is bursting with information for lots of training protocols. I recently did a blog on Doggy Enrichment Lands based upon the Do No Harm Dog Training and Behaviour Handbook and Linda recommends the use of sod instead of pads. Including a link for our US based friends. For the UK we now have City Doggo! This means you can get sod and a tray as often as you like on a subscription basis, a one off, a wooden box for permanent use as well as care instructions. I found them for my small animal family as they use three types of grass for small animals to eat and enjoy as we're past the puppy stage. But we may need their patches in the future, so if you can't always get to the door quick enough be it for your puppy, rescue, senior or dog recovering from surgery or an illness look at City Doggo and see if this is something that you and your family would benefit from! https://www.citydoggo.com/?ref=7lp11cxu |
Or are you looking for support and would like to get to know us better?
If the answer is yes then click the image below to join my free facebook group. What is Miyagis Dog Training Community?
So it is what it says on the tin! Its a community that is international of Clients and Colleagues with the most supportive and friendly people on the planet. Dog Trainers and Behaviourists from all over the world!
Why did I set up such a mammoth group?
I wanted to have a group exclusively for Clients. For support and to meet uo and build on friendships from Classes or One to Ones. I want Clients to see you are not alone with your Dog and the problem you maybe having that you are not the first and won't be the last! I wanted a safe place where Clients could trade stories good and bad in one place for free!
I also wanted a safe place for the Trainers and Behaviourists I mentor within Social Media Platforms.
Why do this for free?
Because when I say I offer an holistic service I really do. It isn't about the money it is about you and your dogs. You and your dogs are all that matter.
So I wanted to encourage people to do homework and build better quality relationships with their dogs. So 3 years ago I had a mad idea and set up the 100 days of dog training challenge. Once a day people would spend 5 minutes plus training their dog. Recording it and uploading their video onto the Community. Every participant recieved a Certificate.
What I didn't count on was how many Professionals wanted to join and how fast word would spread. So this year 2020 I set up a 366 days of dog training challenge.
We have Clients in America, Greece, Norway, Denmark and Spain. We have Trainers from Greece, Norway, Isle of Wight, America and many more Countries. As well as dog trainers and trainee behaviourists: I mentor all over the world.
So again yes this group is free. It is still primarily for clients and for people to get to know me but we also have the challenge running. Again for free. So if you want to join click the image below to be taken to the group directly. See you there!
So it is what it says on the tin! Its a community that is international of Clients and Colleagues with the most supportive and friendly people on the planet. Dog Trainers and Behaviourists from all over the world!
Why did I set up such a mammoth group?
I wanted to have a group exclusively for Clients. For support and to meet uo and build on friendships from Classes or One to Ones. I want Clients to see you are not alone with your Dog and the problem you maybe having that you are not the first and won't be the last! I wanted a safe place where Clients could trade stories good and bad in one place for free!
I also wanted a safe place for the Trainers and Behaviourists I mentor within Social Media Platforms.
Why do this for free?
Because when I say I offer an holistic service I really do. It isn't about the money it is about you and your dogs. You and your dogs are all that matter.
So I wanted to encourage people to do homework and build better quality relationships with their dogs. So 3 years ago I had a mad idea and set up the 100 days of dog training challenge. Once a day people would spend 5 minutes plus training their dog. Recording it and uploading their video onto the Community. Every participant recieved a Certificate.
What I didn't count on was how many Professionals wanted to join and how fast word would spread. So this year 2020 I set up a 366 days of dog training challenge.
We have Clients in America, Greece, Norway, Denmark and Spain. We have Trainers from Greece, Norway, Isle of Wight, America and many more Countries. As well as dog trainers and trainee behaviourists: I mentor all over the world.
So again yes this group is free. It is still primarily for clients and for people to get to know me but we also have the challenge running. Again for free. So if you want to join click the image below to be taken to the group directly. See you there!
