Your Dog Looks to YOU for Guidance

This is Levi, he had an extreme case of overstimulation whenever somebody came to the front door. There was a lot of barking, jumping, and in some cases mouthing and nipping. Due to his size and physical appearance, everyone assumed he was aggressive. He never really was allowed to meet people and he basically had no idea what to do in these situations. His guardians felt that the best thing to do was to restrain him during these times, but really all he needed was some guidance.

Dogs are impulsive by nature and will always act first and pretty much never think it through. Our goal with Levi was to switch that, we wanted him to think about what to do first instead of just reacting in a physical way, and in that moment of them thinking, we achieve a calmer state of mind where we can give them clear guidance and direction.

Once your dog understands that your guidance is more rewarding than just physically reacting in their own way, they will choose to look up to you and follow your lead more often. Essentially, we want to teach them that following your lead is reinforcing, this could include getting some type of reward, or even just feeling a sense of safety and security.

Once those structure and routine were put in place, Levi and his guardians had a much easier time with dealing with activity at the front door. Not only was Levi in a more calm and confident state of mind, but his family was too. Always remember, that any type of training and behaviour adjustment is a process, and the key is to be consistent with how we handle situations with our dogs.

The TRUE Importance of Leash Walking

Leash Walking isn’t as important to a dog’s well-being as much as we think it is. Yes, it’s important to make sure that your dog is receiving regular exercise and physical stimulation, but walking really is not the best way to do that.

Instead of thinking of the walk as a physical workout for your dog think of it as a mental exercise for them. Your dog has a different experience every time they step foot outside. They experience different sights, sounds, and smells. All of this takes a lot of mental energy to process and will affect your dog’s ability to stay focused on you.

This eventually leads to most dogs becoming “burnt out” very quickly and the walk becoming a disaster in most cases.

Another reason we may think walks are important is that we think our dogs need to “socialize” and interact with people and dogs in order for them to not react to them anymore. Socialization is not about interaction as much as it is about exposure. Every time your dog goes out for a walk exposure is happening which in turn means socialization is taking place. We want our dogs to be calm and neutral around distractions and stimuli, not excessively anxious or excited.

If you are experiencing difficult walks and excursions with your dog, then we need to break it down into more manageable steps for both you and your dog. These steps may include; fixing leash pulling, getting more focus from our dog, and eventually adjusting their behaviour towards any triggers they might have.

This is always going to be a process, so patience and consistent are crucial to you and your dog’s success.

You Definitely CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

This is Poppy the 3 year old Mini Bernedoodle. Technically not an “old dog” but not a puppy anymore, Poppy is one of the happiest dogs we have ever worked with. However, despite her having such a positive response to guests coming into the house, she displayed some not-so-great behaviours, such as excessive jumping. This had been going on for some time, and was really starting to get out of control, as Poppy got older this excitement seemed to only get worse, which is often the case.

Through implementing some new structure and routine alongside some obedience work, Poppy was able to show more impulse control when visitors arrived at the door. Her family learned exactly how to help her remain calm enough until she was ready to say hello in a more polite way.

Poppy was definitely a case where it goes to show that no matter how old your dog is, you can still teach them new and better behaviours, all it takes is patience and consistency. Great job Poppy!

Principles of Leash Walking

Going on a walk isn’t as simple as putting a leash on your dog and going outside. Walking in a straight line is not a natural thing for a dog to do, walking in a straight line WITH A LEASH ON is even more unnatural.

Walking while being engaged with you is an essential skill all dogs must learn in order to have successful and stress-free walks with you. If they are more focused on you, then they are less focused on distractions.

Helping your dog understand the rules of the leash is one thing, teaching the human the rules of the leash is a completely different story. We’re not pulling or yanking them around, we are providing them with subtle tactile cues to help them through highly distracting and overstimulating situations.
Instead of thinking of the leash as a means of CONTROLLING your dog, think of it as a tool that is used to COMMUNICATE with your dog.

Training Loose Leash Walking is a Process

We all would like to be able to teach our dogs to walk well on leash as fast as possible, but this is often not the case. This is a very nuanced process that takes time, consistency, and most of all: patience.

The key is to create a high level of engagement with the handler (you!), if the dog is more focused on you, they will be less focused on distractions.

That’s not to say that the dogs will never become distracted, but they it will be easier for them to disengage off of the trigger and re-engage with you again.

However, loose leash walking and any form of leash reactivity can’t simply be solved on their own; to truly have the best walks possible, a solid foundation of obedience and structure must be established. If your dog does not listen to you inside your home, why would they think that they need to listen to you outside of your home?

The Importance of Obedience

Basic Obedience is the foundation of your relationship with your dog.
Through this type of training, you can begin to create structure, implement boundaries, and teach your dog that their behaviour is held to certain standards.

If you can build this foundation with your dog early on, it will greatly minimize the risk of them developing more severe behaviour issues down the line as your dog will learn that listening to you, looking to you for guidance, and following your lead will help them get through the stressful and confusing situations they may come across in life.

Our ultimate goal is to have clear communication with our dogs, and while that is an even bigger topic to discuss, obedience is the best way of learning how to communicate with our dogs while also teaching them to communicate with us.