Maybe you want your dog to bark less at other dogs, greet visitors more calmly or stop chasing cars? If there is a specific behaviour you want more of or less of then 1:1 training might be the answer.
What Kinds Of Problems Can We Help with?
It’s really difficult to train a dog NOT to do something. The goal of the training assessment is to understand what triggers the behaviour and what behaviour we would like instead. For example if your dog jumps up at visitors the trigger is the visitor and the behaviour is jumping up. What we can train is the trigger of the visitor means go and lay on your bed.
We train the new behaviour we do want with a clicker and treats. We start at a really easy level that your dog can cope with and gradually increase the difficulty until your dog can complete the full activity, reliably. This takes as much time as your dog takes!
What we aim to do in the first session is give you the tools you need to train the behaviour you do want. From there we will lay out the steps to get you to the next level and you can work on that at your dog’s pace.
We can then follow up with you as much or as little as you wish. Annoyingly the solution to training a dog’s behaviour is often quite simple at the easy level. The real change comes when they have learned that the new behaviour is the one that gets rewarded reverie time in the real world environment.
We start with a training assessment so you can tell us all about what is causing you concern or what you would like your dog to do. From there we can decide if 1:1 training is suitable, if classes might suit you better or if you need to be referred on to a specialist.
We take a detailed history so we can identify if training is the most suitable option or if you may need another type of support to achieve your goals.
During the assessment we will ask a lot of questions about the full life of your dog, including where they came from, breeding, food and mealtimes, what behaviours you see, when and how intensely. There are no right or wrong answers and we encourage you to tell us absolutely everything, especially relating to bite history. It is a myth that every dog that bites should be put to sleep. When we have the full picture we can best decide who the support team should be and how we help your dog.
Please tell us everything you think is relevant. Some people worry if they tell us too much we might not be able to help. We can best help if we know all the facts, including if the dog has bitten. There are many ways to support a dog, training is one option. For more complex cases we can work alongside behaviour specialists and vets too. So even when you think all hope is lost, there are still options to support you.
There are some dogs who have additional needs, for lots of reasons, or seemingly no reason at all!
Some dogs have deeper seated issues that training alone can’t solve. That could include looking at the amount of sleep a dog gets, protein content of food, gut issues, supplements or medication, ruling out pain as a factor in the behaviour or identifying lifestyle factors that contribute to their behaviour.
The way I think of it is that an olympic runner will have a training coach who can help them run faster. But if they have a broken leg all the training in the world isn’t going to make them run a world record beating time. They need a Dr, and probably a cast and some rehabilitation before the training will be effective.
In the more complex behaviour cases we will work alongside you and a team of specialists such as veterinarians, behaviour specialists or pain specialists to create a complete support package.
