Dogs are more resilient than we may think!

A friend had to rush her 7-year-old agility dog to the emergency vet recently. He had to stay in for loads of tests (I guess they’re insured!) and the vet was very glum about his prognosis.

Talking informally to a vet she does agility with, however, gave a very different story. That vet, giving a private opinion, reckoned her dog would be up and working again in no time.

And indeed he’s back home after a few days and the owner’s having difficulty keeping him quiet!

Vets are naturally gloomy, on the whole. The younger the vet, I find, the gloomier. Older, more experienced, vets have more actual history to draw on. 

This is partly because vets see a lot of sick dogs.

And it’s partly to do with their insurance and litigation fears.

But they do see the worst cases, with the worst outcomes.

Lacy had a stroke

My Lacy, who is now 15, had her third or fourth (I forget) stroke a few months ago. She could barely totter, head all crooked.

We didn’t trouble the vet.

10 days later she was trotting ahead of me on walks. And a few days after that she was able to do the stairs unsupervised. 

Dogs have their own agenda. 

They don’t worry ahead to how their life may change. 

They just know they want to get from here to over there, and they get on with it. 

Naturally we have to defer to our vet’s knowledge. If you ask their advice you should listen!

But take their gloomiest predictions with a pinch of salt.

Let nature decide.

And enjoy your dog while you can. 

Are you building dog memories for your children?

I was thinking about Simon recently. Don’t know what brought it to mind particularly, but there he was, in my mind. Clear as day.

Simon was my first dog.The same age as me. So when he died aged 11 I was shattered.

I wrote a long essay for a national competition, and so full of feeling was it that I got shortlisted and had to read my essay out to the whole school. 

Writing his story did help me mend, though.

Childhood plus a dog!

What could be better than having a mate to accompany me on all my wanderings? Back in those days, child abduction was not in the front of everyone’s mind, so I had the freedom to go where I liked. Whether on my trusty red bike or on foot, Simon was always there.

Now I look back, it’s a great life for a dog - spending his time loafing about with unpredictable and always fascinating children! My brother and our friends would be with us too. 

Poor Simon had to sit in the back of my brother’s home-made go-kart and hurtle down our hill! I don’t remember him trying to escape, and he always enjoyed car rides, with his spaniel ears straight out behind him in the wind, so I’m guessing (hoping!) he enjoyed it..

Is this what you have for your kids?

So the question is, do you provide this companionship for your children? Do they have the joy of wandering, protected, with their comrade-in-arms? Ready to take on the world as long as their friend is at their side?

I’m sure I told Simon lots of things I woudn’t even have told my friends!

And, as you read above, it was an early introduction to grief for me. It was much worse than even my grandparents dying. 

Whether that shows that I value dogs over people ;-) or simply that long-distance relationships with grandparents (mine always seemed to be very old) were not so real to me, I don’t know. 

But this I do know: this early friendship was seminal. 

Want a child-friendly way to teach your child how to teach their dog? Have a look at this free Workshop. In the program it introduces, you’ll find simple concepts, short videos, easy outcomes. It can cater to your inner child too!

Slow your anxious dog down!

If you have an anxious dog or puppy - one who tends to panic when out, bolts at any noise, looks as though he’s doing the firewalk as he hauls you down the road, I suggest you first have a quick read of my recent post “Connecting with your Dog”

One of the things I suggested was to incorporate stop-points, so that your dog can assess the area he’s in without being continually bombarded with new sights and sounds.

A student of mine in From Growly Dog to Confident Dog has an extremely anxious dog whose history as an East European street dog filled her with unnamed fears. Her modus operandi when out is “head down, plough along the pavement”!

So when I suggested having stop-points in one of our course coaching calls - where students can ask for individual help - her owner agreed to try it, thinking it would never work.

What happened?

She went to the green in the middle of her village, sat on the bench with a friend, enjoyed a snack, and watched the world go by. Not only did her dog tolerate this - she actually enjoyed it!

So it has now become a regular feature of their walks.

If you have such a place locally, give it a try. Your dog may surprise you!

No village green for your dog?

And here’s another thing you can try, if finding a spot like that is impossible for you and your particular dog.

One trick I use with Yannick when he’s a bit wound up (when isn’t he?!) is to walk in slow circles.

Staying in the same 10yd² area for a while, gives him time to look at it from all angles. And as we circle, he gets all the bugs out and begins to connect with me again - instead of head down, stare, charge.

I’m not expecting perfect heelwork here! I just mosey round in a circle with him on the outside, and gradually his pulling and lurching stops and he starts to walk nicely beside me - for which he can earn treats, of course.

On our local walk there are a few quiet road junctions where we can circle safely, and hop out of the way if a vehicle comes. I say “CAR” and Yannick sits beside me to allow the monster to pass.

Incidentally, this is how I managed his fear of cars - terror as a puppy - simply by giving him due warning. He chooses either to sit beside me or hop up onto the verge or bank at the side of the road. He makes the choice and feels happier about it. And a tractor or lorry is “BIG CAR”!

Have you got a bolter? A panicker? A worrier?

Could you do with some strategies and techniques to help you manage your anxious, reactive, shy, Growly Dog? Start with this free Masterclass and see how you can get in on those regular coaching calls!

What is a dog walk?

We humans think of a walk as going from A to B.

Dogs see it differently. They just find themselves in an area that has to be explored.

If you walk dogs off-lead, they’ll cover 3 to 4 times as much ground as you, often at a fair lick.

They’re sniffing everything. Following their noses.

There are so many blades of grass out there, and EACH ONE has to be investigated! It’s just like walking a toddler, only faster 😊

So even if you can’t let your dog off-lead when out, at least give them a bit of line, pause in a good spot, and let them roam.

You can sit on the grass (get ready for lots of enthusiastic cuddles when you’re down at his level!) or perch on a fence post and watch the world go by.

Who’s the walk for?

And what constitutes a walk, in the dog’s eyes?

Look at it from his point of view, instead of trying to make him see ours.

Dog play for fun and learning!

Playing with your dog is the most important thing you can do.

There - I’ve said it!

It’s not “training”, “correcting”, fighting to get his attention … It’s a way for your dog to see you as the most exciting thing going.

You can be relied upon to respond to him with a game at any time - and this builds adulation in your dog!

How to play with your dog

Now, there are do’s and don’t’s of play.

Endlessly chucking a ball will gradually destroy your dog’s shoulders and can bring on early arthritis.

And we don’t waggle a toy in our dog’s face and expect him to join in. Would you - if I waggled a toy in your face?

What we do is get our toy to behave like prey - that’s what’ll get your dog fired up and engaged!

That’s why I love chaser toys and flirt poles. They’re irresistible to dogs - and they’re a wonderful way to teach impulse control.

After all, your dog won’t be catching any rabbits if he simply flies off whenever he sees one. There’s stalking to be done, stopping still, eying the prey, then - when the time is right - explosive running and a grab.

Now, while you’re twitching your toy about in the grass, as it looks for all the world like a furry creature, you want your dog to WAIT till the right moment. In this case, you decide when that moment is, you give your release word (Gettit! Is mine) and your dog can start the chase.

Here’s a video that shows you the level of impulse control you can build into even the most excited dog by using a chase toy.

You’ll see that the dogs mostly stay in position on the picnic table, can release the toy (Cricket the Whippet finds this hard!) and are fully engaged with the toy when it’s their turn.

You can also see Coco Poodle becoming more thoughtful as racing after the toy fails to work. He develops a new strategy of waiting for the right moment - and that works!

What sort of dog toy?

Chase and tug toys are great for

• Harnessing instinctive drives

• Using the strong hunt-kill sequence to teach self-control

• Focus in high arousal

• Start ‘em young - very young puppies can learn fast

• Exercise!

• Turn-taking to avoid scraps in multi-dog households

.. and it so happens that I’ve found the best chase toys available and arranged a discount for you!

Go to Dog Toys and watch some more detailed videos of me using high-quality toys to teach my dogs, and see how you can do this yourself. (And snatch your discount!)

You’ll see in these videos how fast and furious a “training session” can be - and how much you can achieve in a very short time.

Lessons for you

And for step-by-step lessons for all the skills demonstrated there, check out the free Workshop here and find out how to get the best out of your dog!

Am I clear to my dog?

An old man is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old man simply replied, “The one you feed.”

This bit of wisdom is attributed to the Cherokees, but, in fact, it’s not known where it came from.

And what possible relevance does this have to me, and my dog, you ask?

It’s all a question of focus.

What you focus on is what you get.

What you reward will, inevitably and without any doubt, be repeated.

It’s a basic tenet of Learning Theory, in which our modern dog training is grounded.

I sum it up in my mantra, which I give to all my students and hope they learn by heart so they can recite it to themselves at any moment:

Reward what you like

Ignore what you don’t like

Manage what you can’t ignore

[Manage? That simply means arranging things so that the thing you don’t like is very unlikely to happen - like keeping sharp things out of a baby’s reach, keeping the street door firmly shut, and so on.]

Now this is the most simple way to train your dog - or anyone else, for that matter!

Don’t rise to the things you don’t like. As you will know and admit, that only makes things worse.

This can apply to things that are as basic as .. the dog peeing in the wrong place. Pointing to the offending patch on the carpet is not going to help your dog understand where he’s meant to relieve himself!

And heaping on praise, for anything that you do like, is going to speed up your puppy’s understanding of the house rules in this strange new human world he’s found himself in.

But is this what we do?

Sadly, no.

Most people harp on the bad thing and almost forget to teach the new, desired, thing!

Complaining to your dog about what he does “wrong” is only going to focus his attention on it.

As Dan Millman says, in his book Socrates,

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy

Not on fighting the old

But on building the new”

It really is simple when you look at it like that.

And remember - this doesn’t only apply to dogs! Oh, nonono! Look at yourself and your dealings with everyone in the same light.

Your child brings his plate back to the kitchen? Thank him profusely, rather than complaining about having to pick up plates from all over the house when he doesn’t do it.

Your chaotic co-worker turns up on time for once? Buy him a coffee, rather than grouse next time he arrives late.

Speaking of coffee - as I often do …

.. if you want to reward me for all the info I give you freely, here’s your chance!

And if your dog pauses while pulling on the lead and looks back at you, TREAT! And remember to brush up on your loose lead training as soon as you get home again.

Focus on the good

Thing is, focussing on the good makes your child/colleague/dog feel better and more inclined to repeat the good thing.

And, importantly, it makes you feel better too!

We aren’t here for long. Let’s make our stay a pleasant one.

Want to know more about how to interact with your dog to get the results you want? Watch our free Workshop which might just change everything about how you see life with your pup!

How much does your dog sleep?

I make no apologies for revisiting this vital subject! So many of the queries I get can be resolved by simply allowing or encouraging your dog to sleep more!

Dogs need 17 hours of sleep a day to function well.

And this doesn’t mean snatched minutes of shut-eye when nothing is happening for a few moments!

It means proper, deep, uninterrupted sleep, for at least an hour at a time - and, of course, all night!

Teach ‘em young

And this doesn’t just happen without careful management.

In the same way that most responsible parents manage their babies’ and toddlers’ sleep sessions, teaching them that a sleep will cure lots of upsets, we have to teach our puppies how to manage themselves.

This is valuable learning.

We put small children in cots to make sure they can’t race around exhausting themselves when they need to rest.

In the same way, we can use crates or playpens to manage our puppies - who often won’t stop till they’re nailed to the floor!

I honestly don’t know how anyone manages a puppy without a crate or a playpen! I think that without these terrific aids we’re giving ourselves a huge amount of extra work and stress.

If you struggled to manage your youngster over the holiday period, now is the time to double down on teaching him or her how to sleep.

💤 Alone.  

💤  Contained.

💤 Without you.

💤 Without distraction.

You’ll be so glad you did!

And for more gems on managing your dog, check out the how-to books here!

Check other post that might help your brilliant dogs:

I have a new puppy: will I ever get any sleep again?

How much time does your dog spend sleeping?

Errorless Housetraining and Crate Training

Puppy Crate training demystified

I love my dog AND I love my sleep!