Why do I do a dog training blog?
It’s my aim to be able to provide advice to dog owners to help them on their way to training their dog whether its raising a puppy or helping to fix a problem behaviour. I want to encourage owners to educate themselves so they then can help their dogs. Helping owners understand there is no, do this and it will stop that. And point out the truth which some people may not like, but It’s not the dog that needs training it’s the owner.
Which is my main reason for these training blogs to help owners and encourage them to do as much research and watch as many different training videos as you can, as you can only train your dog to the best of your ability. There are multiple different contributors to our dogs behaviours so even if you were to send your dog away to be trained this doesn’t mean that your dog is then going to behave for you. I want to encourage and teach owners to look into the context behind the behaviour and the contributors, and helping owners to know how to fulfil their dog’s natural instincts, drives and their needs in order to make the training they do with their dog, work in the real word.
Showing owners that training their dog is far more then teaching one thing to fix anouther, to help them understand to fix a problem behaviour you first need to understand why it happens and what can contribute to It, bringing light to how our own interactions whether intentional or not with our dogs can contribute, for example the boundaries have with our dogs, the food we feed them, even down to how many times a day we feed them, the amount of treats we give them, How often we walk them, the activities we do on our walks and even where we walk them. How are mood the tone of our voice our body language all contribute to behaviours in our dogs and not all behaviours that we want.
Sometimes its pointing out the obvious that’s not always obvious until its pointed out. That being said I understand that not all behaviours are seen as bad or an issue to everyone I am not here to tell you what’s right or wrong, what someone sees as a bad behaviour someone else might not, we all have our own views so with that in mind my training blogs are aimed to people that struggle with certain behaviours so they can use what they have learned to set out their own training plan for their dog to suit their dog’s needs. As I fully understand what works for one dog might not for anouther. But keep in mind if it’s not working, look into what you are doing wrong not to why is the dog not doing it.
From a young age I have looked into all different dog trainers some good and some bad and their methods and l pick out bits that I like form each to make my own plan of action for each thing I want to train. But the biases to all my methods I use is the same I always works on building the bond between owner and the dog a bond and relationship with a mutual respect, a respect for each other, not demanding that the dog respects me not dominating them or asserting myself as alfa, as we don’t live in a wolf pack no more than our dog does, we are a family unit working together. Having that mutual respect is the difference form your dog wanting to listen to you, and not because they have to or just because you said so. I don’t believe in the wolf pack theory or that our dogs live in a state of hierarchy I believe in the science that disproved that theory, I believe in the science based training methods, reward based training along with how my own body language and how we conduct ourselves with our dogs can contribute to their behaviour whether it’s good or bad.
If you was to ask me how did I train my dogs, it would be far easier to tell you what I didn’t do with my dogs. At the time of writing this I have four dogs three Labradors and cockapoo who are in picture at the top of this blog. Just to give you a bit of an insight but remember I have four dogs and three of those moult. My dogs don’t jump up, jumping up has always been a big one for my family having seen people and children get hurt from a dog jumping up and not to mention the stress it puts on their joints. They don’t sleep in my bed and they don’t eat food of my plate and I don’t feed a commercial diet I can take my dogs anywhere with me and I am able to let them off the lead to roam without them pestering other people or dogs and when on the lead they don’t pull. If you follow my socials you will see I do travel and visit a lot of different places with my dogs often getting them to sit for a photo like a parent does with their children. This is not me bragging or saying look at what I can do, I like taking photos of my dogs like many owners do, but how do you think I learnt and put together my methods through learning with my own dogs, and educating myself and then through seeing how my same methods work on other dogs and helped owners. I have been working with dogs for over a decade and done various training in most aspect of our dogs from Breeding to nutrition I am always trying to further my education on our beloved dogs. And as a canine professional I want to help owners find what works for them, before their dogs behavioural issues become to much of an issue for the owner to handle.
My dog training turning point.
I have only ever been to one dog trainer a long time ago at the age where I had a very basic idea with training and didn't fully understand it. If I remember right I only went twice or maybe three times to this trainer, it was a puppy class that I went to with my Labrador puppy and one her litter mates who were also friends of the family. It wasn’t a pleasant experience but one I am thankful for as it was a turning point for me on my mind set on dog training, but not through what I learnt at the sessions. let’s just say in the first session they went on to tell me how much they earnt a year from owners that can’t train their dogs, great start. I didn’t like their set up and found it a little unsettling to just let all the pups loose to go wild without any construct almost to just fend for themselves and with no protection for the poor nervous pups that because of how it was set out was just thrown straight in the deep end and knowing what I know now this is very damaging and can have a lasting effect for a puppy. But long story short the behaviour I went to try and fix ended up getting worse during these few sessions because I could see the behaviour that I was wanting to learn how to stop, was getting reinforced by other people and because of how the session was set out I had no control over so I stopped going. And this is what lead me to do my own research and to train myself so I could have better knowledge to train my dog, can you guess what my issue was, it was over excited jump up when being greeted, And through my own training and this was the start of when I started to see how my own actions contributed to a behaviour, is that the behaviour was down to myself greeting my puppy in an overzealous way greeting her to over excitedly which then taught her to greet other people in the same way, the same behaviour I was trying to stop, was caused by myself I had inadvertently taught her to do it. And with the changes I made by not greeting her so excitedly I notice good behaviour changes in other things as well.
Its hard to not get excited when you see a puppy or when greeting our dogs when coming home from work, its getting that balance of what we want to do and what benefits our dogs. This was also where I started to think on how our mood can affect our dogs , and this can be a tricky thing to deal with because as humans we have feelings, emotions and we are not realy capable of having a good day every day of our lives if you disagree with that I would love to know your secret. Not having a bad day or an of day the types of days you find your car keys in the fridge. It’s tricky because we can’t all afford a therapist, joking. It’s just best to skip dog training when we are having an off day.
I think it’s important to cover diet as it is so important for the fundamentals of our dogs health and wellbeing, and can be a major contributor to our dogs behaviours which is why I always say if you ever hire or go to a dog trainer and they don’t ask about your dog’s diet, I would look for a different trainer. There is such a disconnect from what our dogs actually need and what commercial dog food company put out as products and the miss leading labels. I highly recommend, no urge you to look into dog food ingredients and the controversial subject of a commercial diet. I could go on for hours as It’s a saw point for myself having a lot of issue with commercial dog food (kibble/tinned), I am not going to tell you what to feed your dog but I often get ask what do I recommend well if it’s not a Raw species specific diet I don’t recommend it. A quote from @the_dog_nutritioist on Instagram ‘’consumption of processed foods contribute to nearly all types of degenerative diseases’’
Processed foods being commercial dog food. I know raw feeding isnt for everyone, there is even companies out there now that do cooked alternative but the issue for some people with both of these types of feeding they involve more effort and planning head.
Like I said previously I could go on and on about dog food and commercial dog foods as it a subject that’s not covered enough in the dog industry and unfortunately it’s not something you can actually ask your vet about, some vets maybe if they have trained in canine nutrition but I am yet to see a vet that’s not tried to sell me royal Canin or Purina and dont have pedigree dental sticks in the waiting room, if you want to look in to commercial dog food those brands along with bakers are a good place to start you will be shocked with what you find.
Raw feeding is on the rise and quicky becoming popular and I have noticed recently a lot of new shops selling raw feeds are opening up, giving plenty of variety to choose from.
If diet is our dogs fundamentals of a happy healthy life, then I believe it should be more than just pouring some dry biscuit or emptying a tin in to a bowl and then using treats in an attempt to spice up their diet. Our dogs are only with us for a short period of our lives so I believe on giving them the best quality diet that is full of flavour and with health promoting ingredients not denying our dogs the enjoyment of taste and flavour.
I will be posting different training blogs on various different subjects and behavioural issues, I work a lot on the prevention side stopping behavioural issues arising which is why some previous blogs are more aimed to puppy owners and first time dog parents but you take what you need to from them, to work with your older dogs they are all aimed to help those that want it.
The best part of my training blogs is I am able to provide educate advice and pass on my experience for free with no obligation to buy anything, I just want the best for your dog.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, dont forget to give it a like if you liked it or leave me a comment.
Deborah from deborahsdog.co.uk
Facebook and Instagram
@deborahsdogs.co.uk
Comentarios