Advanced Senior Trainer, BSc, PPG Stafford

Willow the Cocker Spaniel has returned home after completing her 4 week residential training stay Being a typical spaniel, Willow struggled with lead walking, settling and also attention barking and when over excited. Willow is a lovely girl and is very eager to please. We taught Willow to engage with us when it is needed but also to switch off and to settle when it’s appropriate. This has meant that Willow is generally a calmer girl. She does still struggle sometimes when things are extremely exciting but she has learnt to settle which has helped this. Her barking had resulted in her owners being unable to stop and talk to anyone on a walk, unable to browse in shops with her, aswell as being unable to get her to settle in places including other homes. Willow can now settle in lots of different locations including sitting in the grass for a picnic or in a cafe or pub. She has also learnt that when her handler stops to talk she can sit or lay down calmly. We have harnessed Willows energy that she was putting into all the barking and used it to improve her obedience. Willow can now complete “Sit” “Down” “Emergency stop” and “Middle” and crucially she can maintain the position now too. She is able to focus among many different distractions. Her lead walking has come on leaps and bounds, she remains focussed in her handler and is able to walk on lead to heel in many different environments including shops aswell as some off-lead heel work too. Finally we have worked on Willows impulse control around food as she would always eat anything she could get her paws on and recalling away from picnic was impossible! She can now leave food when asked aswell as understanding that food on plates is off limits! Well done Willow you are little star ⭐️ www.adolescentdogs.com

Daisy the Pug x Yorkshire Terrier puppy has completed her 3 week residential training stay with us. Daisy’s owner was struggling with some aspects of her behaviour including recall, lead walking and toilet training. We have increased Daisy’s focus on her handler out and about around distractions. We have taught Daisy the foundations of obedience and complete cues including ‘Sit’ ‘Down’ and ‘Wait’ in various places with distractions such as dogs and people. As Daisy’s focus and engagement has increased, her recall is much improved. She will respond to her name and recall away from lots of distractions, even when greeting a dog or seeing them run around her! In addition to this Daisy can now walk on a loose lead in parks around other dogs and through town around lots of people aswell as other locations. In terms of her toilet training we have built up her reliability in asking for the toilet and with toileting outside. Her owner will continue this at home too. Well done Daisy 🐾 www.adolescentdogs.com

Caleb the beautiful Poodle puppy has returned home after completing his 2 week assistance dog residential training stay. Caleb is working towards becoming an assistance dog for his owner so it is important that he has the right foundations in place. His owner is part of the online academy and has done a brilliant job starting off his socialisation and early training. She just needed some help with a couple of areas as well as progressing him further due to some struggles with her health. During his stay we worked on all of Caleb’s obedience in different environments including shops, town and on walks. Even with distractions around Caleb is able to follow cues such as ‘Down’, ‘Middle’ and ‘Wait’. To help start off Caleb’s assistance tasks we have been working on a “Get it” and “Hold” cue which we can advance into Caleb collecting items such as medication for his owner. We have also worked on Caleb’s settling in the home and out in public so he can settle. In addition we have reduced Caleb’s nipping and mouthing and given him more appropriate options! Caleb is a little star who is eager to please and a wonderful pup! Well done Caleb! 🐾 www.adolescentdogs.com

Griffin the Labrador has returned home from his 4 week residential training stay. Griffin is a lovely boy who can just be a little over enthusiastic about people, especially the children in the family and their friends! We have taught Griffin a settle cue to give him a job to do when people are visiting and when the children are playing. This has also helped to manage his counter surfing so he can settle on his bed instead of seeing what tasty snacks are around! We can also use this settle and boundary training to help him out in public as his owners really wanted to be able to take him to the café for a coffee whilst on a walk or for a meal in the pub after a family walk. Griffin can now settle much better and is generally calmer around distractions. We have worked on Griffins lead walking aswell as his recall to help make walks more enjoyable. He can now walk on a loose lead in different locations around many different distractions. His recall is much more reliable around distractions and he can remain focussed and engaged with his handler. Griffin was banned from the dog walkers for picking up extremely large sticks and scaring the other dogs! So we have taught Griffin a leave it and drop cue to help with this. Griffin has also learnt the obedience syllabus including sit, down, wait and emergency stop around different distractions and in different locations. All of these elements should enable Griffin to join in with more family activities and outings as he continues to progress at home. Well Done Griffin! www.adolescentdogs.com

Daisy the Cobberdog has returned home after her 4 week residential training stay. Daisy attended regular training with her owner in a hall environment however she was struggling to get the same focus out and about in public. She also was struggling a lot with her behaviour in the home when people would come in. She would get extremely overwhelmed and bark, bounce at and jump all over the people and was completely fixated on doing so for the whole time someone was there. During her stay we worked to teach Daisy boundary training and settling in every situation but especially with people entering the house and staying for a while. Aswell as this we taught Daisy to settle on her bed when someone was at the door with a delivery so she wouldn’t bark and try to escape out of the door. We have also worked through the obedience cues with Daisy, she already had some foundations of obedience so we have been progressing in various different environments including walks, town and inside garden centers. Another priority was Daisy’s lead walking as her owner can be unsteady on her feet sometimes. Daisy can now walk on a loose lead in these different environments and around various distractions too. Her recall is also much more reliable even around other dogs and distractions too. Well done Daisy! www.adolescentdogs.com #australianlabradoodle #residentialdogtraining #positivedogtraining

Zena the German Shepherd has returned home after her 4 week residential training stay. After having a rough start to life following by some less than ideal advice from another trainer, Zena was struggling with her reactivity and focus and engagement out and about. This was particularly when other dogs were around, she would lunge, bark and run in circles making going for walks not enjoyable. Her owner had joined the online academy but just needed some extra help with her behaviour. We have worked to help Zena to focus when there are distractions around, especially other dogs. Zena can have a look at the other dogs but focuses back to her handler. Sometimes she just need a bit of help with this but she is becoming much more engaged. We have worked through the obedience syllabus with Zena and she is able to follow cues such as Sit, Down and Wait even with dogs in closer proximity. In addition to this we have worked on Zena’s lead walking to make it easier for her owner to manage her as she had been pulled over a couple of times. This has also helped Zenas reactivity on lead when walking too. Zena struggled with being calm and would often mouth and pull on her owners clothes so we have been working on calm behaviour and teaching Zena to settle on her bed in the house and also to settle in public more too. Zena has made some great progress during her stay and is generally calmer and more focused. Her owner is fully committed to carrying on progressing her training now she is home. www.adolescentdogs.com

Spud the hairless mixed breed has successfully completed his 3 week training stay. Spud struggled with his reactivity towards other dogs on approach. Once he has greeting them he would be fine but if he spotted one around or was walking towards one onlead he would react by barking and lunging at the dogs. We have worked on building Spuds focus and engagement around all distractions but especially other dogs. In addition we have taught Spud that he doesn’t get to greet every dog he meets which has helped to manage his expectation when he sees another dog and helps to manage his excitement levels. We have taught Spud the foundation of obedience cues including down, middle and emergency stop. He is able to focus and complete these cues around various distractions now and in different locations including town. He lives in London with his owners so it is important that we built in some reliability around distractions! In addition we worked on his lead walking and recall again around other dogs in particular to help with his focus and engagement when completing these exercises. Finally we also worked on Spuds scent marking behaviour in the house. We still have some way to go with this behaviour as it is much worse in the owners home with their other dog present. www.adolescentdogs.com #residentialdogtraining #positivedogtraining #dogtrainer

Bones the Sprocker has returned home after his 3 week residential dog training stay. Bones is an assistance dog for his owner and although they had made great progress in some areas they were struggling with his lead walking and confidence. Bones is a lovely boy once you get to know him but can be wary of new people and new places. This coupled with his severe lead pulling meant he was struggling with his public access training. He wasn’t able to help his owner to the best of his ability as he was unsure himself. During his stay we introduced a headcollar to help with his lead walking and he can now walk on loose lead in many different environments around lots of different distractions. We really built up Bones confidence in many situations but particularly around people. As he is an assistance dog we didn’t want him to approach other people but we did want him to heel more comfortable in the presence of people, especially larger groups. Bones is much more comfortable around people and is able to walk past them aswell as complete Jos obedience cues in the presence of people. We focussed working on this inside shops aswell as town. Bones will now be able to help his owner in these situations too. In addition we went over all Bones obedience cues to improve their reliability around distractions, aswell as teach him a few new ones. Bones is now able to complete the ”middle” cue which can also act a portable safe place for him. Bones is a gorgeous boy who has been a pleasure to work with 🐾 www.adolescentdogs.com #assistancedogs #sprocker #residentialdogtraining