Do you reward your dog?

In dog training we use rewards to tell our dogs that they have done the right thing and to increase the likelihood of that particular behaviour being repeated. There are several different ways to reward your dog and your dog may prefer one or other method at any given time so it is important to discover what motivates your dog to work and what they find rewarding. Find out what makes your dog’s tail wag the most!

Food treats are a good way to reward your dog because they are immediate and innately rewarding but find out what type of food your dog likes best and bring a selection of different foods. However, quickly try to use some or all of the things below so you keep your rewards versatile.

Play is also innately rewarding so find out what type of play suits your dog and its breed and what they like to play best. Try to make the play interactive with you rather than giving them a toy to go and play with by themselves. You don’t always need a toy to play with your dog as some dogs enjoy running around and ‘being silly’ with you just as much.

Verbal praise is also be rewarding for your dog but dogs need to learn very early on that this is a good thing so spend time telling them how lovely they are and what a good girl or boy they are just before you give them a treat for dong what you want and they will soon learn to associate your praise with being a good thing.

Physical fuss for some dogs is very rewarding but remember not all dogs liked to be touched while working and sometimes there are places on their bodies they don’t enjoy being touched so find out by watching what your dog does when you fuss them. If they move away from your touch it usually means they are not really enjoying it.

There will also be lots of things in the environment your dog finds rewarding, like going for a swim, having a sniff, getting to play with a friend so make sure you build these into your reward strategy too by asking your dog for a behaviour for the reward of getting what they find rewarding.

Every dog is different and what your dog finds rewarding may differ from mine and even between dogs in the same household there will be differences. There may even be differences in what motivates your dog depending on the time of day, the location you are training and the mood they are in.

The important thing to observe your dog closely and watch what he really enjoys moment by moment and to try to capture and use what your dog finds motivating in your training and general life with your dog.

Socialisation – what does it mean?!

Puppies learn about their environment by exploring and learning which experiences were good or bad. Before a puppy is 12 weeks old they will meet new situations with curiosity, after 12 weeks old they will approach with apprehension.

Socialisation is about introducing them to all the animate things they are likely to meet during their adult life, such as other dogs, people of all varieties, sheep, cows, horses etc.

Giving your puppy lots of positive experiences when they come across different situations will help them to be calm and happy throughout their life and approach new things with confidence. With positive early experiences they are much likely to bounce back if, at a later stage in life, they meet something a little scary.

A puppy that is not introduced to a variety of experiences, or that has a negative situation, will possibly express behaviour problems in the future such as fear, anxiety and aggression. Therefore it’s vital to socialise your puppy correctly.

Gently does it

The world can be a scary place for a young puppy, plus they are not fully protected from potentially life threatening germs until they have completed their vaccination program. Therefore it is important to take care and introduce your dog to situations safely and positively in a way that does not overwhelm them.

If a puppy becomes frightened of something before 12 weeks old, it may struggle to get over that fear in later life. For example if your puppy is taken along a busy road and gets a fright that overwhelms it, it may become frightened of traffic for life, which will have a negative impact on walking and travelling with your dog.

Your puppy should not be allowed to meet unfamiliar or unknown dogs or walk on the ground along the pavement or in a park before it has completed its vaccination program. Therefore you should carry your dog out and about in your arms to give them some key socialisation opportunities. A short walk along a few quiet streets for their first trip out will give your puppy appreciation of new smells, sights and sounds. 

Gradual scale

Experiences should be built up gradually, starting with very small, gentle encounters that the puppy can cope with and then gradually increasing their exposure day by day. 

Use praise, tasty treats and fun toys to reward your puppy with each new experience.

Your puppy does not have to come into actual contact with something in order for them to socialise, it happens as soon as your puppy can hear, smell and see them. 

Things to socialise your puppy with

• People – adults, children, babies, men, women, people wearing hats, people wearing coats, men with beards, ladies with sunglasses, etc
• Dogs – different breeds and ages
• Animals – horses, chickens, cows, sheep, squirrels, etc
• Locations – the park, the woodland, the beach, etc

Remember gradual, gentle, positive experiences!

Socialising your puppy with different dogs

Puppies need to learn how to behave around other dogs. They should not engage in play with every dog they meet as some dogs, such as older dogs may find this distressful, painful or simply annoying.

Socialising a puppy with another dog should start with them getting to see, smell and hear other dogs passing by. You could sit with your puppy on a bench at a quiet park and let them watch other dogs, or stand with them on the pavement as another dog walks by.

You could invite a friend and their friendly, vaccinated dog around to visit you or you could go to visit your friends. Allow your puppy to explore and greet in their own time, and if the puppy is trying to get away from the adult dog then calmly and positively separate the dogs and keep the adult dog from overwhelming the puppy, as well as interrupting the puppy if it becomes too rough or persistent with the adult dog. Interactions should be kept very short so as not to tire either dog out or allow your puppy to get too over excited.

It will benefit your relationship with your dog if your puppy is polite with other dogs and does not seek them out as a main source of fun, you should be the most fun thing in a puppies life.

Recognise when your puppy is scared

Familiarise yourself with dog body language and pay attention when your puppy looks scared. Common signs are the ears going back, the tail drooping and being tucked underneath, wide staring eyes, lip licking and the puppy may try to lean away or escape. If your puppy looks frightened then remove them from the situation.

It is misguided to think that the puppy should face their fears. Studies have shown that dogs’ fears will likely increase, making that experience worse and have a negative impact on their future experiences. Keep calm and gently remove your puppy to a familiar safe place.

Next make a plan to greatly reduce the intensity of the experience they just found frightening and on another day introduce your puppy to the lower intensity experience again with lots of reward. This may just involve showing your puppy the object from a further distance away, or muffling the sound so that it is quieter.

Socialisation continues for life

Although the key window for socialisation is before a puppy reaches 12 weeks old, this doesn’t mean it stops here. Make sure that you pair potentially new or more intense experiences with a reward to make the situation positive for your dog.

If you have acquired your dog once it is over 12 weeks old be sure to follow the socialisation guidelines above, gently introducing the dog to new animate objects and pairing these with something rewarding.

Speak to a Dig It Instructor for further advice. 

Remember…

Correct socialisation saves lives. 

The first ever Rally Competition at Dig It Dogs

Over the last few months Dig It has been holding monthly Rally-O classes, covering Level 1 to Level 3. Everyone was doing great so we decided to have a little competition for those who wanted to have a go at competing in Rally O, to put all of their hard work into practice. 

Therefore on Friday 23rd October Dig It Dog Training Club hosted their very first ever 'Have a Go Rally Competition'. It wasn't an official Kennel Club Show so judging was relaxed and it was a huge success, with 18 participants taking part in our Level 1 course, designed and judged by Julie Nelson. 

It was a fun and relaxing evening with everyone on two and four legs really enjoying themselves. All of the participants went home with a certificate for taking part and those with qualifying scores were awarded a rosette. The first five placements were given numbered rosettes.

I would like to thank Julie Nelson for designing the course and judging, Sheila and Joy for scribing and Lydia for the beautiful rosettes. I would also like to thank everyone else who attended to participate, we're looking forward to running another "have a go rally competition" in the new year, covering Level 1 and 2.

Well done to the following people who were placed:

1st - Angela Wilson with Lily
2nd - Leslie Thompson with Kibo
3rd - Angela WIlson with Willow
4th - Rachel Richards with Chip
5th - Rachel Richards with Daisy

The next Rally O Classes are to be held on 21st November and 5th December, please email enquiries@digitdogs.co.uk to book on.

To find out more about Rally visit our website here: http://www.digitdogs.co.uk/training/rally-obedience/

Tracy

Joyful June: Can You Dig It Show

A lovely quiet show this month for our unaffiliated Can You Dig It Show. The weather decided to kick start June with a glorious sunny day and pale, white legs appeared for one of the first times this year.

Newly qualified Judge PJ set out her Intermediate & Advanced Jumping course which the Dig It Instructors handled nicely. Katie & Bonny, Avril & Oakley and Avril & Dodger all managed 1st place in their classes. Sue & Rosie were narrowly beat in every run leaving them with three 2nd places from the day! Great to see some tight competition in the Advanced Medium runs.

Oscar Pet Food came along and kindly sponsored our Veteran & Anysize classes with some lovely prizes. Bex was selling some yummy homemade treats and running a tombolal, fundraising for her conservation trip to Mexico, not long to go now Bex! And of course we are always pleased to see Bret in the Brunch Box for some yummy lunch.

As the courses changed to Beginners Jumping we saw more success from Sue & Mia, earning 1st place and Katie & Milo getting 2nd! Plus Luna, not to be outdone by big brother Dodger, had a cracking run (helped by Adele of course) in Beginners Agility. 

Quiet entry numbers brought an early finish to a fantastic, relaxing day. It is nice to see people coming to Dig It when there is so much choice for shows over the summer nowadays. We hope that everyone enjoyed themselves! Next month is UKA!

Dog Training Myths... Busted!

There are a lot of myths lingering around about dogs and dog training.

Dig It are here to help with a series of blog posts looking into the myths around dog training and dog sports such as agility and flyball, but firstly, dog behaviour and training technique myths!

• My dog is a wolf

Dogs are genetic descendants from the wolf and do share the majority of their DNA. However the wolves that dogs were domesticated from have long been extinct and the wolves of today are a lot more human-wary. New studies suggest that dogs descended from a range of different Canidae species and not one specific wolf species. Furthermore previous comparison studies on dogs and wolves were scientifically flawed and today we can firmly prove that it is inappropriate to compare a dog with a wolf.

•  I must be dominant over my dog

Dominance is defined as "a relationship between individual animals that is established to determine who has priority access to resources such as food, resting spots and mates." Dominance is therefore not appropriate in the human to dog relationships as there is no competition for resource as each individual has ample amounts of resource. We feed our dogs, we provide them with a bed and we do not compete with them for a mate. Dominance is also out of place in human-dog relationships as we cannot communicate effectively with a dog as another dog can. Furthermore most unruly behaviours from dogs do not occur because they are trying to gain higher rank, but because these behaviour have previously been rewards, knowingly or not. As well as all of this, the "dominance theory" is from the study on wolves, and we have already learnt that we should not treat our dogs as wolves.

• My dog cannot sleep in my bed with me

 This is your decision. If you have a kind and positive relationship with your dog then allowing a dog to sleep in your bed should not create behaviour problems.

• I should roll my dog on its back and pin it to the floor (“alpha roll”)

 This theory comes from wolf comparisons which are unscientific and not appropriate for dog interactions. Furthermore dominant wolves do not do this to submissive wolves. In actual fact the submissive wolves voluntarily roll on their backs to show their submission. 

• My dog should work for me because it loves me

Dogs do get a level of enjoyment from positive interactions with humans; however they also need an amount of reward, such a verbal, touch, food and play rewards. A dog will repeat behaviours more willingly if they have previously been associated with a pleasurable outcome.

• Playing tug of war will make my dog aggressive

We’ll let Dr. John Bradshaw’s study answer this one;  "Dogs were allowed to win tug-of-war games played with a person, over and over again; understandably, this made the dog more keen to play with people than when they were forced to lose every time, but there were no signs indicating that any dog became 'dominant' as a result."

• I must not let my dog win tug of war

See answer to previous myth!

• I should always eat before my dog

Yet another myth which comes from the dominance theory, and since we have now discovered that dominance theory does not apply to dogs, neither does this myth. In real life, isn't it better to eat either before or after your dog, depending on what’s convenient for you? You have the opposable thumbs and make the decisions, after all, and have control of all the food resources, so you’re in charge.

May the Forth Be With You!

Our UKA Shows are normally the more serious of shows at Dig It (not that we ever do serious), however this show was by far the silliest we have had for a while!

It all started well with a bright, fresh start. Dark clouds were looming but the rain held off for most of the day. Chief Agility Judge Michelle opened her ring with a tricky but fair beginners Agility. Gaz and Izzy smoothly made it around the 270, pulling off from the A Frame in style, unlike Milo who didn't even think to avoid the A Frame! At least he did a beautiful 2on2off at the bottom, leaving Katie behind still near the start line.

As a few Eliminations started tumbling Rachel and Daisy stepped up to get 1st place (despite 5F) in Standard Beginners Agility and Lydia pulled off a cracking run with Freddie for a 1st in Medium Novice Agility. 

Instructor Bex was making some yummy home made treats (well the dogs seem to enjoy them, they sound quite tasty for humans too) plus a raffle and she made a whopping £85 for her biology conservation trip!

As the Steeplechase courses were set up and everyone had eaten one to many cream eggs, things started to get a little out of hand! Instead of writing about it we've captured all of the best bits in this funny video... trust it to be the Dig It Instructors larking around the most!

On a serious note we all went away with great plus points. Avril was happy to see her shy little Oakley running with such confidence (so much so he kept on going and didn't turn the corner despite Avril shouting "Stop Running!"). Adele and Luna pulled off a great Steeplechase run at their first UKA Show, Sue and Rosie won a class at Champion level and Guinness and I pulled off some nice handling moves, despite getting E'd in everything.

We finished late afternoon with everyone going home still chuckling about the fun and laughter we had. There are always lovely comments made about Dig It Shows being a nice, friendly atmosphere and I think this show was no exception!

It's going to be a good year!!

Fantastic February: Winter Series Show

What's this, no rain! February brought the sunshine to our show, but of course we couldn't avoid the mud. Three rings were opened up with FAB Agility Club and Tailwaggers Agility Club running a ring each, the show was nice and relaxed! Big thank you to them for their fabulous ring parties!

Becky Sargent honoured us with her first time judging and said she loved seeing the high standard and different breeds in Beginners Agility. We gave her a bright rosette in her favourite colour!

It was nice to welcome back lots of stalls and we even had a charity selling cute little fluffy chicks and cream eggs! The atmosphere was friendly as always and Bex was approached by a stranger and asked to run her dog which she thoroughly enjoyed! Oscars became our new sponsors of the Veteran and Anysize class and the rosettes looked great with printed tails.

Deb and her youngster Beanie managed half a clear round which was met by much cheering from Lou, be it quiet and collected cheering! There were many new entries and it is always a pleasure to see new handlers and dogs starting their agility journey at Dig It.

Nick was back on the scene and Lydia set him to work scoring on the laptop, without telling him much about what to do. Despite this he took it on like a pro! Watch out Ash, you may be getting replaced.

We finished in style at a reasonable time, with all hands on deck to pack away. Don't forget you get half an hour free arena hire if you help to pack away and unload at Dig It, plus half an hour if you help to set up on the Saturday!

See you in March! Our Club Competitions start in March also, last Friday of the Month!

New Year's Resolution

New Year Resolutions are lovely opportunities to make small changes, start new things and leave behind old habits. Change is healthy at any time, but something about a New Year gives that extra spur to really make it happen.

New Year Resolutions don't just have to be about yourself, it's good to make Dog New Year Resolutions.

It could be to get up 30 minutes earlier to give your dog a longer walk in the morning, to go to a workshop or seminar, to brush your dog once a week, or something more specific in regard to your training activity.

The majority of Dig It Instructors compete at Agility with their dogs, and here they have shared some of their New Year Resolutions;

Rachel 

• To start Chip on the right paw with foundation agility
• To learn to handle more smoothly and effectively
• To continue to look for the learning in life

Katie

(one for each dog)

• Bonnie - Continue with classes to get better at handling
• Milo - Stop being a pushy mum and work on achievable goals in training and competitions, breaking it down to succeed and not getting frustrated
• Dave - To keep him in good shape and have fun in everything he does
• Ben - To help him gain confidence and to push on with gundog training, especially with directions and longer retrieves and increase distance for the stop whistle

Sally

• Work on verbal cues and schooling
• Run faster

Avril

• Teach Doger to weave in 10 days

Audra

• Not to be complacent and never put my dog in a situation at training where she can get her self into trouble, or end up adding to her dog-reactive problems

Bex

• Retirement for Gemma

Sue

• Stop doing Kennel Club competitions with Rosie 

Ruth

• Write a training plan and stick to it
• Attack every course - run with purpose, drive and competitiveness

We'd love to hear what yours are! Here's to 2014!

Spooky Halloween Show

Mwhahaha. This weekend we took our masks off and let the inner-scare show for our Halloween Agility Show!

The weather blessed us and we were able to have our Fancy Dress Agility outside. This was a lot of fun, you had to collect a pair of devil horns from Jump 2 and then wear or carry them for the rest of the run. Scary Sally was the Agility Judge and it was her first Judging appointment! She did a great job and said she'd enjoyed herself.

The aim of Dig It Shows, as always, is to encourage new dogs and owners to enjoy their first show in a relaxed environment and in theme to our last post, we were so pleased to see a lot of baby dogs coming along for their first show! Big up to Bowie, the blue merle Australian Shepherd, (named after David Bowie) who got his first clear round and won the class! Well done them.

We had cakes for breakfast and lunch and finished the day nice and early. Every level ran the same course which is a nice little change for beginner and advanced handlers alike, and the atmosphere was extremely happy. Lydia pulled out all of the stops and made some fabulous rosettes which everyone found very special.
A themed show really boosts the fun and friendly atmosphere and it was a day filled with laughter.... albeit slightly evil laughter!!