Goin' Muttz

If you saw two ladies and a German Shepherd chilling out on the floor at … that was us. 🙋‍♀️

We weren’t tucked away in a quiet corner either. We were smack bang in the middle of a big open space, with nothing around us, where you could look up and see the next two levels above. Absolutely a bit weird. 

But also very intentional.

By chilling out on the floor with Ava, we were helping show her that even big, open, busy public spaces can be calm and safe.

Our bodies were doing the talking, not our voices.

I didn’t want her to just listen and obey. I wanted her to feel what to do. To take in what was happening around her, notice that we were calm, and work out that she didn’t need to be worried.

At first, yes, she was lying down, but you could still see her brain was switched on. She was clocking the movement around us, noticing the people, the space, the noise, and the weirdness of it all. She definitely wasn’t relaxed.

She popped back up to ask Mum for a bit of reassurance and gave Lucy’s face a little displacement lick. Lucy had a giggle, gave her a reassuring pat, and smiled. Ava took that in. You could see her little brain processing it all.

Then came that beautiful come-down stretch.

She dropped again, looked to Mum with a cheeky little “look how amazing I am” face, calmly noticed her surroundings, and then grounded back into Lucy, who was right there to meet her with a warm smile.

Then came the regulatory yawn. Her body softened. She got heavy.

And then the spectacular head rest.

Bingo. There it was, the moment we were looking for. 😌

Just sitting here doing admin, minding my own business…
Is he planning my demise? 🔪👻😅

Puppies and kids 👦🏻🐶 two pure souls learning the world for the first time.

I’m a big believer in getting kids involved early, because these first moments help set the dog and child up for a wonderful friendship.

This is Waffles and Matty. We had a little outing to the playground to work on some exposure training and clear communication between the two.

I want Waffles to understand that he has control over his own body, and later on, because of that, he will be more willing to give things a go.

Kids can be very intense with puppies, and sometimes treat them more like an object than a little being with feelings. My goal with Matty here is to help him understand what Waffles is saying, and how best to communicate back to Waffles that he hears him.

That is what fills up the trust money box between the two.

We placed my jacket down in the middle of the spinning thing, partly for grip for Waffles, and partly as a makeshift snuffle mat. We hid treats throughout the scrunched up bits so Waffles could explore it in his own time. I didn’t want Waffles to just get the treats, I wanted him to choose to find them, which is why you hear me say to Matty “make it so he can’t get the treats”.

We also used it as a cooperative communication tool.

Not only were we at a very busy playground with moving kids, other dogs, picnics and noise, but Waffles was also on a spinner with movement and little grip, which really had his brain working on proprioception and body awareness.

If Waffles was sniffing for the treats, Matty could slowly and predictably spin it around. Whenever Waffles disengaged from sniffing, Matty had to stop. You could see in the moments that Waffles disengaged, it wasn’t out of fear, it was just that his brain needed a little moment to catch up with all that was happening around him.

It was a beautiful little moment of Waffles learning that he had a choice, and Matty learning how to listen so they could keep “playing”.

Anyone who’s been inside knows how intense it can be with the bright colours, compact spaces, busy aisles, smells for days, and endless product choices.

In this session, we focused on helping Stitch feel more comfortable being “parked” beside the trolley between the shelves and tolerating having very little space around him.

Naturally, when shopping, Ally is going to pivot back and forth, and in a shop like Chemist Warehouse, Stitch moving with her can become more of a hindrance than an assist unless he needs to perform a medical alert.

So we worked on Ally stepping away and disengaging, building Stitch’s trust that Ally will return to him, particularly when she moves around behind him and he’s blocked in by the trolley and can’t easily watch her.

We also worked on intentional body language from Ally and being thoughtful about when her hand goes into the treat pouch, as it conveys so much information to Stitch.

Safe to say, it was intense. Great work team 👏.

They came, they sniffed, and they hopped away. 💨🐰

Last Saturday, Alana and I put on an Easter-themed Sniff n Go - a little later than planned after I herniated a disc in my back at Easter time 🤦🏻‍♀️. Thankfully, we finally got to make the egg-stravaganza happen, and the teams absolutely cracked it!

19 dogs took on the challenge, with each team having 15 minutes to tackle as many egg-tastic search areas as possible, putting their noses (and handlers!) to the test. From tricky hides to speedy finds, every dog brought enthusiasm, determination, and some seriously egg-ceptional sniffing skills - no bunny wanted to stop!

It was wonderful to see dogs of all experience levels giving it a go, having a cracking time, and egg-celling. 🐶🥚✨