Every dog that comes into my life will make an impact and often one that I never expected. With puppy ‘Storm’ I’ve done things a little bit differently than I did with Boss, Riva & Chica. I’ve been more ‘open’, not open to the ‘learning’ per say, but just open to whatever Storm had to give. Let me elaborate. All my previous dogs, I’ve taught the usual canine behaviours and with Boss and Riva I really honed in on adding some behaviour capture in the early weeks/months. But with Storm, I’ve mostly, at least 90% of everything i’ve done with her has been behaviour capture work, reinforcing her choices that I find desirable. The other thing that i’ve really honed in on has been to recognise her preferences. For example, what toys does Storm likes to play with and when does she like to play with them. What happens when she plays with certain toys and at the moment this has proven to be very helpful. At certain times of the day certain toys can result in a higher level of aroused behaviour. Leaving multiple toys on the ground can also cause over arousal, in fact I can only leave 3 things on the ground that don’t result in over arousal, a kong wobbler, a soother lickimat and a piece of black poly pipe, these 3 things are my constants for Storm and everything else is given or used at appropriate times. I feel that I know more about Storm in only 3 weeks than I knew about my others dogs in the first few months, I believe the result of this was me being able to identifying her behaviour change so quickly. The point is be open! It has allowed me a greater connection with this fabulous little girl in such a short period of time. Stay connected to my business FB Page and Instagram for the ‘Storm Chronicles’ as Storm starts puppy school on Tuesday night.
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