Let me tell you story about a German Shepard named ‘Mica’.
Mica and his mum came to seek my services for training some 4 years ago, in particular to increase their handling, response to tasks and building a closer relationship, most of all to build focus & attention as Mica rarely looked at his owner. Mica was also reactive towards other dogs.
Session 1 Mica responded to little that we did, but we established some foundation exercise for Mica’s mum to work on at home.
Our next session came around and I saw no difference in Mica from the initial session, so I knew I had to change my tactic, what I might normally do with a dog was not going to work for Mica.
During that session I sat back for a bit and just watched what Mica was and wasn’t doing. I just need 1 thing that Mica would offer naturally that I could use and what Mica did was use his nose – a lot!
I quickly set about pulling almost every item out from my car – umbrella, boxes, first aid kit, dog toys, spare shoes, let me tell you most dog trainers cars are packed to the roof with gear. I set about laying all my stuff on the ground and laid treats around each of the items and asked Mica’s mum to follow wherever Mica took her.
Mica didn’t eat the treats but he certainly took my around to every item to check out, what Mica didn’t do, was look at his mum.
Session 3 I brought a whole variety of things for Mica to check out and lots of new treats. Again Mica lead mum around checking things out and I asked her to verbally praise Mica for his efforts and then i saw Mica’s tail swish, just once, as he engaged each item.
On the second run around I asked her unclip the lead and continue to follow Mica around and then something else changed, Mica’s body language, it became softer, he picked up his pace, he ate treats, his tail wagged more and the cherry on top, he looked up at his mum. It may not sound like much, but it was a huge leap for Mica and a celebration for his mum.
Within weeks of this session Mica began responding at home and outside of the home, he began to play more, he would seek attention and he began to play with the other dog in the home, Mica seemed like a new dog.
Who is it for?
If you have a dog that is lacking in confidence or like Mica doesn’t respond to ‘normal’ training then give the playground a go.
What will you learn?
Observation – this activity will teach you to watch, learn and begin to understand more about your dog
Patience – this activity is done at each individual dogs pace and for most of us humans, it’s not
fast enough, but it has to happen when a dog is ready and at that dogs pace.
Confidence – you will learn different ways to help your dog build confidence that you can then do
at home or out and about.
How To Enrol?
Contact Colleen to make a booking.