Triple J Dog Training

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to all my customers two legged and four! Hope you all have a wonderful time x

I am super exicted about this event! So many experts in one place, with invalueable knowledge and advice about one of the most increasingly popular topics. Please join me in this !FREE! event Sept 4th - 7th and help to understand our dogs. Not long now 😃

The Dog Anxiety Summit Online & Free for a limited time...

Totally this!
🥰https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk-news%2Fdog-trainer-shares-you-should-26613717.amp&h=AT2zbacaHrlWouV2FuNXL3pMoiMGu0RKQnGEweT2nS6olV8rl8myByzo8h0BGmmqOVyR_yW7k3x6hNscom7cpTdj1NpPUgeXFdPbpmIJMOhRpYg7yEt7ivTjpUVDNhHuLg

Dog trainer claims people shouldn't walk their dog every day Ahead of the first national Don't Walk Your Dog Day tomorrow, dog trainer Niki French, 53, from Twickenham, reveals how skipping your daily dog walk can actually benefit your pet in many ways

This is a very interesting and useful bit of information. Its really important to start them young when introducing to nail clipping.
If you have an older dog or rescue dog you can condition them to use a scratch board.
Or just do more road walking to naturally wear the nails down 🙂 🐕🐾

Heads up - Lidl's have in their Yoga Balance Cushions again!
They are great for confidence building as they 'wobble' and have a unique texture! 🙂😍🐕

Always # # # 🥰

I hope everyone had a fantastic christmas! And I wish you all the best for the New Year!
We are back from our Christmas break from January 4th - so we will be in due contact really soon!
We have some exciting plans next year ahead of us - and we cant wait 😃
In the meantime don't hesitate to get in touch about our classes and 1-2-1 training plans 😍

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It's been a very unusual year (again!) and I wish everyone better times ahead! One more week of training to go before the fat man comes down our chimneys 🤣 Stay safe everyone! And enjoy the break!

I can't believe the year is almost over with! Here are some photos of some of my fantastic clients dogs over the past year! If you see your dog here please comment or leave us a testimonial! Greatly appreciated 😃🥰

Thought of the day - castration isn't right for every dog ❤️

To Castrate or Not To Castrate!

For decades castration has been recommended routinely for young dogs as a cure for:
🐶 Barking, lunging and reactivity at dogs or people
🐶 Dog-dog interaction challenges
🐶 Hu***ng, inappropriate toileting
🐶 Adolescence (as if it needs curing like it’s a disease 😂)

Download my free book on this to keep forever here: beha.vet/free-neutering-ebook

⚠️WARNING!⚠️ What I’m about to discuss relates to castration and health and behaviour. This does NOT relate to overpopulation management. However, of note, in some countries, castration is considered a mutilation and these countries have less of an overpopulation issue than countries where it is routinely recommended, highlighting how intrinsic overpopulation is to societal beliefs around and respect for dogs.

👉 What actually happens when we castrate a dog?

Well, to put it bluntly, the testicles get chopped off. What does this lead to?
It completely removes the dog’s ability to reproduce.
It removes a major source of testosterone; the Leydig cells that produce testosterone reside within the testicles and so experience a extracorporeal relocation too! Important to note here that I say a major source as the adrenal glands in both sexes as well as the ovaries in the bitch produce small quantities also.

👉 What consequence does this have?

Importantly, testosterone is valuable as a hormone from a behaviour perspective. In multiple species, it has been demonstrated to be closely associated with confidence. Why is this protective against behaviour struggles? Well, behaviour struggles are often driven by lack of confidence, anxiety, fear and situational pessimism and certainly never the result of positive emotional states that testosterone would promote.

“There is absolutely no benefit to reducing an animal’s confidence when working on their behaviour. Confidence is never a bad thing!”

👉 What the SCIENCE Says!

In 2018, McGreevy et al published a study in Plos One (It’s open access so you can check it how here if you are feeling geeky: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5931473/), assessing how the length of time a dog maintained their go**ds for influenced the risk of behaviour struggles.

👉 What did they find?

The shorter the time they keep their go**ds and, in turn, the sooner they lose most of their testosterone, the less likely the dogs’ owners were to report two behaviour struggles - howling when left alone and indoor urine marking.

Oh! Easy! Question Answered! To theatre we go….

Wait for it.

The findings didn’t end there. The longer the dogs in the study (sample size of 6235) kept their go**ds attached and, in turn, their testosterone, the less likely their owners were to report 26 (Yes, TWENTY SIX!) mostly unwelcome behaviour struggles!!

AND

7 (yes, SEVEN!) of these behaviour struggles that were much less likely the longer a dog remained entire would be labelled as “aggressive” (including “aggression” directed towards people and other dogs).

So let’s dive into the reasons why castration is often wrongly considered and wrongly recommended…

😱Barking, lunging and reactivity! This behaviour struggle is often driven by an underlying pessimism, dogs perceiving novelty in the environment (whether that be a human, another dog, a cat or a kangaroo!) to be something to worry about. Pessimism and lack of confidence are closely linked and so it is no surprise that castration doesn’t help this situation and often makes it worse as the McGreevy findings suggest!

Download my free book on this to keep forever here: beha.vet/free-neutering-ebook

😱Dog-Dog interaction challenges! This refers to unpredictability in a dog’s interaction with another dog. It might be that your dog unpredictably snaps when having a nose-nose interaction. It might be that your dog stands over another dog and raises their hackles. It might be that your dog charges and barks at other dogs upon the approach. The thing is, a successful interaction can only occur with three skills: 1. Optimism, 2. Disengagement (seeing value in moving away from the interaction), 3. Calmness. Any weakness in these will lead to unpredictable (or very predictable!!) breaks in the chain. I’m sure we can all relate to a time in our lives where we’ve had a fail in one of these departments and had a bad interaction with someone (maybe a partner….) - it didn’t come from overconfidence, it came from all the rubbish that went on at the office that day and your sore back!

Now I have a saying when it comes to dog behaviour and that is -

“If you want more of something, BUILD IT! Don’t attempt to squash something else to make it seem bigger!”

Success in’t about trying to correct, inhibit or STOP a behaviour. This is about growing the skills needed to behave effectively and go through the world feeling great! So again, castration has absolutely no place here and again often makes things worse!

😱 Hu***ng and Inappropriate Toileting! These behaviours were long hailed as the ultimate in dogs disrespecting us and, therefore, by some twisted logic, if an animal is disrespecting you, you must chop off a body part, reduce their confidence, show them who is boss. Crazy right?! 😂 Of course not - in fact, these behaviours (just like the ones above) are just a couple of behaviours a dog might select from when feeling worried, anxious, scared or a little bit like “I don’t know what to do here.”

Have you ever had an interaction with another human where you were nervous for whatever reason and you said something crazy or did something completely weird instead of just shaking their hand? Meet the canine equivalent: hu***ng!

Again this is driven by LACK of confidence, not overconfidence and so castration won’t make it better and might again make it worse! Inappropriate toileting and marking behaviours can be much the same, and so while research shows that castration might improve marking in the house in some instances, it can equally make it worse based on this and so, importantly, we should never do something irreversible when reversible (non-body-part-chopping) options exist.

😱 Adolescence! Adolescence is not a disease! In fact, none of this is a disease!

“These are not BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS! They’re DOG BEHAVIOUR!”

Adolescence is a period of development! It’s associated with structural brain, cognitive and hormonal changes. It’s a period that actively promotes conflict between the animal (human or canine) and their carer as an evolutionarily beneficial temperature check on the relationship (more on that another time maybe). What all the research agrees on in relation to human and canine adolescence is that confidence and relationship are key! The Asher et al 2020 study on canine adolescence found that conflict (in the form of ignoring a sit cue) was much reduced with increasing relationship between dog and owner. What do we take from this?
Chopping off body parts will not help.
Spend the time and money you were going to spend on castrating your dog and invest it in your relationship bank account instead - invest in positive interactions, games, play, whatever you and your dog love!

Download my free book on this to keep forever here: beha.vet/free-neutering-ebook

🩺👨🏼‍⚕️ Health Benefits of Castration

Castration has also been recommended from a health standpoint, reducing the risk of a variety of diseases. However, the health benefits castration brings (such as prevention (and resolution of) benign prostatic hyperplasia) are only of significance after the age of 5 in most dogs when they become at increased risk of such. Equally, there’s early evidence to show that castration before one year of age could increase the risk of joint disease, cancer risk and allergic skin disease, further reinforcing the idea that early castration (if even at all) is not nor should not be a procedure that comes with a blanket recommendation for all young dogs.

Reversible Options!

Finally, we must consider if it is appropriate to give a blanket recommendation on anything that is irreversible and not completely benign when reversible options are available. Short-term implants have the same whole body effects as surgical removal of the testicles while still being reversible! These can act like a test drive of the new hormonal system where castration is being strongly considered without the fallout of an irreversible procedure.

👉 The Future!

So, that’s the wrap on castration with a focus on behaviour and training! Whenever I talk about this, it often causes of a wave of remorse and grieving for the now lost testicles of your dog’s youth. BUT I work with people on a daily basis whose dogs have had their go**ds inappropriately removed at some point and yet they are achieving amazing results and living the lives that they dreamt of when they got a dog in the first place.

The first step they took was ditching the labels, the limiting beliefs and the story of how they arrived where they did. The second step they took is they took their dog-owning dream off the back burner and they made it a MUST.

The reality is that castrated or not, you can unlock real-life results and amazing transformations with your dog with the right plan, the right tools, the right games and strategies! I even wrote a book on it you can download for free here: beha.vet/free-neutering-ebook

This is an opportunity to spread the word, save some go**ds along the way and change the blanket advice for the better, so if you know someone who this might benefit, please share it far and wide :-)

🎅🎁🐕 Don't forget your four legged friend this Christmas! If you are stuck for present ideas Tug-e-nuff supply some fantastic toys your pooch will love you for! They are certainly very popular with my dogs, and my clients dogs! 🙂 Use the code TRIPLEJ at the checkout to receive some money off your order👍 Win win! 🎁🐕😍

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Now Winter is well on its way, please keep your dog's safe 🐕😊 Who is looking forward to it?? 😂

Hope everyone has had a good weekend! 🐶🤩💖 🐶 Looking forward to meeting the newbies this week and to watch your progress grow! Let the fun begin!

A little bit of scent training fun today to build confidence and grit. This sweet little dog is blossoming so much with training through games 🥰

I hope everyone got through the fireworks ok last night! Little Jezz made comfort in our cats house in our bedroom! ❤️
What did you do to help distract your pooches?

We have been having so much fun, I can't believe its nearly November already! (Let's get the fireworks and Halloween parties out the way first)
New intakes are starting on Saturday 13th November! Class size's are limited so book your space now to avoid disappointment!
We can't wait see you :-)

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight! ☺️

If you have a barking & lunging dog we can help arm you with the games to start enjoying walks again, and support you through your journey to success!

Here at Triple J Dog Training we love working with 🙂'high spirited'🙂 dogs as the transformation we see in the dogs after just a short time is so rewarding!

To celebrate my own success with my own 🙂'high spirited'🙂 dog I am giving away a FREE Licki Mat to the first TWO people who sign up to our 1-2-1 sessions for November!

Get in touch to book your block of November sessions now and start the month off with some successful, affordable dog training that will turn your struggles into strengths!

How To Conquer A Barking & Lunging Dog

Tip No.4
Now we have the basic foundations, we can work on how engagement with us can help with disengagement from the environment.

So put that food bowl down and start being your dog's own personal food dispenser!
The way we deliver our dogs daily food allowance is really going to impact how engaged our dogs are with us.
If your dog loves to chase, turn it into a food chase to get them engaged.
If your dog loves to catch, let them catch it as a game.
If your dog loves sniffing, scatter it.
Find out what your dog loves doing by mixing it up and watch the engagement and relationship between you grow!

The games we play here at Triple J Dog Training really help dogs to engage with their owners and turn it into a fun experience for both dog and owner.
It's all about training FOR the situation, not in it! - this is why we see so much success in the way we train.
It's all about reshaping your dog's brain to make better choices ❤️
In turn creating the dog you always dreamt about!

Barking & Lunging dogs

Tip No. 3 - 'The Foundations'

We have talked about Ditching The Routine & Ditching The Bowl, now we re going to be working on CALMNESS!
These are all the foundations of creating a less stressed, low aroused dog who are less likely to react on a walk.
As I mentioned before, it can take up to 72 hours for your dog's arousal levels to go down from a stressful or exciting event. So promoting calmness wherever possible is really going to help bring those levels down quicker.
Some of the games that we play in our classes and training sessions help to calm our dogs down, which in turn create a more relaxed dog who can recover alot quicker from stressful/exciting events. (We also teach Arousal Up/Arousal Down on cue so we can switch our dogs on and off whenever we want! How cool is that 🤩)

You can also help promote calmness at home by giving long lasting chews, Kong's, Licki Mats, using Snuffle Mats and scatter feeding in the grass. Sniffing is a really rewarding and calming activity for dogs.
Whenever your dog is calm sneak a treat in to reward them for their good choices! 🙂

Tip No.2 For Conquering A Barking & Lunging Dog -

DITCH THE FOOD BOWL!

Take your dog's bowl of daily value and make it all about coming from YOU!
Build that relationship up by rewarding them for making good choices - 24/7 dog training!
By playing the games that we teach, using their bowl of daily value, it in turn promotes orientation back to you and proximity. You will be the best thing in the world over that other dog in the park.

* If you are having a day off from walks, Snuffle Mats or scatter feeding in the grass is a great way to lower arousal, promote calmness, and gets them to use their brains for mental stimulation 😊

!🎃 Happy Halloween 🎃!
From Triple J Dog Training

Do you have a Barking and Lunging dog and want to learn the skills to turn your struggles into strengths?

Do you want to have stress-free enjoyable walks? That’s the reason why you got a dog in the first place, right?

I have been there and got the T-Shirt, and now I want to help others just like you!

So lets get started on transforming our struggles and arming ourselves with the skills and management we need to conquer this!

The first step is to understand WHY our dogs are making these choices and how they feel, as to why. We need to become our dog’s experts. Write a diary of your dogs day and ask yourself why you think your dog reacted the way it did? You might be surprised!

We are bought up in a society where we are told ‘you must walk your dog 2x a day’. ‘You must feed your dog from a bowl 2x a day’. Being predictable can cause some dogs to be over aroused, and predict a negative event happening. Dogs who have less predictable events are much happier and relaxed.

Our first tip is to DITCH THE ROUTINE! When our dog has a stressful walk it can take up to 72 hours for the stress levels to go down. So taking them for another walk that day is not going to do you any favours!
There are lots of indoor games you can play with your dog to keep them mentally stimulated. Seriously, they don’t need another walk right now! :-)
You can make your dogs more flexible and in turn happier by the way you feed and exercise them.
Ditch the food bowl, scatter feed them in the garden, use kongs and licki mat’s, use their dinner to teach them a new trick. Mix up your exercise/training routines. Exit your house from the back door instead of the front door. Pretend you are about to go for a walk, but sit back down and watch the T.V. There are so many things you can do to ditch the routine and get rid of those predictable indicators that can cause stress to your dog.

Small steps make BIG success!
Don’t forget to check out tomorrows tip of the day to help turn your Barking & Lunging dog around!

Dog In A Box 🥰 this evening we were working on Confidence Building and Impulse Control all rolled into one 🥰

There is still time to book your October sessions! 🙂 A few spaces left! 🐶

*We are pleased to announce that we will be holding classes on a Saturday as from October!*
Now the nights are drawing in sooner, our ever popular Puppy Classes & Life Skills classes have expanded to Saturdays!
After the success of our Fun Obedience Workshop last weekend we have also added on an Obedience Class which will start October 2nd!

Please see below classes available:

Wednesdays: 6-7pm Life Skills Class
7:15-8:15pm Puppy Class

Saturday's: 10-11am Puppy Class
11:15-12:15pm Life Skills Class
1-2pm Fun Obedience Class

1-2-1 training is available throughout the week.

Please contact us for availability!
We look forward to joining you and your dog on your training journey 😃🐶