The Pet Concierge Method

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Scout is nearly 7. He's such a good boy, really aligned to us and reliable. Hunter as our rescue is too, such a good boy

We live pretty remote for a dog. They can be single minded about destination walks, rather than a lead stroll. They are adrenaline junkies...run far and FAST because they know they can where we live. Never see passing dogs>humans while off lead

We're on a holiday with the boys this Summer, while they are great, they too need some preparation to prevent setting them up for automatic failure or undue stress

🐾 Lead walks with no destination
🐾 Lead walks that have zero off lead
🐾 Stop>start>wait on lead
🐾 Dog>human neutral

🐾 Recall for no reason
🐾 Recall for a purpose
🐾 Verbal>whistle>hand signal communication
🐾 Be close

Training never stops. Age, hormones,environment, complacency, confidence, stimulation all plays a part to the make up of your dog. It's understanding the variables and working with your dog to reduce your stress and theirs. It's way easier to accept and own mistakes if you understand it before it happens

Did the boys do well today? Yes, they did but it took a good 20mins to get ahead of them and quell their joie de vivre (we went somewhere new to make the session work count)

Are my dogs infaliable? No, but we work with them 😊

If you need a friendly help with your dogs, drop us a note

Walking a Spaniel or any driven dog can be a challenge. Communication is absolute key. Lily is a fast paced extremely driven Cocker spaniel. She is fast! Fast thinking, reacting and acting

We deploy a number of communications to ensure we talk whilst separated. Lily has 3 different whistles with/without hand signal to know which direction I am headed/check-in (no need to stop) and a return

Lily gets to spaniel freely and I feel confident in our connection

When Lilys drive is engaged, she squeals - it safely means she doesn't catch things and I know her locale. It makes folk stop and stare as they think she may be injured

For safety in this walk area Lily is naked (chipped) to prevent her from being caught/trapped in the thicket etc

Not al walks are quiet/easy/switched off. We pride ourselves on working to the individual rather than bulking walks in large numbers. We only take new dogs on who we can manage safely and add in with our expertise

Good recall is different to every individual dog/their human/the circumstances. Sophie and I work meticulously to ensure good recall and we can help you too

Lily & a happy Archie today 😊

Hunter has had a couple of dog>dog situations that have unsettled him recently through no fault of his own. We don't meet or see many dogs where we live so today was a day away from home with dogs I trust to let him just be

Albie was full of fun, knows Hunter, so showed friendship, companionship, play and sharing. Hunter relaxed and enjoyed himself

Opie is quiet and friendly and allowed Hunter time again just to potter and be together

We bumped into one of team with some of the gang and when they run up to me excited, Hunter took a step back and handled it really really well

Not that I expect him to have changed, just to let him have some positive healthy dog>dog interaction

He's slept his afternoon away 💤

Have you got a destination dog?

I've had Spaniels and Labradors since 2009 and been fortunate enough in my current and last two homes to be able to short walk to an off lead area. These areas have been fun, stimulating, high energy areas. Brilliant for the dogs and great for us, not many other dogs (if any), varied terrain, great views but...these walks with easy access serve to condition my dogs.

I'm working on a theory piece in my degree about the intelligence of my dogs, one of my pieces is around lead and footwear identification - my dogs know what sort of walk we are going on and can display anticipation behaviour to match.

A bad habit we have from having an off lead area so close is that they condition themselves to only walk a few hundred yards before freedom. This means their expectation, excitment and adreneline is high the minute their slip leads are out. They pull, weave, whine and drag ahead in anticipation. Whilst they have good wait commands to remove leads, the second they are free, they run like absolute lunatics, no soft start - they are like a quarter mile drag race in 1000bhp cars! 1-2 minutes their adreneline evens and the settle in to their walk off lead. Their energy stays high and they very easily over do it on a run - we have to observe and think across a week how we manage this to avoid over exercise.

They are super good dogs, good manners, happy, obedient, fun and reliable off lead. The walk situation whilst can be frustrating on some days is managable for us because of where we live. We have two walks, one on lead, or off lead on the field footpaths - we can't change this without using a car. If we wanted to change this, we would need to switch up what we do, how we do it and where we do it to help the dogs record a new lead protocol.

So what about you, do you have a destination dog?

* Is your lead walking a challenge?
* Is recall a challenge and unreliable?
* Is your dog and situation conditioned like a programme that needs some support?

We can help - practical, friendly support with goals that can be achieved. We can even do it for you on extended 121 walks

Ask for details from Jayne and Sophie

[email protected]