Is My Reactive Dog Too Far Gone? | LIVE Q&A

Oh, can you pass me my— can you pass me my notes on that table? Hi everyone, good evening! Hope you guys have all had a good day. I have not had a good day, for anyone that cares. I left my phone on top of my car roof this morning, so now it's somewhere on the A21, which is thrilling. Um, So tonight we've got some questions that have been pre-answered, uh, pre-asked for me to answer. I'll just, um, for anyone that's like just dropping in, has never done one of these before, I'm Kelly. I am the owner of South Coast Canine Academy. We work like same model as YCA in that we specialize in reactivity. Those are the dogs that we work with predominantly. Um, if you guys have any questions or anything that you want to ask me tonight, just drop them in the chat. We've got a whole entire hour, so I'll try and get through as many questions as I possibly can. If you're here, let me know who you are, let me know where you are, let me know if you left your phone on a car roof today, let me know what dogs you've got. If there's something you're struggling with, if there's questions you want to ask, it's free, innit? So just ask away, drop them in the chat, and I will get as many answered as I possibly can. I will start with some questions that, uh, we already got pre-asked today so I can get through those for the people that really wanted those answers. Um, so first one: do I tell my dogs off for reacting to other dogs already reacting at him, or is it kind of fair? So no, but there is a caveat to that. So we think of any kind of punishment in terms of telling the dog off as a crime. So if someone— if I'm walking down the street and someone shouts, hey Kelly, fuck you, and I shout back Hey, get lost! I'm not gonna say that. I was sorry, I don't know if I'm even allowed to swear on YouTube. Um, done it now. Um, I'm within my rights to say, hey, get fucked, but I'm not then allowed to go over there and take it over the top and punch that person in the face. So if your dog is reacting at another dog who was already reacting at them, what ideally you would want have is a really strong end of play cue. So a way to tell your dog, hey, that thing you're doing now, knock it off, we're not doing that anymore. So for me, for my dogs, my end of play cue is enough. So if I'm walking down the street and a dog starts gobbling off at Chance and he decides, yeah, fine, I'm gonna bark back, when I say enough, I know he knows what that means. So I'm being fair. I say enough and he stops, great. If he's like, nah, I'm having it, and he carries on going, then I could use punishment because then the crime was ignoring my cue, not shouting at the other dog. So yeah, if your dog doesn't start it, don't punish them straight away. You need to make sure that you work on a really strong end of play cue so you have that other method communication with your dog. Um, how can I stop my dog running to other dogs? Their recall is fine until she sees another dog. So without being rude, your recall isn't fine because recall is only recall if you can pull your dog away from anything. So very— it's a common thing we hear a lot is My dog's recall is fine until they see her, or until something comes into the picture— squirrel, cat, dog, person, food. So your recall needs to be proofed. Smoking eyes is— what does that mean? Um, so your recall is— your recall might be fine, but your recall isn't great, isn't 100%. 100% until your dog can recall from anything. So we personally would go down the route of using an e-collar so that you can build your dog's motivation to come back to you via the means of positive reinforcement to a certain level. But your dogs are living, breathing creatures. At some point, there will be something in the environment that is more reinforcing to your dog than coming back to you for whatever you have to offer them. So let's say you've got your food motivation to like an 8 out of 10, but your dog's 10 out of 10 motivation is going to the other dog via the means of negative reinforcement. That's where my e-collar comes into play, where I can take my motivation to to come back to me from an 8 out of 10 to an 11 out of 10. And that's where tools help us to bridge that gap and that disparity in motivation. And that's why we use e-collars, because yep, 99.9% of the time you might be able to get your dog to come back to you, even if you can recall them from dogs, from wildlife, this, that, the other. But one day your dog will choose to to, even if it's only for 30 seconds, where they're like, just a minute, I'm just going to finish doing what I'm doing and then I'll be right back. And that could be something that could cost your dog, and you don't want that to happen. When I call my dog back, it is for safety. You have to come back to me when I tell you to. And that gives dogs freedom. So, but I'm really waffling tonight, aren't I? Sorry, that was like Short question could have given you a short answer but didn't, so you're welcome. Um, so how can you stop it, which was your actual question? Work with a responsible trainer to correctly condition your dog to an e-collar. Um, when my dog gets into a fight with another dog, at what point should I intervene, if at all? How often is your dog getting into fights with other dogs? If you know that that is a possibility, then that is something that you need to work to say, hey, that behavior is off the table because that is dangerous to both your dog and to other dogs. If your dog fights with other dogs, which I can only presume they do, saying when they get— when dog gets into fights, that's something you need to work on. So have a chat with one of our team. There's a link in this chat where you can book a call to speak to one of us. We can help you dig into what's going on there and see if we have a program available for you that would be suitable for your dog to tackle that issue. If your dog is in a fight with another dog, you need to intervene at the earliest possible point, and the aggressing dog needs to be appropriately removed. But depending on how bad the fight is— mostly when dogs have a set-to, it's mostly handbags at dawn, it's a lot of noise and not a lot of anything else— but if it is serious, it's probably not going to look pretty to get the other dog off. Things, myths like sticking your fingers up the dog bum or squirting water bottles, things like that, they're not gonna work. The only effective way to break up a fight is to choke off the aggressing dog. So you're going to want to have a slip lead or a regular lead to choke that dog off. Make sure that you're not pulling up because the dog that's gripped onto the other dog, teeth can go in, you can make it worse. So you're holding that dog until they release and let go, but be prepared that that dog may come back at you. So it's in your hands if you're going to be a hero in that situation. Obviously, if it's your dog, you're going to want to do something about it, but yes, you should intervene. And it should be at the earliest possible point. Um, how do I teach my dog to play with toys if they have no interest in toys? This is a fun one because I love play. So, um, in terms of how we start, there would be a couple of questions for me there right off of the bat, which would be: does your dog have regular access to toys in your house anyway? If so, I would remove those toys, because if your dog has access to them all the time, they can do it whenever they want. What's their motivation to do it when you want to? Because they're like, well, I mean, I don't really want to play right now, and I could just go and do it later, so I'm not going to do it. So in the same way that we would build food motivation, we would also build motivation for toys. So toys hold value if they only come out when I bring them to the table and when I make them active. So I would keep my toys away. Similarly, if your dog has access to another dog or other dogs, if you live with another dog or you're regularly going out and your dog's playing with other dogs, they're already draining that tank and getting their kicks playing with those other dogs. So why are they going to play with you? Because they're like, no, no thanks, I'll just play with my, my sister, my brother, the dog down the road that I always play with every day. So if you're trying, really trying to build play and your dog has no interest whatsoever, that is also something to take into consideration. In terms of building it from the ground up, you're going to want to start short and sweet and Make sure that you have clear windows of opportunity. So having a word that opens and closes your window of play— say to your dog, this is the time you can play. So I say to my dogs, ready? When I'm done, I say enough. There's a clear window of opportunity in which you can play, but when I open that window, your options are play with me or nothing. You're not sniffing, you're not looking out the window, you're not staring across the field, you're not just standing there. I'm keeping the dog moving and keeping the dog going with me, not being a beg friend and waving a toy in their face. Play should be fun, right? It should just be like a time that me and my dog spend together. It's something we both enjoy, so think about not pigeonholing your dog into a game you think they want to play. Try and work out what it is that your dog actually enjoys. Do they enjoy more competitive games? Do they enjoy more cooperative games? Do they like it when you throw the ball and race them to it? Do they like to have that bit of a fight? Do they like to tug with you? What is it that your dog actually likes? Find that out and build from there. Keep your session short, build motivation. So keep toys away, keep, um, keep a cap or an eye on things like playing with other dogs. Um, start from there. I'll just go through a couple of these before I get carried away with the other ones. My rescue Mali of 8 months came to me at 4 months from a garage with just her littermates running wild all day, very reactive to other dogs. Think barking, drooling, lunging. Where to start? There's a lot to unpack there, um, and to an extent there will also be a genetic component with that. So hard to answer very concisely over, over YouTube, but My main things to do would be building that dog's food motivation so that you have a correct way, or you have a way to reward your dog with something they actually care about. So you're able to build a cue that says to them they got it correct, and they're motivated to take the reward that you're offering for doing that behavior. Also having a clear cue that says to your dog, hey, 'You got that wrong, a punishment event will now follow.' So you can give the dog that clarity, not leaving them in, in a grey area, and making sure that you're also giving them outlets. You're getting that dog off lead, you're giving them time to play and do all of that stuff that they enjoy doing— barking, jumping up, grabbing, tugging, having that little bite, that dog is going to enjoy that kind of stuff. So you have to give them somewhere to put it, otherwise they're going to be looking for somewhere to put it. Um, my recommendation to you is obviously that behavior is something that we specialize in, so there's a link at the top of the chat here. I would recommend just taking half an hour and having a chat with one of our team to see if it's something that we could help you with. It's obviously free, it's no obligation, and it's more one-to-one than obviously this live is. So even if you decide that you don't want to go with us, or we think that you might not be suitable, hopefully you'll walk away with some more useful information somewhere to get started anyway. So I would recommend booking in for a call. Um, Woods Playfield Shop parking lot. Oh, you mean where to start training? Sorry, I only read the second part of that question afterwards. Where to start? Woods, playfield, shop, parking lot? You need to start in— start with the things that I had just mentioned, but obviously start them in as clean a possible environment as you can possibly create where the dog is not distracted by other things. Obviously, when we're trying to teach something, we want the dog to be able to take in what we're trying to get over to them. And when you're building that communication system, it needs to be somewhere where the dog is able to clearly learn what it is you're trying— the message you're trying to get across. Um, my dog knows every command, he's incredibly obedient, so why is he still reactive? You'll hear Jacob Morgan say this all the time, but obedience strengthens obedience. You can have as many cues as you like with your dog. You can get them to drive your car if want to, but that is only strengthening those behaviors. You're focusing on telling your dog what to do, but what you actually want is to stop your dog from doing something, right? So you need to make sure that you have a way to say to your dog, there's a handful of things you can't do, don't do those things, and to stop behaviors. There are like a million things in life that a dog can do. You can get them to do 100 things. You could spend years teaching them stuff, but it's way easier to just say, hey, there's 5 things in life you're actually not allowed to do. Just go pick something else. Things like putting teeth on people, biting children, chasing cars, gobbing off at dogs. Those illegal activities that we don't like, there's only a few of them. So teach your dog what not to do and stop focusing on teaching your dog what to do, because then you have a dog that you just constantly have to micromanage because they can't decision make on their own, because they're— they don't have the skills to know what is allowed and what's not allowed. They only know what they can do. You've never told them in a way they understand what they can't do. So you're going to be micromanaging that dog for a very long time. That is not helping your reactivity, it's only strengthening the obedience that you already have. Um, can I teach an old dog new tricks? Absolutely. That's such a common myth that, oh, my dog's too far gone, or my dog's too old. The only problem that you're fighting there is history of rehearsal. So if I have a year-old dog that's gobbing off at people and they've been doing it for 2 months, I'm gonna have a lot easier job being able to communicate to that dog, hey, we're not doing that anymore, we do these things instead. Just don't do that. But if I have a 9-year-old dog that's been gobbing off at dogs, barking, lunging, snapping, maybe even got teeth on over the last 7 years, then my scales are far out of balance. So my 1-year-old dog is maybe here on the scales. This is the behavior I do like, this is the behavior I don't. My hands are massive. Um, like this. So in order for me to balance those scales, much easier. Yeah, but if my 9-year-old dog— did I say 9? I said 9. 9-year-old dog, 9 years of reactivity— the scales are like this. So I've got my work cut out to balance those scales. It's gonna take me longer. That's the only difference. So yeah, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Um, is off-lead freedom enough for some dogs, or do all need breed-specific fulfillment? Off-lead freedom is a huge, huge part of fulfillment for dogs. It gets them moving their bodies in the way that they are intended to move. It builds confidence. They can use their nose, be out in the environment running, sniffing, watching things, making choice on their own. So that's one tank that you have drained. But yeah, every dog will have a tank that needs draining in terms of like breed-specific fulfillment, and usually we drain that tank with play. Some dogs, yeah, more than others. So those high-drive dogs, like working line dogs, that tank is gonna need more draining. Like, a Mali is going to have a lot more drive and need to do breed-specific things than a Cavalier King Charles, for example. So some dogs more than others, but yeah, each dog will have those tanks that need draining. And being off lead and giving them that freedom is one of the tanks, but breed-specific fulfillment is also one of them. And we, we drain that tank through play and/or scent work or something. All dogs will have a need to do it, just some more than others. So if you're here, if you're still here, let me know what dog you have and I'll be able to make some suggestions. Um, do your 5-day boot camps have large wait times? Not super large wait times. We'll try, obviously Like I was saying before, we want to help people as quickly as we possibly can help them. And now we have multiple sites in the UK, we have a little bit more availability. Usually you're waiting around 3 weeks, um, to get onto a course. At the moment, we try and— we only work with people, one, that we know that we can help. So our programs aren't suitable for everybody. So if you are thinking about it but you're not sure if your dog is suitable, just get onto a call and have a chat with one of our team, and we'll be able to help you to get to the bottom, see where you are, and see if we think you're suitable for one of the courses. Um, and we also keep our boot camps at limited numbers so that we're able to give each person what they need to be able to have enough time with each person to sort out their problems. Because each dog will come in with reactivity, but that reactivity shows itself in slightly different ways, and people have their own little like niche problems that they need to work through. So when you come, it's not just like cookie cut, we run through this thing and then boom, miracle. Work is done. We work with each person individually. Each person will have their own little things that they need to work on, so that's why we keep our numbers limited. Um, so you're looking probably about 3 weeks at the moment, but like I said, if you're thinking about booking on, do it sooner rather than later because we do get booked up fast, and especially at peak times like school holidays when people have more time off for, um, half terms, back holidays, times like that, we do get booked up quickly and everyone wants those times. So if you're thinking about it, don't hesitate on it, get booked in and have a chat with our team. Um, my dog did brilliantly at the trainer's place, did a full week board and train, then came home and went straight back to his old ways. 'Does that mean the training didn't work?' That doesn't mean that the training didn't work, that just means that the training didn't transfer over correctly to you. This is one of the, the reasons why we started adopting a boot camp model, in that as trainers, you know, we've been around the block, we've seen a bunch of dogs our timing is better— no offense— we can adapt and adjust more quickly than the— we can get the dog to where we need it to be more quickly than just a regular pet dog owner. Um, and that's where the problem lies, is that we can get the dog to do what it is that we need them to do, and we can get them to the place where they understand that this was right, this was wrong, come back when I'm called, all that kind of stuff. But if you've never handled the dog and navigated those situations yourself— so I would be interested to know, like, what your handback process was with that board and train, um, there are lots of different variables in dog training, and if, you know, things changed all the time and we adjust. But when you're out and you get rushed by an off-leash dog, or the car comes out of nowhere, or all of a sudden there was a deer in the distance, I don't know, all these different things that life throws your way, that's kind of the beauty of our boot camp is that we train in those real-life situations. So by the time you leave on Friday, you are the person that's handled the dog, and we have coached you through navigating those situations. So when life throws you a curveball, you know exactly what to do. You've done it before, you've been through it with us, but also you were the one at the end of the lead. So it's all very well and good someone being here and saying, okay, this, this is how you do this, and blah blah blah blah blah, and if this happens, this is what we do, and you're going, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. But then when the lead's in your hand, it's a very different feeling, right? Because you've never had that muscle memory of doing those mechanics before, or the order of things, or the timing of things. So it's not that your training didn't work at your board and train It will just be that those skills weren't transferred over to you well enough for you to then start navigating life again. Also, when you come home, there is an element, a lot of people being like, cool, problem solved. And then remember what I was saying about that history of rehearsal. When they're at the Borden train, they're not at your house, so they've never practiced left there. That was a clean slate, and they've never got wins in. They've done a lot of winning in— at your house, outside on your street, at that dog park you go to every day. So when you get home, you need to be consistent in giving your dog the feedback about when they got it right, when they got it wrong, and the things that you want to do with them. If you let that slip and they continue to stack those wins, you'll end up right back where started. Um, how do you train a Malinois? Ball games, great, incredibly reliable, incredibly obedient. Include lots of training while doing those games, but the dog is still excitable afterwards. Do you use a different game? That is probably more likely a problem with your dog being able to toggle in arousal. So when they play, and Malis love to do stuff with someone, and they're quite like— play sets them up to the top of the mountain and that they're a peak of arousal and they don't know how to come down off that mountain. So whilst playing with your dog is all— is a really, really important thing for relationship, for giving them that outlet to put that energy somewhere appropriate, you also need to make sure that you're really giving time for that dog to practice doing nothing. So dog's never going to learn to switch off if you're constantly giving them a job to do or something to do. So I would be very careful with saying— where you say your dog's incredibly obedient of taking your dog out of play or using obedience, putting your dog into obedience a lot. So putting them into a down, for example, and then that dog just looking to you to be like, what's the next thing? When are you going to ask me to do something else? And just constantly watching you versus probably doing something like tethering or crating with that dog where you give them no instruction whatsoever and it's like, you can stand up, sit down a million times, but you're going to do it in this square space. Your place bed is there. I know that your needs have been met. We've been out for a walk. I've played with you. Now what I need you to do is switch off, and I need you to learn to get there on your own without instruction from me. So no, I wouldn't add in different games. I would add in time where you're giving your dog an opportunity to learn to switch off and play with it that way. How strong should a leash recall be before you start to overlay an e-collar? You shouldn't be using your lead at all with your lead recall. Ideally, your recall in low arousal situations, you should say your recall and your dog should spin and come back to you. It's very important that your dog knows a recall before you start using an e-collar. And then it's about teaching the dog how to yield to that pressure of the e-collar. So if you already are in like pretty boring-ish situations, like a fairly quiet park, you know, your garden, there's not a lot going on, and 90% of the time you call your dog, they come back to you, and you don't have to use the lead to reel them in, that is an amazing place to start with recall. With, with using an e-collar. But what I would say is make sure that you are going to a decent trainer to help you with that. Don't try and half-ass it on your own and read a bunch of conflicting things on the internet because you can really easily mess it up, and timing is very important. So don't just go and find random things on the internet. Same question as SM2. I literally raised my dog from day one with Your Behaviour Bible, and he's still reactive. How old is your dog? And also, if you're saying the same thing, SM2's dog, very obedient. So remember what I said there is that you can teach your dog to do a million things but you need— 11 months old, you need to start layering in a strong punishment marker there so that your dog knows what not to do. So you can give them that full picture. They've already, by the sounds of it, if they're again incredibly obedient like SM2 dog, um, fine, they already know 100 different things, but that carrying on and only doing those 100 different things and more and more and more things, they're only going to know what to do. They're never going to know what not to do. So you're going to want to work there on a strong punishment marker so that you give your dog the full picture. Um, strangers making kissy noises at my pup causes big reactivity. It happens almost once a week. Am I screwed? No. How old is your puppy? Um, there is an element there of two things. So one, yeah, how old— let me know how old is your puppy. But one, making sure that your dog knows barking at people is off the table. But also, two years, okay, yeah. So you need to make sure that your dog has a strong punishment marker. But recognize who your dog is and get comfortable advocating for your dog. If your dog is not a dog that enjoys, um, petting and affection, all those stupid kissy noises from other people, get comfortable telling people not to do that for your dog, with your dog. Um, because sometimes we need to get comfortable with helping our dogs out versus just for the sake of not hurting some random stranger's feelings and saying, hey, can you not, like, please don't do that to my dog, leave them alone, and stepping in and helping them. Then our dog suffers because we're not comfortable with telling people to just get lost. Like, for example, my dog Rue doesn't get anything from affection from strangers. She doesn't like getting pet by people she doesn't know. She'll come over and get affection from me, but she's not that dog that will sit in your lap and just love being there for ages. She'll come over for a couple of minutes and then she'll take herself off. It's not her thing. So when people come over and they're like, oh, can I pet your dog? I'm always like, no, thanks for asking. And if someone went to put their hand in to touch my dog, I would step in and advocate for her, whatever the cost of upsetting that person who was coming over. Because I have to put my dog— I'm putting my dog in those situations, right? Like, we take them to the pub. Probably not her most favorite place in the entire world. She's quite happy to go to sleep there, but I shouldn't be putting her in situations all the time where she's just going to have constant pets from strangers and have to be like tolerating it over and over and over again when she really doesn't like it. So get comfortable with advocating for your dog and make sure that you have a punishment marker in to say, hey, you can't gob off at them, but I'll help you. I hope that helps. Um, do you do regular puppy training for a GSD, or is it more intensive courses for reactivity? Um, so we are puppy trainers. Would depend how old your puppy is. If your dog— if your puppy is a 19-month-old puppy, then let us know, let me know what your issues are. You're welcome. Um, let us know what, what issues you have, if any, or if you're just looking for like basic training, then we're not going to be the, the guys for you. Are, um, we focus on reactivity, that's our behavior that we deal with. Um, our courses are just for reactivity training for those dogs. If your dog is struggling with reactivity, then potentially we could be a really good fit for you. So do reach out to us and let us know. But if it's just like puppy training that you're looking for, we have got a, um, puppy ebook. I think, I think we still got one. I'm pretty sure Jacob and Kierkegaard wrote a book, and I'm pretty sure it's pretty good. So if they're knocking around or anyone knows, I'm pretty sure we have one. But no, we don't offer training specifically for puppies. Um, is it fair to expect a live dog guardian not to bark at strangers coming into the house? For me personally, um, I don't care if my dogs bark at the door because most often, for most dogs, even for livestock guardian breeds, it's a startle response for them being like, oh, someone's at the door. Um, the book is available for free. The Puppy Dog Book's available for free to the German Shepherd owner, if it is a puppy, you might find it really helpful. They do know things, they know a lot of things, those boys. What was I talking about? Barking at the door. Most often it's a startle response. So again, what I was saying about dogs barking at dogs who barked at them first. Barking at the door, I would not consider a crime, but you'll want to build a strong end of play cue. If you have a livestock guardian breed, then it can probably take you a lot longer to build that play there, um, but definitely you can get there to build that strong end of play cue to say, hey, all right, I get it, someone's there. Now knock it off. If your issue is that when people come into the home, the dog will not stop barking and just goes ballistic— oh, it was strangers coming into the home, sorry. I read that and in my brain I thought people barking at the door. So people barking at the door, yeah, not crime. Strong end of clicky there. People coming into the house, then you'll again want to condition a strong punishment marker that your dog knows. You'll want to condition it away from the thing that is their main beef. So not for strangers coming into the house straight away, you'll want to do it with something a bit more low ticket than that. Obviously that dog's sounds like probably has quite a high history of rehearsal doing that thing. So build that punishment cue, be prepared to catch it. So get someone to come into the house that you know and trust that's happy to help you work through that behaviour. Use your punishment marker to give that dog feedback that like, hey, that's not acceptable. If I've invited people into the house, you are not allowed to go ham at them. And repeat, rinse and repeat with a few different people coming into the house. But, uh, yeah, it's more than fair to expect that dog— yes, there's a genetic component there, I get it— but if you've got a livestock guardian breed living in your house and you don't want it to bark, you need to have the means of communication to give that dog the feedback. Or if you're okay with it barking a bit, then you need to have an end of play cue, but also a punishment cue if they ignore that. An end of play cue will be work to get that dog to play, probably. Sorry. Um, struggling to get e-collar contact even with wings. Any ideas? If you are still in this chat, what dog do you have? And things to think about there is making sure that you have good placement so that the— it's not sitting too far down on your dog's neck, it's not sitting on the back of your dog's neck, it's not sitting on the front here. You always want to have it underneath an ear. Make sure that it's on snug so that when you wiggle the box, the box is only moving skin underneath. You're not able to— it's not just hanging loose as a goose flopping around like one of Jay-Z's chains around the dog's neck. Make sure that it's on snug. If you're really, really struggling with contact, if the dog has really dense fur or if the dog is really fluffy you can shave a small patch so that you know that you can get contact. But I would definitely be checking the other things first. And if you're struggling to get contact, still, um, reach out to whoever you worked with, with that e-collar, to see what's going on there. But those would be my recommendations. Um, How do I get my dog to be calm somewhere new? Lots of practice. Make sure that you have a dog that knows how to switch off on their own. So if your dog is really good at switching off inside the house, but only good at that if you're doing like— don't wake the baby. Dog's asleep, don't move. Like, oh, he's settled, I won't get up off the sofa, I can't go to the toilet because the dog's asleep. If your dog isn't already good at settling while life is going on around them, then again, that's something that you're going to want to practice by the means of using management like a crate or tethering. Um, get them good at that first and then slowly graduate them out. So maybe you get to— your dog's real good at it in the house, then you give them a nice walk, make sure that you've met their needs, and then sit down on a bench, take a book with you, take a coffee, let them settle down in an environment where stuff is going on, and build from there. So don't just be like, oh, my dog can kind of settle in the house, I'll just take them to a busy club at 2 o'clock on a Sunday and expect them to settle, because it's probably not going to happen. But also making sure that you've helped them out a bit first. So don't just wake up on Saturday morning, your dog's absolutely full of beans, you take them out for a quick wee, and then you march them down to the coffee shop and you expect them to sit there for 4 hours while you have a latte and catch up with your gal pals. Make sure their tank is drained first, and then you can expect them to settle somewhere like that or somewhere new. Um, my dog goes to say hi to every single dog in the park, which many times causes a fight and him getting bitten, which doesn't seem to bother him because it will 100% try and go and say hi to that same dog. What can I do? Should I stop him from approaching all dogs period. You need to work on a process. Two things— this is my dog, not the reactive one. He's an 8-month-old Border Collie. One, that's rude behavior, so I wouldn't be just letting my dog willy-nilly go up to other dogs in the park. You need to make sure that you have a solid, rock-solid recall with that dog before you're just letting the dog off lead in areas where you know that your dog will be running up to other dogs, or that other dogs will be. In the meantime, if you don't have recall for your dog, or if you have recall but only if dogs aren't around, then you don't have recall. So need to build that up. You need to build— make sure that you're using management things like a long line. Um, it's not a case of having to stop him approaching dogs, period. If he is a social dog, fine, but he needs to learn appropriate socialization. Um, so making sure that he knows how to interact, so not just bombing over to dog, getting straight in their face, being annoying, getting into a fight, and then taking it. Because what's going to happen eventually with your dog is, especially as he's only 8 months old, he's at the more social end of the scale. The more negative interactions he has is going to put, put him on the other side of neutral. And then you run a fine line of that dog then becoming reactive to other dogs because they've had so many bad experiences. So you need to make sure that you're working on your dog's recall and make sure that you're appropriately socializing your dog and teaching your dog how to interact appropriately around other dogs. Rushing up to other dogs and getting in their face is unacceptable and rude behavior, um, especially for an 8-month-old dog. So making sure that when you're doing those socialization sessions, that you're working with dogs that you know that owner has control of. You know that that dog will potentially give an appropriate correction. If that dog— if your dog gets an appropriate correction from a dog that you know is a decent balanced dog and he doesn't take kindly to that correction and starts to fight, then you have a problem. Making sure that you're able to intervene with appropriate dogs, but stop letting— you've got to stop letting that happen because that problem will get worse. Um, any toy recommendations for on-walk rewards? I want to move away from food rewards, but fetch toys won't translate for on-leash reward. How would you do it? What behaviors are you rewarding on lead walks? So I'm just going to scroll back to say strangers making kissing noises at my pup, big reactivity. Um, just bear in mind that if you want to use toy rewards outside the house that is going to send your dog's arousal up here. So if you're using it, let me know what you want, what it is that you're wanting to reward for. Because if you're wanting to reward your dog for just walking past another dog on lead and that you want to use a toy for that, I wouldn't do that. Because when you're walking on lead, you want keep your dog kind of at a nice level. We're just walking, we're moving together, we're getting from A to B to where I can let you off to go be a dog. So I wouldn't be using a toy because you're walking past that dog and that dog eventually is going to get amped in anticipation of getting the reward of the toy, or it will skyrocket their arousal once they've got past the dog, and then very quickly you run a sketchy line of them getting so into the game, if they are really toy motivated, that they're actually not paying attention to the environment at all. If they know the toy is there, all they can think about is any minute now she's getting that toy out, and they're not taking anything else in because they've just got the toy blinkers on. The only thing really I would maybe consider using a toy reward for outside side of the house would be for recall if I want to like help a younger dog get real snappy recall. Um, but also think about what food rewards you're using. I've got my batteries— gonna be like, how has that happened? It's charging, but it's dying anyway, so we've got 12 minutes left. And my battery has got— today, uh, my battery's got 6% left. Is there another charger in there? I'm having a right day of it today, guys. Um, we'll just start rambling quickly before my battery dies. It still says 6%, so hopefully it won't turn off anytime soon. In that bag behind the door, there might be a charger in that black bag. This is fun, isn't it? Oh yeah, that's the— it's always handy to have a helper. Always have a helper. All right, well, it's in another charger. Hopefully that one will be better than the last charger that I had it in. Um, with your food rewards What food rewards are you using? I would make sure that your dog's food motivation is as high as you can possibly get it. So don't be using high-value treats all the time. We steer as far away from using any high-value food outside of the house as possible. We want to work with 100% of the dog's essential food because that food is balanced. So you need to make sure that you're not just feeding your dogs like 2-pound kibble or Pedigree Chum. If you're feeding your dog a decent, balanced, uh, nutritionally dense food, you'll find that your dog is highly motivated buy that food anyway because it is so good. When it's just like boring, bland £2 biscuits, that's when people are like, oh, my dog doesn't even care about their food. Of course they don't, because the food is rubbish. So make sure that you're feeding your dogs a good quality food. And good quality doesn't always mean more expensive. There's a website called All About Dog I really recommend if you guys are struggling with your dog's food motivation and you're feeding them potentially not great food, to have a look on there. Um, because often with a higher quality food, yes, to buy the bag might be more expensive, but you have to feed less because the food is more nutritionally dense. So making sure that your dog's on high quality food and then building their food motivation from from there. So only working with their essential food anywhere outside the house— no chicken, no cheese, no frankfurters, no tenderloin steak. Um, making sure that motivation is there for food first. And let me know what, um, if you're still here, because by some miracle I am. 7%, that charge is working. Um, let me know what it is that you're wanting to use, um, toys for outside the house. And if you're playing fetch, are you using a ball on a rope or are you just using a tennis ball? Fetch is not the best game anyway, so whilst you might throw the toy away from you, tell your dog to get it and then bring it back so we can have that two-player game. I wouldn't only be ball tracking because those kind of games anyway are, one, not great for your dog's joints, but two, create an adrenaline junkie and an athlete. So your dog's just constantly— they chase the ball, they get it, they get this big hit of dopamine, they feel amazing, they bring it back, and then they're like throw it again. And anyone that's played fetch with their dog will be like— it's like if I was doing couch to 5K. When I start off, I can only run 1K, but when I get to 5K, then I need more than 5K. Now I need 10K because I wish I needed 10K. Someone actually told me yesterday that they thought I looked athletic, so I— he was boot camper, he was very nice, and Uh, you could stay. He keeps going compliments like that. Um, but then the more you do, then if you just do a 3K, then it doesn't feel as satisfying. You don't feel like you've got that like runner's high. You need more. Same for your dog. They started off only doing 5 or 10 minutes of fetch a day, and then they, um, then they need 15 minutes, then they need half an hour, and then they need an hour. And then you're like, we've been just throwing ball up and down, and they're more amped than when they left the house because it just creates an athlete and an adrenaline junkie. And they bring that ball back and they're just chasing that next high, and they can't wait for you to throw the ball again. And you're there, yeah, as in like a two-player game, but you're not really part of the game. You're just the person that launches the ball for them again. There's no structure to it. It's not relationship building in any way. So if you are using like fetch, make sure that there's an element of it being two-player there. So you bring it back, maybe you're having a little tug with it, you're maybe racing each other to get the toy, something like that. But not just fetch games on their own. Um, we have got 7 minutes left and it's an absolute miracle that my laptop is now on 9%. Things are looking up, guys. Maybe my phone will turn up. Maybe I'll drive past it on the A21 later. Also, if anyone in the chat has any suggestions for how to find an Android phone if you don't have a tracker thing set up on it, but the phone is still ringing so you know it's on, and also that it's free and not a scam to find out where the phone is be a hun and drop that in the chat for me. Um, was there anything else there? Have I stopped my draw? Oh, look at that, I've answered all of the questions. So if anyone else has anything else that they wanted to ask today, then we've got We've got 5 minutes left, so 5 minutes of more of free advice. Or if anyone knows how to get a phone back, that'd be real good for me. Um, if, uh, oh, what's that one I've missed? Is the TWI program as effective as boot camp, and does it include the equipment package? I like the idea of TWI as I'm not comfortable in groups of people, so I think boot camp would be stressful. Yeah, we wouldn't offer it if we didn't think it was effective. Um, it's a really popular program for many people for a number of different reasons, predominantly people that can't get to us in person, but also, yeah, people like you that don't really want to come and be in a group of people and that want to do it from home. You still get access to the training team. So there's a weekly Q&A there where you can drop in so we can keep your progress going there. There's many, many, many video, video tutorials on everything, showing stuff with different dogs so you can see different things that might crop up. Um, there is— yes, the training, we will, um, we'll send the training equipment out to you, so you're not going out buying, um, random Teemo equipment. We provide the equipment, um, and yeah, just as effective a boot camp. Have a look online, have a look at the reviews. I'm sure if anyone here has done the TWI program, they'll be able to test to it being effective. But yeah, if it wasn't something that we truly believed in, we wouldn't offer it. So if you are thinking of joining TWI, then the link to book a call is in the chat here. So just have a chat with us. Again, same premise for TWI— we're not going to take you on just for the sake of taking money. We want to make sure that we're actually able to help you and that that program is actually actually a good fit for you and for your dog. So have a chat with one of our team, um, and we'll, we'll be able to help you navigate that. Someone told me I need to be the alpha, eat before my dog, go through doors first, eat over his bowl. Does any of that actually work? Eat over his bowl? Like eat your dinner on a plate over the top of his bowl? No. One, don't start messing around with dogs when they're eating. If you've given them their food, just let them eat. Don't start fannying around with it. That's weird. If someone started fannying around with my dinner every night when I tried to eat, eventually you're going to get a rise out of me too. Um, eating before your dog, who cares? Uh, go through doors first. One, yeah, fine, I don't want my dog to be dragging me out of a door, but I don't care if my dog walks out the door in front of me. That will make absolutely no difference to anything. You need to make sure that you are able to communicate with your dog. That is the main thing. Not that you're ruling over them with an iron fist and saying, do what I say or else, and the only way I can do that is if I— with hold all of this stuff from you and start messing around with your food for literally no reason. Um, make sure that you have a clear means of communication with your dog. You are able to give them feedback in a way that they understand, a way to tell your dog they're getting it right, a way to tell your dog they're getting it wrong. Um, and don't worry about all of that other random stuff. We're in the process of adopting a 6-year-old German Shepherd cross. From the 30+ videos we've seen of him, he seems sweet, affectionate, and not aggressive to other dogs. We understand that this is not a guarantee, but what can we do to give him the best chance of success? We've watched a ton of YCA content and others. He spent most of his life in kennels. Um, when you bring him home, obviously making sure that you give him a fair amount of time to just settle into new life. So you're not coming home and straight away being like, right, we're gonna go straight out on this walk, and I'm gonna throw you into the town center, I'm gonna throw you into the car, I'm gonna do all this stuff with you. But from the get-go, when you get home— and I think this is the problem that a lot of rescue dog owners have— is that we want to show up for that dog and we want to give a good life, and we feel sorry for them that they've not maybe had the best start. Um, even if he spent most of his life in kennels and the kennels weren't awful, you still will have an element of feeling sorry for the dog. But they don't need rescuing anymore because you already rescued them. So when you go home, make sure that from the get-go you're having clear boundaries and structure with that dog. So not being like, oh well, don't really like it when he jumps up. I don't, I don't particularly want him to be in the kitchen getting stuff off the side, but well, he's probably never had a jacket potato before, so I'll just let him eat that one. You're not being fair there. Make sure that you, before you bring that dog home, you know exactly what rules and boundaries you want to have in the house and outside the house and stick to them. Like I said before, there's a million things a dog can do. You could spend years teaching a dog to do things. It's much easier to just have those handful of things that your dog's not allowed to do and be able to clearly tell them what those things are go pick something else. When you bring them home, have those clear boundaries. Start building your food motivation. Start playing with that dog. Play is like amazing for relationship building, for confidence building, for helping to implement boundaries and structure. Um, if he's sweet and affectionate and confident, then that shouldn't be a problem. Making sure that obviously, being a German Shepherd, you're giving him that appropriate, um, place to put some of that energy that he will have, some of that natural drivey behavior. We're channeling it into something productive with us and not just letting it spread out and eke out into places where we don't really want it to go. Yes, fairly simple. Don't feel— don't help not to keep them stuck and unable to make progress when you bring them home by feeling sorry for them and letting things slide through the cracks, or letting all those little small things go because you feel sorry for them. Like I said, you rescued that dog already, so they're rescued now, they have a nice life. Start getting them to live that life so you're able to open up their world and have them make the most of it. Be free. Get that dog off lead as soon as you possibly can. That builds confidence and will help him to see that the world is fun and he can go and use his nose and move his body and get out and see stuff. I'm sure you're getting that dog because you want him to be your best pal, so you want him to be out there with you. Don't hide him away from stuff. Obviously, like I said, throw him into the town centre the day after you go get him, but don't start shying away from loads of stuff, especially if it's, um, like easy things like walking down the street and then all of a sudden he's got a bit of a thing about post boxes. Make sure you have that communication system there as early as possible so you're able to help him work through that stuff if it does crop up. I'm sure you'll have a lovely life together. Let us know how it goes. If we do another one, when we do another one, come back in. And if anything crops up, reach out. We'll help you if we can. Okay guys, thanks. That's the goal of Fleet Freedom, innit? Just go and have a nice free life, go and see the world, go and be a dog as much as you possibly can, and go out there and live life together, experience things together, make memories together, have a grand old time. Go and live the next— he's only 6, right? So next like 8 years at least, hopefully, just being out there doing stuff together, hanging out, seeing things, enjoying themselves, being a dog. Um, I am— although my battery is charging, I'll say going once if anyone's got any other questions. Again, if anyone does know about that phone thing, really would be very handy. Um, so do drop that in the chat. Uh, but going twice, going thrice, if no one else has got anything else to ask tonight, I've had a lovely little time. Thanks for listening to me waffle on. Um, and if you have any other questions, then again, like I said, the link to book a call with us is in the chat there. So book in with one of the team, have a chat with us. We would love to chat with you about your dog, see where you're at. If you're struggling, we'll help you get to the bottom of it. And if we think we can help you, then we will. Um, all right, have a nice evening, guys. Lovely to see everyone-ish. See, not really see because YouTube. Nice to hear from you. Have a nice rest of your week and And don't leave your phone on top of the roof of your car when you drive off. Bye!