Focus Dog Training

“She bit them out of nowhere, I never thought she’d bite”

This is something we're hear quite often. But did the dog really bite out of nowhere or were her smaller requests to ask for space ignored or missed?

Dogs are excellent communicators and bites with no warning are rare. Usually, their warning signs were missed because guardians didn’t know what to look for, or didn’t believe their dog would bite. All dogs are capable of biting if they’re uncomfortable enough.

Have a look at the picture of the dog in this post, what signs can you see that tell us this dog is uncomfortable?

Let me know what you can see in the comments!

Reasons your dog is struggling to walk on a loose lead (even if they did it perfectly yesterday)

There is too much going on in the environment
When we’re working on training we need to introduce to distractions gradually. If they’re bouncing between sniffs and pulling to every distraction you likely need a quieter training environment

Something has changed in their body
It could be hormones, they might still be growing or they could be uncomfortable from stomach pain, or discomfort from a slip trip or fall. Maybe they’re lacking sleep.

They're Trigger Stacked
Trigger stacking happens when dogs experience lots of stressful events, big or small, one after the other without time to decompress inbetween. When these events build they’re more likely to have big reactions and can struggle to focus

Are you struggling with your dogs' lead walking? Get in touch to find out how we can help!

Four things I’d tell you if your dog was barking at noises in the house

Management is key
Noises can be one of the more challenging triggers to manage because we don’t always know when they’re going to happen.
Masking external noises with music/tv/radio can help.

Once we reduce how often your dog is reacting, your dog will have more space to learn an alternative behaviour.

Sound sensitivity is often linked to pain
Watch the free ‘Is my dog in pain’ course from Canine Arthritis Management. This is great for helping spot physical and behavioural signs that you may not have noticed before/linked to potential discomfort.

Watching out of the window is making it worse
I know it can seem like they’re enjoying themselves, sitting and watching the world go by. But if window watching prevents them from getting good quality sleep and provides them with plenty of opportunity to spot things to bark at, it’s going to make the problem worse.

Barking is a normal part of behaviour
It’s unreasonable to expect our dogs to never bark, especially is something startles them.

Barking becomes problematic when it’s affecting their normal day to day activities and contributing to chronic stress.