I am so SO happy to announce that I have PASSED my Pro Dog Trainer course! Yaaaaasssss!

This is why it’s been a bit quiet lately.  What with studying, taking on more work personally (I’m a freelance virtual assistant www.sammilburncreative.com) I’ve been super behind on my blogs. 

But I’m back in full flow now with lots lined up about our current training journey and I can tell you… it’s been a rollercoaster with LOTS to share.

So what is Pro Dog Trainer?

Well Absolute Dogs, is the brainchild of behaviourist and vet Tom Mitchell, and the head of the biggest dog training centre in the UK, Lauren Langman.

Lauren and Tom came up with concept training many years ago drawing on their expertise and experiences.  The idea is that you train a dog through fun games, to re-shape the concepts they have.  So if a dog is scared of the world, rather than exclusively training behaviours out in the real world every day, you work on the concepts of confidence and optimism separately from the situation, and then transfer these to real life.

Now this is a very basic view of this training, there are lots of other vital elements that we apply such as ditching the bowl, ditching any routines, and increasing and promoting a super amount of calm throughout the day.

These things are part and parcel of Buddy’s life now and the three KEY things that have totally changed him.  Being a very sensitive and very clever Border Collie, one of the best things we EVER did was ditch the routine.  Border Collies are the BEST predictors going. They can predict what is going to happen before you even know it!  This builds up unnecessary excitement and frustration, which can make them ‘tip over’ the edge before you even go for a walk outside, making them far less able to listen and focus.  Ever notice that your dog might start off super cool on a walk, but by the end they are barking or lunging at dogs and other people? That cortisol level just went into overdrive that’s why.

Buddy’s hormones are very up and down right now.  But I know, in the words of Dory from ‘Finding Nemo’ JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!  Your adolescent dog might seem to have turned into the devil itself, ignoring you, barking at everything, being a right pain in the backside.  But just keep training, it’s still going in, they WILL get it again.

If you want to find out more about Concept Dog training, or fancy joining in with some virtual dog training lessons with me and Buddy, then head over to my dog trainer’s website and tell her Sam sent you!

I’d love to hear your adolescent stories –  I’m only human I get my down days too – so share some positivity below!

I’ve been there countless times, learning how to live and work with a reactive, anxious dog, it can feel very lonely, especially when you see other people out and about with their carefree dog! But there is hope and you don’t need to be alone.