When I turned up I was greeted by a striking looking Bullie, he was no-where near the out of control mad dog his owner reported him to be. I have met a LOT worse in all breeds. He was a bit of a show off, me being the shiny new toy he had to demonstrate his blanket gathering abilities and how good he was at stealing things but in all a good egg.

His owner went to the shop to buy some super terrific treats (ham) and we began conditioning him to a clicker. I figured if recall was his main issue then clicker and whistle training was the way to go. You should have seen this dog. He literally pulsated, his tail wagged like mad when praised and he gave a bouncing recall which was utterly adorable. This dog enjoyed working! He was amazing and within 20 minutes was racing toward his owner, ears up tail wagging.

His meeting with my fake stooge dog ‘Magic’ went as expected, he immediately took it bed and began showing it some love, shall we say.

I helped her boyfriend teach him not to pull which went really well considering he was used to handling his Scottish Terriers and using leash corrections. There’s plenty of practise to be done there but nothing they can’t cope with. By the end of the session we had established that V… was a keen learner, that Sasha regretted not doing clicker training in the first place, that her boyfriend should stop listening to everyone and allow his dogs to meet V… in a carefully set up situation, V… is not aggressive just lacking in social skills so a work in progress and that Sasha has done a really good job of raising a potentially difficult dog on her own just fine. Bull Terriers have a reputation for stubborness. I find them intelligent in a different way to other breeds, you just need to find their motivation buttons. Tweaking and the right methods is what she needed. She literally glowed when I told her this, something I had seen on another client’s face the day before when I told him his handling skills were fine. The release of pressure can be enough drive to carry forward, it’s so powerful.

V’s owner has some homework to do, mainly working on the whistle and clicker recall which we will take further afield upon my return but I have no doubt that V will prove to be a quick learner. In fact I suspect he will progress so quickly that I may have to adjust their homework! It just shows how well positive reinforcement training and progressive reinforcement training work so well in a short space of time and also how I should know better than to have expectations when visiting clients.

There is a wealth of information out there concerning the injuries dogs have sustained from playing and chasing sticks, many vets advise against this seemingly harmless activity yet when you read and see the evidence you begin to realise that playing with sticks with your dog is potentially an accident waiting to happen. There are some great links on the Safestix website concerning this, have a look. I for one used to allow my dogs in the past to chase and play with sticks, other than the occasional cut gums nothing major happened to them but since becoming involved in the behaviour field I haven’t allowed with my recent canine companions.

A client recommended the Safestix to me after purchasing one for his active collie, sparking my curiosity as the toy itself to me looks rather bizarre. It’s made of durable non toxic rubber, has a twisted ‘stick’ centre and either end is rounded into a bulb. It’s fairly pliable and tough enough to withstand a good chewing. It is currently available in 2 sizes, I bought the bigger size 70cm for my 3 Bull Terriers. Koda and Cassini enjoy a good tug game with each other and I partly chose this toy as they could take hold of either end safely and the toy itself would not rip apart like most tug ropes do (within minutes with those two!). Tallulah is not interested in toys except Kongs and only if they’re stuffed with something to eat.

The Safestix doesn’t splinter like sticks do, the rounded ends stop it from sticking up out of the ground, it floats in water making it a great retrieve toy, it can be tossed for the dogs to chase and is so brightly coloured (orange) it would be difficult to lose! The dogs also seem to like the textured twist design, they spend a while having a good chew on it as well as playing with it.

All in all I find the Safestix a fabulous addition to the toys my dogs enjoy playing with, I’m happy knowing they cannot injure themselves on it and it’s joined the list of products I recommend my clients. The company have excellent customer service and the product arrived quickly and is becoming more widely available through retail agents. Say no to sticks!

I’m hoping to have these sheets downloadable from my websites trainabull.com and verypets.co.uk but for now here they are!

Preventing bites with children              Pulling on the Lead visual advice

Canine Body Language 101                      Enjoying Walks on the Lead

The illustrator I worked with was a wonderful, talented lady called Charley from Labradoodlez.com she worked on lots of sketches and helped me compose the final posters, thoroughly professional in addition to being amazing with art! We have come up with so many ideas for these sheets and beyond so I am really looking forward to working with Charley in the future. Charley takes commissions for pet portraits and caricatures so please visit her website to see and learn more of her artwork and packages plus her passion for deaf dogs.

I’d also like to thank April (known as @Lilacsky215 on Twitter) for putting me in touch with Charley, April is an upcoming dog-trainer. Thanks April!

Tallulah does cry a fair bit. She cries to be let out for a toilet break, she cries when she espies someone walking along our road or when she is feeling playful/hormonal/attention seeking. But to cry while eating a plant which has no obvious sharp edges, spines, nodules, venomous qualities.

Having scoured all my literature and sifted through my large pile of research papers and even dared Google to find me the answer I have to admit to drawing a blank. Maybe she is “special”. Like me. I’m “special” too. Crying is obviously part of the canine communication repertoire and while it has no dramatic effect on my relationship with her nor does it impact on her life in general (although she will drag me toward the plants’ location should we happen to go that way on a walk) I’m still interested to learn WHY she does it.

So feel free to inform me I’m interested to hear everyone’s thoughts!

It took a long time to re-train her, not only how to live as a pet in a home with a family but also normal dog like behaviour. My mini Bull Terrier Koda played a big part in her training, with his determination after 6 months she picked up a ball and dropped it at his feet in an invitation to play. I literally cried with joy. She had been working with me from the first month but she never liked working with reactive dogs, always preferring to go home or point of safety; she was and still is a sweet, friendly and non-confrontational girl.

In my haste to train her though I made a rookie error and incorrectly trained her to be obsessed with balls in order to teach recalls with distractions. Cassini would crash through anything to the point of physically injuring herself in order to get and play with a ball. She would turn somersaults (a 29kg muscle-bound Bull Terrier turning somersaults!), skid, slide, go through fencing, thorn bushes, doors, furniture, dogs, people until she exhausted herself. At some point she must have hurt herself internally but never let on. Until now.

She always been tight in the hips, Cassini waddles like a goose when she walks but over the last 12-18 months especially the last few months it’s become obvious she is feeling sore in her hip area-if one of my other dogs or even one of us humans leans on her while she is lying down she barks, winces or growls in warning. This from a dog which rarely barks, seriously she only barks in her sleep! I began to think about prevention of old age infliction such as arthritis like using glucosamine and checking her into the creaky club at my vets. Then I met Maddy Casey a Canine and human Bowen Therapist at an event I hosted back in June 2011. Maddy invited me to bring a dog to her to see how she worked in more detail, I chose Cassini.

Cassini loved it! Initially she spent a long time relaxing and greeting Maddy and not letting Maddy do too much Bowen moves. Bowen is a holistic treatment, based in science, using specific hand movements on the skin and underlying tissue, the body shows you where it feels stress or pain and Bowen helps rebalance the body as a whole. Maddy allows the dog to dictate the flow of a session and over the next few sessions Cassini would offer different parts of her body for Maddy to work and for longer, except her left hip area.

Cassini’s self-confidence and ability to demonstrate what she likes and disapproves in her typical gentle way made my observations of these sessions so compelling, I am still learning from this dog which I have lived with for over 6 years; what an awesome tutor she is!

Maddy’s understanding of dogs is wonderfully respectful and I enjoy the sessions just as much as Cassini. During a recent session Cassini offered her sacred spot, the left hip which Maddy worked for just a few moments before calling the session to an end, to end on a good note and left us both feeling something powerful had just occurred. We will continue seeing Maddy, Cassini appears to be more energetic in the days after her Bowen treatment, life in my old girl yet! I’m sure once she has more Bowen treatment in her hip area she will feel less sore; it would be interesting to see a heat image of before and after sessions to see the difference that Maddy can feel while working her.

Have a look at Maddy’s website, she works on vet referral and also draws wonderful greetings cards for sale!

Having first met Caroline earlier this year when I invited her to join in at an event I hosted, I have since introduced her to Holly Hedge where I’m behaviourist. I’m so interested in this subject, it’s natural, non aversive and helps with physical and behavioural problems at a chemical level so is grounded in proven science. Hopefully Caroline can teach me more. Much more. I have applied what little I have learned to my dogs, a recent foster Bulldog and with clients dogs too, mainly on dogs with Separation Anxiety symptoms with amazing results. So is this another way forward for the positive training movement? Should more research be done?

Have a look at Caroline’s video’s on her website Ingraham.co.uk and see for yourself what an awesome topic and way of working with animals this is. Incidentally, the puppy we worked on today showed improvements after just an hour and her hot skin had already begun feeling cooler to touch. The compounds we left should be enough to make her feel more comfortable and work on her immune system from within, helping her to recover and maybe not need pharmaceutical products at all. Staff at the sanctuary will monitor her and of course treat her mange topically immediately as required.

Once again I am asking questions about how dogs think. There is more to the dog than meets the eye and I know I have so much more to learn about them, my current knowledge and experience is expanding daily and yet still there is more.

To my current thoughts: I have recently adopted another rescue Bull Terrier, a red female called Tallulah which is fateful as Jellybeans’ kennel name was Tallulah Sunrise. Tallulah has a fantastic temperament and I knew as soon as I met her she would fit into our family and would be accepted by my other Bull Terriers. They took to her immediately and in no time at all Tallulah made herself at home running upstairs and sleeping on our beds. Given her history I chose to allow this while she was in transitional period and I could work on retraining her as time goes on.

Tallulah took a few days to settle but her potential as another co-star was obvious so I began planning her re-training. This got scampered by her damaging her knee: not a cruciate injury as suspected but after a week of 10 minutes of exercise a day and strong anti inflammatries the diagnosis from @emersonvets was a sub-luxating patella. Basically her ligaments were not where they should be and I needed to be careful with her exercise. Darn it! Ok so not the end of the world but potentially a problem if she has recurring injuries.

So I altered my plans for her training and decided to film it for prosperity, learning and see if anyone liked it on YouTube. This went quite well until I ran out of handycam discs and had to wait ages for new ones to arrive in the post! A harness with 2 points of contact arrived for her which helped improve her lead walking skills along with my 19 year old daughters’ help and a tube of prawn flavour Primula cheese!

She had no problems meeting other dogs and very quickly learned to leave my cat Lego alone! She did have a rather dangerous habit of running out of open doors and taking herself for a jolly around the neighbours houses over the road. She also had pretty poor recall and still running upstairs every opportunity she could take. All this (aside from the recall which is still on hold while she is in season) has been achieved through positive reward based training, patience and consistency. I’ve had to get to know her and she has had to get to know us as humans and this has been utterly fascinating I will never tire of this feeling when taking in a new rescue dog. The recall training will begin next month and I will try to film it!

I mentioned she is currently in season. Now when my Jellybean was in season my male neutered dog was not in the least bit interested in her often desperate advances. However Koda has paid a lot more interest in Tallulah and even seems more respectful of her than he does with Cassini whom I have always jokingly referred to as his wife. Even Cassini, which by the way is knocking on for 10 years old is keen on Tallulah in this way, so I have to be mindful of how much time I allow them unsupervised as Cassini may hurt Tallulah due to her sheer weight and muscular difference in size to both Koda and Tallulah. I don’t want any more knee injuries and Cassini seems blissfully unaware she is getting tighter in her hips!

There is also the sweet moment the other day. Tallulah had begun humping her duvet (she has thus far got through 2 duvets, a furry dog bed 4 cushions and a dog igloo in her day long humping epics) Tallulah was lying on my rug exhausted and Cassini came up to her, nudged her then sat next to her sniffing her and nudging, even gently pawing at her. My daughter and I found this a tender moment and another demonstration of how empathic dogs can be. I did begin filming but as luck had it she moved away to come and lick me instead.

This raises questions for me:

Do dogs understand if a sick dog is not worth mating with? Is this why Koda would not mate with Jellybean?

Do dogs have favourite housemates (not human) in that do they have predetermined preferences?

Are dogs truly capable of empathy toward each other? I have seen many videos attesting to this as well as the actions of my Jellybean when she was alive.

I’d love to hear thoughts on this!

When I got there I was greeted by a beautiful young  GSD and the owners, including the husband who had taken the day off work which is highly unusual according to the wife. They seemed like kind and decent people, answered all my questions and willing to learn so we got to work immediately by teaching some basic obedience and I even managed to persuade them to use a harness instead of a collar (as this reduces the likelihood of slipping the lead therefore safer). GSD was ball orientated so this was used as the end of session prize and praise was the marker with touch as the reward/reinforcer. The owners were used to +R which made my job ten times easier!

To evaluate his reactivity though I needed to see him in action, so off to the park we went. We began practising lead walking and orientating back to the owners in place of focusing on things around him. It was a quiet park but there were triggers present; workmen, people, dogs loose and on leads, pushchairs and cars coming and going in the car park. He coped brilliantly, he stopped pulling within 5 minutes of entering the park and although he was interested at what was going on around him, he wasn’t freaking. It was a good and positive learning curve for him.

His owners initially hadn’t realised what was happening. They were saying things like “He needs to come on caravan weekends with us and be social” or “He was worse at the beach” It took a while but after explaining that he needed gradual exposure to stimuli and triggers not the flooding he experienced at the beach in order to help desensitise him it finally sunk in. They also realised he was a quick learner and that if they were consistent with the techniques I showed them and followed my advice that he would be easier to handle in time. By slightly tweaking their perception of him and helping them understand his needs as far as training was concerned, they were then able to see the things he could do instead of focusing on his bad points and his past.

The GSD needs on going socialisation help and they will have my support and guidance every step of the way. This is just the beginning. It’s a shame they didn’t listen to the advice given by HH as my job of training him is a little harder now because of this experience he had but at least he is now on the right track.

I wonder though, how many other behaviourists have had similar cases?

Via smell alone?

I ask because I noticed some time ago how my friends’ Bull Terrier Meg would behave oddly (for her anyway) at times by the back gate of the garden. Meg would sniff high into the air, lifting a paw up, crying and whining, sniffing avidly under the gate, pawing the gate and looking and sniffing over the wall to the adjoining driveway where my car was parked.

After a couple of non eventful visits she did it again. It took a few weeks for me to suss out the difference on the days when she acted strangely; my dogs were in the car on the days she cried and sniffed. More specifically, her sister, my sweet Jellybean was in the car. They hadn’t seen each other in 3 years. And the windows were not open in the car either.

The next visit with them in the car I took her into Meg’s garden. She was greeted happily by the other Bull Terriers in residence, her mum Ruby and Harvey. The girls seemed to behave as I would expect dogs to greet each other, excited and enthusiastic. Harvey was a little too interested in showing her his admiration so I popped her back in the car. It was the fastest I have ever seen horizontal Harvey move but I couldn’t allow that!!

My suspicions were confirmed each time I went with or without the dogs. Even different dogs did not provoke the same reaction when they were in my car, even years later. After Jellybean passed away recently it was a couple of weeks before I could bring myself to put them in the car and take them to work. I knew Meg would not react the same. I was right, even though I left the windows open Meg did not seem to be aware her friends were in the car. I knew Jellybean really had gone and that Meg had some connection to her sister, on a hormonal level, one I would doubtfully ever fully understand.