Millie

This stunning young girl is around 2 years old and is waiting to find her new home. She is utterly adorable and will make someone the perfect companion.

It is such a privilege working with her.  

When she arrived in rescue she’d had no training, no manners and absolutely no idea of how big she is!  Even saying “Good girl” to her could send her from zero to 10 in seconds, running towards you and jumping up.

Consistency and calm are key for young dogs. One of the first things we teach puppies is how to be calm. We don’t use cues or “tell” them to be calm, we just reinforce calm behaviour while managing our own body language.

When I first met Millie, I observed she was stressed and over stimulated.  This is often mistaken for hyperactive and over-excitement. We see this a lot in young dogs that have not had any life skills training and have instead, been bombarded with cues to “behave”. Very often we tell dogs to “get down” when they jump up – this can be rewarding for the behaviour and add to the excitement as we become more frantic (or frustrated) about it.  

Millie was quite a stressed girl and you could clearly see the sweaty paw prints in the hall we used for training when we first met her.  This weekend, with new people, there were none. Clever girl Millie.

Traditional obedience training used to say the first thing you should teach your puppy is Sit! Thankfully things have moved on since then and we now teach life skills such as how good it feels to be calm. You can see from the image at the top how Millie clearly learned “Sit”. She offers this without being asked.  Sadly, it did nothing to “calm her down” or help her stress and overstimulation. So often, “obedience” cues are used to correct unwanted behaviour but all they do is use up the tiny bit of self-control the dog has, resulting in a delayed unwanted but more intense behaviour

Millie also pulled like a steam train on a lead when we first met her!  She had never been taught how or where to walk in relation to a person and with her size, was very difficult to manage.

Initial training concentrated on helping Millie be calm. When a dog chooses to do something it always feels so much nicer than being asked to do something. We taught Millie how nice being calm feels and how rewarding it is. We used desensitisation and counter conditioning to stimuli including sounds that could overstimulate her and she has met many students.

Mental stimulation is also key in helping dogs be calm. Dogs need around 14 hours of sleep per day (puppies need more) and quality sleep is essential. Physical exercise will not mentally tire a dog and too much exercise can often lead to dogs feeling physically stressed and overstimulated.

We can provide mental stimulation very easily at mealtimes, using interactive feeding toys instead of a bowl.  Millie also enjoys the challenge of learning something new through shaping. She also enjoys scentwork, using her amazing olfactory system.

This is Millie walking beautifully in a completely new area.

A recall is an essential skill dogs should learn too. Millie can recall even with distractions or being in a new area. Have a look at the following video clips:

Millie loves using a snuffle mat, playing impulse control games or having affection and is very food motivated! Dogs will often become very excited when in kennels when humans come into their enclosure and sit in their bed! Millie remained calm and snuggled in.

Once dogs are calm, look what can be achieved.  This is Millie, walking beautifully with someone she doesn’t really know and who has never handled her before on a walk. Her new handler manages her own body language, does not give any verbal cues and Millie just walks alongside. Fabulous work by her handler and fabulous work by Millie. We can use hand signals and our own body language to let dogs know what we would like them to do. 

Connection is ALWAYS better than control.

She is with RSPCA East Lincs. If you would like a Millie in your life please contact them on this number: 07967565367.