A big confidence boost for a little dog

When I first started thinking about moving countries for uni with my dog last summer, I was more than a little concerned about one major issue. Anxiety. At the time, I didn’t see how I could possibly make a long trip, so many panicky situations, and new people any less stressful for my pooch. She’d always had anxiety problems. Looking back now, I was pretty useless. My girl had SO much potential, but I hadn’t even given it much thought in the past, thinking she was a lost cause - how wrong was I?

Then in July I went to see a big agility competition. It was SERIOUSLY impressive, and standing on the edge of that ring I was struck by inspiration. My girl lacked confidence, but had heaps of energy that wasn’t being used up. Agility might just work.
We attended our first class in the soon after, and I was gobsmacked. How is my girly girl THAT good? She was a natural from day one. However, that’s not why I’m writing this post (although she’s a real stunner, believe me!).

Fast forward to this winter, when we’d completed our beginner’s course, taken up canicross, trick training, and flyball. The change in her whole demeanor was not only noticeable, but blatantly obvious. Where I was used to a panicky, yappy, fear-aggressive terrier-mix, this was like a completely different dog. Her eyes lit up at the beginning of each class, as if to say “I’ve got this, let’s do some tricks!”. So what if she still barks, because now it’s out of excitement, not fear (and it’s not as constant – much to the delight of my eardrums!). She’s learned to concentrate, focus on her tasks, and most importantly trust that I’m there and she’s safe.

At the moment we’re doing a test course of various different dog sports and hobbies on top of our weekly agility class, plus trick training at home. When it comes to an active dog like mine, a routine of activities all through the week is incredibly important. It may have required a bit of a lifestyle change on my part, but just watching her learn and improve each day keeps me motivated to keep at it. We’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in just over half a year. My girly girl will make a cool, calm and collected dog for the big move yet, you just wait! :)

Here's our daily practice routine:

• Morning walkies: heeling and basic obedience tasks. I keep treats on me at all times so we can work on passing intimidating things like noisy children, groups of people, snow ploughs, and flagpoles (no, seriously). Funnily enough other dogs don't pose so much of a threat to my girl!
• Breakfast: Obedience and trick training. I do a bit of waiting practice, recall, heeling and a selection of tricks (whatever we’re working on at the time and some she already knows to round the session off) before giving her a chew-stick.
• Midday: I usually spend my day either working on new art or promoting, so between paint layers I’ll get girly girl to do a trick or two. Now we’re also practicing Frisbee catching, so a few “rollers” are now part of this too.
• Afternoon: Working on separation anxiety by setting scent tasks (hiding treats around the room for example) for her to work on while I head off for lunch. This really helps to ease her into being left alone. No more howling while I tie up my shoelaces!
• Evening: Two days a week we’ve got agility and a random other dog class, so that’s the evening sorted. I really recommend trying out a class with your dog, because it’s SO much easier to learn the right way to teach your dog with the help of a qualified handler, plus it’s heaps of fun! ;) 

Ps. My training methods rely solely on positive reinforcement - lots of praise, treats and toys all the way. :)