How To Train Your Dog In The Woods | The Dog Therapist

Hey everybody, it's Craig at The Dog Therapist. I'm here again today with Jessica and Captain and we've got little Nellie here as well and today what we thought is we'd have a day in the woods today and the reason why we thought we'd have a little bit in the woods is because there's lots and lots of different scents in there. Lots of smells, lots of scents, lots of people, lots of other dogs and we thought this would be a really good test for Captain so we can see how he's going on. Some of that is just running past now so as you can see Captain's a little bit nosy in it. So we thought it'd be a really good test to see how Captain's going on and how he's going to cope with it. What we're going to try today is with the heel workers in the woods. We're going to try and every time that we stop we're going to make that Captain's going to sit down and stop instantly without telling him to sit. So that's the plan today, right? Sounds good, we'll see how we go. I hope you guys enjoy it. Okay guys, what we thought we'd do first is we'd do a little bit of meet and greet with the dogs first. As you can see just by sitting down now dogs are really relaxed. As you can see they're not messing around with each other. So we'll do a little bit of heel work first then we'll go in the woods and then we'll see how we progress. There, yeah, sounds like fun. Okay, how are you? Tight left turn again now, really tight. That's it, well done. I just do that, just turn around, I'm nearly stuck there. Yeah, but you can just let a little pop, yeah. So again another left turn, then we'll do a couple of right turns. Oh yes, good boy Captain. And again another little right turn. Okay, almost. So correct him to sit by the side of how he should be. But one of the important things is if you train for perfection you might get 90-95%. So always train for perfection with your dogs. So we saw them when Captain was just off, if you let that go then he'll then inside his head go, well that's what, I've got away with that a little bit, what else can I get away with? So train for perfection and you might get 95%, yeah. Okay, so what we're doing now is Jessie's going to walk, as you can see we're in the woods, there's loads and loads of different scents in the woods. Not only has there been dogs here but there's been squirrels here and all different animals and badgers and foxes and all that kind of stuff. So there's lots and lots of different scents. So what Jessie's going to do now is she's going to walk up now just so she can see, so everyone can see on this video how good her heel work has really improved. Not to put the pressure on you Jess but this is... Let's go then, come on. I love your scooby-doo, he always does. Look at that, someone's been practising right? Really good, turn him round, that's it, look at the turn, nice turn, and again, that's it, now do a left turn, it says go left turn, that's it, really good, walk through again, how much easier is that now taking for a walk like this. Okay so that's it, get the lead in the right position, that's it, always important, go get that lead right because it's the only thing that communicates with him. So if we do some heel work now and we go over this dead tree we can see here and get him to really properly heel as you go over. Look at that, look how relaxed you are. Almost, would you just let him sniff the floor a little bit, so try again, just let him sniff a little bit too much, that's it, and back again Jess, and then I'll take captain and I'll show you the difference what I mean by letting him sniff. If you come back over, that's it. This is the difference now what I mean by really, really good heel work, where you don't let the dog sniff or get with anything. So captain, heel, good boy, so look, no left hand, walk over, heel, good boy, see how I do a really tight left turn, heel, good boy, over, so his nose doesn't go down with me, see the difference, watch the left turn, heel, oh he's got something stuck to his tail, it's dropped off now, so watch how tight it is, look, heel, so watch the left turn now, look, you see, no touching the lead, heel, over, heel, heel, captain, see the difference, so I don't let that go, I don't let the tiny, tiniest little bit go, yeah, so you've got to make sure that he doesn't get away with anything, yeah, so try again, good boy captain, good boy. Okay, let's go for it this time then, you've got it, you can do it, so just let him know that he can't get away with no nose sniffing, nothing, and then you'll get perfect heel work, then we'll just be, you'll just literally be able to walk and forget you've even got a dog, yep, so you want to, you want to try and find these places where you walk over things, that's it, left turn now, Jeff, so do the left turn like I just did without, without touching the lead, yeah, you can do it, you can do it, that's it, and again, left turn again, it's really tight with the left turn, that's it, it's finding these little places where you can, where, where it's making things awkward for the dog to heel, does that make sense, yeah, it's just making it a little bit awkward for the dog to heel, as in like going over dead trees and things like that, but it doesn't matter where you go over or what you do, the dog should, should really walk perfectly exactly the same, that's it, and again, that's better, now left turn, don't try, try not to touch the lead with your left hand this time, yeah, that's better, so left turn, but don't touch the lead, left turn, right, yeah, see the difference, right, yeah, yeah, that's it, left turn now, oh, that's it, well done, that's it, let him know that he's, that you're in control of him, left turn again, without touching the lead, that's it, Jess, just let him know that you're in control, that you're the boss, and he's just along for the ride, that's it, and much better, right, brilliant, okay, if we try a little bit of recall now, so this is what we did in town the other day, but we're going to do this now in woods, where there's more scents and all that kind of stuff, that's it, that's it, Jess, stop there, go back to him, reassure him, tell him he's a good boy, don't forget that reassurance, yeah, that reassurance is a biggie with dogs when you're doing recall, that's it, now walk, tell him to stay, that's it, now call him, don't forget you've got a treat under your thumb, that's it, well done captain, good boy, good lad, so you were confident then, yeah, I can see the confidence in you, you felt confident as you did that then, that's it, practice, practice, practice, okay, let's try another recall, so don't forget the golden rules of recall is, we tell him to stay, you move away, you go back, that reassurance, that's it, time is a good boy, on this one now, walk about twice the distance away, you've just done, that's it, treat under your thumb, that's it, that'll do, that'll do, that'll do, that'll do, that'll do, so tell everyone about that then, because could you have done this two weeks ago, especially in the woods, because like I say, there's so many more distractions and smells, and this is where he just doesn't hear me all the time, this is where we walk daily, yeah, yeah, and yeah, and the last thought in his head, so that is amazing, that was great right, yeah, I couldn't have done that yesterday, never mind, so, so what, what do you think then has changed, how, how now, how now, how you, you can do it now, in you, I'm captain, I think it's knowing the technique, and having the confidence to just put my confidence in him as well, and he's starting to listen to me a lot more, but the technique definitely works, whereas not knowing what you're doing, and just trying to do it, yeah, it doesn't get you anywhere, so yeah, my confidence has grown loads, and he's helping me grow that confidence, that's the key right, I mean there's, there's literally a technique to everything, I mean there's, there's even a technique, I know this sounds crazy, but just to open the dog's mouth if he's picked up something that they shouldn't have in the mouth, there's a technique to do that, I mean there's a technique for everything with dogs, and if you don't know a technique, then you, you can like be fumbling around, trying to do all these things, and you make a mess of it, the dog doesn't understand, you don't communicate well with the dog, and next thing you know, you've got a dog that's running off, and doing all, all weird and wonderful things, you listen to people that don't really know, but just because it worked on their dog, they try to tell you, and it's, yeah, exactly, exactly, what we're gonna do this time is, we're gonna do some heel work now with, with Jess and Captain again, and every time we stop, this is a really good thing for you guys to get into the habit of, and the habit is, when you stop, your dog will automatically stop, and the reason why you want to do this is, is let's say you're coming to a road, and all of a sudden the car comes out of something from nowhere, and you just stop, the dog then will stop, it's not gonna get run over, so it's, it's a really good safety thing to do, so if you practice now, going up and down, and let's see if we can just get him to just stop without, without you saying anything, and get him to sit down, but, but, so you need to, need to like, you need to be powerful over him, without, yeah, you can do it, you can do it, you say nothing, you just stop, and if you sit down for it, yeah, so do a left turn, that's it, and if you stop now, I reckon you'll just sit, let's try again, so, so, so next time when you do the lead, and time to sit, and he'll get the gist of it then, tell him heel, that's it, good boy captain, round again, now a little tug on the lead, tell him sit, good boy, good boy, okay, left turn, now just stop, and I think he will sit, no, never mind, time to sit now, pop the lead, tell him sit, good boy, lots of force when he does it, that's it, good thing is though, he's not messing around, he's not, he's not moving anyway, he's standing still, yeah, he's just, he's not focusing on you, that's the difference, yeah, you've got it, so same again, if we stop, see if he'll do it, oh, we've got it, good boy, and again Jess, if you walk forward, do a left turn, left turn, he's got another twig on his bum again, it's gone, it's gone, it's fell off, that's it, get him back under your control again, now stop, let's see if he'll sit down, good boy, good boy, captain, heel, let's see if captain will do it now for me, and when I stop, let's see if he'll stop, heel, heel, okay, good boy, heel, heel, good boy, so what can you see I'm doing differently, what is it you can see that I'm doing, you're towering over him when you start, so I'm kind of like showing dominance over him, but without saying anything, so it's, so you're sort of getting his attention before he even, before you sort of stop, okay, there you go, yeah, let me show you again, see what I'm doing, yeah, yeah, okay, so you saw what I did, yeah, without saying anything, his bum pops down, so you can do it, yeah, you see what I did, you can do it, okay, so let's try now, seeing what I've just done, let's see if you can do it, because it's a really good safety feature for your dog, and it also means they're even more in control as well, than with, yeah, yeah, let's have a go, see if you can do it, okay, so he sat, okay, but what, it wasn't what you wanted perfect, but he's done it, so he's getting there, so turn around, as soon as you turn around, take a couple of paces and stop, that's it, big praise, big praise, okay, and again, let's try it, good boy, but he's, if we go back three weeks, the difference where he is now, I was like, unbelievable, so this is, it's, this is all new to you, it's all, it's all brand new training, and it's getting it in his head, getting your head, and getting the technique right, and it's the same as anything, some things take a little bit of time to learn, right, yeah, so you can really tower over him, yeah, and get a lot bigger, yeah, yeah, what we're going to do is, we're going to do a nice recall now with, with Captain, but we're going to do it now in the bracken, when you're in bracken, there's lots and lots of scents in bracken, obviously he's going to want to put his nose down, and he's going to want to sniff, and do all things like that, so it's all about getting his attention, you walk over here, go back, reassurance, call him, thumb over the treat, and walk back with the, with the, with the treat, and going to recall, yeah, you can do it, that's it, that's it, yeah, and then you walk back to him, this time as you walk away to him, come this way though, come this way, and come back down there, the reason being, it's an easier path for him to come through, that's it, if you walk away now Jess, that's it, get your treat, okay, call him now Jess, call him, call him, what a good boy, how good was that, really good, his nose didn't go down at all, that was brilliant, because normally when your dogs are in bracken, all they want to do is sniff what's going on inside, you know, in the bracken, there's that many smells of, of all the animals, and yeah, because obviously you imagine there's like mice in there, there's all, I mean fox have been there, badgers, and all that many different, I mean, because this is a huge woods isn't it, I mean, if people can't, can see, I mean this is it's a massive woods, I mean this woods goes on for miles doesn't it, yeah, so yeah, he did really well though, okay guys, we've come to the end of this session, I hope that you've learned some little tips and tricks, that you can take into your dog's training, especially into the woods, because obviously there's way more different scents and things in the woods, tell everyone what we've learned today, what do you think's changed today, I think his repose has improved massively, especially within this sort of surrounding, because this is where, as I say, I have the most trouble, we come here daily, and I can't get him to do that at all, and it's just me and him, so that's a massive improvement, and I think obviously, like you say, with the sitting on command, or without me even having to command him, I definitely need to practice that, but it is like you say, a good one to know, because of safety reasons, it doesn't make you like, you've been doggling, you don't know what you're thinking, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah, massively, yeah, especially if you see a dog, even if it's an aggressive dog, you can stop, he'll stop, and it just makes things so much easier, if there's cars going by, it just makes life much easier, you get your dog to stop, at times you stop, yeah, definitely, so I'll definitely be practicing that one, but yeah, even trying to just nail his heel work, with all the smells and distractions, I knew it was going to be a challenge, yeah, but he's actually done really well, he's done really good, yeah, he's done really good, I mean, from when we first started, I mean, this is the fifth episode, I think this is, so, so, when we first started from day one, I mean, I mean, could you imagine, on the first episode, if we came here, and you let go to leave, what would have happened? Oh, we would have been gone, we'd have gone, yeah, first, we're all first in dog handling, you would have been away, what about me and you chasing him? Okay, guys, I hope you enjoyed this video, if you like it, obviously, give us a thumbs up, give us a like, give us a subscribe, and don't forget, there's loads and loads of different ways that we can help, just pop over to thedogtherapist.co.uk, we do group classes, we do one-for-ones, we do behavioural workshops, it's endless, so, guys, we shall see you all on the next video, look after yourselves, and stay safe, bye!