Dogs Made Easier

Understanding Your Dog's Needs  Have you ever wondered why your dog might struggle to stay calm or listen to you?  It could be that some of their basic needs aren’t fully met. Dogs, like humans, thrive when their physical, emotional, and social needs are understood and met. It’s one of the first things I cover with new clients and I use a model inspired by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is typically shown as a pyramid-shaped framework that explains what humans need to feel safe, happy, and fulfilled. And while dogs aren’t humans, they have similar layers of needs that can help us understand how to care for them better.  By meeting these needs you begin to build trust, reduce their reactivity, and improve your dog’s behaviour. The Maslow’s Pyramid for Dogs 1. Physiological Needs At the base of the pyramid are the most basic needs: food, water, and rest. If a dog is hungry, thirsty, or overtired, it will be harder for them to focus or stay ca...

How a game of ‘Spot The Dog’ stopped my dog’s reactivity When it comes to training our dogs or dealing with dog reactivity, I've found that the thing that has the biggest impact is when we shift our mindset.  We can follow all the training techniques but if our mindset is still stuck in blame, shame, concern and worry, we are not performing at our best or able to help our dogs in the best way possible. So the ability to shift into a more positive mindset has made the biggest impact in resolving my own dog's reactivity. That's how a game of ‘Spot The Dog’ not only changed my dog from reactive to friendly, but improved my abilities and confidence as well.  It helped me shift my mindset so I didn't panic when we saw dogs. Back then, as soon as I saw a dog, my initial thought was ‘Oh No!’ because I knew my dog’s reactivity was like an explosion.  It was so bloody embarrassing!   What made it worse for me was being a dog trainer who specialises in improving dog behaviour,...

(Quote attributed to Wayne Dyer) I came across this quote a little while after I had adopted my dog, Jasmin, and at the time I had been really struggling with her reactive behaviour. We had been doing training from day-one and going to classes, but things just weren't improving. I don't know where I came across this quote, but the words really struck me. When I changed the way I was looking at it, a change would happen! This intrigued me. Ok, I thought, so, if I change the way I looked at her behaviour, her behaviour would change!? Hmm, what if instead of looking at why SHE was doing this behaviour, and driving me nuts and why the training wasn't working, I looked at WHY she was doing this behaviour. Rather than focusing on her outward displays of behaviour, I started to look at, find out and learn about the underlying reasons of her behaviour. I wanted to understand WHY my dog was behaving the way she was, as well as why the traditional training techniques I...