Group classes for small dogs
Little dogs literally see their world from a very different perspective and it can be quite a scary place for them, and some learn that the best way to manage this is to act as big and scary as they can!
This class is about making things easier for them so that they don’t feel that they have to act so big!
All the skills we train for in this class are the same as those we would teach in our main classes, but with much more emphasis on how we can communicate with little dogs, and making sure we are communicating clearly with them, even when we can often barely see them below our coats and bags, and they are unable to see our faces.
In an open public venue, it will be essential that you are happy to pick your dog up should we have other dogs passing and ‘joining in’ our activities, and this class will not suitable for very nervous dogs who are reactive from a proximity of any more than the width of a street, i.e. if your dog is getting very upset on sight of another dog, or person even if they are on the other side of the road, then we would need to look at some one-2-one sessions first.
Special ‘little dog’ skills you and your dog will learn
- Visual cues: communicating to our dogs with your hands and feet.
- Listening to our dogs: What are they telling us? How we can tell if they need our help
- What your dog should do to keep themselves safe from clumsy human feet
General class content
These classes are aimed at making sure that your dog is safe and responsive to you at all times when you are out and about enjoying walks, and to this end we gear much of each class towards earning our graded badges for each of the ‘big 5’:
- Sit / down stay
- Emergency stop
- Recall from distractions;
- Leave – don’t approach other dogs / food / people
- Lead walking
Each class will also include exercises from various dog sports and projects to work on through the week to build a great repertoire of tricks and skills, and quizzes and discussions to build your knowledge of all things dog.
Little Heroes… what’s behind this?
After passing my IMDT membership exam in 2015*, and with the availability of a small hall that I could use, I designed a class that I hoped would help me understand this common characteristic in little dogs better, and at the same time offer the owners of these little dogs a few tools to help them. With the best will in the world, it can be quite stressful and embarrassing to have a little dog that is literally taking on the world every time you pass another dog or person in the street.
These classes proved very successful, I simply cannot describe the feeling of pride you get when you see a dog walk in to your class completely calm and relaxed, a dog that’s happy and keen to be there, where just a few weeks previously the dog would have been tensed up and trembling and terrified to be anywhere; to see an owner confidently walking past others in the class where before they would be nervously anticipating their dog’s reactivity and apologising in advance.
If you have such a dog please call me now to discuss how we might start to bring about this transformation for you.
Copper
JACK RUSSELL x CHIHUAHUA OWNED BY NICOLA PIC
Diana is an amazing dog trainer!
In
just two sessions she has helped myself and my dog Copper no end. He was a
nervous terrified puppy who would bark and growl at everyone and everything.
With Diana's help he is now becomming a calmer more relaxed dog who trust's me
to keep him safe. He is now beginning to enjoy his walks more too. Would highly
recommend her to anyone who needs help with their 4 legged friend.
Original class poster for 2015