My Dogs, Our Issues

You'll ALWAYS hear me say ALL dogs are different - that phrase couldn't be more true for my two dogs.

Both Labradors are Fox Red in color. Froid, the male on the left, is neutered and around 20 months old, while Yara, the female on the right, is spayed and approximately 13 months old.

You may believe that all Labradors are the same, but you would be incorrect!

Both dogs possess contrasting characteristics, instincts, desires, and require differing levels and techniques within training.

Froid is large for a Labrador, he is equally extremely friendly and social, which presents challenges during training. He is eager to greet everyone and everything, from people to objects like rubbish and plastic bottles. As a result, Froid lacks spatial and environmental awareness, making it nearly impossible to have off-leash adventures with him.

Yara on the other hand is fearful of the world due to past experiences, making her reactive to dogs, people, and food. However, her recall has been excellent since day 1.

When training two dogs in the same home, it is ideal to use consistent cues, phrases, tone, and training frequency to achieve the desired outcome. However, in our household, this is not the case. Yara responds better to a calm tone and longer, more frequent training sessions to boost her confidence and trust in us. On the other hand, Froid requires a firmer tone and clear commands to establish discipline and boundaries due to his curious nature. Both dogs need us to be consistent in meeting their individual needs, albeit in distinct ways.

My point being, all dogs are different even those of the same breed, assessment of a dog and implementation of training will differ greatly from dog to dog depending on their experiences, age, gender, personality type, desires and motivators. For example Yara works best for food incentives and actively enjoys learning new tricks and skills, whilst Froid trains best using toys and games to encourage self discipline in exciting times.

There is always method to my madness, so trust the process!

WHAT ARE YOUR DOGS MOTIVATORS?