Laycee's Training Planner

...Laycee gets overly excited and begins to bark and mouth people's fingers.

This is a sign that Laycee is too excited and overly emotional. Mouthing and nibbling is a way to release that over-excitement.

...Laycee begins to feel uncomfortable and starts to howl and whine.

Howling and whining can be a product of anxiety and fear. This is an innate behaviour that is completely normal for anxious dogs.

Laycee fixates and wants to chase the cat.

This is natural for a lot of breeds and younger ages of dogs. We can help satiate this impulse with games, impulse control and enrichment.

Scavenger Hunts also known as the 'Find It!' game, is great for redirecting dog's attention and calming them down. You can experiment with different foods such as; kibble, various treats, dog-safe fruits and veggies; whatever Laycee loves! Simply scatter 3 or 4 treats onto the ground and allow her to find them by herself. If HE/SHE are not too interested, or missed a treat, you can encourage her further by looking for the treat yourself - using your body language to show that there's something interesting on the floor! You can also circle the air above the treat, giving Laycee a hint as to where to look. The aim is to allow Laycee to find things by herself, so make sure to give her time to thoroughly search. (Please be aware that treats may roll or bounce in roads! Be mindful of where you scatter your treats!)

Creating a schedule can be a big help when trying to meet Laycee's energy requirements. Planning out your week with a mix of relaxing days and higher levels of acvtivites. This allows you to know where your dog is at mentally (and in some contexts emotionally too!) Plan your week to include calming and relaxing activities such as; chew time, snuffle time, petting sessions, skipping this walk and just be lazy this afternoon, low-intensity play like gentle fetch or have a slow sniffy walk for a short distance, indoor hide and seek. Adding some fun high-intensity in the mix such as; agility, running together, long distance fetch, swimming, tug of war, doggy day care or doggy social groups for doggy play time. High intensity activities should be followed by some rest or calming activities and should not be continous across multiple days. Have plenty of relaxing breaks in between the high intensity activities. This will help Laycee's return adrenaline levels back to their base as well as emotional and physiological recovery.

• Scavenger Hunts
• Create A Schedule

Puzzle Toys are great tools in your toolkit to boost confidence, problem solving skills and independence. There are various shapes, sizes, mechanisms and difficulties; some are designed for nuzzling and some are paw or mouth orientated (such as buttons or levers to pull, which are more advanced.) Explore different options and see what Laycee enjoys.

Scent Work Games are perfect for dogs who love to scent and track things. Not only is it a great boredom-busting activity (which is also super fun!) but it's perfect for calming down, boosting confidence, independence as well as increasing your communication skills! Scent Work Games can be done with finding treats, certain toys or even household items (such as your keys or wallet!). Similar to the Find It Game, you can teach Laycee to find a treat that's hidden somewhere in the house (giving clues when needed) with practice Laycee will become better at identifying different scents and tracking them. As Laycee progresses, you can start to hide her toys, asking her to find that certain toy on cue. It's a fun game for both owners and their dogs! When you're finished playing the game, you can give a cue to mark the end, such as "All Done!" or "Enough."

• Puzzle Toys
• Scent Work Games

When Laycee opens their mouth to mouth/bite/nibble, calmly fold your arms and say, 'Enough'. When Laycee is calm, return to playing or fussing, when Laycee opens their mouth again, fold your arms repeating the same cue. Quickly Laycee will realise that teeth stops their play time or fuss time.

• There are no tools required for this, just consistency and patience.

Change up your routine before you leave. If you have a routine of grabbing your keys, shoes, jacket; change it up! Try; keys, sit on the sofa, shoes, grab a drink, jacket, sit at the dining table. The more random the routine, the less anxious Laycee will be.

• Tools are not really necessary for this but props will be perfect! Any items you use in your usual routine can be used.

To help keep everyone safe you can use stair gates to block access and keep a buffer between both parties. If access can not be managed, you can keep Laycee on a long line, though this may cause more frustration than it's worth. You can also stagger walks and feeds, preventing all animals feeding at the same time and/or preventing Laycee from seeing the cats enter the home for food by taking Laycee for a walk during this time. For the cats, I highly recommend plenty of cat trees, cat shelves and other platforms to create a safe space for them. Cats naturally feel safeer high up and may be an easier management solution.

• Prevent access; stair gates, keeping doors closed, x-pens. Dog based management; long line, enrichment toys, stagger walks and feeds. Cat based management: cat trees, cat shelves, climbing posts, hammocks.

When playing with Laycee, if Laycee opens their mouth ready to mouth or nibble, fold your arms and end play. When Laycee has calmed down, start another play session. Quickly Laycee will realise that mouthing will stop the fun, so Laycee will hold back their impulse to mouth.

No tools are really needed, just consistency and praise.

Provide Laycee with various enrichment acitivies to do safely when alone. Provide these activities and quietly walk out of the room. This will help Laycee associate being alone with positive emotions and experiences.

Safe enrichment toys, hidden treats, calming music can be used.

'Leave It', with the aim of ignoring cats, will need lots of regular, consistent practice. Small baby steps and you'll get there!

Patience. Treats. Toys. Lure Pole.

Laycee is still a very young pup who is still learning about the world around her, whilst managing her high-energy levels and growing her understanding and confidence. There's a lot going on for Laycee right now! Laycee enjoying playing whilst using her teeth, which is normal for a puppy but needs to be addressed before it becomes a habit. Laycee also struggles being on her own, especially at night, which can be a struggle for many puppies. With her high energy and curiosity, Laycee struggles to remain calm when she sees Maude, which should be addressed to allow Maude to feel more comfortable to walk around the house.

With added enrichment, mental activity and some ground rules, we can set Laycee up for success! Management will help to increase Laycee's confidence, independence, critical thinking skills as well as keeping her calm! 

We can teach Laycee certain cues and the situational contexts of when to listen to those cues. By taking small steps, we can provide Laycee with a solid foundation to build up her skills around play, being on her own and remaining calm when she sees Maude. We can also teach her general puppy skills to boost communication and trust between Laycee, Maude and their owners!

We don't want Laycee to be a robot dog - we want her to be herself whilst using her critical thinking skills to understand what's appropriate and what isn't - whilst providing her with plenty of options to satiate her needs and wants as a dog! We want to set Laycee up for success to be a confident, calm and patient adult dog, with clear communication and trust - with plenty of smiles and wagging tails!