New Milton Advertiser 15th Jan 2021

Friday 15th January 2021 · 21 News

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G oodDog with JasminMason Home schooling pet pupils

Our monthly series offering tips and advice on keeping your pooches happy and healthy

HERE we are again – another lockdown! To make this lockdown as easy breezy as possible for you and your dogs, we thought we would share our ideas on doggy home-schooling. At the moment, access to dog training is a little bit limited with in-person classes unavail- able. You may feel like you’ve been left to your own devic- es and you might not be sure where to start. Google is a complete mine- field and the advice you may find on training is not always appropriate or useful. So how can we still ensure that our dogs are getting the best learn- ing possible? Online advice Many trainers are now work- ing online and delivering les- sons and advice via Zoom – this is the future! A number of people feel that online support may not be helpful, but there are plenty of advantages of working online. Online classes allow you to work from the comfort of your own home, free of distractions. Particularly for puppies with a short attention span, this is very important as it allows you to master the foundations before having a go in more challenging environments and also allows you to receive feedback for at- home skills such as settling on a mat, counter surfing or jumping up. Formorecomplexbehavioural issues, Zoom consultations can allow your trainer to observe your dog’s behaviour without

Information Tel: 07935 912687 www.paragondogs.co.uk www.facebook.com/paragon dogs1 A little bit of time each day spent bonding with our pets, training them, or learning more about them can create transfor- mation over a number of weeks. If you are struggling with your dog’s behaviour, contact us on 07935 912687 or email jake@ paragondogs.co.uk to discuss how we can help. provides simple illustrations and information that will help you to read your dog’s body language. In fact, this is a must for any dog owner! For dogs struggling with separation anxiety, take a look at Be Right Back by Julie Na- ismith and for those who are frightened or frustrated by the outside world, take a look at Essential Skills for Your Grow- ly But Brilliant Family Dog, by Beverley Courtney. There really is so much out there, and whilst I know a lot of us are feeling disheartened and afraid in the current climate, we can try and make the most of a frankly rubbish situation and learn to better understand our canine companions and help them to become the best they can be. super

having an impact on them. This is the recommended way of working on separation anxiety, generalised anxiety, and some reactivity-based issues. If you are worried about getting your puppy off on the right foot, or want to look at your dog’s behavioural issues before they get worse, then find a qualified trainer or behaviourist to work through these with you. Log onto YouTube You can find practically any information on YouTube! The same is the case for dog training. There are videos aplenty on teaching new behaviours, addressing behavioural issues or resolving training problems. However, just like google there can be lots of bad information out there. Generally, we would only recommend using YouTube for finding videos on teaching new behaviours, teaching new tricks or finding fun games to boost your dog’s life skills. Not everyone has appropriate advice to share which is why it’s important to only check out trainers who are qualified, and share training advice based on positive, harm-free methods. YouTube channels such as Kikopup, McCann Dogs, and the School of Canine Science are a fantastic place to start. Avoid trainers who base their work on “dominance” and use punishment, no matter how flashy or impressive their results may look, as these methods are outdated and have many potential negative impacts on your dog and your relationship with them. This information should also be considered when searching for a trainer to support you online. As with anything you may read or see on the internet, take it with a pinch of salt! Whilst waiting for in-person classes and activities to start up again, it can be a fantastic resource to keep you and your dog busy so long as you’re mindful as to what you’re watching. Management One thing we definitely don’t want is any training issues get- ting worse during this time. To prevent that, where possible we need to limit rehearsal of un- wanted behaviours. If your dog is one that runs off to other dogs and doesn’t come back, it’s important to keep them on the lead. If your dog steals food from the dining room table, pop them behind a baby gate or in another room. If your dog constantly barks

It’s important not to let training issues relax during lockdown

Easy Peezy Doggy Squeezy, also by Steve Mann, or Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson.

If you own a slightly more “challenging” dog, one of the best things you can do is learn

to read their body language and understand their behaviour. Lili Chin’s Doggie Language

at passers-by from the house, keep the front room curtains closed or keep your dog in the back of the house. These ideas are not going to magically fix the problem, sure – but it may make your life a little bit easier! What’s critical is that our dogs over the next couple of weeks are not consist- ently practicing the kinds of be- haviours that we perceive to be less than desirable. We all know practice makes perfect! The less ingrained these un- wanted behaviours are, the quicker and easier it will be to resolve them when you’re in a position to receive training sup- port. Training books If you’ve got some extra time on your hands, it’s the perfect opportunity to delve into some training books. Once again, it’s important to make sure that you’re reading the right information as there are many books out there which are well out of date. If you’ve recently brought home a puppy, check out Steve Mann’s Easy Peezy Puppy Squeezy. For slightly older dogs or those of you who have welcomed a rescue dog, it’s time to feast your eyes upon

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Training can be delivered online

Newmanifesto for a modern world Help Yourself Caroline Cousins on how to adapt to a quickly evolving way of living

WHAT a year 2020 has been, and thank goodness it’s nearly over! Whilst many will breathe a big sigh of relief, thoughts also turn to what ‘delights’ 2021 has in store. According to many astrologers, we are now within the new 2,150-year-old cycle of the Age of Aquarius, which has heralded a phase of making in- formation available, increased communication and transpar- ency, away from the Piscean Age of power and hierarchy. Why do I mention this? Well, because whether you believe in the mathematical science of astrology or not, there’s no denying the world is changing vastly, and old and perhaps worn-out structures are crum- bling and new ways of being are emerging. For those of us who are stuck in old and routine ways of liv- ing, this can be challenging. We thought this whole pan- demic situation would have been done and dusted by now but we’ve been forced to alter our ways of being and live in a more digitalised, and some- what isolated, society. This has brought up many deep emotions in people this year as social contact has been at a minimum. So in this rapid and ever-changing world, what happens next? We had the unprecedented case of the president of the United States refusing to con- cede the election, new rules coming in on Brexit, and a vi- rus that is still lingering. Like all transformations, they are rarely a pleasant and

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ised views in the world as to what is happening and where we are going, but that is no bad thing. People are ques - tioning decision makers and exercising their voice in peace- ful protests and building quiet revolutions. One thing is certain. We can- not continue as we have be- fore as we enter into 2021. The world is a constantly evolving environment and we have to make changes locally and na- tionally, as well as within our- selves, to create a sustaining and healthy world for genera- tions to come. It is the people that create the world. We are empowered individuals that can come to- gether as one voice. Now, more than ever, we are being afford- ed an opportunity to create a new manifesto for a modern world. We no longer need to rely on hope but to embody creation and empower ourselves in the process.

easy experience and, as we ‘detox’ our collective world, so toxins are shed into the sys- tem to be released and extra- dited allowing for a purer and healthier system to emerge behind it. Those familiar with the work of Dr Joe Dispenza (The Pow- er of the Placebo) will tell you that “hope is a beggar”. What we are being asked to do now is to embody a new way of being. We have to collective- ly create what we want to see in the world and “the creative process is not about hoping, wishing, waiting, wanting, trying or looking… it is about embodying and becoming your creation”. To rely on old ways of wait- ing to be told or handing over our power to authorities, as in the past, is a denial of our own individual and collective pow- er to create the kind of world we wish to inhabit – both inter- nally and externally. Right now, there are polar-

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