Hi Gang
It’s time for another weekly roundup of the shenanigans that go on over here in my corner of the world.
IMPORTANT - If you are part of the Fun Not Fear® Club, the school is changing on to the new website THIS WEEK.
YOU NEED TO REGISTER ON THE NEW SITE! Drop me a line at freya@freyavlocke.co.uk and I will send you the link to register.
PLEASE COPY ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SAVE FROM THE OLD SITE, INCLUDING YOUR REPORTS AS THEY WILL BE GOING AWAY IN A FEW DAYS.
Ai Cock-up of the week
![An Easter-themed picture featuring a joyful scene with a dog, a chick, and a rabbit celebrating together. The setting is a colorful spring garden filled with blooming flowers, Easter eggs hidden in the grass, and a clear, sunny sky above. The dog, fluffy and friendly-looking, wears a pastel-colored bandana around its neck, symbolizing the festive occasion. The chick, small and yellow, peeks curiously out of an opened Easter egg on the ground. The rabbit, with soft, white fur, is standing on its hind legs, holding a basket filled with decorated Easter eggs. The overall atmosphere is one of harmony and festive cheer, capturing the essence of Easter with a touch of whimsy. An Easter-themed picture featuring a joyful scene with a dog, a chick, and a rabbit celebrating together. The setting is a colorful spring garden filled with blooming flowers, Easter eggs hidden in the grass, and a clear, sunny sky above. The dog, fluffy and friendly-looking, wears a pastel-colored bandana around its neck, symbolizing the festive occasion. The chick, small and yellow, peeks curiously out of an opened Easter egg on the ground. The rabbit, with soft, white fur, is standing on its hind legs, holding a basket filled with decorated Easter eggs. The overall atmosphere is one of harmony and festive cheer, capturing the essence of Easter with a touch of whimsy.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F488a4bea-b448-4678-b8bd-e9513ba4562c_1024x1024.webp)
Fun Not Fear® Journal
This week, I was reminded of a brilliant book, although it has an unfortunate title.
“Don’t Shoot The Dog” by Karen Pryor.
It takes you all through positive reinforcement and using a clicker. Not just for dogs, but for all kinds of animals - and people too.
Twyla tried learning with a clicker as a pup, but she was so excitable that she would go to pieces when presented with it. She also was very good at eating clickers when she could get hold of one. So we put clicker training on hold until she got older and calmed down some.
Granted, had I more time and patience we could have kept going, but with a billion other things going on, it was not so important at that time.
I whipped out the little blue button the other day, along with a pile of fishy smelling biscuits, broken into miniscule morsels, and gave it another go. She, at the age of almost three, is finally calm enough to learn with the clicker and is actually, surprisingly, very good at shaping with it.
The whole point of a clicker is to show the dog the exact second they get something right that will result in a reward. So it can speed up training as it makes it more precise, when the dog can process the click without totally losing their shit every time.
I am planning on teaching her several new things with it, so watch this space.
Have you ever wondered why your dog eats grass? Here is an article about it for your reading pleasure.
![happy girl playing with dogs on ground happy girl playing with dogs on ground](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd9369887-a8bb-4a2c-81c6-e82a23f5f8ce_720x480.jpeg)
Or how about if your dog has a sense of humour? Science would tell us no… but I am not so sure. My gut tells me that some dogs might do. How could we measure if a dog had a sense of what is funny any other way than observation anyway?
Spotted and sharing.
An awesome post, about a cockerpoo’s whining, by Theo Stewart, from her excellent collection of case stories:
https://www.dogidog.co.uk/whining/
My other posts - because I write about other stuff too!
Do Dog Pros Charge Too Much? - Some people might think so, but here I break it down for you exactly why we can’t charge less!
Handy links.
Right then lovelies, have a wonderful Easter - and keep those dogs away from the chocolate (it’s toxic to them)
Warm ’n’ Fuzzies
Freya xx
So glad to see Don't Shoot the Dog listed here! I had such a hard time getting my hands on a copy, but I finally have it and am stoked to read it.
Good read indeed.