RB Canine Academy

23/01/2025

Dogs have never been more colourful.

And with a new study claiming that 99% of dogs now have some level of behavioural issue, the amount of colours they wear based on if they’re a rescue or need space is ridiculous.

I shouldn’t have to buy specific leads or collars or even full training jackets for you to mind your own business.

Dogs are not public property and if they are out in public it does not make it ok for you to approach them directly.

If you would like to interact with them, the first place you should be talking is to the owner to find out anything about the dog and to be polite in acknowledging the handler exists.

Then you can ask for permission. No is a perfectly good answer. If you get the answer No, DO NOT then proceed to talk directly at the dog.

Eye contact is intimidating and threatening to dogs and giving them your best babying voice also doesn’t help it, you are making it worse.

Please respect dogs in public spaces, you don’t have a given right to touch them whenever you want, just like it would be weird to do that to a human.

Respect dogs and their space

20/11/2024

The adverts are part of the problem.

You see owners fit their trackers and the dog just runs off because it’s ok you can always find where they are.

The only way you should let your dog off lead is if they come back the first time, every time under all distractions. That includes other dogs, wildlife and people.

If they don’t have that ability then there are things to work on.

The tracker is not a substitute for good training. It should be used to keep track of your dogs fitness and health as well as being a last resort for if your dog does happen to get lost.

Don’t let your dog become another statistic for dog fatalities and dog become a news item by not being able to get them back and ending up clogging up a major roadway.

Recall always is a priority

20/10/2024

Your dog was bred with something in mind.

Spaniels are built to flush and have a taste for retrieving birds.

Your terrier was made for high prey drive and will love to chase small furry animals and play tug and shake things.

Your German Shepherd will be defensive and act suspiciously around new things.

If you fail to give your dog purpose they will become a slave to their genetics and just go through the motions.

Now, it’s all well and good me saying you should give them purpose but how do we do that? We do our best to provide fulfilment for the things they are for.

We play tug and give an outlet for our terriers and shepherds. We do retrieval work and fetch for our labradors and retrievers. We do scent work for our spaniels.

By giving our dogs an outlet related to their genetics we give them purpose to act on what is natural. If you aren’t doing it, then that’s probably going to be a reason they’re struggling.

26/09/2024

13/09/2024

DOG TRAINING 101

This course is for any and all ages that wish to learn about dogs so bring your pad and pen and your listening ears so that you can take away the most amount of information possible!

An affordable workshop open to anyone whether they have a dog or not.

We will be going through all the important educational aspects of understanding dogs and then putting that into practice with dogs provided for you to work with!

YOU DO NOT BRING YOUR DOG TO THIS WORKSHOP!!!!

NOVEMBER 16TH - 10:30am -3pm - OAKHAM

Current clients - £50 per person
New clients - £75 per person

10/07/2024

It is impossible to avoid stress.

This does not mean we throw our dogs into the lions den with every fear they’ve ever had. But it does mean that exposing them to the things they’re scared of is important, even if it is distressing for them.

Being scared of the bins we cannot run away from, they should be encouraged to investigate and overcome those fears.

If they have are scared of the lead or even being introduced to lead pressure they cannot be taught that having a fit and tantrum is going to work.

Work them through it, and even if it distressing for them you know it will benefit them in the long run.

The ethics of welfare span the entire life span of the dog, not just in the moment. If a few moments of discomfort or stress to get a dog out of a hole and into a better life for their remaining years,

Absolutely I will do it every time so that dogs world is open to the maximum it can be.

29/06/2024

Why is it your business?

Unless someone is specifically asking for your advice then you don’t give it.

Sometimes that’s really hard coming from a professional point of view because we want to correct misinformation or fix things before they get too far.

The difficult bit about it is that people need to want to be helped in order to be helped.

People do not take well to you just interjecting and trying to fix their problems when they didn’t ask. It’s rude, and makes them feel like they aren’t trying because you’re just telling them they could be doing someone else to be better.

Your opinion is not needed if it isn’t asked for. You are going to have that opinion anyway but that doesn’t mean it needs to come out of your mouth.

If people want help, they will ask, if people do not ask, keep it to yourself, or tell someone else if you feel the need to share it.

It’s unwarranted advice. You’re not being their saviour by commenting on their instagram reel about how their training is going so well and offering your opinion on how you did it with your dog. They didn’t ask.

If it’s an open conversation and they are welcoming advice, that’s your cue to start typing.

22/06/2024

Always be the student.

There seems to be this thing where people who train a specific way think they just know more or know everything someone else does which is a ridiculous notion.

Everyone has the ability to learn from someone else due to different perspectives and different learning styles.

To say you cannot learn anything from someone because they consider themselves more educated detaches yourself from reality and the ability to learn from any given situation.

Everyone has something to offer so it is important to listen and understand the perspective someone comes from.

Now in the end you maybe not agree, but at least you had the ability to learn how someone else might think and view a situation and have a healthy conversation.

There is no dialogue in training anymore. It’s “I know more” or “I would never train that way so I must be better”. No one has their ears open anymore and the only thing that suffers are the dogs.

Listen more, talk less

12/06/2024

No one gets to tell you how to raise your dog.

If your dog is thriving outside and inside and everywhere in between, why are you letting people tell you how to raise and care for your dog.

You know your dog better than anyone else. You know their needs and their personality. Captain Karen on Facebook then comments ‘you’re abusing your dog’ when clearly your dog is happy then you don’t need to listen to them.

I don’t care about how you train your dog as long as the dog thrives. You can train them force free, positive only, balanced and whatever you want to call it. The priority is the happiness and overall welfare of your pet.

The people that are not truly invested in the dogs well being are the people who see a happy dog, then hear about how you train them and then say you’re abusing the dog.

If the welfare of the dog is the most important thing then the way they’re trained is irrelevant. If the way they’re trained overpowers the welfare of the dog then they don’t care about the welfare of the dog, just their personal feelings and motives.

07/06/2024

Dogs are not being treated like dogs

It’s unbelievable that I have to type this. Your dog is a dog. It’s not a human. It’s a dog. It has different needs to us. We are not the same.

We have spent 40,000 years selectively breeding dogs for specific purposes in specific environments. Only over the last 100 years have people now started to want just a chill sofa dog that isn’t going to do a lot.

No wonder we have so many behavioural problems when people are getting Border Collies and not providing an outlet for their genetics.

Dogs need to be provided with the needs they were bred for. It is selfish to want your dog to do what you want without providing anything back in return.

As much as you think they’re your child or you’re a pawrent, it is essential that you still treat your dog as such in order to give them the best life possible.

This means providing structure, discipline, fulfilment as well as the cuddles you want. You don’t get to give the love and cuddles without the boring stuff that comes with it.

29/05/2024

I say this all the time it’s one of the phrases I say constantly.

A job does not mean sending your dog off to work out in a field. It means you give instructions to your dog to concentrate on. That can mean a sit stay, a duration place command or even just lying down wherever they are.

Giving a job just means giving your dog something to do. Dogs without instruction and that are not in learning and listening mode, go into freelance and choose their own jobs to occupy themselves.

This usually results in bratty, destructive and sometimes even dangerous behaviours that they just like doing. It can also send them into an anxious and insecure mindset if they lack the direction needed to build their confidence.

Give your dog instructions, give them direction, and they will become your employee and not open up a rival business on your own patch.