Calibre K9

20/05/2026

19/05/2026

Impulse control is one of the most important skills to teach your dog. It is one way of training your dog to engage with you when in a state of high arousal. For dogs that are genetically reactive, this is a critical skill to maximise wellbeing and quality of life.

18/05/2026

Shawn doing an excellent job with Hugo on a long sit and stay with distractions! Great job!

18/05/2026

It’s so nice to see Hugo the Cockapoo and Shawn doing a brilliant job keeping engaged and focused in the presence of a very close high level distraction. This would not have been possible a few weeks ago, so credit has to be given to the time and effort put in by them! Steve is also doing a great job keeping Hugo the Working Spaniel engaged in being calm and attentive close by which is a great effort from Hugo!

06/05/2026

Steve and Hugo the working Spaniel should be proud of the progress they have made. Before if Hugo was not 100% lured past a dog, he would lunge and incessantly bark until he was moved away. He would also incessantly bark when performing any type of obedience. With the introduction of the clicker, Hugo is now considerably calmer and has progressed to practically zero barking within close proximity to other dogs.

Clicker training is a good method for some dogs. Hugo had to do strong foundation work before introducing this tool, or it would have had the opposite effect. At Calibre K9, we don’t expect your dog to fit in with the needs of our training syllabus - we create a syllabus of training that fits the needs of your dog.

06/05/2026

Shawn and Hugo doing a great job with distance engagement and obedience. Hugo is now so much calmer around other dogs, it’s so nice to see this progress.

22/04/2026

This is so nice to see. A few weeks back, Loki was a struggle to walk down the street and was in a continuous cycle of reacting to his environment. Gemma has understood what was needed with him and put in the work. The result is a calm engaged dog. Great job!

05/04/2026

Drive Building part 2 - we can now start adding greater levels of impulse control and obedience into the interaction. You can see at the end, Loki chooses to interact with me when he has control of the source (bite tug). He is making a positive choice to continue the interaction and beginning to understand that his needs are met through the handler, and not by reacting to his external environment. This is still part of the foundation stage and Loki is progressing brilliantly - this is great to see.

05/04/2026

Drive Building part 1 - this is an important part of giving Loki the correct genetic outlet. As well as increasing desire for the source (bite tug), we subtly start to add impulse control and obedience - in this instance asking him to sit and wait for a few seconds before engaging him. This is the foundation of recall training for a dog with his characteristics.

05/04/2026

The two Hugo’s are here again helping each other. Steve is doing a great job with Hugo the Spaniel’s reactivity by keeping him engaged and focused whilst Shawn does a lovely job loose lead walking Hugo around him - great work!

05/04/2026

Loki had progressed really well with his impulse control when people get close to him. It’s clear that his handlers have invested time into practicing which is great to see!