Part of what makes us here at Hopeful Hounds different is that our team have experience working with behavioral cases and every dog we work with gets at least one month of one to one training with our professional team before they get rehomed!
Although every dog we work with is different and there will be different goals for all of them, there are always several things we aim to teach all of the dogs we work with in order to create strong foundations and set them up for success in the rehoming process.
So during this time, what are the three main things we teach all of our dogs and why?
1. Following their handler on a loose lead
We don't expect every dog, especially the more nervous ones, to walk in a beautiful heel command for the entirety of their walks and for some dogs, this is just too much of an ask especially early on in their journey. What we do teach them, is how to trust and follow the handler they are working with whether that be on a short lead or on a longline. We teach all of our dog's a 'let's go' which means to follow the person who you are working with and teaching this helps to not only build relationship but also the foundations to much of the other training you'll use in your every day life, especially out and about. This teaches connection, engagement and will build the foundation for loose lead walking and recall too - having a good follow command is about more than just teaching your dog to follow!
2. Crate training
All of our dogs are crate trained when they come to us as we firmly believe that crate training is an important skill for all dogs to learn even if they don't use it regularly when they get rehomed. Crate training is more than just locking your dog into a crate and hoping they'll be okay with it though. We spend lots of time with our dogs making them comfortable, building positive associations and making their crate a safe space for them to relax, rest and take space if they need it. For nervous dogs, this can be a safe space for them to relax from things that worry them, for other it is a place they can fully switch off without worrying about missing out on life. Although not everyone agrees with crate training, we have seen that is has been incredibly beneficial especially to help more nervous dogs settle and relax. It's also an important thing to teach as you never know when your dog may end up injured or needing to go to the vets and be in a crate for their own safety. Dogs who aren't crate trained prior can find this incredibly stressful and it can actually make the healing process take longer because of the heightened stress. So we teach all of our dogs to be comfortable in a crate and if they never use that skill again once they leave us - that's great! However, if they need to be in a crate for whatever reason, they are already much happier and more comfortable as they've had the prior training to help them!
3. Calmness around other dogs and people
Another super important skill is the ability to simply be calm around other people and dogs! Though we don't expect our dogs to completely ignore other dogs and people and not ever get excited at all, we do like to teach them that they don't always need to say hello to everyone that they are near. Teaching calmness means that our dogs new owners will be able to go out to fun places together with their new dog and explore the world together! This helps with teaching our dogs to engage with the person they are working with and also to greet other people and other dogs calmly and respectfully which is another really important skill. Teaching calmness early on means you'll have an easier dog to manage in more challenging situations and helps to create a well balanced and sociable dog! They absolutely do get to say hello to new people and dogs including playing with friends too but they also learn to ignore distractions in some situations and greet others calmly.
Each of our dogs gets plenty of one on one time with our team to work on the skills we've discussed but also any other skills we think they need to work on in order to step into their new home as their very best self! The training helps our dogs to be as well rounded and ready for the changes that come with rehoming as they possibly can be and we are proud to say our team put a lot of time and effort into these dogs to help them and their new owners have a successful forever home together!
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