Training & Behaviour Resources

Here at Aireworth Dogs in Need we have created a guide to aid the first few weeks you spend with your new rescue dog. Depending on your dog’s past, their personality and many other influencing factors,moving into a new home can sometimes be an overwhelming experience for your dog. We provide guidance on walks, feeding, having visitors and more – Settling Your Rescue Dog.pdf

The book – ‘Your Rescue Dog’ by Sally Gutteridge is also a great resource.

Battersea have a brilliant ‘Dog Advice’ library that we would recommend taking a look at – https://www.battersea.org.uk/pet-advice/dog-advice

Battersea describe a 4 step plan of helping your dog deal with separation anxiety in easy to understand sections – https://www.battersea.org.uk/pet-advice/dog-care-advice/stressed-dog-care

Dogs Trust – Dogs Trust have useful free resources which are useful for dogs who are fearful of noises or need gradual introduction to new noises (think fireworks, new baby, or maybe a dog who is scared of traffic noises). Read the booklet first to understand how to use the soundtracks in a way which will benefit your dog.

https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/dog-behaviour-health/sound-therapy-for-pets

A dog may need a muzzle for all manner of reasons, and even if your dog never needs to wear one in a public space, it’s still a really great enrichment activity to do with your dog. We like this method demonstrated by Chirag Patel – Teaching A Dog To Wear A Muzzle (Muzzle Training)

Creating a strong relationship with your dog is much easier when you have a wider range of communication. Our dogs are constantly letting us know how they feel with their body language, so by recognising these signals we can know if they are feeling anxious, fearful, unsure, excited or over aroused for example. Once we know how our dogs are feeling we can respond appropriately. These videos by Kristin Crestejo (below) give some really good examples and explanations

Teaching your dog to be calm and relaxed whilst they are alone will set them up for success and help to prevent separation anxiety when you need to leave them. Kikopup explains a thorough 5 step routine to achieve this

When you start doing training with your dog you may want to work on a ‘leave it’ cue to help your dog disengage from something. This training, presented by Kikopup, focuses a lot on leaving food, but you can then move on to generalise the behaviour.