Thread: Looking for dog trainer in AK

Good afternoon,

Just wondering if anyone had any recommendations for a dog trainer in the Auckland area? I've got a just under 2 year old Northland SPCA special.
She is a lovely dog but struggling with her over excitement / eagerness.. Doesn't help she has just had surgery and been locked up for the last couple of months. We have tried the suggestions we have been given so far but don't seem to be getting anywhere.
She is fairly good with commands just like she is on speed somethings and is just pinging constantly. Would love to get her to be in a more relaxed state.

We must just not be doing something correctly and looking for some guidance and help. I've never owned a dog before and my partner hasn't had to train one before.

Cheers

How long have you had her for ? might just be a settling in period. Does she have a recognisable breed or a bitsa. You don't really want to get the over eagerness out of her, just control it a bit better. Burning it off is the answer, if she will chase a ball or you have an area she can run around and cover some ground you can do a half hour of full on hooning and then she will be more likely to settle down.
It is either she has a ton of energy to burn off or she is worried you will go and leave her behind so gets all worked up when you get up to do something.

MY latest dog is a visla/lab cross and he has what has been termed "zoomies", where he runs around like a full on nutbag crashing through bushes and running sideways in the corners. Once he's done that for 10mins he settles down into a more "normal" state. I've had Rotties, German shepards and Huntaways and none of them have done that. I thought he had a screw loose when he first did it but talking with a couple of Visla owners it seems it's a known character trait in them.

Have a look at the contents of what she is eating. I have found that certain foods are really good quality but seem to overstimulate some dogs, particularly after they have been"locked up" after surgery. My cattle dog cross was like that after a pelvic injury.

Originally Posted by rugerman

How long have you had her for ? might just be a settling in period. Does she have a recognisable breed or a bitsa. You don't really want to get the over eagerness out of her, just control it a bit better. Burning it off is the answer, if she will chase a ball or you have an area she can run around and cover some ground you can do a half hour of full on hooning and then she will be more likely to settle down.
It is either she has a ton of energy to burn off or she is worried you will go and leave her behind so gets all worked up when you get up to do something.

MY latest dog is a visla/lab cross and he has what has been termed "zoomies", where he runs around like a full on nutbag crashing through bushes and running sideways in the corners. Once he's done that for 10mins he settles down into a more "normal" state. I've had Rotties, German shepards and Huntaways and none of them have done that. I thought he had a screw loose when he first did it but talking with a couple of Visla owners it seems it's a known character trait in them.

Had her since April last year so should be fully settled in. She is a bitsa. Looks to be Heeler / Fox Terrier possible Staffy and probably many more being from Kaitaia. Tried the Blue Print but have been struggling to get her to focus. Some of the things have worked others not. Think i need someone to watch / instruct and correct me where i am going wrong.
Unfortunately it will be another 2 months before she can run and will never be able to chase balls or sticks again. Think we are at 80-90% the other knee will give out if she does the violent stops that go with chasing balls. It's been a hard choice so far on whether to keep her and try give her a good a life as possible or let her go.
Since we haven't been able to do more than 5mins of walking a day she is even more keen on doing things that when she was ok.

Hoping a decent trainer might be able to help with getting her to calm down a bit when she sees people or other dogs. Doesn't pull on the lead but will constantly try and walk faster than you.

Originally Posted by Andygr

Have a look at the contents of what she is eating. I have found that certain foods are really good quality but seem to overstimulate some dogs, particularly after they have been"locked up" after surgery. My cattle dog cross was like that after a pelvic injury.

I will look into this. I feed the grain free black hawk stuff, which seemed to be one of the better ones. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Ranal

I will look into this. I feed the grain free black hawk stuff, which seemed to be one of the better ones. Thank you.

Interesting coincidence, ! I am feeding my wirehaired Vizsla the same and it seems to hype him up. When I cut back on the blackhawk and put a bit more mighty mix in to his bowl he seems to calm down a bit.

Here is a picture of her sleeping.
Very interesting i will look into it and see if it makes a difference.

Still would like to see a trainer if anyone knows of one. Cheers

Originally Posted by Ranal

Here is a picture of her sleeping.
Very interesting i will look into it and see if it makes a difference.

Still would like to see a trainer if anyone knows of one. Cheers

Attachment 210398

Looks like a Springer !!

The feed thing will be about the energy content of the feed. More energy in the feed will provide the dog with more energy and some dogs will want to run around to burn it off and others just sit on the couch and grow their tum tums
You wont be able to train excess energy out of a dog, but you may be able to direct that energy into something you find acceptable. Ripping up cardboard or paper may sate her desire to get some nuttyness out of her system. If she can't run around as she has had some sort of mobility limiting issue, you could think about getting a small shallow pool and let swim around in that since the water takes the weight off the limbs.

Their has been a push with the dog food companies to up the protein levels in the feed as a bit of a selling point. Obviously when they are growing they need a fair bit of protein and fat, but once they reach full size they need a lower nutrient dense food.
An adult dog only needs 16% protein for maintenance, and from memory the blackhawk chicken and rice ( their lowest protein dog biscuit) is 22%. The last bag of the grain free stuff I saw said something like 96% protein or something equally silly but that may have been a test diet from a year ago or so

Originally Posted by Ranal

Had her since April last year so should be fully settled in. She is a bitsa. Looks to be Heeler / Fox Terrier possible Staffy and probably many more being from Kaitaia. Tried the Blue Print but have been struggling to get her to focus. Some of the things have worked others not. Think i need someone to watch / instruct and correct me where i am going wrong.
Unfortunately it will be another 2 months before she can run and will never be able to chase balls or sticks again. Think we are at 80-90% the other knee will give out if she does the violent stops that go with chasing balls. It's been a hard choice so far on whether to keep her and try give her a good a life as possible or let her go.
Since we haven't been able to do more than 5mins of walking a day she is even more keen on doing things that when she was ok.

Hoping a decent trainer might be able to help with getting her to calm down a bit when she sees people or other dogs. Doesn't pull on the lead but will constantly try and walk faster than you.

chur gis a look I might know the mutt
I got a over energetic new dog of similar age and am working thru the same stuff
youtube is a resource that is fantastic, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuO...AgP2gMgiLvRSIg this guy is great
https://www.youtube.com/@RobertCabralDogs

and really the best thing Iv found apart from youtube is using a long rope thats maybe 25m long
all the problems seem to disappear when the long line comes out

In doing my research on what I needed to do to get my mal not to be a nightmare I learned so many things I was previously doing wrong that you can just get away with with other breeds (like spaniels)
changing up a few core things I was doing wrong off the bat really got the dog going well

Originally Posted by Ranal

Had her since April last year so should be fully settled in. She is a bitsa. Looks to be Heeler / Fox Terrier possible Staffy and probably many more being from Kaitaia. Tried the Blue Print but have been struggling to get her to focus. Some of the things have worked others not. Think i need someone to watch / instruct and correct me where i am going wrong.
Unfortunately it will be another 2 months before she can run and will never be able to chase balls or sticks again. Think we are at 80-90% the other knee will give out if she does the violent stops that go with chasing balls. It's been a hard choice so far on whether to keep her and try give her a good a life as possible or let her go.
Since we haven't been able to do more than 5mins of walking a day she is even more keen on doing things that when she was ok.

Hoping a decent trainer might be able to help with getting her to calm down a bit when she sees people or other dogs. Doesn't pull on the lead but will constantly try and walk faster than you.

Id just lean into scent work for the next while
some other aspect that is low impact for quite some time
occupie their mind with a kong filled with frozen wet food, a marrow bone or a bull stick(dried penis) all wear them out mentally which helps with the frustration energy they have

I dont think it will calm down till it reaches four years old, so it is more a matter of controlling the chaos and pushing it towards something you would find acceptable or even reward worthy

@Bill999 thank you for that. I will check out the youtube link.

She is from the Far North SPCA shipped down to Auckland with some siblings. Hit the 20kg mark and stopped growing. Will look into the scent work, she can be a bit of pain when we go for walks with good smelling stuff. She will walk into a jog with her nose to the ground sounding like a hoover.
Was hoping to have practiced more of the commands while she has been recovering, the issue is while sit etc no worries esp on a long line. Then move away and call her to you and she will gallop over, which unfortunately she wasn't allowed to do.

good looking dog and far better than the normal looking one thats walking around up here, to be honest I havent seen any of that type around allmost looks heeler/huntaway both super high drive

scent work can be as simple as throwing a handful of kibble in the long grass, its just search and find, it dosent need to be a complex and its worked a treat to hammer in "look" and "find it" for me
if shes a pain at the start it usually means they are going to me amazing its just getting a handle on how to train something that high drive, which is a bloody learning curve as Iv come to find out in the last few months
I use to think the High drive was an issue, because I was trying to stop it now that Im just directing like an arrow its deadly, if you cant tire the body just tire the brain

most problems Iv seen can be helped or solved with a 30m piece of thin rope that you just stomp on when it dosent immediately listen to your command, the dog dosent see it as you stopping it, its like the environment around it stops the dog and it then looks at you and you can repeat the command. means you never have to even raise your voice and the dog cant do the not coming back or listening game

the only other thing Id add is hand signals to every command once they start getting it, they seem to respond strongly to the movement of your body more so than your voice
I also had a dog go deaf in old age and it wasnt a problem cause the hand signals still work perfectly and a heel quiet command thats just you moving your hand means you dont need to disrupt your conversation to correct/direct the dog

if you can sort of suss out what her make up is you may be able to find what the breeds were created for it might start to make sense why it does
Its made the things my dog does far more understandable now that I know mine was bred to be a moving fence on sheep in belgium

it does sound like your problem will ease with time if its just a hyper dog that has tons of drive and go but no outlet due to the healing time
if its following commands but just high energy you just need to ride that wave and direct it and reframe it as a good thing and work on the heel, stay, hold, wait sorts of things where you say when it is ok to go crazy and when its time to stop

its messy but when I find a problem I try put a command on the thing i dont like, I hated her biting my clothes when she got excited so I taught her a bite command and subsequently a leave it and no biting

Im super into this at the moment with this new girl iv had for the last 5 or so months so If im coming across barky or bossy or know all in this its just the adhd hyperfixation taking over and winning haha

you can adjust the sit them down and walk away command while its injured by setting them in a spot walking away, pausing and then walking back to where you placed it for the reward so they arnt having that mad run to you when you release them

lower the desirablity of the treats you are using if you are getting too much enthusiasm too

If her joints are bad I’d wear her out by swimming.