I’m currently sat at my desk with a towel around my freshly washed hair – in a Zoom session. 

My camera is off. 

The morning got away from me. 

I have a new ‘rehearsal’ and that is a Wednesday morning Zoom writing room and with wet hair I am here. I love writing and for some reason, sitting here with eleven others, no-one talking, just writing (or typing) feels right. 

To become good at something, you need to rehearse. To build new habits, you need to rehearse so they become natural, where you find yourself doing something without having to put too much thought into the action of ‘doing’. 

I love the saying, ‘What we rehearse, we become’, so powerful on many different levels. 

How about rehearsing habits that are not so good for us though? Scrolling on our phones? That is something I have been setting some serious boundaries on for myself – how about you?

Have you guessed where I am going with this? 

Yes – our dog’s. Their rehearsal is just as important as ours. 

Now we have the ability to think through what we are doing and whether it is good rehearsal or not. Our dogs need us to advocate for them in what they rehearse while they build up their layers of what we want them rehearsing and building good habits. 

Imagine you are out enjoying the beautiful autumn sun with crunchy leaves under foot. You are walking, your dog is prancing. With the odd spin on their lead for added excitement. As you untangle them from yet another spin, you find yourself wondering, ‘Why is my dog the one that has to be the ‘break dancer’ when we are out walking?’

If you are half smiling and half grimacing at this, then you are in the right place.

I know how hard it can be with dogs like this, you want to help them and yet where do you start? There will be lots going on in the background for your dog as to why a calm walk is off their radar – for now. 

Rehearsal is one of the biggest factors, every time your dog prances and spins on their lead, they are rehearsing this behaviour and building the habit. It feels natural now as they have done it so often. ‘When on a walk, this is what I do’.

They are also rehearsing the emotional state of over excitement. Have you heard the saying, ‘Neurons that fire together wire together’? This is where every time your brain connects a to b, the connections (habits) are getting stronger and stronger. You have rehearsed that emotional state and behaviour over and over. These connections can be changed though and this is where games based training is like magic for our dogs (and us). Scientists always thought once we got to a certain age in our early adulthood, our brains were ‘fixed’ and could not be changed. They can be changed and the world of Neuroplasticity is one that fascinates me so much. I want to help you see how this can have such a positive impact on your life with your dog. 

If you have heard the saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, you will know it is often said in reference to naughty dogs with the mindset of their behaviour being so ingrained it is unchangeable. We know now it is changeable by us changing the way those neurons are firing together and forming new pathways. I find human and dog behaviour so fascinating and am here to show you how simple it is to integrate games to help your dogs. We know in the background what is happening – we are changing those pathways. Your dog on the other hand is wondering how the best owner in the world just became even more fun. Happy dog happy life. 

Let’s get back to walking to the park…

You are walking to your normal park and the closer you get, the spins are becoming more frequent, with a tail that now resembles a propeller. The excitement is off the scale – ‘we are going to the PARKKK’. 

It reminds me of when I would go out for rides with my horse, Badger. We would be happily clip clopping along the lane, turn left up the track into the woods and ‘whoosh’ he was off, Badger style. Sometimes I would laugh and enjoy the sudden increase in speed, other times though if there were walkers I would have to hold him back, much to his frustration. 

Why was he frustrated? Quite simply because 95% of the time he rehearsed, ‘I turn left into the woods and GOOOOO’.

One of my favourite quotes comes to mind by Maya Angelou.