Hope For Owners Who Feel Stuck

SPEAKER_04 0:00

There is a way, you can be helped, there is hope, there are strategies for you, and it's about building and learning the confidence to be able to take those strategies out into the real world.

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Welcome to the Absolute Dogs Text in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman, I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world. Last November we held our two-day live and unleashed event, packed with games, strategies, and practical solutions for people living with and loving dogs who don't always find life easy. And one of the conversations was all about confidence, your confidence, as the person at the other end of the lead. So I'm going to leave you in the very capable hands of Sam, Michelle, and Karen. Enjoy.

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We're

Why Naughty But Nice Feels Isolating

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here to talk about owning naughty but nice and having confidence in owning a naughty but nice dog. Because owning a naughty but nice dog can be really difficult sometimes and can feel very, very isolating. So tell us in the comments, give us one word in the comments that you feel owning a naughty but nice dog. How do you feel owning a naughty but nice dog? How does it make you feel on a day-to-day basis? Let us know in the comments. Type it in there, one word. Karen, how does it make you feel owning a naughty but nice dog?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

If I was going to give you one word, I think I would probably say vulnerable. Was it?

SPEAKER_04 1:32

That's a nice word. That is a great word. I think that's very good. Elaborate for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Walking him would be the context in which that would apply, really, I think. Because you can't control other people. I know I'm in control of Reaper. I know we've got the strategies and the skills to handle him and any kind of worries he has about the world. But what I can't control is if another dog decides to run up to him, or if I walk around a corner and there is something unexpected there that's going to freak him out.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

In that sense.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Matt, I'd love to see that cloud if we could on that one. That would be amazing with all of the words that are coming through.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

I'm seeing a lot of words that I've heard this weekend. Oh yeah. We've had guests here staying, and I've been catching up with Leslie, who's been doing a fabulous job teaching them. And I see dreadful, I see helpless. Yes. And that's been a really common theme with what we've been chatting about.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Yeah, absolutely. Incompetent as well, like a big one there. And we both own noid but nice dogs as well. Absolutely. I mean I still own, I still own noy but nice dogs. And and it can feel for me, isolation is is I I would say the biggest one that I have felt before I found absolute dogs. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

And not knowing where to go as well. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Just hearing things and it's not working, and they've been to other trainers. And actually, the other trainers have knocked their confidence a lot. And we're hearing a lot as well of people. And let me know if that's you out there. You've been told by a trainer your dog can't be helped. Yeah. So that's bound to knock your confidence on the back. And what do you what do you do? What do you do?

SPEAKER_04 3:04

You've been told that's it. There's nothing else out there for you.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

What do you do in that moment? You can't come to class, there's no hope, embarrassed, lost. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Yes, actually. Yeah. Keep typing them, guys.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Keep typing them. I get goosebumps reading them because I really feel for you guys. Yeah. Because you've been there. Who's you guys, um, Karen and Sam? Who's been there when you've been in a session with your dog? You've been out on a walk, and I've been close to tears before. In fact, I've been in tears before. So embarrassed by how my dog behaved.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

And just mortified that I'm the one on the end of the lead where people are looking at you, they're moving away, they're thinking, who is this dreadful dog owner? Terrific. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

You get the look, don't you? Oh, you know. You get the eyes. People give you the look like judged.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

I've got away from people telling me I shouldn't be walking him because he can't handle other dogs running up to him. And he bearing in mind he was the one under control, and the other dog that was running up to him wasn't wouldn't recall, wouldn't come away. Yes. But that owner was the one shouting at me, telling me if my dog couldn't handle that, I shouldn't be walking him.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Yeah. And being told off for having your dog on lead. Yeah. There's an off-lead dog, you've got your dog on lead, and they're saying you shouldn't have your dog on lead. Yes. Because this I don't understand. So many rules.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

There's so many rules that we must follow with our dogs. Yeah, but you don't always know the rules. You don't always know. You just go through life. But how can we, how can we flip this?

Turning Shame Into A Training Plan

SPEAKER_04 4:30

What can we do to give confidence in owning a naughty but nice dog? Because that's the key thing here. That's what we love about absolute dogs. That's why we're all here. That's why we're so passionate about what we do. Because actually, there is a way you can be helped. There is hope. There are strategies for you. And it's about building and learning the confidence to be able to take those strategies out into the real world. And we've we were we've been chatting a lot over this the last few days. And we've we've both taught lots here at Absolute Dogs HQ. And we've both helped very many owners come through this where they come to us in despair, they don't, they don't even want to leave the house with their dog, and they can't see a way forward. What would be the first thing that you would talk to an owner about and how would you start that process?

Find Joy And Remember Your Why

SPEAKER_02 5:13

So the first thing I do is I listen to them, and I can remember the very first lesson I taught here with an oddly but nice owner, and she broke down in tears. Yeah. And her husband had said, This was it.

SPEAKER_04 5:22

That was it was the last chance.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

He was paying for the holiday and the dog had to be fixed. Yeah. And the first thing is to listen and take on board what the owner's saying. And then the next bit of advice we gave was, what do you love about your dog?

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

So what is the thing that brings you joy with your dog? And remind yourself of it. And I'd love to see in the comments. Give us what do you love the most about your dog? What is it? Like you've got your Siri. What do you love most about Siri, Sam? She's goofy.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

She's actually really goofy and silly. And I love that because I love a bit of silly myself, right? So maybe she gets it off me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

What about your throughpert, Karen? His enjoyments and how much he likes it when he's doing tricks and things he loves to do.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yes, and I would say you're touching on one of the big ones for confidence, and it's one of the things I love. River's got her little naughty but nice qualities, and she shakes my confidence sometimes, but her tricks make me smile and make me laugh. So that's my first tip. What brings you joy with your dog?

SPEAKER_04 6:17

Because it's so easy to forget when you're in those painful moments, you know, all those moments that you guys were typing just then. It's so easy to forget actually the things that you love about your dog. And sometimes, and Lawrence touched on it this week, sometimes you hate your dog. Sometimes you really don't want your dog around you, and you're like, really? Come on. This was meant to be this magical experience, you know. And actually, that is probably something that I would say would be the other thing I would be thinking about is your powerful why. And thinking about what's your dream? What's the dream? What is the what what did you get a dog for? Why did you get a dog? What was the dream? What was the image that you had? And I know mine was like walking. Yeah. Because I just I love the sky. I just love going, and I was just like, oh, just be really nice, gentle, walks together, and we'll look at each other lovingly. And actually, what I got instead was uh a dog that was lunging and pulling on the lead and was trying to chase sheep and making all screeching noises that I've never heard come from a dog before. That was new. So it it shattered that dream, all right. But actually realizing that you can get that dream, you're just maybe not at it yet. Yes. Right? And remembering that dream is the key thing.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

And the my next tip for this one is, and I know it gets a little bit of a bad rap, so we'll chat through it because I think it'd be really useful.

Ditch Walks And Set Up Success

SPEAKER_02 7:27

We've got to grow your confidence as a dog owner. Yeah. And one of the things you want to do, and I've heard Lauren talk about it, I've heard you say it, Sam. I'm sure you've talked about it, Karen. We want to set you up for success. So take yourself out of the situation and ditch those walks for a little bit and practice where you feel really, really, really safe. So put yourself in a safe situation with your dog where you're not going to be confronting the things that wobble your confidence and make you shaky. And I'm laughing because I'm sitting on this chair. It's wobbly.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

None of them dare move because we're scared we're gonna fall off the chairs. Yes. It felt like a really great idea. I actually want to swivel around online, which I'm trying really hard not to do because I'm quite a fidgety person.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

What makes me confident with it, we're sitting on this chair because I was a little bit leery. I'm talking about something I'm passionate about. That's what's making you feel confident about it. Yep, that's good. Given a choice, I would not be sitting on this chair. But I'm talking about something that I'm passionate about, which makes it much easier for me to manage the fact that I think I'm on the wobble leaf chair. Uh-huh. Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 8:25

Yeah, it looks like it's on a bit of a slant.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

I've got a little bit of a crookedness to it.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

It's cool balance, that's what you're getting out of that.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

Yeah, but set yourself up for success. Yeah. So, what do you do with Rupert to set yourself up for success, Karen?

SPEAKER_01 8:36

I think a lot of it is apart from being aware of your own energy because I'm very, very, very aware how much what I transmit down the leads can impact how he feels in that situation. So that's one thing, definitely being aware of that. But also, Alice and I drove down here together and we were chatting this through a bit on the way down, just in the in the kind of run of our car conversation. And we were talking about how both she with Bonnie and I with Rupert have you have made real use of places that other dogs don't go to to practice all the stuff, to kind of put that bridge between so you you learn it at home, but then how do you get it from home to the world? Yes. And places like industrial estate car parks and and Tesco car park on a Sunday when it's shut, and places where dogs are not doing dog things or there are maybe no dogs at all, and you have got a much better grip on what's likely to be happening around you.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Well, we do it here at the center really well. So you've trained here, you've trained here, and you've taught here, Sam. And we are absolutely like it's one of my um, I'm a force of nature when it comes to protecting my students and their dogs. So making sure that you're training in a really safe environment. And because what we want to do to grow your confidence is build your skills. And in order to build your skills, you need to be somewhere where you can trust that nothing's gonna happen. So you've got to grow that trust and that relationship between you and your dog. We use, we set up, I saw Leslie training earlier. She's got a beautiful setup and she's using the car park strategically so that there's always a place for that dog to go. So that dog can be safe. It's actually a big plant pot with astro on top of it. You guys have to come and see. And he's painted like a rainbow. If there's a dog in the car park training in that location and she's doing paws up, she's doing all the games with the owner, she can just tuck in behind that, plant a pot, and that dog is nice and safe and tucked away. You don't have to worry about anything going wrong. We keep you safe, and you can build your skills and grow you and your dog's relationship. So you feel like we say it all the time, Lauren's always saying it. You've got to act like Laura Croft. And I feel myself sitting up just saying it. And Pam, I'm sure she's listening. She just sat up. I know she did, because she hears me all the time. Pam, walk like Laura Croft. She's on the screen. She is. She's sitting up. Put your head up, look up because when your shoulders come up and your head comes up and you're looking around and you're able to take in your environment. Makes a huge difference. It does. You're much less vulnerable. You can see things coming and you want to practice that and rehearse it so it's second nature.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

And your dog will feel that. So your dog will feel that you feel more confident and they will feel more confident in turn.

Score Environments To Stay In Control

SPEAKER_04 11:13

Yeah, for sure. I think one of the things I love to do actually about with environments for my own, for my own students, is score your environments. Because sometimes it's hard to sort of realize where your environments sit in terms of difficulty level. And so actually just writing all the areas that you have around you down and thinking, well, where do they sit on a scale of zero to ten? Do they sit at zero, chilled out, dog's not bothered, maybe that's home? Or do they sit at 10 where you've got a dog that's lunging and barking at the end of the lead, it does not hear you, red mist is down. And you need to find out where they sit. And it's really interesting because people will sit their environments, say at level like eight, and then they'll do another environment and they'll go, yeah, but no, but I think that's there, I think that's there as well. But the behaviours are different. I was like, oh, maybe it sits higher or lower. And suddenly you go, oh, okay, so not every environment is the same. Yes. Okay, so this means I can actually, I can go easier or harder, depending on where I think my dog is in that day. And that in itself gives you confidence because you can go, I need an easy day. I'm gonna go to a level two, you know? So it's really about being able to control and set up your environments to success, to be successful, to set yourself up and your dog up for success. And that in itself, it just makes you feel like more in control, and as a result, you feel more confident, you know?

SPEAKER_02 12:32

And one of the things that you guys as owners can do is dog owners, and this is gonna sound a little bit odd, but I used to be competitive with horses and quite a while ago. One of my trainers would always have me sit on my trunk, and I was not allowed to get on my horse until I'd rehearsed my dressage test perfectly in my brain. You guys can do that. So when Sam's talking about the different levels of environments, when you're training here at the center, what I often tell my students is imagine that other dog is coming.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Exactly. What are you gonna do? And practice it. Slide your hand down the lead, do an A to B, but that that muscle memory is gonna kick in and you're really gonna come across that dog, but you've rehearsed it so many times in your brain, in a safe situation, that you're just gonna react. You're gonna slide your hand down the lead and you're gonna turn. And what Karen was saying before with managing your own emotions, because you know what to do, you're less likely to, and we've all been there grabbing the lead.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

So important because I have been known to unexpectedly encounter somebody around a corner and scream in their face. It was like you were a rooper. No, it wasn't given that, which is obviously the worst thing to do, because apart from the rooper thing, what happened? We're gonna die. Yeah. Whereas if you can kind of think through, right, if somebody comes around a corner, what's my strategy? Well, it's probably A to B or rewind or magic hand or something and just get a little bit of distance without being all drama screen. Yeah, then he he's not gonna bother. They're not gonna think you're really weird. And there's there's gonna be no drama in that situation. And you and you're play acting, really.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

I mean, uh I had I shouldn't tell people this, I had lots of imaginary friends as a kid, but you're doing it again. You can't have them now.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

Shh.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

But in all seriousness, have that little imaginary friend that comes on a walk with you. Like I say, uh students say all the time, Michelle, can I take you home with me? I'm like, I'll be happy to sit on your shoulder, just listen to the voice in your ear. Yeah, you have totally got this. So we know we've got the confidence, you guys can do it, and the games are gonna get you there. Really gonna get you there. So we've got a question. What should these guys do? What's their next step? What's the next step to grow their confidence? What do they do?

SPEAKER_04 15:27

So let's talk about the games that you have in your tool belt. Let's think about what games you're

Pick Your Games And Rehearse

SPEAKER_04 15:34

going to use when you go to an environment. So you've played them at home. You you know you've like, well, okay, I've ditched the walks, I've done everything that they've said, I've got all these games. Now what do I do? Well, you've got your scored environments. Let's think about what games have I got to do in those moments that might happen. Let's have them in our minds ready. Even write them down if you need to. Have them on a post-it note, have them in your pocket, stick them to your car. Those are the things that I would start with. That's the first thing I'd want to know. What am I gonna play?

SPEAKER_02 15:59

And you can also call them what you want. You can. Like, I've got a client and I laugh every time I hear it. Orientation game, because they call it orienteering. Orienteering. So they go out orienteering. So that's where you throw food back and forth. And you want to rehearse in new environments, like Sam's saying, so that these games are so second nature. Don't forget though, we were talking about this earlier. You can set up new environments at home. Yep. Like you can change your setup in your garden. You can, we even had a client, Kate. I remember this. She I don't know if you met her, Sam, but she had bloom people. Bloom people? Bloom people. Oh, those things that well, no, no, bloom blooms that you blow up and she stuffed them into trousers and literally she made bloom people.

SPEAKER_04 16:41

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

And that was as much as anything to grow her confidence with her dog so that she could rehearse having people out on walks because her dog wanted to leap all over them. I think that's my phone that's going off in the background.

SPEAKER_04 16:57

I'd be rehearsing Crazy Lady. I would have to feed you, Sam. Yeah, if it was a dog we would be feeding right now. We would do CMT, we would feed. Yeah. Just swipe it.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

So, what other top tips do you have, Karen? Do you ever ever have those days where you're just not sure? What do you do?

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Yes, all the time. Um, I say in those scenarios, pick something your dog knows well, you know well, give yourself an easy win. Make everybody feel better. It doesn't, if if you're having a bad day or a day where your confidence is dipped, the last thing you probably want to be doing is tackling a struggle. So I would say put that on one side and do something that is going to make you and your dog feel like you've connected and like you've had an easy, easy win. Yes. I just had a thought.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

I hear this from owners, they feel like they're not good enough. They want to know how they can be a better dog owner for their dog. What would your top tip for them be? How can you be a better owner?

SPEAKER_04 17:52

My very first thing is knowledge, and you guys are here. So right now, you are already being a better owner for your dog. Because you, yeah, absolutely. A big shout out to you. You should all give yourself some love on the screen right now, please. Give me some energy because you should all be feeling incredibly good about yourself. I know it's cool because I don't understand how it does it, it's some sort of wizard group.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

And if you do I think if you do two thumbs up, you get fireworks and stuff. We're gonna be really talking about it.

SPEAKER_04 18:17

That is cool. I tried this on my phone the other day. It didn't work, I was really sad. But you guys are here right now. You are already doing amazing things for your dogs, just learning more about what you can do to help. So, first of all, you're doing it. You're doing it right this second. What else? What other tips would you guys do?

SPEAKER_02 18:33

I I can't I can't read much of the chat because I don't have my glasses on, I'm at that age. But I could see Emma and Jarvis, lovely Emma, she's such an amazing dog owner. And I love what she's just put there. She says, just show up. Just show up. That's fantastic. That's cool. Just by being there, you're already the best owner for your dog. By being here, you're the best owner for your dog. We say it to students who come to the center. The fact you've taken the time, you've found out about us, you've found out about the games, you're absolutely the best dog owner for your dog. And know as well, you have the support. We're here. Yeah, absolutely. We've got your back.

SPEAKER_04 19:07

What would you would you say that coaching, do you think coaching would be something that would be helpful to help somebody grow in in terms of would it help to have coaching?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 19:17

Because I know that you've had a lot of coaching from Lauren, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah, I have. And I think, well, first off, you get you get the knowledge of the person who is coaching you, but also just the confidence that that gives you because even if you think you've got something wrong or you're doing something wrong, or something needs a tweak, or you're not even sure what to do because everything's wrong, there's always a win and there's always a path through it. And I I think it's sometimes when you're in the middle of it, you just can't quite work out what that path is. You can't see where to go. Yeah. Yeah. And that's where coaching really makes a difference because it's somebody's outside perspective that's able to kind of find help you find the way through the weeds. The the immersion of coming here to Bowland and being able to do all of that kind of extra in-person, hands-on, one-to-one,

Coaching And Stooge Dogs Build Skills

SPEAKER_01 20:01

especially if you're not confident handling your reactive naughty nice dog, or you need specific input in an area. Um, so for example, when I've been down here with Rupert, he is a bit of a blonker with other dogs because he's had some bad experiences and he's kind of learned through experience that other dogs are quite bad news. So we've done some stooge dog work down here, and it's just so helpful. Now, you wouldn't go out and find a random dog in the street and try and do that because you don't know what that dog's temperament is, you don't know whether you're going to have a good experience, a bad experience, or anything else. But doing it here is perfect. Stooge dogs, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 20:36

Yes. So I know that you've done this with Rupert, and we get clients coming here all the time, and there's a couple things that we can do to help you to grow your confidence. And one of my favorites is stooge dogs. So we have the most brilliant team of dogs that absolutely, like one of mine, Rupert's barked at her and she doesn't even notice.

SPEAKER_04 20:56

She's not even bat an eyelid.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

Oh no, she just is in her own little planet and she toodles along and she bebops along. Lovely Pam with Molly has worked around her. And as soon as the other dog realizes that they're not going to get a response from our stooge dogs, it grows the owner's confidence, it grows the dog's confidence. The other thing we've done a lot of is lending dogs. So giving you the lead with one of my dogs that knows what they're doing. It's what Amanda's done today when she's worked forever, trying to grow your skills so that we're growing you as a better dog owner so that then you can transfer the skills you've learned. I did it with riding. The way that I learned to get better is I rode a horse, a master horse that knew what it was doing. And then I went on to my young horse and then I taught them the skills. So we take you away from your dog if you're up for it, and we give you a dog that knows what they're doing. Yeah. And then when you grab the lead of your own dog, you're like, I've got this. Instead of the two of you learning it together, yeah, that does make a massive difference, actually.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

I think you get so used to your own dog as well. You get used to like their like the way that they move, the way that they take treats, the way that they do things. And actually, when you suddenly realize that not all dogs react and act in the same way that your dog does, because I remember the first time you gave me spaniels, it was like, and and I was getting told I was going to get a lesson in Spaniels. Um, and I had two of them, and I was trying to do figure of eights with them, and I just that's all I could do because they were crazy, and I was like, I don't know what to do with these things. And it, you know, that was a learning experience in itself, and obviously, but I grew and it and it we do grow in confidence, and we see our students growing confidence in handling lots of different types of dogs to lots of different temperaments and different energy levels. Yeah, and it's yeah, it's and it's I think that's quite difficult to come by actually in a lot of places. It's it's not something that is everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

It's pretty special here, and and what you learned, Sam, was how to manage a leak. Yeah. Because as soon as you manage to handle your lead, the dogs are brilliant. Yeah. But if you don't quite know, you get the feedback immediately. If you can't manage your lead, they're gonna spin under it. If you can manage your lead, they're gonna walk beautifully for it. And the minute you master it, I love it, because you see people's body language change, they smile, they light up.

SPEAKER_04 22:59

You do, you're suddenly like, oh my god. Got it. I have just read this and totally got it.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

We call it being spaniel. Basically. But it's huge because then when you get your own dog back, you know if it you're less nervous about fundling with the lead. You're less nervous about if it might go wrong because you've just managed to conquer walking a little Tasmanian double, we'll say. They're spaniels fast. They're just fast. But they're absolutely lovely and they absolutely love helping people. It's their favorite thing in the whole wide world.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

And people have so like they're always I always see the students, they're so nervous before we give them the dogs.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

And one of the things I hear from people, they're worried that they're gonna break our dogs. Absolutely not. They are hand-picked so that you can learn off of them. And they will challenge you. River was challenging Amanda earlier. I was laughing, but she's like, I can nip that little bit of food because Amanda's not quite quick enough. And as soon as Amanda got her mechanics right, River's like, right, I've got someone who knows what they're doing. It's like anughty child that goes to grandma and gets all the sweeties and then comes home to mum and it's like, yes, I'm well behaved.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

I actually I can't remember which which who which dog you gave me, but I had a dog when I was trying to do boundary work, and you came over and went, Why are you feeding her so much? And I went, because she keeps jumping off the boundary. She's like, She keeps jumping off the boundary because you keep feeding her so much. And I'm like, Oh, I've been trained. Yes. If I jump off and I get back on, Sam will literally. And that's and that's what we did for like half a session before Michelle caught me. You know, so even then, yeah, you just get you do get trained by the dog. Now, something else I would think about um to give yourself confidence, moving forward, thinking about going out into the environment. We talked about the student that you had that hid behind Astro Dog. Yes. But you can do that thinking about going into these environments when you

Plan Your What If Routes

SPEAKER_04 24:55

start pushing out into the real world again. And you can have a think of wherever, whatever score you're gonna take your dog out to. So let's say environment level two, think about the environment that you're in. Think about the places that you've got that you can take your dog if things go wrong. Because you never know what's gonna happen in an environment, you never know what's gonna be thrown at you round the corner that you might scream at, you know. You don't know. So you need to have in your mind, what do I do if? And that might be your games, that might be, you know, you get out of dodge games, so that might be your rewind, or you know, you get them in the middle. They might completely lose their brain and you have to do A to B, which is essentially sliding your dog, your your hand down the lead and taking your dog out of the situation. That might be putting them back in the car, you know, or have you got somewhere that you can get to where you can be visibly out of the way of everything, so that you can just give you and your dog a moment to calm down. But you want to have those things in place and thought about them before you even get out of the car, before you even get into your environment, so that you know the what-ifs.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

And one of the, we were talking about it earlier, and one of the things from talking to students, from deer ha dealing with them and helping them with their dogs and their struggles, one of the things that everyone's scared of is the reason you've lost your confidence is you have no control over the outcome.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

You absolutely don't know what's gonna happen. You turn that corner, you're not sure what your dog's gonna do. Exactly. Unknown. So what Sam's talking about with these different environments going to a level two, you're trying to take the control back. So you want to be able to control the outcome. It's a little bit well, I love the analogy. It's like learning to drive a car. So you don't start off by going down the M5.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

No. Uh-oh. I've got a funny story about that. Yes, I've had that feeling. I've got a funny story about the first time I went on a motorway, and I literally just learned to drive and passed my test, and my dad sent me off to go and get something from like Aster, and to do that, I had to go on to uh the motorway to get on it. But I mean yeah, by choice. I had a car that only had it had five gears, but the fifth gear you had to bungee cord in place. Oh and so my first ever experience of getting on a motorway was getting into fifth gear and then trying to bungee cord the fifth gear into place as I was oh, it's terrifying. But yeah, so you don't want to do that if you can't drive. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

So you want to grow those skills gradually starting a parking lot, literally, not just for practicing with the car. You go out on quiet roads and then onto B roads and then A roads. I have to think about all the different types of roads that are here before you tackle the motorway. And the motorway is your hardest environment, basically. Uh, this has been really cool. It's quite hard to see that long because it's yeah, because of the likes. Ingrid. Oh, we're going to. So I've enjoyed chatting with you guys. Enjoy chatting with you. I hope you guys, it looks like everyone has been doing great comments on there and really gotten a lot about from us chatting. Good, so we are going to transition to hearing Ingrid's story.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

So, guys, I hope you enjoyed that. If you want

Next Stories On YouTube

SPEAKER_00 27:46

to hear Ingrid's story or any of the other stories our amazing naughty but nice owners shared, you'll find them all on our YouTube channel. Most of all, we hope you're feeling inspired and that we've given you some new ideas for finding your inner Lara Croft and being the amazing, confident owner we know you can be.