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Just putting novel things in places that are a bit unexpected, not to freak your dog out. You need to do it in a way where it's a a non-freaky event, but then kind of pairing those things with food or a game or whatever your dog finds reinforcing.

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Welcome

Welcome And Spooky Season Setup

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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. Hello, Karen, aka Dave. We're talking the spooky season. We're talking spooky season. We're talking all of the troubles that come with a spooky season. You tell me what that's about for a dog like Rupert.

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For

Why Door Knocks Trigger Rupert

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a dog like Rupert, I would say the biggest challenges with spooky season, Halloween-y type spooky season would be trick-or-treaters, knocks on the door, or any kind of unfamiliar sounds, people crunching gravel outside my house, anything like that, where he thinks, oh, there's somebody there, and that's my business when it's really not his business at all. And he gets quite worried about door knocks anyway. So that would be, if I didn't have things in place, our biggest challenge.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

And what does that look like with Rupert being challenged? So Rupert is a naughty but nice uh cockapoo, has definitely got some genetic component of just struggles, really. Um what does it look like? How how does it look when when Rupert is struggling?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

In that kind of scenario, it would be a very quick naught to orbit kind of escalation of arousal and into quite a negative headspace, and that would be predominantly barking and potentially kind of flinging himself around the house. And if he had the opportunity, he would be yelling at the front door at whoever was behind it. It's hard, it's hard because you feel bad that whoever is at your door is is getting yelled at. You feel bad for him that he's so stressed about something which should really be pretty much a non-event. I mean, somebody coming to the door is not that threatening, is it? But to him, and I think to many dogs, it it feels that way. It's just quite difficult to manage. And actually, he's not brilliant at kind of being able to respond once he's in that space either. He can't really, I can't say to him, it's okay. There's nothing to worry about, calm down. Calm down definitely doesn't work. So it's it's at that point, it's a case of, well, what is the best option to kind of bring him back down? And if it's an unplanned one, if it's planned, I can have better things in place. So long-lasting something before that even happens. Uh probably have him on lead, all the things which kind of minimize the springing around the house, leaping off the walls. But if it's an unplanned one, it's a little harder.

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And let's go with those scenarios that are actually happening.

What To Do When It Blows Up

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I get we're going to talk training, management, and all the things that we can do. What do you actually do in the moment if it has already happened? Because I do think there's a space for this, it's already gone wrong. What does Karen do? And Karen could be anybody who's listening in this room, right? Yeah.

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So I would typically find a big handful of food and dump it on the floor. And that will not bring his arousal right down. He's quite proficient at barking and eating at the same time. But it will, it gives him a focus that's not there's somebody at the door. And the act of sniffing and finding food can lower his arousal to the point where I can then at least kind of put him away, put a door or two between him and whatever is happening. And realistically, at that point, until that person has gone away, that's probably the best I've got in that scenario.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

I think the thing that you don't realise, Karen, is that you are a seriously skilled dog trainer and the reaper has qualified you, far greater, in my opinion, than any behaviourist or anybody who um talks about dog training. And that's because you actually live this every day. How does that feel for you some days?

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Living with a reaper some days is quite tough. He's in quite a barky frame of mind just now, which I think is lots of reasons. He seems to go up and down in his little kind of fluctuating bucket full periods. I think he's been quite itchy, uh, darker evenings, potentially different walks, different walk schedule. There's lots of things that can do that, which to a dog who is quite laid back and kind of handle life, those are those probably seem quite daft things to fill a dog's stress bucket. But for Rupert, they all do.

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And when it comes to actually prepping for this season or prepping for this scenario, you've already done a lot of prep and you actually, we've just talked what happens when it goes wrong. What

Halloween Plans To Prevent Chaos

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does your prep look like for a season like this? Because I know you've been prepping for this season forever, and you always are with a dog like Rupert. But for a lot of people who are listening to this podcast for the first time today, or sharing it with an owner, or sharing it with a friend, or thinking about it for their own dog, some of this information is brand new. How does this look to you to prep this for life?

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Like, how does that look? So I think there's different components to that. If we're talking Halloween trick or treaters, that kind of very specific scenario where you've potentially got lots of people knocking on your door in one evening in quick succession, which for a dog who's going to escalate to kind of pinging off the walls every time that happens, you very quickly get to a point where that's chaos. So for me, that is try and stop that even happening in the first place. I've got a sign that we go that goes on the door that says, trickle treat is you're too spooky for my dog. Please don't knock. Here's some sweets, go away effectively. It says it's slightly nicer than that. But that's the message. We don't really want you to knock. I'm not interested in you trickle treating my door, but I'm very happy to give you some sweets if you just go away, please. And that is much better for Rupert than having people knocking on his door all evening. So that's how we deal with it in the day. I'm actually quite lucky because I live up a terrace which doesn't go anywhere. We don't get that many, but we have had them. So that is what I always do. And then in the the run-up to this, because obviously quite quickly after Halloween, we also get bonfire night, which in lots of ways is worse because fireworks are another one of the things that he really struggles with. So

Fireworks Prep And Home Setup

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lots of games where we're kind of setting his understanding that noises aren't as scary as he thinks they are. So that's things like noise box and DMT and Crazy Lady, all the all the games that we have in Games Club where you pair noise with a positive outcome.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

And in terms of fireworks, what other household prep do you do for that scenario, Karen? Because there is good household prep. For example, we don't have many here at Bowerland, if any. But when I have been in places like Birmingham for fireworks, wow, that was a shock. And it really was a shock. Like I drove and I thought it was in some sort of war. Like it is a different game, like it's a whole different game. So for dogs there, I immediately thought about like dark curtains and radios and things like that. So how do how how would that look in terms of prep for the actual event itself? Because there is a level of prep for that event in in that scenario, really.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, so lots of long-lasting Kongs, frozen licky mats, all of those kind of things, which can give him the kind of soothing activity of chewing, licking something while these things are happening. Definitely closed curtains, definitely TV or radio or something on. Actually, I have been known to just put him in the car and drive because actually, sometimes getting him out of the house is better, even if there's fireworks going off around where we're driving. Just the fact that we're in the car and he's not in the house and that noise is different, and there's the sound of the car. It's a bit like taking a baby out to settle it, isn't it? I have done that.

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And I think that's such an interesting one that actually dogs can often handle things in the car and moving when they couldn't handle it if they were sat in the house. And I think I was just talking to an owner then, and her question was because I said that they were talking about visitors, and I said, I personally would put that dog away. And she said, I know, but this is my household companion, so I don't want to put them away. And I said, That's part of the struggle. And the problem is sometimes you just have to change the scenario and it goes against your rules, and it's sometimes our rules versus their rules, but actually, the car sometimes is a better place for them to go driving than it is to sit in the house, or it's better to go away for the week than it is to stay at home. But some of that breaks our family rules or our rules that we have for the scenario.

Changing Rules For Real Life

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Give me an example of a rule that has had to be broken just because you own Rupert. Like, I don't know, I've I've got a few, for example, some of my dogs don't get first access to the front door. It's not that I don't want my dogs to have first access to the front door, but I don't have I've had to change that around because their behaviour around the front door doesn't suit the scenario that I live in, if that makes sense. Give me any examples of some of yours that have just had to adjust since you've had a dog that effectively is naughty but nice, and you've you've done it to manage it better so that everybody has a better quality of life.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

Yeah, family dog walks. My sister has a dog as well, and he's relatively chilled with other dogs. I have tried, and we've done it with Rupert on a lead and her dog off a lead, but it it he, although he's great with other dogs, he doesn't have the skill of ignoring another dog. So that didn't go brilliantly well. So that's just something that we don't do. There's just an understanding now that Rupert does not join that kind of activity. Putting Rupert in a situation where my four-year-old niece is is another one that would just be a big no for me because again, Rupert, well, he's not familiar with children, um, I don't have any. He's certainly not skilled to deal with the unpredictability of a four-year-old. So it limits what we can do as a family sometimes, but that's just the way it is.

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And let's go back to spooky season, and let's go back to any other thoughts and prep and um plans and thinking. Anything else that we might want to pre-sort of worn arm and be ready for around the season. Because for me, another thought that is just different right now is it's dusky, it's dark, it's it's dimpsy, it's different. So shadows might be different. And we had um someone working on the front of our building and they went underneath the big curtains and then they like popped out, and my dogs were like, What the hell? And yeah, my dogs are pretty robust and bomb-proof, but it just reminded me that actually they're not as robust and bomb-proof as I think when somebody starts. It looks like a Halloween scene. Matt did say that we should probably put lights and a pumpkin behind it, and it would look great. It would look like we meant to do it, but we didn't. So, so yeah, anything else that you might think about or preempt Karen for people.

Novel Props And Confidence Games

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Thinking about where we walk, I do live in a town where there are people who do like to dress their houses up with pumpkins and and floaty things. And and there's a there's a walk that we go on sometimes where there's a massive skeleton on top of top of somebody's garage. There's a guy who lives just down the road from me who's got a big floaty ghost that he puts out every Halloween. So things like that, it's being aware of it, isn't it? So that if you're walking past it, you know there's the potential for that to spook a dog.

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And that's so different, isn't it? It's so different. Like, when do you ever see like a massive floating ghost that moves in the wind? And like it's just it's so weird. I remember going to a big country fair, and I think it was like Llama came around the corner, and my dogs were just like, What the hell? It was so weird, it was so like out of like context. It's things that just nobody's expecting them, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yeah, yeah. But then again, I think there are things that you can do to kind of prep for that. So, games like Magic Cave, stick two chairs in your living room, put some kind of floaty blanket or something over it, and then play some games, have your dog run through, chase some food. We were talking the other day about somebody who dressed up and made people out of balloons, so blow up some balloons and put some clothes on them. Just putting novel things in places that are a bit unexpected, not to freak your dog out. You need to do it in a way where it's a non-freaky event, but then kind of pairing those things with food or a game or whatever your dog finds reinforcing.

Why Games Club Makes Training Easy

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So, if someone's new to us and they haven't been part of Games Club, why would Games Club be a really nice place to start? And if you are part of Games Club, why would it be good to go back in there and check it out? Because in its current state, it's a bit beautiful. Like it's got much more organization than it ever had. And actually, you can find things like this all over it. And you can start at just a pound. Like you can you can pay a pound and just trial it and see how you go for a week. So, why should someone go in and look at Games Club and where should they start?

SPEAKER_00 12:39

Well, if you don't know what we're talking about when we talk about Magic Cave and and Noise Box and all of these things, they're all in there for a start. And they're just simple games that you can play with, household items and a bit of your dog's dinner, but they are really powerful in terms of teaching concepts. So optimism or confidence or the ability to kind of understand that something that might be a bit weird and freaky is actually okay. And it's such a fun way to train as well. There's no pressure, it's just it's just fun.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah. And I I feel like there's no panic or rush or stress, or you just do it in your own time in your own home and enjoy it. So it's the resources are all at your fingertips. So if anyone's sat on the fence, should they do it, Karen? Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Um, and as you say, you can try it for a pound if you don't like it, which would be very surprising. But if you don't like it, you can leave again. But try it for a pound, you get access to everything. So all of those games, all of the 10 days courses, so that you if you've got a particular struggle like calmness or resource guarding or jumping up, all of those things, there's a there's a targeted pathway there for you as well. And we also have a monthly challenge in Games Club where we curate five or six games on a on a theme, and this month's theme is Halloween. So there we go. It's all there for you already.

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All made and spookily ready. Karen,

Final Takeaways And Thank You

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that's amazing. Thank you so much for joining us and talking through spooky season with a dog like Rupert. I know that having a dog like Rupert's a challenge anytime, really, when you've got an naughty but nice dog. I own an naughty but nice dog Katie as well. So actually, you're doing a great job and keep doing it. And everybody out there definitely know that there's a way, there's a game for that, and go and head to the games club.