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Obsidian K9 Academy ©

Obsidian K9 Academy was founded in 2017 and is the biggest international dog training family on the face of the planet.

Obsidian K9

The Lodge
Selby Road
Doncaster DN6 0ET
07401146598
[email protected]
Monday - Saturday: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

obsidiank9academy

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Lacking Confidence Today I had a client in who di

Lacking Confidence

Today I had a client in who didn't want her story sharing on social media so naturally I will honour that because it's only fair but I want to share the take away lessons without invading her privacy because there was some gems that you guys could do with knowing!

So client X today has had some very rough times with her previous dog which was unfortunately put to sleep this year, which has left her feeling very vulnerable, very deflated, very fed up with the whole thing and that's completely normal.

Today, her other dog had very, very mild behavioural issues. A little bit of reactivity to other dogs but nothing at all serious in the slightest, she was just a little unsure so we spent a large chunk of the session working on the HANDLER rather than the dog.

Feeling unsure or apprehensive at some point in your training journey is COMPLETELY normal. Everybody goes through it. There are highs and there are lows and that is just part of the game.

The thing that helps massively with these highs and lows is a great group of people around you for support. When I first opened the Academy I had no idea just how much the community aspect of it would play a huge part in peoples journey. The family feel really is the back bone of the academy.

So it's super normal to lack confidence especially in a field that you don't know so much about and the BEST way to mitigate that is with support of people you trust... Support of people who have already been there, whether it be friends, the academy, a trainer, it makes no difference!

Anyway, client X if you see this - Great work today! Super job!

Freshest ⚪️ Collar In The House!! Today I had

Freshest ⚪️ Collar In The House!!

Today I had the privilege of promoting our other Obsidian Trainer Jack to white collar with his young Rottie Maska!

Like everyone in the game he’s had some ups and downs on the journey so far but perseverance pays off! It’s a damn hard programme and this is the first rung on the ladder!

Well done brother!!
🔵 Loading…

King was previously severely reactive to other dog

King was previously severely reactive to other dogs and a previous trainer told his owners to put him to sleep because he was dangerous…

Today we changed that!
#dogtrainer #dog #dogsofinstagram #gsd #germanshepherd #business #dogtraining #businessman #rottweilers #rottweiler #k9 #k9 #dutchshepherdsofinstagramunit #protectiondog #StopAtNothing #family #kingk9 #children #training #doglove #obedience #dogstagram #RaisingTheBar #ObsidianK9 #dogtrainingtips #workingdogs #dogswithjobs #dogsonadventure #outdoorswithdogs #sableshepherd

My First Love So nearly nine years ago I went to

My First Love

So nearly nine years ago I went to live in America with a great protection dog trainer and as much as I will always absolutely love training pet dogs and resolving their behavioural issues, this is what started it all.

Before anyone cries - there’s plenty of control videos of my dogs but just like a pet dog enjoys a day off to have a blow out so do our protection dogs. No rules, just a load of fun!

The protection world on social media can be a bit of a strange one because people only see a clip. This dog is out everyday with my clients, no issue, helping their reactive dogs call down. He’s also on my house, around my wife and daughter just like any other dog.

It’s just an on switch and an off switch and they should all have both!

Massive thanks to Bullvision Dog Training for the work and Trident Elite K9 for hosting it!

Great day and a tonne of fun!

Dream Clients Today I had an absolute breath of f

Dream Clients

Today I had an absolute breath of fresh air with Floki and his owner! They have followed my advice to the tee from before he even got his dog and it's made the whole process a thousand times easier and his six month old puppy behaves better than most adults dogs walking the streets.

Floki's owner joined the Academy BEFORE he even got the dog to learn everything he could about owning and training a dog so he could bring him up the right way from the start. He also did a load of research into his breeder which means he has a really nice genetic predisposition to work with as well and that combination is just bliss.

He hand feeds, he trains and stimulates mentally and physically, he doesn't pointlessly walk, he's socialising properly and the outcome is amazing. Floki got out the car today and behaved like an adult dog. He walks well on the lead, he plays with his owner, he has a nice recall, he's not reactive, he's not a problem.

This is because the ground work was done before the dog even came home so the second he did, the correct work was being done. If everyone did this then I wouldn't be out on the ground fixing deep rooted behavioural issues half as often. Puppies are malleable and they learn like a sponge, absorbing everything you show them. Teach early and teach properly and you will have no issues!

Massive well done guys, an absolute breath of fresh air and super work! People could learn a lot from your attitude!

Star Pupil (Video in the comments) Today I had an

Star Pupil
(Video in the comments)

Today I had another Academy group day session in and we had an absolute blast! I genuinely think these Academy group days are my favourite days because everyone is a member, everyone has already sorted their foundations and we can dive much deeper into advanced dog training.

Today we had German Shepherds, Lurchers, Huskies and of course the star pupil Loki! Loki is part pug, part spaniel and part border terrier and he is an absolute credit to his owner!

We had a dive into some reactivity principles, had all the dogs out together, had a look at higher level obedience and heelwork, engagement principles and had some really interesting debates about ethics in dog training, what the perfect dog is, goal setting and mindset. I absolutely love these days!

Little Loki here does amazing work and I urge you to watch the video in the comments. This little guy has full off lead obedience and his owner has been working hard in the Academy getting the reps in and it really shows. Better still, she hasn't even owned him a year yet so the work she has done is spot on!

Thoroughly enjoyed today guys, absolutely loved spending the day with you all and I had a really good time talking dogs and training my guys with you all as well!

Great work - Definitely excited to do more of these!

Juniper Berry! (Video in the comments) Today we h

Juniper Berry!
(Video in the comments)

Today we had this beauty in for her first session here at the facility and she absolutely aced it! Super happy with how fast she made progress and she's genuinely one of the quickest learning dogs I have come across in a long time. Super switched on, super intelligent, and that's what caused the issue!

Juni was reacting to other dogs and had been since a very young age so that indicates that there's almost certainly an aspect of genetic predisposition but the bigger issue was that she had a lot of drive in her head and not enough to do.

Some dogs can live a very normal pet life, going for a stroll around the block and not being an issue, but other dogs really need much more attention and work to keep them mentally stimulated and entertained, or they end up going self employed.

It was clear that this was an issue the second she got out the car when she was hyper fixating on everything she could to try and find some enjoyment from the outside world so we had a good chat about how to open up a good line of communication to change her attention back towards her handler.

We got stuck straight in today and got the dogs out and she was amazing. As soon as that line of communication is open and is clear, the reactivity almost vanishes instantaneously. Dogs aren't reacting out of malice or to annoy their owner. They simply haven't been taught a better answer.

Open up that line of communication and the behaviour starts to change really quite quickly!

Really great owners, super keen to learn and always makes my job an absolute joy!! Thoroughly enjoyed it guys! Well done!

Training Without Problems! Today we had Narla in

Training Without Problems!

Today we had Narla in for her first session at the facility and not only did she ace it but her owner deserves a special shout out. Narla is roughly eight years old or so, not entirely sure as she's a rescue that was left tied up outside. She doesn't have any glaring behavioural issues but her owner just wanted to learn more about helping her have a fulfilled life so booked in.

I cannot praise these kinds of people enough. If you take your dog to a trainer BEFORE you have severe issues, then everything is vastly easier to fix, vastly easier to resolve and less stressful for all involved. So many people let their dog become reactive for years before they bother seeking help and it makes everything way harder.

Narla's owner was already implementing some great foundations with her, including hand feeding in training which is absolutely brilliant but we looked into some mental enrichment principles to increase that even more and give her a more fulfilled life when she can't be charging about for hours on end due to her age. There is always something new you can be doing with your dog to further enrich them and the more we do that the happier our dogs are.

The only small behavioural issue we had to look at was very mild reactivity to other dogs and I'm not sure it can even be called that to be honest. She was just a bit too interested when other dogs are around but as the engagement comes up and the exposure continues this will fall away very quickly!

Again a shout out to Narla's owner for being so proactive! I wish everyone was like this! Great work guys, really well done!

Otto The Weimaraner! Today we had this absolute

Otto The Weimaraner!

Today we had this absolute stunner in for his first session here at the facility and he aced it! I absolutely love the amount of character that Weimaraner's often have. They are usually the absolute clown and full of laughs and Otto is no different.

He had some issues with other dogs, growling and barking which was worse when on the lead so it was clear very quickly that this was a conflicted behaviour driven primarily in frustration because as he matured he wasn't sure how to deal with these feelings so they leaked out in reactivity.

Really all that was wrong was a few communication gaps in his training which left him making his own decisions and not knowing what he should and shouldn't be doing but we got straight to work and he changed very quickly.

Within two minutes of me taking his lead he was walking around Khaleesi whilst I told her to bark without making a peep. His response to other dogs was nowhere near as negative as it looked on the surface he just needed some guidance in HOW to respond.

We also had a food delivery from the supermarket and that showed another hole that he hadn't been exposed to enough stimulus because we had a bit of a nerve response showing through so we discussed that too and how to resolve it moving forwards.

His owners were an absolute joy to work with, super willing to learn and wanting to know every little detail on how to make Otto happier than he already is!

Brilliant work guys! Thoroughly enjoyed our session!! Well done!

Mad Frenchies! Today we had Dave in for his firs

Mad Frenchies!

Today we had Dave in for his first session and he's certainly one of the most intensly reacting French Bulldogs I have seen in a very long time. When he goes, he really, really goes. Eyes popping out of his head, war crying, the works but he's a real character.

Dave has had a couple of issues with people and with dogs, with a couple of bites under his belt and naturally his owners really panicked at the thought of that because they have done a lot of work with a force free trainer but they've hit a bit of a wall and can't seem to get any further.

The work that the force free trainer had done was actually nice work, and all the principles were correct but with dogs this intense, the force free ideology really falls apart. Without correction, Dave had no idea what he was doing wrong at all and the behaviour had become so self rewarding that there was no reason he would ever stop.

We got straight to work and the first time we got a dog out, Dave went spare. Full blown reaction, going mental, kicking off and not interested in his owners at all but it didn't last long.

Putting correction into that behaviour removes value in it. It creates less and less value from this self rewarding behaviour and then the counter conditioning can continue from there.

By the time we got Flak and Eden out, Dave was pretty much not reacting at all, choosing to engage with his owners. Now don't get this one twisted, there's a LOT of exposure to do here because Dave in his old home wasn't exposed to anything so he has no idea how to behave properly.

Today he walked up and down around Flak with no reaction at all but we need to continue this work now working hard on prolonged exposure to solidify this response moving forwards.

Amazing work today guys and well done for sticking with him! Can't wait to see how he progresses!

How Long Should I Train My Dog? So this is a ques

How Long Should I Train My Dog?

So this is a question I get every single day without fail and it's one that I thought deserved a bit of time to come up with a good response for people because the short answer is: 'It depends'... But that's not really enough of an answer is it.

As human beings we love to measure things. We love to know how long, or how often because we live in a world where time is such a prevalent part of our lives but our dogs really don't care. What you have to remember is that time is a man made construct. There's no other animal that measures time... You don't find a Lion walking around checking his pocket watch.

So when you think about how long you should be training, or how often you should be training, think about it slightly differently and turn the question around so it's something else.

You definitely should be measuring your training sessions, but frequency and duration aren't the metrics that are really all that important. The important metric surrounding dog training is progress and that's always been my most important metric.

So you should be training as long, and as often it takes to make progress, but you AND your dog also have to be enjoying the process too so there's no point in training so much that it makes one of you sick of it.

Some of my training sessions are literally three minutes long, and sometimes I train all day long. It depends how you and the dog are feeling. So my advice is to stop measuring minutes or session numbers and instead measure progress, measure happiness, measure contentment, measure results.

You'll be much happier for it mate

Timber, Diesel and Bruno!! Today we had these thr

Timber, Diesel and Bruno!!

Today we had these three guys in for an Academy Members only mini group session and these sessions are something that I only open up to members of the online Academy and we always have a blast so I am looking forward to doing more of them in the coming weeks!

Timber is our most recent Academy member and his owner made a mistake that so many have made before her and was trying to fix step nine before step one had been sorted. He had some very mild reactivity issues but they were indeed mild. He only reacted once in the whole day today.   When we have young dogs that are large breeds its often hard to remember that they are still young in their mind even if their body is massive so it’s gonna be slowly slowly for Timber. There’s some foundations that need improving, he needs better and more consistent engagement with his handler and once that is solidified life will be a lot easier and more straight forward.
 Diesel is a Cyprus rescue boy with some fear issues especially with people but he behaved like an absolute hero today. No reactions to people at all, and the odd bark at other dogs but nothing severe. Diesel’s owner is doing great work with him, being nice and patient within the basics and understanding that it’s a slow game, especially with these dogs that were born on the streets.   

Bruno came to see us very late last year with quite severe aggression issues towards people and dogs and what a change I can see in him now he has come back today. The progress is absolutely night and day because his owner has been working and working and working and it’s really showing!

Another awesome day with awesome people and awesome dogs! Great work all!

Dog Reactivity Fixed! (Video in the comments) Tod

Dog Reactivity Fixed!
(Video in the comments)

Today we had Storm in for her first session here and she absolutely aced it! I see so many reactive dogs every year and so often it's not really a true behavioural issue but much more an issue of poor communication, lack of enrichment and a bit of incorrect management and todays case was no different. Storm was described as a dog they couldn't take anywhere because she would kick off at absolutely anything that moved.

We started the session having a good chat about all the things that Storm was doing in her daily life and most of them pointed towards not really needing to interact with her owners for anything but getting all her joy from the other family dog, Shadow. Unfortunately Shadow didn't appreciate this so we discussed at length some of the ecological elements of how dogs truly interact when not dictated by humans and found some better ways of doing day to day life.

Then we got straight to work and I took her lead to teach her some stuff surrounding lead pressure and understanding the lead as a line of communication rather than a restraint tool as so many people use it and then I got Khaleesi out and we had zero reactions. Storm actually didn't react once in the whole session and that's because we set her mind up to win, rather than to lose.

How your dog enters a session is just as important as how it leaves a session and even when I handed the lead back to her owners we still had no reactions whatsoever which is always great to see because it just shows that the behaviour wasn't that severe despite it feeling severe to her owners.

This was just another case of lack of communication and Storm was just dealing with her feelings how she knew best and nobody had showed her any other options or voiced to her that kicking off at dogs wasn't a very good idea. Once you open up the clear line of communication dogs are almost always willing to change their behaviours. It's us that aren't communicating effectively!

Great work today guys! Really enjoyed it!

Lessons From Another Game So around ten months ag

Lessons From Another Game

So around ten months ago I first set foot in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym having never done the martial art a day in my life. Today, after training five plus nights a week, every week, I received my blue belt and anyone who has done BJJ will know that although it’s a lot of work, it’s just a drop in the ocean.

The first thing I want to do before I share my dog training lessons is thank my Professor, Oliver Lovell at @graciebarrabarnsley . He has worked super closely with me, we’ve trained at different gyms, travelled about, competed and he has been there day and night every step of the way so I am super appreciative of that. If you are anywhere near Barnsley and fancy giving this game a bash, you won’t find a better team.

So onto our dog training lessons then.

It’s a Team Game - BJJ and Dog training are both drastically more successful when you have a good team around you. The most important aspect of the Academy in my opinion is the family aspect. People helping each other so everyone becomes better and it’s the same at the gym. Without other guys to train with, none of us can progress.

It takes time - Even in this small chapter of my Jiu Jitsu journey there has been countless times that I felt I wasn’t improving at all. I was getting beat all the time, I was never winning anything and it was constantly a grind… But in time, it got better, I started winning the odd round and all of a sudden you look up and you’ve changed massively. Dog training is EXACTLY the same. There are no quick fixes, despite what social media would have you believe.

Ups and downs - There was days I left the gym feeling on top of the world and days I wanted to quit and that’s completely normal. The important thing is that you turn up every single day and do the work. If you keep turning up, you keep improving even if just by a little bit. Turn up, do your session and over time your dog will improve.

It’s just a small drop in a huge ocean on my BJJ journey, but we celebrate the small wins and over time they become the big wins!   Two different games, one identical ethos!

Peggy Patterdale�(Video in the comments)��To

Peggy Patterdale�(Video in the comments)��Today we had this little beauty in for her first session with her full sister which is something I always advise against. Owning two dogs at similar ages can cause a multitude of issues and although there are no ‘scientific studies’ to support littermate syndrome all you have to do is look around in real life for five minutes to see it exists.

Thankfully her owners knew about this nice and early and they put in the appropriate steps to stop it happening so it wasn’t the problem we were actually dealing with… What we were dealing with, was dog reactivity.

Naturally the working terriers can be a bit more prone to this kind of behaviour because they were bred to hunt prey which makes them a lot more full on than some other breeds and being a hardy working dog sometimes it can be tricky to snap them out of the behaviour.

We got straight to work with some lead pressure principles to teach Peggy how to respond to directional changes and pressure through the lead and she understood it so fast.

Then we just dove in to getting the dogs out and she aced it. Once you put the line of communication in and leave options open for your dog you can really change behaviour very quickly!

The key to keeping this behaviour as it is in the video is consistency of handling. One of the main reasons clients struggle with behaviour is because their line of communication to the dog isn’t clear and consistent.

In the earlier stages of training it has to be identical every single session so the dog can start building a properly solidified association to a given behaviour and they kept the work up as soon as they got home because I received a message saying how much of a pleasure her walk was that evening!�
Great work today guys!

The Help Is Out There Every day I get countless m

The Help Is Out There

Every day I get countless messages from people with issues with their dogs. Some of them are small issues, some of them are big issues and some of them are in between.

You're not gonna get a good answer to a behavioural question with 'tips'... There are no tips. You are asking for tips on how to physiologically and psychologically change a dogs behaviour. It just isn't that easy, and if it was I'd release the book of tips and live on a vineyard in the south of France.

I also fully understand that some people physically cannot afford the price of professional trainers and that was one of the reasons I created the Academy. The Academy is just over quid a day.... That's the price of a decent coffee once a week... And the first week is completely free!

Zero charge, zero contract, zero reason to stay if you don't like it. I will never put a minimum term on the Academy because I want members that WANT to be there rather than members being held by a contract.

The help IS out there but you have to take the first step. You have to click the link, ping your details in and get to work. There's over three hundred videos, countless professional trainers, eight divisions around the UK where you can train in person, webinars, mastermind journals, giveaways, free training days for members, the lot.

I can't take the first step for you, but I can help you once you do!

Academy Group Sessions So a few weeks ago I decid

Academy Group Sessions

So a few weeks ago I decided that I would offer group sessions only to my Academy members in groups of up to five. So people could split a full day of training between up to five people to make it more affordable for them so they could train more often and today was the first one... We had a BLAST

Today was the absolute perfect way to start a working week, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and its just another reminder as to why I do what I do. I enjoy nothing more than being out in the facility training dogs and helping owners. Watching the progress unfold before your eyes will never, ever get boring.

Today we had these five guys in. Four of them were dog reactive and one of them was just wanting to work on some more advanced behaviours and that's the joy of the group... We can work on whatever people wanna work on!

The common theme among all five though was something I call the black and white problem where the difference between correction and reward is small and you end up with loads of grey areas.

The second theme was that people are always too concerned with what THEY want their dog to do but forget to ask their dog what it actually wants. Training is a game of compromise where human and dog work in harmony.

I had the absolute best day today so Academy Members please get more of these sorted because they are so much fun! Im afraid these are only open to members so if you're not a member you will have to join first if you wanna jump on!

Peace!

Exposure Is King! (Video in the story) Today we h

Exposure Is King!
(Video in the story)

Today we had Atlas in for his first session here at the facility and boy is this guy big. He is over forty kilos at six months old so it's super important that we get this behaviour right early because as he grows physically and mentally its going to become a lot more headache to handle!

When you have behavioural issues, the earlier they are resolved in a dogs life the easier it is. People who stick their head in the sand for years and ignore the behaviours are going to have a much harder sand than those who spot things and get moving straight away.

Atlas broke his toe as a ten week old puppy so he didn't have the best start to life and missed out on seeing things for a few weeks in the important days. He has a bit of nerve towards people and towards dogs and deals with it by kicking off at anything that makes him uncomfortable.

All we had to do was communicate with him that he had other options when he feels uncomfortable and he settled down super quickly as you can see in the video.

Atlas learned really quickly today but exposure is going to be so important in the coming months so he can build new responses to these stimuli that currently make him a bit uncomfortable.

Super work today guys! Excellent work!

Just Keep Going Dog training is a game of repetit

Just Keep Going

Dog training is a game of repetition and this is a topic sparked by a conversation I had with Jack, one of our Academy trainers last night.

See, there aren’t often any huge breakthroughs in dog training. Sure, when you go see a professional they can make a huge difference in a very short space of time, but it’s not really about that.

Dog training is about the daily repetition of tiny steps which over time add up to something far bigger. I said last night that if you can see a huge difference in your daily training then there’s a good chance you are going too fast.

When you are on a weight loss journey, you don’t lose weight in an hour, or a day but you do lose weight over months and years and it really drops off. Yet if you weighed yourself every hour it would look the same.

You could go on some insane diet where you eat no calories all day but that wouldn’t be sustainable over a period of time and you’d likely fall off the band wagon and start eating ice cream again.

Your dog training is no different. Just get up every day and learn a little bit and apply what you have learned into the work. There’s no mad secret formula. There’s no tips, there’s no speedy answer. It’s just an accumulation of small amounts of repetition.

Every day I train Khaleesi and every day it looks much like it did yesterday but there are tiny, tiny percentages of improvements and over time they add up.

The people who are successful in training a happier dog, are those who are willing to take the step to learn, and then repeat that learning and application of the learning every single day.

The ones who fail, are the ones chasing a quick fix. If there was a quick fix, there would be no problem dogs. Just like if there was a magic diet pill there would be no overweight people.

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