Anyone fancy doing Are You Sexier than a Squirrel training alongside me? Yes know its cheesy but sounds fun, effective and appropriately distracting during lockdown

[loveyouradvice]

I'm going to sign up... and think it would be fun to do it with a couple of others at the same time? So if anyone else fancies it, do sign up and lets compare notes as we go.

I followed PollyRoulstons advice and did a quick search - lots of Mumsnetters seem to have done it, its clearly good quality and not too expensive ... but yes VERY enthusiastic and slightly cheesy presenters. I can live with that and find it rather endearing at the moment! Going to paste Polly's summary below as I found it very useful and succinct!

Polly had this to say:

It is effective game reward based training. Lauren and Tom are very cheesy but if you do not mind that the dogs love the games.

You will be bombarded with promotional material for ever more and the basic games will be repackaged in many different ways.

If you are happy to work from videos and have the time then you can have fun with it.

This is the link - £27 for 25 days training - games that take about 5-10 mins to play a day having watched a short video about each one...

www.thesexierthanasquirrelchallenge.com/joinus?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpm&utm_campaign=6211296978026&utm_content=6212004098826&utm_term=6211296988626&fbclid=IwAR1EK9yo6Z-ofu_i2D5TfqM8q0LZYKm--ccDL4yP1RzOQ6qPCazjDtu0MAE

loveyouradvice did you sign up to this?

I've had a look at it but am not sure whether to do it or not.

I signed up and got the lessons, but haven’t started them yet. This might give me the push I need to do them.

I have signed up and actually don't find them too cheesy. Some ideas are great and I think really help built the bond

Same as you magicstar, ddog needs some training and this looks a fun way to do it.

I've just signed up. Excited to see how we go.
I'm waiting for dpup to eat some breakfast so I can then treat train him. He's on raw food so can't use that for treats.

How old is everyone's pup?

Mine was 7 months on Friday, a clever little sod, stubborn, sweet, cheeky & very loving. He's a bugger to train outside though so hopefully we can do this in the garden and progress to the field etc.

Standard sleeping position

You could use raw - get him used to eating it off a spoon for some of the games

I've just watched the first video and am going to go and put my gloves on and give it a go!

I've tried with a spoon before and he's not keen but we'll try again.

Great to see the enthusiasm on here!

I've signed up ... not a pup but a 6 year old dachshund - Keen to build on what we did years ago and add the extra connection while I've time at home during lockdown. He's really enjoyed doing some extra training (sporadic!) the last couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to doing something more structured.

I've tried the first one, dpup wasn't that enthused. I've had a read through some of the training stuff and I'm not sure it's going to suit us.

I've got puppr, 30 days to a brilliant dog and it's free so think we'll stick with that and see if we can get a refund.

Good luck to everyone doing it, enjoy!

Pupford! Which is Zak George's app

My girl is 5. We got her as a rescue last August. She’s so clever and picks everything up easily, but needs some more consistent training.

Just done the first one - rather like it! Lots about building bond between us and finding out what Dog actually enjoys... makes sense so far and is fun! Think I am going to learn a lot....

I’ve got a border terrier and he’s not even vaguely interested in food treats - is it very food treat oriented or does it make alternative recommendations? I’m interested but don’t want to sign up if it’ll be a waste of time because he won’t work for more than 5 tiny pieces of high value treat on a good day 🤣

Can someone give a slightly more specific overview of what they cover? @loveyouradvice says session 1 is building bonds and some preference testing, for instance.

I've done some pretty wide-ranging training with DDog already, and wouldn't want to find that I'd signed up to something where it's all teaching DDog to do a figure-of-8 through my legs and other things he already knows.

(PS I'm under no illusion that anyone or anything could ever be sexier than a squirrel - but that's Jack Russells for you! I ain't fighting nature...)

Its all game based training so fun for the dogs

Lots of use of treats but toys can also be used for toy orientated dogs no problem on most of the games.

Lots of focus on you giving the fun,
so running away chasing games with you,
proximity zone rewarding the dog for being near you,
Ditch the bowl - they do not recommend using a bowl for meals so using treats in food circuits to feed the dog
The good old magic hand so dropping food for the dog to catch near you
Nose touch
Head thrusts into collars - they all seem to love this!
Making your dog happy - however that is game
recall through legs
food follows

There are way more but I cant remember all of them. All is high energy and if I remember they have a parson terrier for one of the games

It will only help your relationship but may drive your crazy with the enthusiasm and happiness

I'm seriously enjoying this - and lots of free resources like training to be calm or stay to a boundary. Im working on boundaries at the moment so found their comments really good and helpful - especially troubleshooting in FAQs.

Foolishly didnt click on "Completed" on day 1 until now so seem to be locked out of day 2 until tomorrow.... Meanwhile, lots of ideas to practice already so unworried

Hmm I’m very tempted. How are you all getting on? I have a mad 18 month spaniel. Her recall is actually very good as she’s ball obsessed, but she has a tendency not to stay close to us when she is off lead and I’d like to address that. Is that what you mean by boundaries @loveyouradvice ?
She’s also dreadful at pulling on a lead. Does the programme cover this, does anyone know?

Its not specifically designed for loose lead walking but the games will create more focus on you. Magic hands (one of the games is great to help with loose lead walking)

So the games will help her stay closer to you when out and about as you are the main event of the walk not the environment.

My wee fella is enjoying it and I'm loving the shift in emphasis around how we react. And that as a side benefit - one of their booklets - he is learning to be much calmer and ready to rest on his bed when not playing

How's anyone else doing?

absolute-dogs.com/products/21-days-to-stress-free-walks

I think its this one that cover loose lead walking, distractions etc. Can always ask support or on Facebook group. They do have regular sales events on these like 40% off.

One of the podcasts was about pulling on lead.