Four Steps To a
alert. Agility training teaches your dog to come
er Dog
up with his own strategy on how to complete
the course, improving his own mind as well as
keeping him fit and healthy. For a dog to excel
at agility it requires the owner to work with their
pet, helping both owner and dog to build a
Your Dog’s Intelligence?
relationship built on trust and good communication
to improve the owner’s connection with their dog.
Can environmental issues affect a dog’s in-
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telligence and can we train our pets
to become more inquisitive?
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Can the environment in which our dogs
A bookload
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live become a reflection of how they will
of fun for you
behave? Pet behaviourist Jacqui Jones says:
and your dog
“A boring environment for the dog makes a
bored pet, because the dog’s normal mood
state is lacking it may become ‘naughty’ or
show behaviour problems like licking itself or
chewing the house to pieces.”
“If an owner uses a method of training that
helps to motivate the dog, encouraging him to
use his intelligence to work something out, the
dog will become more inquisitive and more
challenged; this will make him less hyperactive
or bored. Some of the latest toys are good for
this as they are interactive for both the owner
and the dog. As a result the dog will need think
about how to get the best possible outcome out
of the toy''.
Clicker training is a training technique that is
fight depression and support health. They can
believed to encourage the natural inquisitive-
also affect other parts of the body, the heart for
ness of your dog because it teaches your dog
instance.”
that he can figure things out for himself and get
rewarded for it.
Are there certain exercises that can improve
When it comes to clicker training Jacqui
a dog’s mental capacity?
believes: “There are a lot of exercises that the
Any exercise will improve your pet’s mental
dog would work out for himself given half the
capacity and their ability to learn, by including
chance as there is no way to lure or show the
more training in your dog’s everyday life you will
dog what we want, any natural behaviour a dog
increase his normal mood state and improve his
shows can be rewarded and then put on cue
state of mind and well-being.
control.”
By using the method of clicker training it
Agility is a great way for both owner and dog to
enables the owner to shape any exercise they
bond. Aside from being an entertaining way to
teach their dog and helps the dog to build up to
train your pet, dog agility will help develop your
a particular behaviour that is helped by using
dog’s responses, keeping him vigorous and
this training technique.
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