Do you have a pooch and need some help training them?

One of Alsager Nub News' sponsors, sponsor, 'All to Play for, offers weekly advice to our readers and this week she's talking about cues and markers.

"When use a cue we are asking our dogs to do something, for example, sit," says Julia.

"However, it's all too easy to poison the cue so that it becomes meaningless to our dogs and doesn't have the result we're looking for.

Owning a dog isn't always easy but top dog trainer, Alsager's Julia Hawkins, from Linley Grove is a font of knowledge on the subject.

Julia, a former maths teacher, uses concept training which helps dog owners to see how they can reshape their dogs' brains using games

She offers tips on her blog https://alltoplayfor.co.uk/blog/ as well as other help and contact details on her website at https://alltoplayfor.co.uk/ shares some special tips for your pooch.

Julia with her two Romanian rescue dogs. (Photo: Nub News)

'Training Tips ' advice

•  Start of any behaviour by luring (getting your dog to follow food or a toy so that you get the behaviour you want - for example to get a sit, lure the nose upwards and the bum goes downwards) or shaping (waiting for your dog to offer the desired behaviour then rewarding them). Don't introduce your verbal cue until your dog is doing the behaviour by luring every time.

•  Only say the verbal cue once! We've all done it - you say "sit!", your dog doesn't sit. So you say "SIT!", "Rover, SIT!" and so it goes on. There are two possible outcomes here. Your cue could become "sit, SIT, Rover SIT" or you saying "sit" becomes just white noise and totally irrelevant to your dog. If you use your verbal cue and your dog does not offer the behaviour, go back to luring the behaviour. You will need to get this stage stronger and work on strengthening the behaviour in a low distraction environment.

Interested in finding more about 'All to Play For'? Julia also has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/alltoplayfordogtraining and can be contacted on 07913 757304.

You can also read our launch article on Julia here