April 1, 2025 • 15 mins
Ever been told your dog is a lost cause? Meet Alice and Bonnie—a story that proves second chances can lead to extraordinary transformations.
When Alice adopted Bonnie, a powerful brindle mastiff mix with a history of aggression that had resulted in another dog's death, she had no idea what she was getting into. That first walk when Bonnie dragged Alice across a field in a reactive frenzy made one thing clear: this would be no ordinary rehabilitation journey.
"We definitely wondered if this was beyond our capabilities," Alice confesses in this raw, honest conversation about the reality of living with a severely reactive dog. After one trainer declared Bonnie would "never like other dogs," Alice refused to accept that verdict. Instead, she found an approach that would completely transform their lives. Through a methodical progression of games that built crucial skills like disengagement and optimism, Bonnie gradually evolved from a "grizzly bear" on leash to a dog who could calmly navigate the world.
The journey wasn't linear—there were tears, setbacks, and moments of doubt. But Alice shares the practical strategies that made progress possible: ditching traditional walks temporarily, homeschooling essential skills, introducing challenges at Bonnie's pace, and perhaps most importantly, maintaining balance through self-care practices completely separate from dog training.
Whether you're struggling with your own reactive dog or simply interested in understanding behavior transformation, this conversation offers both practical guidance and genuine hope. As Alice says to anyone feeling overwhelmed by their dog's behavior: "There is a manageable route up that mountain. You just need someone to guide you the right way."
If you’re loving the podcast, you’ll love our NEW Sexier than a Squirrel Dog Training Challenge even more! Get transformational dog training today for only £27!
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Want to take your learning to the next level? Jump into the games-based training membership for passionate dog owners and aspiring trainers that know they want more for themselves and their dog - Pro Dog Trainer Club!
https://absolutedogs.me/prodogtrainerclub
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lauren Langman (00:09):
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
From nbn zero to hero, I wantto introduce you to the
(00:32):
wonderful alice and her superdog, bonnie.
Alice, I know this has been atough journey.
You started at zero.
You're now my hero when itcomes to naughty but nice dogs
advocating for them and reallytransformation.
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (00:45):
Tell us a little bit about bonnie,
where it started and howdifficult it was in those early
days um, yeah, we, we had sortof quite a steep learning curve,
I think it's fair to say, withbonnie, especially early on.
Um, we adopted her when she wastwo.
She had been put into therescue centre under the, frankly
(01:09):
, mismanagement of her previousowner.
There had actually been a dogfight incident which had sadly
resulted in the death of theother dog.
So I think Bonnie was quitelucky to actually even get the
chance to go into rescue at thatpoint, and I'm glad she did,
because I think that it was ahorrible situation that could
have been avoided.
And so it was, you know, nicefor Chris and I to be able to
(01:33):
give her that second chance thatwe felt she deserved.
But she certainly came with alot of struggles.
So, yes, you know she struggledwith separation and you know
that's a work in progress andit's a much better picture now
than it was.
But I think primarily herreactivity is the thing that
we've sort of that was the mostsort of shocking to us and the
(01:57):
most sort of sort ofdisheartening initially to think
, crikey like this is actually alot worse than, you know, the
rescue center were aware of.
And, um, we've got a reallysteep hill to climb.
Lauren Langman (02:09):
That's kind of how it felt um, I know you
described her as a grizzly bear.
Like literally can imagine thisgrizzly bear, cross donkey at
times.
Now she is big, um, she's ablack brindle, she.
She can look quite fierce.
She's a mastiff mutts, she's acrossbred mastiff breed and
she's a lot of dog on a lead.
(02:30):
I think it's fair to say she's alot of dog for you because
you're probably about the sameweight, like both, similar sort
of 50, 60, those like weights ofpoor past learning and poor
past history.
Like where you say, actually itwas to the extreme that another
dog died and there are so manypeople listening here that think
, well, maybe we shouldn't haveeven allowed another opportunity
(02:53):
.
Well, the dog died through poormismanagement of, actually, the
scenario and the situation.
She's been given an opportunityfor you to rehome her.
But, yes, it came with learningcurve and it came with a whole
host of skills you needed tolearn.
Did you ever feel overwhelmedin the beginning and did you
ever feel, oh my God, if I bitenough more than I can chew, or
(03:14):
are we maybe not qualified toown a dog like Bonnie?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & Bon (03:18):
We definitely did.
Yeah, both Chris and I, therewas a period of time where we
really did kind of feel like,can we do this, can we make this
work?
We really were quite determinedbecause we thought, okay, she's
a massive problem, but she'sour massive problem now of find
(03:44):
solutions, and so that's kind ofwhere we poured our energy into
.
But it certainly wasn't easyand there definitely was times
when we kind of felt like, youknow, is this beyond our
capabilities?
Um, but, but as a team, so we,we have kind of managed to build
a very different picture now,um, one from where, you know,
because of bonnie's strength andher the sort of the degree of
her reactivity early on, um, youknow, chris was really the only
(04:06):
one who could actually handlethat lead safely at times,
because she did pull me over,you know, she did kind of drag
me across the field a couple oftimes, and we thought, okay,
let's not have that become apattern.
Let's, let's just, let's buildthose skills, let's kind of
build that relationship, let'stry and kind of like see, you
know, let's, let's train so that, um, that we can, you know,
(04:26):
create a happier, healthierbonnie where we can have a sort
of a calmer, you know, nicerwalks, but in, but you know,
whilst we were bridging that gap, then you know sort of um,
chris's stature was essential interms of us kind of having any
kind of um.
You know, um, not just kind ofand it's not like going for
walks when she wasn't ready,because we kind of we ditched
(04:46):
that and we rewound and we kindof did a lot of kind of
homeschooling with bonnie, butit was more when we were ready
to start risking forward, whenwe were start ready to start
kind of bridging that gap.
Um, it just sort of made usfeel a lot safer when we were
working as a team than itwouldn't and if I had been on my
own with Bonnie, for sure.
Lauren Langman (05:05):
Now Bonnie's transformation has been huge,
from the point, I suppose, whenI first met her and I thought,
dear Lord, I wouldn't want tomeet this dog on a walk to oh my
goodness, I would gleefullymeet these guys on a walk.
In fact I'd actually go out forwalks with you with a dog like
Mango or maybe even dog likeBrave.
With a dog like Mango or maybeeven dog like Brave, who I know
they are very, very savvy andthey're very, very dog cool.
(05:26):
But also I know they're alittle bit bigger and I feel
that they would be quiteappropriate and they'd be able
to behave appropriately withBonnie and I do feel she'd be
able to behave appropriate withthem too.
Now for those people listeningthinking, oh my goodness, how
has this transformation happened?
And I just don't believe thatthis is possible.
Give us just some of the stepsin that transformation, because
you really did start at zero.
You had a naughty but nice dog,seriously leash, aggressive,
(05:49):
has history of hurting anotherdog and actually killing another
dog and, equally, you've gother as your dog.
She's now your rehome.
She's not a rescue, she's yourdog.
How have we taken it from dogthat you wouldn't want to meet
out at all to actually dog, whowe'd happily go out for a walk
with, because that is one megatransformation, even more so in
(06:10):
a mastiff style mutt, I feel,because of the breed
dispositions and tendencies.
If we're looking at whatthey're bred to do, there is a
level of fight in them and thereis a level of like, feisty and
guard breed, and so I think weneed to be a bit mindful of that
too.
But but how did thattransformation happen?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (06:29):
like what?
What are the key sort ofmoments that you feel?
Yet that was pivotal.
Yeah, because it, because itsounds bonkers, doesn't it?
And I think, actually, if Icould take a moment to sort of
speak directly to anyonelistening to this, who may be,
you may have been told thatthere's no hope, with the first
trainer that we spoke to saidbonnie will never like other
dogs, you know.
And, um, we had, luckily, I'dkind of booked appointments with
a number of different localtrainers and stuff and I'm like,
(06:50):
okay, well, we don't reallylike that outcome, but we'll
just see what anyone else has tosay.
And we did find someone whotalked through games, who
absolutely was a lot moreoptimistic and gave us hope that
we weren't, we weren't,fighting a lost battle.
But if you're, if you'resitting and you're listening to
this and you've maybe been toldthat you know there's no hope
for your dog, or you're feelinglike you're at the bottom of a
(07:12):
very steep mountain, thinkinghow on earth am I going to scale
this massive problem?
There is a manageable route upthat mountain.
You just need someone to guideyou in the right way.
You just need the rightguidance and the right route,
the right step by step, becausewhat we did to kind of break
down this sort of mammoth taskwas um, um, well, I mean
(07:35):
ditching the walks, ditching thewalks and ditching the bowl,
kind of first steps.
Page one um, for us it was kindof by default because Bonnie
had some orthopaedic strugglesas well.
So we were on vet instructionsto ditch the walks for a while
whilst she waited for and thenhad various procedures that she
needed.
But whilst we were in thatperiod it was actually the best
(07:58):
thing for her, both physicallyand in terms of her behavioural
work on the concepts she neededthat she was lacking, sort of
most profoundly armlessdisengagement and optimism.
Work on games that built thoseskills in a safe, controlled
environment without the kind ofdistractions that were that we
(08:20):
had seen from.
You know, having these massivepublic meltdowns were just too
much for her.
She just simply did not havethe skills that you know a lot
of other dog owners which kindof just take for granted that
their dog would be cool with, soby just shrinking down her
world temporarily to work onthose skills in a kind of
(08:41):
homeschooling kind ofenvironment and then, when she
was physically ready as well, tostart gradually bridging that
gap by.
You know, for example, maybewe'd been playing magic hand at
home and encouraging that closeproximity, that focus on the
handler.
Well then I could start playingmagic hand at, maybe, a private
(09:04):
, higher secure field.
So we're outdoors, it's a fieldenvironment, but there's still
nothing else reallyunpredictable that's going to be
happening.
But can she focus on me insteadof, maybe, the smells in the
grass?
Then maybe we go to a differentfield where maybe, or at a time
when we know it's going to bequiet, where it's a huge amount
of space, maybe there'll beanother dog walker at the other
(09:25):
end of the field and graduallyand gradually and gradually, as
we can see, can she demonstratethat her brain's in her head
right now?
Can she engage with us?
Can she start to behave in acalmer manner?
You know, can she disengagefrom things that maybe she
couldn't before?
Starting with kind of easythings like, say, a smell in the
(09:48):
grass was never going to get afull Baskerville response from
Bonnie, but it's still adistraction, whereas a dog
running after a ball in thefield would have gotten a big
sort of Baskerville meltdown.
And so you kind of just you gotto look at the distractions in
terms of how your dog used torespond to them and just start
(10:09):
with those easier wins andgradually build your way up and
um.
And also I think it's importantto remember that progress isn't
linear, that you know your lineis going to go in the right
direction if you're playing thegames and you're putting in, you
know the effort and you kind ofyou're playing the right menu
of games for what concepts yourdog needs.
But you're gonna have good daysand bad days, just like we all
(10:32):
do.
So it's kind of um, it's that's.
That's a really powerful thingto remember.
Again, if you're listening tothis and you're thinking I don't
know where to begin, or you'vehad a really horrible day,
you're just in tears becauseyour dog's done something
utterly awful that you didn'tsee coming.
Like, that's OK, it's a bad day, but like, dust yourself off
and know that actually you knowtomorrow could be better and
(10:53):
you're heading in the rightdirection if you're playing the
right games.
Lauren Langman (10:57):
Now, I know that it also.
It really isn't linear On thedays where it's not linear, how
have you picked yourself up?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (11:06):
grab some easy wins, so kind of
don't, don't.
If you just and you start to geta sense for it, you start to
kind of if you've got the rightgames and you can take a bit of
a pulse check with where yourdog's brain is at, you can soon
tell if they're in the rightframe of mind and they're in the
right sort of headspace to riskforward and push your training
on a little bit.
Or maybe they're not and maybeyou just wind it back, you do
(11:28):
something a bit easier so thatyou're still setting your dog up
for success, but you're maybejust not giving them the biggest
challenge that day if they'renot showing you that they're
quite there for it.
My other top tip is to havesomething that's just for you.
Have something that emptiesyour bucket, because having
something that you can enjoythat's nothing to do with work
(11:50):
and that's nothing to do withdog training that you make time
for in your weekly schedule or adaily schedule, something that
is your moment to empty yourbucket, is hugely important in
being able to then be the bestadvocate for your dog.
You know, being in the bestheadspace yourself, um is is
(12:10):
really, really not to be umpushed aside when you say that,
alice, I'm there going.
Lauren Langman (12:15):
Gosh, that's actually really hard, because
most of mine do at some pointinvolve a dog or, um, an animal
at least, but normally a dog.
So I'm thinking I would go fora walk, but actually you're
right.
So go on, give us a couple ofexamples of some of yours.
Oh, a couple of mine.
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (12:29):
Okay , so, okay.
So I'm a massive nerd, lauren.
So one of mine is so like everymorning or a couple of times a
day, I'm on Duolingo, learningand teaching myself Norwegian.
So I'm just there with my cupof tea and I'm practicing on
Duolingo and it's just my littlezone and absolutely nothing
else is getting involvedwhatsoever.
So that's kind of one of mine,and and absolutely nothing else
(12:56):
is getting involved whatsoever.
So that's kind of one of mine.
And then another one is, um,usually on about maybe like a
weekly basis something.
Lauren Langman (12:58):
Me and some of my buddies, we we all sort of
team up and we play somedungeons and dragons.
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & Bon (12:59):
So it's just something completely
different, totally worlds awayfrom anything that's work
related or dog training related.
That is just your, your space.
Whatever I'm about to be a yogaclass, it might be going
swimming, it might whatever youenjoy, yes just yeah, I do yoga
and I watch my chickens.
Lauren Langman (13:14):
So I definitely do yoga and pilates and I watch
the chickens out the window.
And I do have an instructor andshe often says to me and lauren
, I'm in the room, ignore thechickens.
And I'm like just chickened outlike I was then, out with my
chickens.
That's a really nice one.
So so, alice, zero to hero.
You really are my naughty butnice hero For anyone listening.
Is it doable, is it achievable?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & Bon (13:34):
It is.
It completely is Like I say,bonnie, you know, was
potentially heading towards akind of a go to sleep situation.
You know, with her history andwith the struggles she kind of
she had, and she's so much more.
She's a much happier, healthierdog now.
We have a much betterrelationship, a much better home
life with her now than we didwhen we got her sort of was it
(13:58):
three years ago now and you knowwe're able to do so much more
with her, so much more than weever could have imagined, you
know.
And that is all through games.
So if you're listening to this,if you can jump into games, do
it, because then you've gothundreds of games to choose from
and you've got so much choiceand the support of the community
, which actually is vital, Ithink, when you're struggling
(14:22):
with a kind of quite extremesort of NBN case.
But even if you can just get acouple of the 10 days to stop
reactivity or whateverparticular 10 days course best
fits your, your NBN situationlike it gets you on the right
track and it kind of gives youthose little bite sized pieces
of health that just start pavingthe way to success.
Lauren Langman (14:42):
So you heard it here first.
This is Alice's journey fromzero to naughty but nice hero.
Take that leap.
I know you can do it, we knowyou can do it and Alice
certainly knows you can do it.
Now it's up to you to do it.
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
From nbn zero to hero, I wantto introduce you to the
(00:32):
wonderful alice and her superdog, bonnie.
Alice, I know this has been atough journey.
You started at zero.
You're now my hero when itcomes to naughty but nice dogs
advocating for them and reallytransformation.
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (00:45):
Tell us a little bit about bonnie,
where it started and howdifficult it was in those early
days um, yeah, we, we had sortof quite a steep learning curve,
I think it's fair to say, withbonnie, especially early on.
Um, we adopted her when she wastwo.
She had been put into therescue centre under the, frankly
(01:09):
, mismanagement of her previousowner.
There had actually been a dogfight incident which had sadly
resulted in the death of theother dog.
So I think Bonnie was quitelucky to actually even get the
chance to go into rescue at thatpoint, and I'm glad she did,
because I think that it was ahorrible situation that could
have been avoided.
And so it was, you know, nicefor Chris and I to be able to
(01:33):
give her that second chance thatwe felt she deserved.
But she certainly came with alot of struggles.
So, yes, you know she struggledwith separation and you know
that's a work in progress andit's a much better picture now
than it was.
But I think primarily herreactivity is the thing that
we've sort of that was the mostsort of shocking to us and the
(01:57):
most sort of sort ofdisheartening initially to think
, crikey like this is actually alot worse than, you know, the
rescue center were aware of.
And, um, we've got a reallysteep hill to climb.
Lauren Langman (02:09):
That's kind of how it felt um, I know you
described her as a grizzly bear.
Like literally can imagine thisgrizzly bear, cross donkey at
times.
Now she is big, um, she's ablack brindle, she.
She can look quite fierce.
She's a mastiff mutts, she's acrossbred mastiff breed and
she's a lot of dog on a lead.
(02:30):
I think it's fair to say she's alot of dog for you because
you're probably about the sameweight, like both, similar sort
of 50, 60, those like weights ofpoor past learning and poor
past history.
Like where you say, actually itwas to the extreme that another
dog died and there are so manypeople listening here that think
, well, maybe we shouldn't haveeven allowed another opportunity
(02:53):
.
Well, the dog died through poormismanagement of, actually, the
scenario and the situation.
She's been given an opportunityfor you to rehome her.
But, yes, it came with learningcurve and it came with a whole
host of skills you needed tolearn.
Did you ever feel overwhelmedin the beginning and did you
ever feel, oh my God, if I bitenough more than I can chew, or
(03:14):
are we maybe not qualified toown a dog like Bonnie?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & Bon (03:18):
We definitely did.
Yeah, both Chris and I, therewas a period of time where we
really did kind of feel like,can we do this, can we make this
work?
We really were quite determinedbecause we thought, okay, she's
a massive problem, but she'sour massive problem now of find
(03:44):
solutions, and so that's kind ofwhere we poured our energy into
.
But it certainly wasn't easyand there definitely was times
when we kind of felt like, youknow, is this beyond our
capabilities?
Um, but, but as a team, so we,we have kind of managed to build
a very different picture now,um, one from where, you know,
because of bonnie's strength andher the sort of the degree of
her reactivity early on, um, youknow, chris was really the only
(04:06):
one who could actually handlethat lead safely at times,
because she did pull me over,you know, she did kind of drag
me across the field a couple oftimes, and we thought, okay,
let's not have that become apattern.
Let's, let's just, let's buildthose skills, let's kind of
build that relationship, let'stry and kind of like see, you
know, let's, let's train so that, um, that we can, you know,
(04:26):
create a happier, healthierbonnie where we can have a sort
of a calmer, you know, nicerwalks, but in, but you know,
whilst we were bridging that gap, then you know sort of um,
chris's stature was essential interms of us kind of having any
kind of um.
You know, um, not just kind ofand it's not like going for
walks when she wasn't ready,because we kind of we ditched
(04:46):
that and we rewound and we kindof did a lot of kind of
homeschooling with bonnie, butit was more when we were ready
to start risking forward, whenwe were start ready to start
kind of bridging that gap.
Um, it just sort of made usfeel a lot safer when we were
working as a team than itwouldn't and if I had been on my
own with Bonnie, for sure.
Lauren Langman (05:05):
Now Bonnie's transformation has been huge,
from the point, I suppose, whenI first met her and I thought,
dear Lord, I wouldn't want tomeet this dog on a walk to oh my
goodness, I would gleefullymeet these guys on a walk.
In fact I'd actually go out forwalks with you with a dog like
Mango or maybe even dog likeBrave.
With a dog like Mango or maybeeven dog like Brave, who I know
they are very, very savvy andthey're very, very dog cool.
(05:26):
But also I know they're alittle bit bigger and I feel
that they would be quiteappropriate and they'd be able
to behave appropriately withBonnie and I do feel she'd be
able to behave appropriate withthem too.
Now for those people listeningthinking, oh my goodness, how
has this transformation happened?
And I just don't believe thatthis is possible.
Give us just some of the stepsin that transformation, because
you really did start at zero.
You had a naughty but nice dog,seriously leash, aggressive,
(05:49):
has history of hurting anotherdog and actually killing another
dog and, equally, you've gother as your dog.
She's now your rehome.
She's not a rescue, she's yourdog.
How have we taken it from dogthat you wouldn't want to meet
out at all to actually dog, whowe'd happily go out for a walk
with, because that is one megatransformation, even more so in
(06:10):
a mastiff style mutt, I feel,because of the breed
dispositions and tendencies.
If we're looking at whatthey're bred to do, there is a
level of fight in them and thereis a level of like, feisty and
guard breed, and so I think weneed to be a bit mindful of that
too.
But but how did thattransformation happen?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (06:29):
like what?
What are the key sort ofmoments that you feel?
Yet that was pivotal.
Yeah, because it, because itsounds bonkers, doesn't it?
And I think, actually, if Icould take a moment to sort of
speak directly to anyonelistening to this, who may be,
you may have been told thatthere's no hope, with the first
trainer that we spoke to saidbonnie will never like other
dogs, you know.
And, um, we had, luckily, I'dkind of booked appointments with
a number of different localtrainers and stuff and I'm like,
(06:50):
okay, well, we don't reallylike that outcome, but we'll
just see what anyone else has tosay.
And we did find someone whotalked through games, who
absolutely was a lot moreoptimistic and gave us hope that
we weren't, we weren't,fighting a lost battle.
But if you're, if you'resitting and you're listening to
this and you've maybe been toldthat you know there's no hope
for your dog, or you're feelinglike you're at the bottom of a
(07:12):
very steep mountain, thinkinghow on earth am I going to scale
this massive problem?
There is a manageable route upthat mountain.
You just need someone to guideyou in the right way.
You just need the rightguidance and the right route,
the right step by step, becausewhat we did to kind of break
down this sort of mammoth taskwas um, um, well, I mean
(07:35):
ditching the walks, ditching thewalks and ditching the bowl,
kind of first steps.
Page one um, for us it was kindof by default because Bonnie
had some orthopaedic strugglesas well.
So we were on vet instructionsto ditch the walks for a while
whilst she waited for and thenhad various procedures that she
needed.
But whilst we were in thatperiod it was actually the best
(07:58):
thing for her, both physicallyand in terms of her behavioural
work on the concepts she neededthat she was lacking, sort of
most profoundly armlessdisengagement and optimism.
Work on games that built thoseskills in a safe, controlled
environment without the kind ofdistractions that were that we
(08:20):
had seen from.
You know, having these massivepublic meltdowns were just too
much for her.
She just simply did not havethe skills that you know a lot
of other dog owners which kindof just take for granted that
their dog would be cool with, soby just shrinking down her
world temporarily to work onthose skills in a kind of
(08:41):
homeschooling kind ofenvironment and then, when she
was physically ready as well, tostart gradually bridging that
gap by.
You know, for example, maybewe'd been playing magic hand at
home and encouraging that closeproximity, that focus on the
handler.
Well then I could start playingmagic hand at, maybe, a private
(09:04):
, higher secure field.
So we're outdoors, it's a fieldenvironment, but there's still
nothing else reallyunpredictable that's going to be
happening.
But can she focus on me insteadof, maybe, the smells in the
grass?
Then maybe we go to a differentfield where maybe, or at a time
when we know it's going to bequiet, where it's a huge amount
of space, maybe there'll beanother dog walker at the other
(09:25):
end of the field and graduallyand gradually and gradually, as
we can see, can she demonstratethat her brain's in her head
right now?
Can she engage with us?
Can she start to behave in acalmer manner?
You know, can she disengagefrom things that maybe she
couldn't before?
Starting with kind of easythings like, say, a smell in the
(09:48):
grass was never going to get afull Baskerville response from
Bonnie, but it's still adistraction, whereas a dog
running after a ball in thefield would have gotten a big
sort of Baskerville meltdown.
And so you kind of just you gotto look at the distractions in
terms of how your dog used torespond to them and just start
(10:09):
with those easier wins andgradually build your way up and
um.
And also I think it's importantto remember that progress isn't
linear, that you know your lineis going to go in the right
direction if you're playing thegames and you're putting in, you
know the effort and you kind ofyou're playing the right menu
of games for what concepts yourdog needs.
But you're gonna have good daysand bad days, just like we all
(10:32):
do.
So it's kind of um, it's that's.
That's a really powerful thingto remember.
Again, if you're listening tothis and you're thinking I don't
know where to begin, or you'vehad a really horrible day,
you're just in tears becauseyour dog's done something
utterly awful that you didn'tsee coming.
Like, that's OK, it's a bad day, but like, dust yourself off
and know that actually you knowtomorrow could be better and
(10:53):
you're heading in the rightdirection if you're playing the
right games.
Lauren Langman (10:57):
Now, I know that it also.
It really isn't linear On thedays where it's not linear, how
have you picked yourself up?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (11:06):
grab some easy wins, so kind of
don't, don't.
If you just and you start to geta sense for it, you start to
kind of if you've got the rightgames and you can take a bit of
a pulse check with where yourdog's brain is at, you can soon
tell if they're in the rightframe of mind and they're in the
right sort of headspace to riskforward and push your training
on a little bit.
Or maybe they're not and maybeyou just wind it back, you do
(11:28):
something a bit easier so thatyou're still setting your dog up
for success, but you're maybejust not giving them the biggest
challenge that day if they'renot showing you that they're
quite there for it.
My other top tip is to havesomething that's just for you.
Have something that emptiesyour bucket, because having
something that you can enjoythat's nothing to do with work
(11:50):
and that's nothing to do withdog training that you make time
for in your weekly schedule or adaily schedule, something that
is your moment to empty yourbucket, is hugely important in
being able to then be the bestadvocate for your dog.
You know, being in the bestheadspace yourself, um is is
(12:10):
really, really not to be umpushed aside when you say that,
alice, I'm there going.
Lauren Langman (12:15):
Gosh, that's actually really hard, because
most of mine do at some pointinvolve a dog or, um, an animal
at least, but normally a dog.
So I'm thinking I would go fora walk, but actually you're
right.
So go on, give us a couple ofexamples of some of yours.
Oh, a couple of mine.
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & B (12:29):
Okay , so, okay.
So I'm a massive nerd, lauren.
So one of mine is so like everymorning or a couple of times a
day, I'm on Duolingo, learningand teaching myself Norwegian.
So I'm just there with my cupof tea and I'm practicing on
Duolingo and it's just my littlezone and absolutely nothing
else is getting involvedwhatsoever.
So that's kind of one of mine,and and absolutely nothing else
(12:56):
is getting involved whatsoever.
So that's kind of one of mine.
And then another one is, um,usually on about maybe like a
weekly basis something.
Lauren Langman (12:58):
Me and some of my buddies, we we all sort of
team up and we play somedungeons and dragons.
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & Bon (12:59):
So it's just something completely
different, totally worlds awayfrom anything that's work
related or dog training related.
That is just your, your space.
Whatever I'm about to be a yogaclass, it might be going
swimming, it might whatever youenjoy, yes just yeah, I do yoga
and I watch my chickens.
Lauren Langman (13:14):
So I definitely do yoga and pilates and I watch
the chickens out the window.
And I do have an instructor andshe often says to me and lauren
, I'm in the room, ignore thechickens.
And I'm like just chickened outlike I was then, out with my
chickens.
That's a really nice one.
So so, alice, zero to hero.
You really are my naughty butnice hero For anyone listening.
Is it doable, is it achievable?
Pro Dog Trainer, Alice & Bon (13:34):
It is.
It completely is Like I say,bonnie, you know, was
potentially heading towards akind of a go to sleep situation.
You know, with her history andwith the struggles she kind of
she had, and she's so much more.
She's a much happier, healthierdog now.
We have a much betterrelationship, a much better home
life with her now than we didwhen we got her sort of was it
(13:58):
three years ago now and you knowwe're able to do so much more
with her, so much more than weever could have imagined, you
know.
And that is all through games.
So if you're listening to this,if you can jump into games, do
it, because then you've gothundreds of games to choose from
and you've got so much choiceand the support of the community
, which actually is vital, Ithink, when you're struggling
(14:22):
with a kind of quite extremesort of NBN case.
But even if you can just get acouple of the 10 days to stop
reactivity or whateverparticular 10 days course best
fits your, your NBN situationlike it gets you on the right
track and it kind of gives youthose little bite sized pieces
of health that just start pavingthe way to success.
Lauren Langman (14:42):
So you heard it here first.
This is Alice's journey fromzero to naughty but nice hero.
Take that leap.
I know you can do it, we knowyou can do it and Alice
certainly knows you can do it.
Now it's up to you to do it.
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