June 17, 2025 • 20 mins
Struggling with a challenging, reactive, or overly sensitive dog? You’re not alone—and you’re not failing. In this powerful episode, top dog trainers Lauren Langman and Sam reveal the proven games-based training methods they use to transform “naughty but nice” dogs into calm, confident, and focused companions.
Discover how to replace traditional obedience struggles with playful strategies that work with your dog’s emotions, not against them. This episode explores:
🔁 The Disengagement Pattern that teaches your dog to tune in to you instead of distractions
🧳 The Magic Suitcase method—a mobile safe zone for anxious dogs in stressful environments
🦁 Why trick training builds unstoppable confidence in timid or fearful dogs
🔲 The Disengagement Square, a walk-time game that shifts stress into calm focus
🍖 The surprising power of scatter feeding as a decompression tool
From reactive terriers to overwhelmed rescues, Lauren and Sam share real-world stories, tips, and techniques that you can implement today, whether your dog is a puppy or well into adulthood.
If your dog’s big feelings are getting in the way of daily life, this episode will give you hope, direction, and a practical plan for transformation.
🎧 Listen now and start your journey with your “naughty but nice” dog today.
🎮 Want the step-by-step games from this episode? Get instant access inside Games Club: absolutedogs.me/jointheclub
🆓 Get Your Free 'Ditch the Bowl' Resource here:
absolutedogs.me/ditchthebowl
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!
Want even more epic dog training fun and games and solutions to all your dog training struggles? Join us in the AbsoluteDogs Games Club!
https://absolutedogs.me/gamesclub
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
And while you’re here, please leave a review for us and don’t forget to hit share and post your biggest lightbulb moment! Remember, no matter what struggles you might be facing with your dog, there is always a game for that!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
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.
Oh, my goodness, it can betough.
(00:32):
We hear you.
I'm joined by the wonderful Sam, and Sam and I are talking what
to do with naughty but nicedogs, what are our favourite
games, what are our favouritethings to do and how are we
going to work our days with them.
So, sam, I'm heading to you.
We're gonna do a bit of tipstennis.
What are our favorite things totrain?
What are our favorite games toplay with naughty but nice dogs?
(00:52):
And I'm gonna hear it straightaway from you.
I bet you're goingdisengagement something.
Go on, what are our favorite?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
things to do welcome well, I feel like I need to say
it.
I feel like I need to say itbefore you get in there, because
it's my favorite.
It's my favorite, yeah,absolutely.
Disengagement pattern um,anybody that's been taught by me
absolutely has has heard ofthis game.
Uh, anybody that's watched anyof our content with me on it
really has probably heard ofthis game to some extent.
Um, what a cool game and youcan get so much out of it.
(01:19):
So, for me, um, disengagementpattern it it's.
It's really simple.
For those that maybe don't knowabout this game, you're
essentially orientating your dogtoward a distraction of some
sort.
It could be really low level.
It doesn't have to be anythingmega um, it could be, I don't
know, um, a flower on the floorwho knows right, it could be.
It can literally be anything,um.
And then when they turn to you,they're getting more value than
(01:41):
they would towards the flower.
So let let's say I threw onepiece of food toward a flower.
When they come back to me, Idon't have to say anything.
I'm waiting for them to comeback to me.
They're going to get like four,five, six pieces and like loads
of fun as well, and like I'mgoing to be really excited about
it.
So we're looking at showing ourdogs that there's more value
toward me than there is out intothe environment.
Now, if now, if you think aboutwhere that can go, oh man, you
(02:03):
could just use.
You could use it for anything,you know.
You could use it fordistractions out in the, in the,
in the environment.
You could use it house guests.
You can use it for not pickingup chicken off the floor that
you've dropped, you know, ah,it's brilliant.
And for naughty but nice dogsparticularly.
They struggle withdisengagement, you know.
So, for me this game is massiveand I've got huge success in so
(02:24):
many different areas, as wellas my own dogs, but also with my
students, um, and I'm a massiveadvocate for this game for
naughty much nice dogdisengagement pattern.
For the win, what's yours?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I love it.
I love it and I love it becauseI know how much you've
demonstrated.
You've shown it.
You've shown it in differentpresentations and you really
live it with your dogs.
You really live it with yourdogs.
Your next one has to with yourdogs.
Your next one has to be talkingabout your suitcase.
But I'm just going to head youup before I go for the next one.
Mine would definitely be tricks.
If you haven't already got theAbsolute Dogs tricks book, head
to the store.
It's absolute-dogscom.
(02:56):
And I love tricks with my dogs.
I love tricks.
I love seeing the dogs develop.
I love seeing their behavioursdevelop.
I love seeing their behaviorsdevelop.
I love seeing their mindsetgrow.
I love seeing them get a littlebit bigger through playing
tricks, like they grow inplaying tricks.
And I wouldn't say I've even gotany favorite tricks.
I think it depends on the dog.
So for some of my dogs it mightbe very movement-based tricks.
For other dogs it might bequite still tricks.
(03:18):
It would really depend on theindividual.
That I'm working with Skittlesright now.
I would say one of herfavourites is like chin
targeting, whereas Katie, Iwould say, is always involving
jumping and moving and I reallylove how you can bring out the
dog's character.
You can help assess theirpersonality, but you can also
really enhance who they are innew environments through them
(03:41):
having almost power poses intheir tricks.
So I love trick training.
I really love trick trainingand most of all, with trick
training, I also think that Ienjoy seeing them just grow from
little people right through toas big as it gets like you can
turn them into giants, and Ilove seeing the enthusiasm.
(04:01):
You can like it can roar, andyou might have been working with
a mouse and suddenly you'reworking with a lion, like I
really enjoy.
I really enjoy watching that.
So if you haven't got the tricksbook, grab the tricks book.
It's just a gorgeous book,really well put together,
gorgeous, like spiral bound book, real chunk of a book.
If you're in america, theshipping costs us almost as much
as the book does, so thecompany actually makes zero
(04:22):
money when we ship it.
But I I still want people tohave it because it's just a
great, great book and gorgeousdiagrams, all of it.
And if you can't afford the book, then the other thing you can
do is head to the Facebook page,give us a like, give us a share
.
Definitely, let people knowabout the Facebook page and any
of the social media spaces, andwe actually do quite a lot of
tricks posts on there so youlook back through.
(04:42):
I think there's like 40 tricksposts so you can look right back
through there.
They're most Tuesdays, so sothat's really nice as well.
So, yeah, tricks for the winSam, heading to you and you're
going to tell us what you dowith your naughty but nice
suitcase and we're talking ifyou just joined in, we're
talking naughty but nice dogs.
What games are our favoritegames to play?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
tricks for the win suitcase for thecase, and we're
talking a magic suitcase here,not just any suitcase, okay, and
it's a suitcase.
You know, if you're me, thenit's a suitcase of unicorns and
rainbows on it Essentially, amagic suitcase, very cool game.
It's essentially you're takingyou're almost taking loads of
(05:22):
games in your suitcase with youout on the road, and the main
thing for the suitcase is thatthe suitcase becomes this really
cool, um, this really coolobject, this really cool that
symbolizes like fun and joy andsecurity and safety for your dog
.
Okay, so it's something thatyou grow at home first and then
(05:43):
you can take it on the road foryour dog.
Now, for naughty but nice dogs,um, what you tend to find
sometimes is that novelty can bea really scary place, right,
and so we're talking things thatmaybe me and you don't seem
novel, you know, like thatperson walking down the street
or that dog, or that flappy, umdustbin, uh, wrapper, wrapper,
bin bag, the bin, the flappy binbag, or the guy in the high vis
(06:04):
vest, right, so all of thesethings that to us are completely
normal, to your dog might beabsolutely terrifying.
So imagine if you could givethem a security blanket, you
know.
So imagine that you could givethem something that makes them
feel safe, that makes them feelloved, that reminds them that
they're in a safe place, thatit's okay, and that's basically
what the magic suitcase is, andI remember actually thinking,
when I was kind of like, lookingat this game and thinking about
growing this game place, thatit's okay and that's basically
(06:24):
what the magic suitcase is, andI remember actually thinking,
when I was kind of like, lookingat this game and thinking about
growing this game um, it reallymade me think of my, uh, my
teddy, back in the day, when Ihad a teddy called teddy Joe
Mansell and I used to take himabsolutely everywhere with me.
Now, sadly, I lost him when Ijoined the RAF, um, which I'm
really I'm'm really sad about.
I cried about it.
However, that teddy used to goeverywhere with me and it just
(06:48):
used to bring a bit of homewherever I was, you know.
So, whenever I was somewherelike somewhere scary or
somewhere new or somewhere likethat I wasn't sure about, that's
what made me feel better,that's what made me just cuddle
up to.
It felt better about things,and that's essentially what
we're looking at for MagicSuitcase, for our dog central
(07:09):
game, because you can do so muchwith it.
It's very flexible.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I love it nice, nice and nice.
And what I really like aboutthat, sam, is that you, like you
said you're a bit of mixing andmashing and a bit of like DJing
to kind of create somethingthat turned into not just any
old suitcase but a unicornsuitcase.
Now, what adventures has yoursuitcase been on?
Because I think it's worthsharing, like you and Siri's
adventures here, because I thinkyou've had some quite cool
(07:32):
adventures with the suitcase andhow has it grown her?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
so talk about what you've actually seen with her in
particular and why you used itfor her in the first place so
Siri, sirius is my um NBN JackRussell Terrier, so she's now, I
think, five or six years, sixthis year, I think um and she's
she's she's very working dog.
So you know she's come from um,she came from a farm um, where
(07:58):
they were very much bred asratters, you know, and so she's
got this really switched on.
Smart, smart mind, um, and thekind of mind you know where
you're like you're too smart,you're so smart that you get up
to mischief and you get intotrouble.
You know she's that sort of dog, um, and essentially she just
started finding the world really, really scary and maybe a
little bit of you know,inexperience at the early stages
(08:20):
of her life from myself, youknow, still on my dog training
learning journey um, and sheessentially became very, very,
very reactive.
She's very scared of the world.
A lot of it comes through umher just kind of going I see
something, I bark, that's what Ido.
So a large part of trying totake the suitcase um out on the
road with her was trying to.
We had to really build it andbuild this um, this relationship
(08:42):
with the suitcase of her,absolutely adoring the suitcase.
So it actually started at home,um, and we started lots and
lots of games of playing.
I got her to wrap around it.
She's putting two ports on itand you know we were we're still
trying to work on chin targetwith it.
Um, she gets in it.
She uses it as a boundary or asa bed.
Um, she does like, um, likecardboard and stuff in there.
(09:04):
She like snuffle for her food.
Anything that I could literallyanything I could think of to do
with this suitcase is is whatwe were trying to do with it, so
anything that I could do thatshe loved doing with it.
Oh, we got her to pull it aswell.
That's pretty cool.
Now.
We got it to pull along, so shelooked really cute pulling the
suitcase along.
So we did loads and loads andloads of stuff with it, and the
idea being that she just lovesinteracting with this suitcase.
(09:25):
Now, when I felt that she was ina really good place with the
suitcase, we started taking iton the road, um, and actually it
just started in my garden, um,and it started, you know, just
out the front door.
Um, and I used it in my vanbecause I'm doing up my van to
be a camper van, so we want herto be really cool in there and
like, have it as a really coolspace.
Um, I take it.
If I go to the supermarket forshopping you know we go shopping
(09:46):
there once a week um, I'll takeher with me and I'll take the
suitcase and we'll do it.
I'll park in different parts ofthe uh of the supermarket car
park so I can either be likeclose to the chaos or I can be
further away from the chaos, andso we're just trying to grow
her being in an environment andrather than seeing the
environment as a super, superscary place.
She's actually gone.
Oh, it's okay, my suitcase ishere.
(10:07):
Yeah, it's okay, the, theunicorns and the rainbows are
with me and so I do not need toworry.
So that's essentially whatwe've got, and we're actually um
.
In August this year we're doingthe North Coast 500 around
Scotland for my um 40th and so,no, I know so, uh, we're gonna
(10:29):
take it properly on the road andit's actually gonna.
It's gonna really go, go themiles.
And for Christmas we were downum, we were down Cornwall as
well.
So Christmas I was visitingfamily and I came to um, came
around sort of like Devon andCornwall area.
So, yeah, we took it quite afew places up on the moors and
you know out in the streetstaking it, taking it on the road
and actually making it a reallyadaptable resource.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
That's massive.
Yeah, like it's massive.
So I I just think reallyresourceful, really brilliant,
really fantastic, and I love themagic suitcase.
So I'm going to do one more fornaughty but nice dogs, and my
one more is actually scatterfeeding, and I know it's really
simple and I know it's reallyeasy, but I use it all the time
with a, a naughty but nice dog.
I scatter so often and whereas Iused to think I had to have
(11:15):
their attention, I had to havetheir focus, I had to have like
a tight lead, I had to have likeyou will be with me.
And this is when I was a novicein dog training really.
Now I'm kind of like I've beenthere, done that, and I find
scatter feeding so entirelybrilliant for a dog because it
takes all the pressure andresponsibility off us both.
All I have to do is throw foodand all they have to do is eat
(11:36):
it and if anything like me,seafood, eat it and so you're
just going to eat it and I lovethat.
I love scatter feeding, I lovethe chill, I love the, the dog
who doesn't have to do anythingbut eat and the person that
doesn't have to do anything butthrow and if you can't even eat,
it gives you information andwhen my dogs can't eat, it tells
me the level of of where we are, and I think that's important
too.
So that's me.
(11:58):
Tricks, scatter feeding.
I love the suitcase and Iabsolutely love disengagement
pattern and Sam and hermish-mashing.
What's your last one, sam?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
or my last one, I think, would be uh,
disengagement square.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I feel like, I feel like you're gonna get it I know,
say sam, talk it through inevery stage for the people that
are listening, because if you'repart of games club guys, um,
you got it, you get.
Get in there, get hold of yourlearning, have a watch of of sam
in in.
Maybe, if you're a pro dogtrainer, watch sam in some of
her pro dog trainer videos andum, watch us in games club as
well, because you guys have gota library rich full of games,
(12:37):
like so many games there.
If you're not part of GamesClub, if you're not part of PDT
Club, go and join if you can.
It's over on the Absolute DogStore.
And also, sam, maybe for thosepeople who really can't join and
not in the position that theycan get involved right now.
And it's super, mega, megareasonable, especially if you do
(12:58):
the yearlies.
So the yearlies really do allowyou to to keep it that bit sort
of cheaper and but go on, sam,how about someone who's new to
this and hasn't ever um donethis?
What are you going to do?
How are you going to explain it?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
easy peasy, easy peasy.
So, uh, literally,disengagement square.
Imagine a square, okay, and nowyour square can be as big or as
small as you like.
I would probably start offrelatively small, and if you've
ever walked your dog and youjust see that the further you go
, the more that you walk, themore wound up they get, the more
excited they get, the the moreum, disengaged from you they get
(13:25):
.
So you know, the less attentionthey're paying to you.
That's really.
This is where this could bemassive for them, all right and
and really any naughty but nice,where they're really struggling
to take their eyes off thewhole world, for whatever reason
that might be, whether they'rescared, whether they're
overexcited they can't bringtheir heads away from everything
that is going on.
Sometimes that's because we'rejust constantly adding more and
(13:50):
more right.
So as we walk, there's morestuff right.
There's more grass to smell,there's more people to see,
there's more buildings thatyou're going around the next
corner, you've changed fromgrass to gravel.
You've changed from gravel tothe road.
You've stepped off the curb,there's a car that's just gone
past.
So you're having all of thisstimulus, all of this stuff all
the time going at your dog'sbrain, and so it's constantly
(14:11):
being sort of topped up in termsof excitement or in terms of
fear.
Now, what we do with the squareis we anchor them, all right.
So we're going to think of,we're going to take four objects
, right, and that could just be.
It could be four bowls, allright.
So four dog bowls, all right,ditch the bowl, take your dog
bowls out on the road with you.
We're going to put them out ina square and all we're going to
(14:33):
do is walk from bowl to bowl.
We're going to put a bit offood in there, so we're going to
put one piece, maybe two pieces, a bit of food and then we're
going to walk to the next square, to the next corner.
We're going to place a few bitsof food, then we're going to go
to the next one, and that's assimple, as simple as it gets.
Now, if you're a member of gamesclub, if you're a member of
Games Club, if you're a memberof PDT Club, then you could
really mix it up and add some ofyour normal games in there, so
(14:55):
you could get them to do twopaws up.
You could probably do this evenif you're not a member of Games
Club.
You could add putting theirpaws up or paws in, maybe into
the bowl, right?
So instead of just feeding apiece of food in there, they're
going to put their paws in thereand then you're going to move
on to the next one.
Now what this creates is a nicecontrolled environment that
they can settle into.
(15:16):
No more stimulus, no extrathings that are coming into your
dog's brain, just something forthem to settle into.
They're like okay, yeah, I knowwhat I'm doing.
I understand, I just got to gofrom bowl to bowl and what
you'll find is that your dog'senergy levels slowly start to
come down and they slowly startto settle into the walk, and
that's kind of what we want.
(15:36):
And you, eventually, you canexpand this and you can take it
on your walks and it becomesjust normality as part of your
normal daily walks.
But to begin with, we're justgoing to create this nice
controlled environment where wecan control the kind of the
stimulus that our dogs aregetting.
In that moment, in that areathey've run out of sniffs
(15:57):
because it's the same square,right.
All you're doing is starting toget that engagement with you
playing with you, taking foodoff you.
Suddenly you've got a differentdog, so it's a really really,
really cool game.
I used to use it an awful lot atthe center with my students
because that it can be a reallylike overwhelming environment
for them, with lots of smells,lots of birds flying around,
(16:19):
lots of dog smells becausethere's so many dogs at the
centre as well and sodisengagement square was a huge
one for me.
To start our students with theirdogs that maybe have never even
been able to get them out ofthe car before, you know, have
never been able to go on anywalk before.
This was how I got them to justbe able to be in the
environment with us and actuallystart getting some sort of
(16:42):
engagement with you, you know,rather than engagement with the
whole environment.
So it's a huge, huge game andyou can put disengagement
pattern in there.
Just just saying you can adddisengagement pattern into your
disengagement square at one ofthe corners.
So it's really cool.
It's a really cool game.
It's uh, it's definitely one ofthose ones that I would have a
look at.
I definitely filmed it for PDTclub, um, and maybe I should
(17:05):
film it for games club at somepoint, I feel.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I definitely think you should.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I think we've got it in there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I really think it's a nice one and I think that for
me, the mega win here is that itallows a naughty but nice dog
to feel very, very safe and verysecure in the environment.
You can do it in your garden,you can do it in your living
room, you can do it out on awalk, you can do it in a car
park, you can do it out andabout.
You really get to choose whereyou do it and you can mix it up
(17:30):
every time, and no session isthe same.
They're always going to bedifferent, but the dog gets the
rhythm.
It's a rhythm sort of space itis rhythm a lot like you said,
the dogs feel more and morecomfortable as they play it and
I think and I think that that'sabsolutely key that it's the eat
, sleep, rave, repeat, eat,sleep, rave, repeat.
So the dog at no point feelsthat they are being pushed
(17:55):
beyond what they're capable of,and actually so many dogs, I
think, in dog training classesand out and about and
autobanized dogs, are pushedfurther than they're capable of.
This game allows a dog toground itself and I think that's
really key.
What do you think, sam?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, definitely, it's definitely a rhythm game
and it's definitely.
It is essentially that.
I think the the magical thingis watching a dog's energy state
change.
So a dog that comes out of thecar or out of out of your
doorway or wherever that mightbe, out of your back gate, high
as a kite, really, you know,they're like bouncing on the end
of the lead or, you know,sometimes that's a sign of
(18:31):
stress as well, you know, ratherthan just excitement.
Um, you can see that energystate change and that for me,
was the uh, the kind of thecatalyst really for me really
loving this game, so much wasyou can, you can literally see
the results because you can seeyour dogs change, you know,
right there in front of youreyes, and if, um, if you are
ever going to try it, if you can, if you have a chance to film
(18:54):
it, because sometimes you don'trealize it when you're in that
moment but actually if you watchover it, you can see those
subtle changes in your body,your dog's body language.
Um, you know, even just likelittle things, just how they,
their gait changes.
They just become more relaxed,they look like they're flowing
more rather than they're like,oh, my god, I'm so excited and
I'm so scared of the world.
Um, yeah, it's, it's magic,it's a real magical, magical
(19:14):
game to play um and you.
It's so flexible, it's so muchfun to play with.
Like, the more stuff that youadd into it, the more um, the
more flexibility you get out thegame, but actually the more fun
it is, as well for you and yourdog, you know.
So it's really cool, really.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Love it, love, love, love, love it's definitely a
game that sam love.
You can feel her love, you canfeel her love shining through
the screen, through your car orhowever.
You're hearing this right now.
So naughty but nice dogs.
They can be complex and yetwe've got our favourite games
that we play with our naughtybut nice dogs, from
disengagement pattern todisengagement square, to the
magic suitcase tricks and simplyscatter feeding Like it really
(19:50):
doesn't need to be hard to havewins with your Naughty but Nice
dogs.
Sam and I both love yourNaughty but Nice dogs and if you
haven't already, check out allof our Naughty but Nice products
on the store, from Naughty butNice courses, specifically,
right through to Games Club andPro Dog Trainer Club, which
really is the hub of dogtraining.
That was this episode of theSex and Squirrel podcast.
Thank you so much to thewonderful Sam, the disengagement
(20:10):
queen, for being here with uson the podcast and we'll see you
next week for more dog trainingadventures.
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.
Oh, my goodness, it can betough.
(00:32):
We hear you.
I'm joined by the wonderful Sam, and Sam and I are talking what
to do with naughty but nicedogs, what are our favourite
games, what are our favouritethings to do and how are we
going to work our days with them.
So, sam, I'm heading to you.
We're gonna do a bit of tipstennis.
What are our favorite things totrain?
What are our favorite games toplay with naughty but nice dogs?
(00:52):
And I'm gonna hear it straightaway from you.
I bet you're goingdisengagement something.
Go on, what are our favorite?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
things to do welcome well, I feel like I need to say
it.
I feel like I need to say itbefore you get in there, because
it's my favorite.
It's my favorite, yeah,absolutely.
Disengagement pattern um,anybody that's been taught by me
absolutely has has heard ofthis game.
Uh, anybody that's watched anyof our content with me on it
really has probably heard ofthis game to some extent.
Um, what a cool game and youcan get so much out of it.
(01:19):
So, for me, um, disengagementpattern it it's.
It's really simple.
For those that maybe don't knowabout this game, you're
essentially orientating your dogtoward a distraction of some
sort.
It could be really low level.
It doesn't have to be anythingmega um, it could be, I don't
know, um, a flower on the floorwho knows right, it could be.
It can literally be anything,um.
And then when they turn to you,they're getting more value than
(01:41):
they would towards the flower.
So let let's say I threw onepiece of food toward a flower.
When they come back to me, Idon't have to say anything.
I'm waiting for them to comeback to me.
They're going to get like four,five, six pieces and like loads
of fun as well, and like I'mgoing to be really excited about
it.
So we're looking at showing ourdogs that there's more value
toward me than there is out intothe environment.
Now, if now, if you think aboutwhere that can go, oh man, you
(02:03):
could just use.
You could use it for anything,you know.
You could use it fordistractions out in the, in the,
in the environment.
You could use it house guests.
You can use it for not pickingup chicken off the floor that
you've dropped, you know, ah,it's brilliant.
And for naughty but nice dogsparticularly.
They struggle withdisengagement, you know.
So, for me this game is massiveand I've got huge success in so
(02:24):
many different areas, as wellas my own dogs, but also with my
students, um, and I'm a massiveadvocate for this game for
naughty much nice dogdisengagement pattern.
For the win, what's yours?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
I love it.
I love it and I love it becauseI know how much you've
demonstrated.
You've shown it.
You've shown it in differentpresentations and you really
live it with your dogs.
You really live it with yourdogs.
Your next one has to with yourdogs.
Your next one has to be talkingabout your suitcase.
But I'm just going to head youup before I go for the next one.
Mine would definitely be tricks.
If you haven't already got theAbsolute Dogs tricks book, head
to the store.
It's absolute-dogscom.
(02:56):
And I love tricks with my dogs.
I love tricks.
I love seeing the dogs develop.
I love seeing their behavioursdevelop.
I love seeing their behaviorsdevelop.
I love seeing their mindsetgrow.
I love seeing them get a littlebit bigger through playing
tricks, like they grow inplaying tricks.
And I wouldn't say I've even gotany favorite tricks.
I think it depends on the dog.
So for some of my dogs it mightbe very movement-based tricks.
For other dogs it might bequite still tricks.
(03:18):
It would really depend on theindividual.
That I'm working with Skittlesright now.
I would say one of herfavourites is like chin
targeting, whereas Katie, Iwould say, is always involving
jumping and moving and I reallylove how you can bring out the
dog's character.
You can help assess theirpersonality, but you can also
really enhance who they are innew environments through them
(03:41):
having almost power poses intheir tricks.
So I love trick training.
I really love trick trainingand most of all, with trick
training, I also think that Ienjoy seeing them just grow from
little people right through toas big as it gets like you can
turn them into giants, and Ilove seeing the enthusiasm.
(04:01):
You can like it can roar, andyou might have been working with
a mouse and suddenly you'reworking with a lion, like I
really enjoy.
I really enjoy watching that.
So if you haven't got the tricksbook, grab the tricks book.
It's just a gorgeous book,really well put together,
gorgeous, like spiral bound book, real chunk of a book.
If you're in america, theshipping costs us almost as much
as the book does, so thecompany actually makes zero
(04:22):
money when we ship it.
But I I still want people tohave it because it's just a
great, great book and gorgeousdiagrams, all of it.
And if you can't afford the book, then the other thing you can
do is head to the Facebook page,give us a like, give us a share
.
Definitely, let people knowabout the Facebook page and any
of the social media spaces, andwe actually do quite a lot of
tricks posts on there so youlook back through.
(04:42):
I think there's like 40 tricksposts so you can look right back
through there.
They're most Tuesdays, so sothat's really nice as well.
So, yeah, tricks for the winSam, heading to you and you're
going to tell us what you dowith your naughty but nice
suitcase and we're talking ifyou just joined in, we're
talking naughty but nice dogs.
What games are our favoritegames to play?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
tricks for the win suitcase for thecase, and we're
talking a magic suitcase here,not just any suitcase, okay, and
it's a suitcase.
You know, if you're me, thenit's a suitcase of unicorns and
rainbows on it Essentially, amagic suitcase, very cool game.
It's essentially you're takingyou're almost taking loads of
(05:22):
games in your suitcase with youout on the road, and the main
thing for the suitcase is thatthe suitcase becomes this really
cool, um, this really coolobject, this really cool that
symbolizes like fun and joy andsecurity and safety for your dog
.
Okay, so it's something thatyou grow at home first and then
(05:43):
you can take it on the road foryour dog.
Now, for naughty but nice dogs,um, what you tend to find
sometimes is that novelty can bea really scary place, right,
and so we're talking things thatmaybe me and you don't seem
novel, you know, like thatperson walking down the street
or that dog, or that flappy, umdustbin, uh, wrapper, wrapper,
bin bag, the bin, the flappy binbag, or the guy in the high vis
(06:04):
vest, right, so all of thesethings that to us are completely
normal, to your dog might beabsolutely terrifying.
So imagine if you could givethem a security blanket, you
know.
So imagine that you could givethem something that makes them
feel safe, that makes them feelloved, that reminds them that
they're in a safe place, thatit's okay, and that's basically
what the magic suitcase is, andI remember actually thinking,
when I was kind of like, lookingat this game and thinking about
growing this game place, thatit's okay and that's basically
(06:24):
what the magic suitcase is, andI remember actually thinking,
when I was kind of like, lookingat this game and thinking about
growing this game um, it reallymade me think of my, uh, my
teddy, back in the day, when Ihad a teddy called teddy Joe
Mansell and I used to take himabsolutely everywhere with me.
Now, sadly, I lost him when Ijoined the RAF, um, which I'm
really I'm'm really sad about.
I cried about it.
However, that teddy used to goeverywhere with me and it just
(06:48):
used to bring a bit of homewherever I was, you know.
So, whenever I was somewherelike somewhere scary or
somewhere new or somewhere likethat I wasn't sure about, that's
what made me feel better,that's what made me just cuddle
up to.
It felt better about things,and that's essentially what
we're looking at for MagicSuitcase, for our dog central
(07:09):
game, because you can do so muchwith it.
It's very flexible.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
I love it nice, nice and nice.
And what I really like aboutthat, sam, is that you, like you
said you're a bit of mixing andmashing and a bit of like DJing
to kind of create somethingthat turned into not just any
old suitcase but a unicornsuitcase.
Now, what adventures has yoursuitcase been on?
Because I think it's worthsharing, like you and Siri's
adventures here, because I thinkyou've had some quite cool
(07:32):
adventures with the suitcase andhow has it grown her?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
so talk about what you've actually seen with her in
particular and why you used itfor her in the first place so
Siri, sirius is my um NBN JackRussell Terrier, so she's now, I
think, five or six years, sixthis year, I think um and she's
she's she's very working dog.
So you know she's come from um,she came from a farm um, where
(07:58):
they were very much bred asratters, you know, and so she's
got this really switched on.
Smart, smart mind, um, and thekind of mind you know where
you're like you're too smart,you're so smart that you get up
to mischief and you get intotrouble.
You know she's that sort of dog, um, and essentially she just
started finding the world really, really scary and maybe a
little bit of you know,inexperience at the early stages
(08:20):
of her life from myself, youknow, still on my dog training
learning journey um, and sheessentially became very, very,
very reactive.
She's very scared of the world.
A lot of it comes through umher just kind of going I see
something, I bark, that's what Ido.
So a large part of trying totake the suitcase um out on the
road with her was trying to.
We had to really build it andbuild this um, this relationship
(08:42):
with the suitcase of her,absolutely adoring the suitcase.
So it actually started at home,um, and we started lots and
lots of games of playing.
I got her to wrap around it.
She's putting two ports on itand you know we were we're still
trying to work on chin targetwith it.
Um, she gets in it.
She uses it as a boundary or asa bed.
Um, she does like, um, likecardboard and stuff in there.
(09:04):
She like snuffle for her food.
Anything that I could literallyanything I could think of to do
with this suitcase is is whatwe were trying to do with it, so
anything that I could do thatshe loved doing with it.
Oh, we got her to pull it aswell.
That's pretty cool.
Now.
We got it to pull along, so shelooked really cute pulling the
suitcase along.
So we did loads and loads andloads of stuff with it, and the
idea being that she just lovesinteracting with this suitcase.
(09:25):
Now, when I felt that she was ina really good place with the
suitcase, we started taking iton the road, um, and actually it
just started in my garden, um,and it started, you know, just
out the front door.
Um, and I used it in my vanbecause I'm doing up my van to
be a camper van, so we want herto be really cool in there and
like, have it as a really coolspace.
Um, I take it.
If I go to the supermarket forshopping you know we go shopping
(09:46):
there once a week um, I'll takeher with me and I'll take the
suitcase and we'll do it.
I'll park in different parts ofthe uh of the supermarket car
park so I can either be likeclose to the chaos or I can be
further away from the chaos, andso we're just trying to grow
her being in an environment andrather than seeing the
environment as a super, superscary place.
She's actually gone.
Oh, it's okay, my suitcase ishere.
(10:07):
Yeah, it's okay, the, theunicorns and the rainbows are
with me and so I do not need toworry.
So that's essentially whatwe've got, and we're actually um
.
In August this year we're doingthe North Coast 500 around
Scotland for my um 40th and so,no, I know so, uh, we're gonna
(10:29):
take it properly on the road andit's actually gonna.
It's gonna really go, go themiles.
And for Christmas we were downum, we were down Cornwall as
well.
So Christmas I was visitingfamily and I came to um, came
around sort of like Devon andCornwall area.
So, yeah, we took it quite afew places up on the moors and
you know out in the streetstaking it, taking it on the road
and actually making it a reallyadaptable resource.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
That's massive.
Yeah, like it's massive.
So I I just think reallyresourceful, really brilliant,
really fantastic, and I love themagic suitcase.
So I'm going to do one more fornaughty but nice dogs, and my
one more is actually scatterfeeding, and I know it's really
simple and I know it's reallyeasy, but I use it all the time
with a, a naughty but nice dog.
I scatter so often and whereas Iused to think I had to have
(11:15):
their attention, I had to havetheir focus, I had to have like
a tight lead, I had to have likeyou will be with me.
And this is when I was a novicein dog training really.
Now I'm kind of like I've beenthere, done that, and I find
scatter feeding so entirelybrilliant for a dog because it
takes all the pressure andresponsibility off us both.
All I have to do is throw foodand all they have to do is eat
(11:36):
it and if anything like me,seafood, eat it and so you're
just going to eat it and I lovethat.
I love scatter feeding, I lovethe chill, I love the, the dog
who doesn't have to do anythingbut eat and the person that
doesn't have to do anything butthrow and if you can't even eat,
it gives you information andwhen my dogs can't eat, it tells
me the level of of where we are, and I think that's important
too.
So that's me.
(11:58):
Tricks, scatter feeding.
I love the suitcase and Iabsolutely love disengagement
pattern and Sam and hermish-mashing.
What's your last one, sam?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
or my last one, I think, would be uh,
disengagement square.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
I feel like, I feel like you're gonna get it I know,
say sam, talk it through inevery stage for the people that
are listening, because if you'repart of games club guys, um,
you got it, you get.
Get in there, get hold of yourlearning, have a watch of of sam
in in.
Maybe, if you're a pro dogtrainer, watch sam in some of
her pro dog trainer videos andum, watch us in games club as
well, because you guys have gota library rich full of games,
(12:37):
like so many games there.
If you're not part of GamesClub, if you're not part of PDT
Club, go and join if you can.
It's over on the Absolute DogStore.
And also, sam, maybe for thosepeople who really can't join and
not in the position that theycan get involved right now.
And it's super, mega, megareasonable, especially if you do
(12:58):
the yearlies.
So the yearlies really do allowyou to to keep it that bit sort
of cheaper and but go on, sam,how about someone who's new to
this and hasn't ever um donethis?
What are you going to do?
How are you going to explain it?
Speaker 2 (13:05):
easy peasy, easy peasy.
So, uh, literally,disengagement square.
Imagine a square, okay, and nowyour square can be as big or as
small as you like.
I would probably start offrelatively small, and if you've
ever walked your dog and youjust see that the further you go
, the more that you walk, themore wound up they get, the more
excited they get, the the moreum, disengaged from you they get
(13:25):
.
So you know, the less attentionthey're paying to you.
That's really.
This is where this could bemassive for them, all right and
and really any naughty but nice,where they're really struggling
to take their eyes off thewhole world, for whatever reason
that might be, whether they'rescared, whether they're
overexcited they can't bringtheir heads away from everything
that is going on.
Sometimes that's because we'rejust constantly adding more and
(13:50):
more right.
So as we walk, there's morestuff right.
There's more grass to smell,there's more people to see,
there's more buildings thatyou're going around the next
corner, you've changed fromgrass to gravel.
You've changed from gravel tothe road.
You've stepped off the curb,there's a car that's just gone
past.
So you're having all of thisstimulus, all of this stuff all
the time going at your dog'sbrain, and so it's constantly
(14:11):
being sort of topped up in termsof excitement or in terms of
fear.
Now, what we do with the squareis we anchor them, all right.
So we're going to think of,we're going to take four objects
, right, and that could just be.
It could be four bowls, allright.
So four dog bowls, all right,ditch the bowl, take your dog
bowls out on the road with you.
We're going to put them out ina square and all we're going to
(14:33):
do is walk from bowl to bowl.
We're going to put a bit offood in there, so we're going to
put one piece, maybe two pieces, a bit of food and then we're
going to walk to the next square, to the next corner.
We're going to place a few bitsof food, then we're going to go
to the next one, and that's assimple, as simple as it gets.
Now, if you're a member of gamesclub, if you're a member of
Games Club, if you're a memberof PDT Club, then you could
really mix it up and add some ofyour normal games in there, so
(14:55):
you could get them to do twopaws up.
You could probably do this evenif you're not a member of Games
Club.
You could add putting theirpaws up or paws in, maybe into
the bowl, right?
So instead of just feeding apiece of food in there, they're
going to put their paws in thereand then you're going to move
on to the next one.
Now what this creates is a nicecontrolled environment that
they can settle into.
(15:16):
No more stimulus, no extrathings that are coming into your
dog's brain, just something forthem to settle into.
They're like okay, yeah, I knowwhat I'm doing.
I understand, I just got to gofrom bowl to bowl and what
you'll find is that your dog'senergy levels slowly start to
come down and they slowly startto settle into the walk, and
that's kind of what we want.
(15:36):
And you, eventually, you canexpand this and you can take it
on your walks and it becomesjust normality as part of your
normal daily walks.
But to begin with, we're justgoing to create this nice
controlled environment where wecan control the kind of the
stimulus that our dogs aregetting.
In that moment, in that areathey've run out of sniffs
(15:57):
because it's the same square,right.
All you're doing is starting toget that engagement with you
playing with you, taking foodoff you.
Suddenly you've got a differentdog, so it's a really really,
really cool game.
I used to use it an awful lot atthe center with my students
because that it can be a reallylike overwhelming environment
for them, with lots of smells,lots of birds flying around,
(16:19):
lots of dog smells becausethere's so many dogs at the
centre as well and sodisengagement square was a huge
one for me.
To start our students with theirdogs that maybe have never even
been able to get them out ofthe car before, you know, have
never been able to go on anywalk before.
This was how I got them to justbe able to be in the
environment with us and actuallystart getting some sort of
(16:42):
engagement with you, you know,rather than engagement with the
whole environment.
So it's a huge, huge game andyou can put disengagement
pattern in there.
Just just saying you can adddisengagement pattern into your
disengagement square at one ofthe corners.
So it's really cool.
It's a really cool game.
It's uh, it's definitely one ofthose ones that I would have a
look at.
I definitely filmed it for PDTclub, um, and maybe I should
(17:05):
film it for games club at somepoint, I feel.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
I definitely think you should.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I think we've got it in there, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I really think it's a nice one and I think that for
me, the mega win here is that itallows a naughty but nice dog
to feel very, very safe and verysecure in the environment.
You can do it in your garden,you can do it in your living
room, you can do it out on awalk, you can do it in a car
park, you can do it out andabout.
You really get to choose whereyou do it and you can mix it up
(17:30):
every time, and no session isthe same.
They're always going to bedifferent, but the dog gets the
rhythm.
It's a rhythm sort of space itis rhythm a lot like you said,
the dogs feel more and morecomfortable as they play it and
I think and I think that that'sabsolutely key that it's the eat
, sleep, rave, repeat, eat,sleep, rave, repeat.
So the dog at no point feelsthat they are being pushed
(17:55):
beyond what they're capable of,and actually so many dogs, I
think, in dog training classesand out and about and
autobanized dogs, are pushedfurther than they're capable of.
This game allows a dog toground itself and I think that's
really key.
What do you think, sam?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, definitely, it's definitely a rhythm game
and it's definitely.
It is essentially that.
I think the the magical thingis watching a dog's energy state
change.
So a dog that comes out of thecar or out of out of your
doorway or wherever that mightbe, out of your back gate, high
as a kite, really, you know,they're like bouncing on the end
of the lead or, you know,sometimes that's a sign of
(18:31):
stress as well, you know, ratherthan just excitement.
Um, you can see that energystate change and that for me,
was the uh, the kind of thecatalyst really for me really
loving this game, so much wasyou can, you can literally see
the results because you can seeyour dogs change, you know,
right there in front of youreyes, and if, um, if you are
ever going to try it, if you can, if you have a chance to film
(18:54):
it, because sometimes you don'trealize it when you're in that
moment but actually if you watchover it, you can see those
subtle changes in your body,your dog's body language.
Um, you know, even just likelittle things, just how they,
their gait changes.
They just become more relaxed,they look like they're flowing
more rather than they're like,oh, my god, I'm so excited and
I'm so scared of the world.
Um, yeah, it's, it's magic,it's a real magical, magical
(19:14):
game to play um and you.
It's so flexible, it's so muchfun to play with.
Like, the more stuff that youadd into it, the more um, the
more flexibility you get out thegame, but actually the more fun
it is, as well for you and yourdog, you know.
So it's really cool, really.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Love it, love, love, love, love it's definitely a
game that sam love.
You can feel her love, you canfeel her love shining through
the screen, through your car orhowever.
You're hearing this right now.
So naughty but nice dogs.
They can be complex and yetwe've got our favourite games
that we play with our naughtybut nice dogs, from
disengagement pattern todisengagement square, to the
magic suitcase tricks and simplyscatter feeding Like it really
(19:50):
doesn't need to be hard to havewins with your Naughty but Nice
dogs.
Sam and I both love yourNaughty but Nice dogs and if you
haven't already, check out allof our Naughty but Nice products
on the store, from Naughty butNice courses, specifically,
right through to Games Club andPro Dog Trainer Club, which
really is the hub of dogtraining.
That was this episode of theSex and Squirrel podcast.
Thank you so much to thewonderful Sam, the disengagement
(20:10):
queen, for being here with uson the podcast and we'll see you
next week for more dog trainingadventures.
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