July 29, 2025 • 16 mins
Unlock your dog's problem-solving potential through the power of movement with Confidence Circuits!
https://absolutedogs.me/confidencecircuits
This episode reveals how these versatile training setups can transform your dog's physical abilities and mental acuity using everyday household items.
Lauren and Linda share their expertise on why Confidence Circuits have become a cornerstone of their training programs for dogs of all ages and abilities. From naughty-but-nice dogs needing impulse control to senior dogs fighting cognitive decline, these customizable obstacle courses provide targeted benefits that address specific needs. The beauty lies in their simplicity – cardboard boxes, hula hoops, discarded packaging, and even children's toys can become valuable training tools.
What makes Confidence Circuits truly exceptional is their adaptability. They can be scaled from beginner-friendly to advanced challenges, configured for tiny spaces when weather prevents outdoor exercise, and even modified for owners with mobility limitations who can direct their dogs from a seated position. For dogs with mobility concerns, Confidence Circuits provide essential therapeutic movement opportunities.
Beyond the physical benefits, Confidence Circuits deliver remarkable mental stimulation. Just as puzzles and activities help maintain cognitive function in elderly humans, these problem-solving exercises keep ageing dogs mentally sharp while building their confidence.
Whether you're training a sports competitor who needs precise body awareness or simply want to provide enrichment for a family pet, discover how this creative approach can strengthen your bond while developing your dog's physical and mental capabilities.
Ready to transform your dog's training routine? Let's build some Confidence Circuits!
https://absolutedogs.me/confidencecircuits
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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.
Okay, we're talking confidencecircuits.
(00:31):
This is something that bothLinda and I do.
I do them on a very regularbasis.
Linda, how often do you doconfidence circuits?
Linda Hughes (00:40):
Probably once a week, because I don't have,
particularly in the winter.
I don't have space to do themwhen it's not very nice outside,
but in the summer I'll do themmaybe a couple of times a week
really nice and I think,confident circuits for me.
Lauren Langman (00:56):
Why do I teach them and why do I think everyone
should teach them?
And actually, what even arethey so?
So for me, confident Circuitsallowing your dog to effectively
solve a problem throughmovement, and I love that.
Effectively, we allow our dogsto understand how to move and
understand where to move and tobecome problem solvers through
(01:19):
different equipment.
And what I really like is youcan use I mean you can use
complete junk, like you can usecardboard boxes that you find at
the supermarket.
You can use.
This morning, eliza wait forthis.
She threw away or she wanted tothrow away this like bobble mat
.
That was like a fidget childthing, but it was big.
It was like this big and I waslike, oh my God, it's perfect.
It's rainbow coloured as well,perfect for a confidence circuit
(01:40):
.
I was like, just brilliant, andyou can use.
Someone sent me some flowerslast week.
The box for the flowers isgreat because the cockers are
small enough to go through theboxes and hula hoops so many
different things.
And if you haven't alreadycheck out on our Absolute Dogs
store absolute-dogscom, we'vegot the Confidence Circuit badge
.
It's a very, very nice courseand basically it teaches your
(02:03):
dog to problem solve throughmovement.
Now I love it for naughty butnice dogs and, linda, I know you
train it for naughty but nicedogs when you're doing any of
your training, and even your owndog's training for confidence
and movement.
Why do you think it'sparticularly nice for naughty
dogs or naughty but nice dogs?
Linda Hughes (02:19):
Well, one of the big things, I think, is it's
like a combination of severalother games, isn't it?
Because it's got balanced pathsand cavaletti and a bit of
cardboard chaos you can put inthere.
There's so many other thingsthat come into Confident Circus.
So once you've taught the dogthe rules of it, you know one
(02:44):
station to another and you'vebuilt their confidence in being
able to work out the puzzle thatyou've set them, then you can
really.
It really is a combination oflots of other games that we
already do.
And because Ulla you sleep inthe background if anybody
watching this um is is actuallyproprioceptively pretty good but
(03:05):
actually very poor at gaitmanagement.
So changing how she walks ormoves according to the speed she
needs to go at she needs a lotof competent circuits and
particularly she needs sort ofcavaletties on the curve.
So she has to change her gait.
So I try at least to give herone competent circuit a week and
(03:30):
to mix it up, but it can belike novelty party stuff as well
, because she's not got a lot ofconfidence.
So just putting something a bitdifferent into the circuit that
she's maybe already done justups the ante a bit.
It's a great, great exercise tokeep them fit, healthy and
(03:52):
thinking for themselves.
Lauren Langman (03:54):
Now I met a lady yesterday who I know really
really well lovely, lovely ladyand she's struggling.
She's actually got Blink'ssister and she said that Blink's
sister's got quite extremecognitive decline.
Now Blink's got no cognitivedecline to date.
Blink is on Calm Senior fromAOK9.
If you haven't checked out CalmSenior from AOK9 helping with
(04:15):
cognitive decline and dogs whohave, um, that sort of age and
stage of life, and I think it'spreventative too for me, blink.
Blink was on it after beingseven years old.
Really, she was on it fromseven onwards.
Blinky is almost 12 and I wouldsay that games like this help to
keep them cognitively activetoo.
And you watch when you go tohomes where you've got elderly
(04:39):
people and they're doing puzzlesand they're doing knitting and
they're doing things that keepthem active and doing and
thinking and maybe playingdifferent puzzle, problem
solving games or sudoku or allof the things that keep you
active and doing.
And I think it's really reallyimportant that we think about
this for our dogs.
So I also think for dogs incognitive decline, for older
(05:00):
dogs, for dogs who arepost-injury and coming back to
work, there's a really nicefitness element mental fitness
and physical fitness.
What do you think, linda?
Linda Hughes (05:09):
I, I totally agree .
But also it's.
I've used it a lot with peoplewho are limited in their
mobility, because if they've gota dog that they can't walk, for
instance, very well, orwhatever, then doing confidence
circuits with their dog whilethey sit in a chair and drop a
(05:30):
piece of food at each stationworks an absolute dream.
So it challenges the dog, itgives the dog a job to do and it
enables the people to feel goodabout helping their dog to have
a fruitful day.
Really nice.
Lauren Langman (05:44):
Yeah, so almost a level of chair games, like
actually they can do it sat intheir chair.
I know that you play lots ofdifferent chair games.
I imagine that's a podcast initself, so there are lots of
different games that we can playin a chair.
But actually, yeah, confidentcircuits and solving problems
with movement is just brilliant,like absolutely brilliant.
And again, yeah, it helps withthe owner that can't maybe move
(06:06):
too.
Now, ages and stages and whatdogs would play and why.
I'm just going to talk throughwhy my dogs do it, play it and
why I'm just going to talkthrough why my dogs do it.
And I'm going to say thatskittles does confident circuits
to allow her to stay um, awareof where her feet are.
So proprioception in where shehas to concentrate, because she
just wants to move fasteverywhere.
So, because she's a bit of askill in the sense that her
(06:27):
energy is everywhere, she it'salmost like a controlling, the
lemming sort of potential,because she acts like a lemming
in most of her life, so shewants to kamikaze and jump over
everything.
This kind of makes her controla movement, because if she's not
controlling a movement shecan't do it.
And then for wild, I use it sothat she splits her back end.
So when she's doing running,contacts and agility, she's got
(06:50):
the ability to split her legsapart, which actually she she
didn't before.
She used to always bounceeverything.
Now she strides, which is whereI think Senzi needs to go,
because it allows her now to dothis instead of this.
So she does that instead ofthat.
And then for a dog like Blink,she has really really really
quite advanced.
(07:10):
Well, her knee has always beena problem, quite advanced um
sort of well, her knee, herknee's always been a problem um,
so her slipping patella is isis constantly um, something we
try and look at and take care of, and for her it's fitness.
So I do lots of fitness andthen when I look at a dog like
brave, it's actually the factthat she's got neurological
deficits and so while she's onum her cognitive support with
(07:31):
aok9 senior, she also does haveneurological deficits from an
accident.
So we play it for those reasons.
How about yours?
What do you play it for what?
The main reasons that you doconfidence circuits.
And, like I said, for thosethat don't know, it's kind of
like extreme cavaletti withdifferent like.
I love how you described it,linda, with you've got some
confidence circuits mixed withcardboard chaos and it's kind of
.
It's a nice amalgamation ofnovelty party and Cavaletti and
(07:58):
confidence circuits, cardboardchaos Like it's, it's all of the
, the mix of everything.
It's a blend, isn't it?
But why do you play it, or whatdo you do it specifically for,
with each of your dogs?
Linda Hughes (08:08):
So I've got at the moment not three, so we'll
start with the youngest, asyou've just mentioned.
Maybe not three, so we'll startwith the youngest.
As you've just mentioned, sheneeds to learn to use her back
end more effectively.
So she tends to find it reallyhard to coordinate her back end
with what her front end is doing.
So she has got a lot ofcavaletti in her confidence
(08:30):
circuits that I alter thespacing so that she goes from a
longer stride to a slightlycloser stride.
So that's her.
And then proprioceptive, sogoing over different surfaces.
And sometimes I put in a bit ofbravery, so I'll put a hula
hoop up with something hangingoff it.
(08:51):
So she has to go throughsomething up with something
hanging off it, um.
So she has to go go throughsomething um, senzi, the middle
one, her deficit, people wouldcall it that is over arousal.
So competent circuits for herare about impulse control.
So can she wait on the station?
I use a kato board for her ateach end, so a platform at each
(09:12):
end.
She has to wait on her stationwhile I tend, I tend to bait the
circuit for her, and then shemust do it in a controlled and
thoughtful way, looking whereshe's going, otherwise she has a
tendency to charge like avolume of china shop and knock
it all flying.
So that's senzi, and then king,who's my oldest one.
(09:33):
He's over 10 now and he's got abad back.
So his is about keeping him asmobile as possible, so giving
him straight lines, not curves,so he'll go from one station to
another, but in a straight linethrough cavalettis, over
different surfaces, so that hegets to use his feet and place
(09:56):
his feet in a managed way andjust exercise his back a little
bit.
Lauren Langman (10:01):
So that's, that's my three nice, really
nice, and and for all of them itgives different purpose,
different meaning and all ofthem have an opportunity to do
it.
And what I also love I don'tknow about you, linda, but I
love that every time isdifferent.
So each time I train aconfidence circuit, it's never
the same confidence circuit.
Again and again and again andagain, it's actually always a
different confidence circuit,and that for me I I don't know.
(10:22):
They say that, uh, each humanhas um many different basic
needs, but but one of our basicneeds is to have some certainty.
So my certainty is that whenwe're doing this, it's great for
my dogs, but the variety isthat every time it's different
and so it's never going to bethe same and I really, I really
personally enjoy that.
I don't know what you think, butI really enjoy that.
Linda Hughes (10:41):
I love setting them.
I love setting them up.
I love sort of thinking aboutwhat what to do for each dog and
what variety I can put in.
So I'm like you've always gotmy eyes open for oh, don't throw
that away.
I can use that and that will gointo a conference, certainly in
my hallway or in my living roomor somewhere.
You don't have to have a hugebig space to be able to do them.
(11:03):
So they can certainly be donein your living room because you
can do sort of like a horseshoeshape, um out and back, and
that's sufficient for a lot ofdogs, but it gives them a huge
amount of thinking to do andphysical exercise um.
So, uh, you know it's, it isfun for us.
Um, I can't.
(11:25):
I get a bit disappointedsometimes because I set them up
and the dogs do them and ofcourse I can't have them doing
them very long because it'squite tiring for them.
But they do them and then I'mlike, oh, it's finished, now
I've got to put it all together.
Lauren Langman (11:39):
They love it, don't they?
And they've managed to do it,and I mean they will go over and
over, but, like you said, it istiring.
So I really, before we head,head out of here, I really want
to go through just some of myfavorite bits about Confident
Circuits and I want you to umsay any of yours.
But one of my favorite thingsfor Confident Circuits is the
amount of like crazy I can addin, like you can add um a hula
(12:02):
hoop with like party stuffcoming off it.
You can, you can hang stuff in.
You can, you can, you can bevery creative.
So, whereas I'm not someonewho'd sit and draw art so I can
look at this gorgeous piece ofart behind me, whereas you can
create art like that, I'm notdoing that, but I'm having my
own level of fun like I.
I think it's quite a creativegame and, um, the puzzles that
(12:25):
you can create through theconfidence circuit and and the
movement is I just love it.
I think it's really really nice.
So, for me, creativity what'sone of your favorite things?
Linda Hughes (12:34):
like little winnie tunnels in, yeah, and then you
can make them a bit of achallenge, so they they become
like magic caves or whatever, um, depending on the dog's ability
to go through things like that.
Um, and then you can have aparty with them when they've
achieved it.
Lauren Langman (12:49):
I love that.
I love that.
And then one of my otherfavorite things is anyone that's
been to devon here at bowerland, it's absolutely gorgeous, and
then it can be torrential withweather, and so for me, it
allows me and enables me totrain my dogs in the house, no
matter what, because it doesn'talways have to be a big
confident circuit.
I can set a small one and I canuse the dog training room, or I
(13:10):
could go over to the arena, andfor me, I love that.
I can set up something.
I don't have to take them outwhere it's wet, slippy and
they're potentially going tocause themselves some harm.
Um, owning sports dogs andagility dogs, I don't want to
put them in a position wherethey're going to hurt themselves
, and so I think it's reallyreally important, important that
we do not in any way put ourdogs at a place where they're
(13:32):
going to injure themselves, butat the same time, I still want
to condition and strengthen them.
So I love confident circuitsfrom that point of view.
What about you, linda?
Linda Hughes (13:40):
Well, it's very mucky and horrible here today.
Ola's training for today hasbeen she's been for a little bit
of socialisation in the localcar park and up into the town
centre, Just a walk around,nothing sort of like let's go
and challenge it, just a walkaround the town centre and then
a sniffy walk and then thisafternoon, when we've finished,
(14:03):
they will all be doing some sortof competence circuit.
I love that.
I love that and it will be inthe hallway.
Lauren Langman (14:10):
I love that.
So I love the variety.
So they've had some focus onyou in new environments.
They've had some general likesnippy walk-dog time and
actually you're adding in andobviously you can see from the
long stretch and the sigh fromher that she's certainly
enjoying it too.
I also have to say it's strange, but devon is looking very nice
.
It's not raining at all here,which is how on earth is that
(14:34):
like?
I mean, it really is prettydarn sunny out.
It's actually it's sunny andit's a blue sky for devon.
So blue skies devon, blue skiesin devon.
Uh, my last and final thingabout confident but confident
circuits I'm gonna say foreverybody is that everyone can
do a level of them so you candifferentiate it really nicely.
(14:54):
So if you're a pro dog traineror if you're a games clubber
with us and you want to make itreally really easy for our new
poodle puppy, linda bobble coulddo them, or you can make it
really really hard for a doglike wild, my little spaniel.
She's a pro at them.
She's like I do these eat,sleep, brave, repeat.
So you want to put in somethingreally hard for her where she's
(15:14):
got to pick her legs up orshe's got a wiggle different,
like you're going to putsomething different in for her,
and so I think that's reallynice that you get to like really
vary it.
That's that's a good thing forme.
I like differentiated learning,where I can push my student to
do whatever they can do, but Idon't want to miss out someone
who's at this level.
So I like the differentiatedlearning, so you can make it as
easy as you like and you canmake it as hard as you like.
Linda Hughes (15:35):
Um, any final tips from you, linda, the the one
that I love it for, which is fora dog sport, is impulse control
, the ability to just wait untilthey're allowed to go, and then
they go, and then they waituntil they're allowed to go.
That, for me, is such a gem,because I don't want them
(16:01):
deciding in a dog sport, thatthey know what they're doing.
Thank you very much.
I'll go and do it on my ownsuch a big.
Lauren Langman (16:06):
It's such a big part of it, isn't it?
Yeah, really nice, really nice.
Well, that was this episode ofthe sex in squirrel podcast.
We've talked confidencecircuits.
I hope that you get to do someconfidence circuits with your
dog.
Most importantly, remember youcan level them up or you can
play them right down.
You can do them at a real baselevel or you can do them at a
real extreme level.
(16:27):
The choice is yours.
If you haven't already seenthem, head to absolute-dogscom,
and I know that you're going tohave so much fun with confidence
circuits.
Enjoy, and we'll see you nextweek for another episode of.
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.
Okay, we're talking confidencecircuits.
(00:31):
This is something that bothLinda and I do.
I do them on a very regularbasis.
Linda, how often do you doconfidence circuits?
Linda Hughes (00:40):
Probably once a week, because I don't have,
particularly in the winter.
I don't have space to do themwhen it's not very nice outside,
but in the summer I'll do themmaybe a couple of times a week
really nice and I think,confident circuits for me.
Lauren Langman (00:56):
Why do I teach them and why do I think everyone
should teach them?
And actually, what even arethey so?
So for me, confident Circuitsallowing your dog to effectively
solve a problem throughmovement, and I love that.
Effectively, we allow our dogsto understand how to move and
understand where to move and tobecome problem solvers through
(01:19):
different equipment.
And what I really like is youcan use I mean you can use
complete junk, like you can usecardboard boxes that you find at
the supermarket.
You can use.
This morning, eliza wait forthis.
She threw away or she wanted tothrow away this like bobble mat
.
That was like a fidget childthing, but it was big.
It was like this big and I waslike, oh my God, it's perfect.
It's rainbow coloured as well,perfect for a confidence circuit
(01:40):
.
I was like, just brilliant, andyou can use.
Someone sent me some flowerslast week.
The box for the flowers isgreat because the cockers are
small enough to go through theboxes and hula hoops so many
different things.
And if you haven't alreadycheck out on our Absolute Dogs
store absolute-dogscom, we'vegot the Confidence Circuit badge
.
It's a very, very nice courseand basically it teaches your
(02:03):
dog to problem solve throughmovement.
Now I love it for naughty butnice dogs and, linda, I know you
train it for naughty but nicedogs when you're doing any of
your training, and even your owndog's training for confidence
and movement.
Why do you think it'sparticularly nice for naughty
dogs or naughty but nice dogs?
Linda Hughes (02:19):
Well, one of the big things, I think, is it's
like a combination of severalother games, isn't it?
Because it's got balanced pathsand cavaletti and a bit of
cardboard chaos you can put inthere.
There's so many other thingsthat come into Confident Circus.
So once you've taught the dogthe rules of it, you know one
(02:44):
station to another and you'vebuilt their confidence in being
able to work out the puzzle thatyou've set them, then you can
really.
It really is a combination oflots of other games that we
already do.
And because Ulla you sleep inthe background if anybody
watching this um is is actuallyproprioceptively pretty good but
(03:05):
actually very poor at gaitmanagement.
So changing how she walks ormoves according to the speed she
needs to go at she needs a lotof competent circuits and
particularly she needs sort ofcavaletties on the curve.
So she has to change her gait.
So I try at least to give herone competent circuit a week and
(03:30):
to mix it up, but it can belike novelty party stuff as well
, because she's not got a lot ofconfidence.
So just putting something a bitdifferent into the circuit that
she's maybe already done justups the ante a bit.
It's a great, great exercise tokeep them fit, healthy and
(03:52):
thinking for themselves.
Lauren Langman (03:54):
Now I met a lady yesterday who I know really
really well lovely, lovely ladyand she's struggling.
She's actually got Blink'ssister and she said that Blink's
sister's got quite extremecognitive decline.
Now Blink's got no cognitivedecline to date.
Blink is on Calm Senior fromAOK9.
If you haven't checked out CalmSenior from AOK9 helping with
(04:15):
cognitive decline and dogs whohave, um, that sort of age and
stage of life, and I think it'spreventative too for me, blink.
Blink was on it after beingseven years old.
Really, she was on it fromseven onwards.
Blinky is almost 12 and I wouldsay that games like this help to
keep them cognitively activetoo.
And you watch when you go tohomes where you've got elderly
(04:39):
people and they're doing puzzlesand they're doing knitting and
they're doing things that keepthem active and doing and
thinking and maybe playingdifferent puzzle, problem
solving games or sudoku or allof the things that keep you
active and doing.
And I think it's really reallyimportant that we think about
this for our dogs.
So I also think for dogs incognitive decline, for older
(05:00):
dogs, for dogs who arepost-injury and coming back to
work, there's a really nicefitness element mental fitness
and physical fitness.
What do you think, linda?
Linda Hughes (05:09):
I, I totally agree .
But also it's.
I've used it a lot with peoplewho are limited in their
mobility, because if they've gota dog that they can't walk, for
instance, very well, orwhatever, then doing confidence
circuits with their dog whilethey sit in a chair and drop a
(05:30):
piece of food at each stationworks an absolute dream.
So it challenges the dog, itgives the dog a job to do and it
enables the people to feel goodabout helping their dog to have
a fruitful day.
Really nice.
Lauren Langman (05:44):
Yeah, so almost a level of chair games, like
actually they can do it sat intheir chair.
I know that you play lots ofdifferent chair games.
I imagine that's a podcast initself, so there are lots of
different games that we can playin a chair.
But actually, yeah, confidentcircuits and solving problems
with movement is just brilliant,like absolutely brilliant.
And again, yeah, it helps withthe owner that can't maybe move
(06:06):
too.
Now, ages and stages and whatdogs would play and why.
I'm just going to talk throughwhy my dogs do it, play it and
why I'm just going to talkthrough why my dogs do it.
And I'm going to say thatskittles does confident circuits
to allow her to stay um, awareof where her feet are.
So proprioception in where shehas to concentrate, because she
just wants to move fasteverywhere.
So, because she's a bit of askill in the sense that her
(06:27):
energy is everywhere, she it'salmost like a controlling, the
lemming sort of potential,because she acts like a lemming
in most of her life, so shewants to kamikaze and jump over
everything.
This kind of makes her controla movement, because if she's not
controlling a movement shecan't do it.
And then for wild, I use it sothat she splits her back end.
So when she's doing running,contacts and agility, she's got
(06:50):
the ability to split her legsapart, which actually she she
didn't before.
She used to always bounceeverything.
Now she strides, which is whereI think Senzi needs to go,
because it allows her now to dothis instead of this.
So she does that instead ofthat.
And then for a dog like Blink,she has really really really
quite advanced.
(07:10):
Well, her knee has always beena problem, quite advanced um
sort of well, her knee, herknee's always been a problem um,
so her slipping patella is isis constantly um, something we
try and look at and take care of, and for her it's fitness.
So I do lots of fitness andthen when I look at a dog like
brave, it's actually the factthat she's got neurological
deficits and so while she's onum her cognitive support with
(07:31):
aok9 senior, she also does haveneurological deficits from an
accident.
So we play it for those reasons.
How about yours?
What do you play it for what?
The main reasons that you doconfidence circuits.
And, like I said, for thosethat don't know, it's kind of
like extreme cavaletti withdifferent like.
I love how you described it,linda, with you've got some
confidence circuits mixed withcardboard chaos and it's kind of
.
It's a nice amalgamation ofnovelty party and Cavaletti and
(07:58):
confidence circuits, cardboardchaos Like it's, it's all of the
, the mix of everything.
It's a blend, isn't it?
But why do you play it, or whatdo you do it specifically for,
with each of your dogs?
Linda Hughes (08:08):
So I've got at the moment not three, so we'll
start with the youngest, asyou've just mentioned.
Maybe not three, so we'll startwith the youngest.
As you've just mentioned, sheneeds to learn to use her back
end more effectively.
So she tends to find it reallyhard to coordinate her back end
with what her front end is doing.
So she has got a lot ofcavaletti in her confidence
(08:30):
circuits that I alter thespacing so that she goes from a
longer stride to a slightlycloser stride.
So that's her.
And then proprioceptive, sogoing over different surfaces.
And sometimes I put in a bit ofbravery, so I'll put a hula
hoop up with something hangingoff it.
(08:51):
So she has to go throughsomething up with something
hanging off it, um.
So she has to go go throughsomething um, senzi, the middle
one, her deficit, people wouldcall it that is over arousal.
So competent circuits for herare about impulse control.
So can she wait on the station?
I use a kato board for her ateach end, so a platform at each
(09:12):
end.
She has to wait on her stationwhile I tend, I tend to bait the
circuit for her, and then shemust do it in a controlled and
thoughtful way, looking whereshe's going, otherwise she has a
tendency to charge like avolume of china shop and knock
it all flying.
So that's senzi, and then king,who's my oldest one.
(09:33):
He's over 10 now and he's got abad back.
So his is about keeping him asmobile as possible, so giving
him straight lines, not curves,so he'll go from one station to
another, but in a straight linethrough cavalettis, over
different surfaces, so that hegets to use his feet and place
(09:56):
his feet in a managed way andjust exercise his back a little
bit.
Lauren Langman (10:01):
So that's, that's my three nice, really
nice, and and for all of them itgives different purpose,
different meaning and all ofthem have an opportunity to do
it.
And what I also love I don'tknow about you, linda, but I
love that every time isdifferent.
So each time I train aconfidence circuit, it's never
the same confidence circuit.
Again and again and again andagain, it's actually always a
different confidence circuit,and that for me I I don't know.
(10:22):
They say that, uh, each humanhas um many different basic
needs, but but one of our basicneeds is to have some certainty.
So my certainty is that whenwe're doing this, it's great for
my dogs, but the variety isthat every time it's different
and so it's never going to bethe same and I really, I really
personally enjoy that.
I don't know what you think, butI really enjoy that.
Linda Hughes (10:41):
I love setting them.
I love setting them up.
I love sort of thinking aboutwhat what to do for each dog and
what variety I can put in.
So I'm like you've always gotmy eyes open for oh, don't throw
that away.
I can use that and that will gointo a conference, certainly in
my hallway or in my living roomor somewhere.
You don't have to have a hugebig space to be able to do them.
(11:03):
So they can certainly be donein your living room because you
can do sort of like a horseshoeshape, um out and back, and
that's sufficient for a lot ofdogs, but it gives them a huge
amount of thinking to do andphysical exercise um.
So, uh, you know it's, it isfun for us.
Um, I can't.
(11:25):
I get a bit disappointedsometimes because I set them up
and the dogs do them and ofcourse I can't have them doing
them very long because it'squite tiring for them.
But they do them and then I'mlike, oh, it's finished, now
I've got to put it all together.
Lauren Langman (11:39):
They love it, don't they?
And they've managed to do it,and I mean they will go over and
over, but, like you said, it istiring.
So I really, before we head,head out of here, I really want
to go through just some of myfavorite bits about Confident
Circuits and I want you to umsay any of yours.
But one of my favorite thingsfor Confident Circuits is the
amount of like crazy I can addin, like you can add um a hula
(12:02):
hoop with like party stuffcoming off it.
You can, you can hang stuff in.
You can, you can, you can bevery creative.
So, whereas I'm not someonewho'd sit and draw art so I can
look at this gorgeous piece ofart behind me, whereas you can
create art like that, I'm notdoing that, but I'm having my
own level of fun like I.
I think it's quite a creativegame and, um, the puzzles that
(12:25):
you can create through theconfidence circuit and and the
movement is I just love it.
I think it's really really nice.
So, for me, creativity what'sone of your favorite things?
Linda Hughes (12:34):
like little winnie tunnels in, yeah, and then you
can make them a bit of achallenge, so they they become
like magic caves or whatever, um, depending on the dog's ability
to go through things like that.
Um, and then you can have aparty with them when they've
achieved it.
Lauren Langman (12:49):
I love that.
I love that.
And then one of my otherfavorite things is anyone that's
been to devon here at bowerland, it's absolutely gorgeous, and
then it can be torrential withweather, and so for me, it
allows me and enables me totrain my dogs in the house, no
matter what, because it doesn'talways have to be a big
confident circuit.
I can set a small one and I canuse the dog training room, or I
(13:10):
could go over to the arena, andfor me, I love that.
I can set up something.
I don't have to take them outwhere it's wet, slippy and
they're potentially going tocause themselves some harm.
Um, owning sports dogs andagility dogs, I don't want to
put them in a position wherethey're going to hurt themselves
, and so I think it's reallyreally important, important that
we do not in any way put ourdogs at a place where they're
(13:32):
going to injure themselves, butat the same time, I still want
to condition and strengthen them.
So I love confident circuitsfrom that point of view.
What about you, linda?
Linda Hughes (13:40):
Well, it's very mucky and horrible here today.
Ola's training for today hasbeen she's been for a little bit
of socialisation in the localcar park and up into the town
centre, Just a walk around,nothing sort of like let's go
and challenge it, just a walkaround the town centre and then
a sniffy walk and then thisafternoon, when we've finished,
(14:03):
they will all be doing some sortof competence circuit.
I love that.
I love that and it will be inthe hallway.
Lauren Langman (14:10):
I love that.
So I love the variety.
So they've had some focus onyou in new environments.
They've had some general likesnippy walk-dog time and
actually you're adding in andobviously you can see from the
long stretch and the sigh fromher that she's certainly
enjoying it too.
I also have to say it's strange, but devon is looking very nice
.
It's not raining at all here,which is how on earth is that
(14:34):
like?
I mean, it really is prettydarn sunny out.
It's actually it's sunny andit's a blue sky for devon.
So blue skies devon, blue skiesin devon.
Uh, my last and final thingabout confident but confident
circuits I'm gonna say foreverybody is that everyone can
do a level of them so you candifferentiate it really nicely.
(14:54):
So if you're a pro dog traineror if you're a games clubber
with us and you want to make itreally really easy for our new
poodle puppy, linda bobble coulddo them, or you can make it
really really hard for a doglike wild, my little spaniel.
She's a pro at them.
She's like I do these eat,sleep, brave, repeat.
So you want to put in somethingreally hard for her where she's
(15:14):
got to pick her legs up orshe's got a wiggle different,
like you're going to putsomething different in for her,
and so I think that's reallynice that you get to like really
vary it.
That's that's a good thing forme.
I like differentiated learning,where I can push my student to
do whatever they can do, but Idon't want to miss out someone
who's at this level.
So I like the differentiatedlearning, so you can make it as
easy as you like and you canmake it as hard as you like.
Linda Hughes (15:35):
Um, any final tips from you, linda, the the one
that I love it for, which is fora dog sport, is impulse control
, the ability to just wait untilthey're allowed to go, and then
they go, and then they waituntil they're allowed to go.
That, for me, is such a gem,because I don't want them
(16:01):
deciding in a dog sport, thatthey know what they're doing.
Thank you very much.
I'll go and do it on my ownsuch a big.
Lauren Langman (16:06):
It's such a big part of it, isn't it?
Yeah, really nice, really nice.
Well, that was this episode ofthe sex in squirrel podcast.
We've talked confidencecircuits.
I hope that you get to do someconfidence circuits with your
dog.
Most importantly, remember youcan level them up or you can
play them right down.
You can do them at a real baselevel or you can do them at a
real extreme level.
(16:27):
The choice is yours.
If you haven't already seenthem, head to absolute-dogscom,
and I know that you're going tohave so much fun with confidence
circuits.
Enjoy, and we'll see you nextweek for another episode of.
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