Feb 4, 2022
Fling Less February with Matt Donovan
In this episode, we have a brilliant guest, Matt Donovan, from South West Dog Skills, join us to talk about his initiative Fling-Less February. He shares, what it is and how you can take part in it.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/flinglessfeb
Flingers, launchers, slingers... whatever you call them, they have their place but did you know constantly flinging a ball on your dog's walks can have the opposite effect to what you may be hoping for.
When a dog chases a ball they have a release of adrenaline.
This adrenaline can stay in the body for hours after a walk and can make settling difficult. If you use a flinger and ball on every walk your dog may not have a chance for their adrenaline level to return to normal, before it is raised again on the next walk. Leading to them in a constant high state.
If you think you need to take your dog out for at least an hour at a time and take a flinger to tire them, think again! This group will provide you with some ideas to help.
Fling-less Feb isn’t about getting rid of the flinger altogether but it’s about creating walks where you are able to engage with your dog more, build your partnership with them and create a more settled and calm dog.
Our challenge to you is to halve the amount of flinging walks you do and swap them for some of the ideas below:
Sniff walk - Allowing your dog to explore the environment and find treats that have been laid to encourage your dog to sniff. Let them lead you!
30in30 - using 30 treats in 30 mins whilst out on a walk to maximise engagement with you.
Check-in challenge - have a focus on rewarding your dog every time they choose to look at you whilst you are walking.
Training walk - Pick something that either you or your dog would like to work on. This might happen at home to start with before progressing to the park or field.
Rest days - Take days off from walking. See what happens if you set up some mental enrichment activities at home.
*M.A.D for Dogs exists to Make A Difference to dogs’ mental and physical well-being by creating positive change in the way they are understood. *
If you'd like to learn more about Eryn and Rach and what we do at MAD for Dogs
https://madfordogs.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/madfordogsuk/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/madfordogscommunity/
If you'd like to learn more about the services Eryn and Rach offer for Pet Dogs
https://believeinmagic.dog/
https://www.facebook.com/believeinmagic.dog
https://www.facebook.com/groups/believeinmagic.training
We would love to feature some questions from ‘real’ people. So, if you’d like to ask something and have it answered within one of the Podcasts you can now leave a voice memo here, if we feature the question we will email you with the episode info. All you need to do is visit this link press the button and record your questions, simple as that.
https://telb.ee/j1xze