Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel podcast . I'm Lauren Langman . I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority . In each episode , you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before , creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world . Oh , my goodness , Linda's getting a new puppy . Linda is getting a poodle puppy . Linda , tell us about your new adventures . Okay , so for a long while .
Speaker 2I've been teaching people with poodles and I always sit on the side and go oh I , I love them . They're such idiots and they're clowns . And and I was with one who has toy poodles , because I'm of an age I couldn't manage a standard . They're too big for me now . So somebody I know has toy poodles and he said , oh , you should get one , you should get one .
Speaker 2I mean no , no , they're not my dog and he's , I said in any way , I'd never get a toy poodle to ticket championship of Egypt . And he said you would , linda , you'd get one to ticket . And it was like , okay , challenge accepted , I will get a toy poodle because I'm sort of in the middle of am I going to get another border collie ? And I'm not sure , and it's probably a bit too soon for a border collie and it's not planned .
Speaker 1So let's have a toy poodle and see how we go and tell me are you getting I take it a little boy or a little girl , and what is his name ?
Speaker 2he hasn't got a name yet other than he's sort of called bobble . I love it which can be shortened to bob of the poodle , that's if it suits him . When we get it , because I'm very much into , let's get the puppy and see what name suits them . But his fantasy name , the one that I've had in my head for the poodle , I'm getting is Bobble .
Speaker 1So Bobble's coming home soon . I think it's a really great topic for our podcast , for all of our listeners , everybody who is here listening Sex and Squirrel podcast . You guys get to hear it first from lovely linda who is getting her new puppy . What are you thinking for your early planning stages ? And I love that we've got another dog on the road to crufts , because we've not only got um our plans in place already , which I know we're going to share with everybody across the podcast . Where we're planning to go to Crufts Obedience , that's Linda and her lovely , lovely Ulla , and we've got lots and lots of goals and targets set . But we've also got Bobble , who is on his way . He's arriving very , very soon . What are you thinking ? What are your first few days at home ? How does it look ? How does it go ? What's the plan ?
Speaker 2And talk me through it , and I'm very happy to input any stage if you need a hand . Okay , so plan is we have
to get the house ready . So we're already a gated community in my house . We have full out dog gates all over the place , so I don't need to put up baby gates or anything like that . I do need to go into the loft and get the puppy pens down . He won't need as big a puppy pen as a built border collie , but there'll be a pen . We live upstairs in this house so we have a sort of living space upstairs and then office is downstairs . So he'll have a pen upstairs and he'll have a pen down here in this office , but a very small one as he's only a toy poodle .
Speaker 2I've ordered a pidddle mat for him , because house training for us in an upside down house is again a challenge . So I've I've got around um in the last four dogs I think to using um a grass in a , in a in a tray . But I use a product which is called Piddler Patch . But you could just use a cat litter tray with a piece of turf in it or some astroturf in it or something like that . So I just get them used to . There's a place with grass where they go to toilet , so that's been ordered . I've ordered some raw meat for him because all my dogs have been raw , so that's been ordered .
Speaker 2So puppy pens will go up , all my enrichment toys will come out for puppies , because obviously he's going to be tiny so he'll need a little lick mat and a little treat dispenser , toy , things like that . So the food's sorted , the beds are sorted . I've got plenty of beds . So on the day which is on , so I have to go double-handed when I pick up a puppy , because I don't put them in a crate , because I have a van with dog crates in , I don't put them in the crate in the back . When they come home they come home in the front with me holding them and hubby drives . So I'll have a very small puppy crate in the front and I'll be with him , because he's in Swansea so that's about a five hour drive . So for five hours he'll be with me and then when he gets home he will sleep in a crate next to my bed . So I work on that bond and that safety for a pup right from the beginning .
Speaker 1I was just thinking one thing , linda . I don't know if you've thought about this or not . I'm sure you have because you think of everything . You're a great planner but one thing I was really shocked at when I had my first small puppy and my first Cocker Spaniel was how much smaller everything is in terms of the fact because I love what you said it's a small crate crate and a small this . They can get through every bar I've got and I didn't think about this because all of my puppy pens and all of my bars they just walked through and I'd be like , oh , I didn't think about that , and it's really funny , as they strutted through the puppy pen or they strutted through where I could leave my others in certain places , like I've got a little like picket fence in the garden , the Cock picket fence in the garden the Cocker Spaniel would just hop through the gap and I'd be like , oh , that wasn't my plan , uh , so yeah , it was an interesting one . It was definitely an interesting one .
Speaker 2He's got a balcony upstairs , he'll , he'll go straight through the bars of the balcony if I'm not careful yes , those kind of things to plan on because he's going to be tiny and we're talking probably between , I don't know , one and three kilos .
Speaker 1I would imagine maybe a little bit on the I . I mean , I've never had a , a , poodle , um , but I would imagine within that window . And so how about things like collars and leads and harnesses ? What are your , what are your thoughts on things ?
Speaker 2it's going to be a visit to pets at home she's visiting , and does he have a color ?
Speaker 1have you got a color in mind for him ? Is he blue ? He's silver , silver . No , I meant as in , what's his colour of his leading collar ?
Speaker 2Oh , I don't know , I don't know . Well , turquoise probably . I like sort of turquoise and blue and things like that on the collies Silk , sort of an early colour . So yes , he'll be blue probably . But but it'll be a little busy to pets at home for early stages .
Speaker 1How exciting . So what are your first games looking like ? What are you going to do for the first things that you do with his food or do with his games or do with his toy , like ? How is that going to work on a ? Um ? Early stages of games and games-based learning ?
Speaker 2lovely , linda so first couple of weeks every piece of food is going to get will either be enrichment or it will be from me , so it'll be in all sorts of fun
games like chasing a bit of food . Obviously , with tiny pups , their eyes don't work very well and it's where , when I'm working with people who've just got their puppy , you have to explain that your , your food bowling skills have to be very good with the puppy because they don't see the piece of food go if you're too quick . So you have to just get them used to getting their eye in and doing a little bit of follow and I start behaviors straight away . I mean he's going to be 10 weeks when I pick him up , so he'll be straight into learning to sit , go down , walk back , nose , touch all of those little behaviours while using his food .
Speaker 1I love it , I love hearing it , I love knowing it . I've got a lovely friend . She's called Deb . You've met her and she is going to be doing exactly the same with Border Collie Puppy . So she's got a new Border Collie Puppy and I love that . You're already on to .
Speaker 1From the get go , every piece of food is either from enrichment or from me , and personally my balance is sometimes more one than the other , depending on the dog . So sometimes with cockers I'll actually give more enrichment because they're so into me that I actually need to turn them like into something else , because if not I could get in trouble with separation anxiety and struggles like that . Which , if you're listening , there's a 10 days to stop separation course . It's just 27 pound , it's for our listeners . Right now it's reduced from 97 pound and you get full lifetime access . So definitely get hold of that one . Um . But yeah , with the cockers I might go into doing a bit more of that , linda , or with my border collies , because they're often very , very into my other dogs and they want to chase the movement and watch the movement and look at the movement and and be absorbed by the movement . I actually do most of it with me if I can . But obviously I use my enrichment to babysit , so my enrichment allows me a bit of babysitting . Eat that mat while I quickly wash my hair , or , um , lick on that kong for a minute while I quickly try and answer the door and get them visitors in and sort the house or whatever else . I'm trying to do so , or I'm going to hoover . I mean it'd be a chance to be a fine thing . But you know what those types of scenarios and I think I'm not shocked . You looked very shocked get her off the camera , don't let her be seen . Um , but yeah , it really makes me um insanely happy to hear that from you , that you're , you're straight away . That is exactly how you feel too .
Speaker 1Now , how about play , linda ? Because I'm really a massive , massive , fundamental believer in dogs work better when they play and you get more motivation when you play . And you saw recently when we were training Ulla together , we trained a lot together and I used play a lot with you , especially to overcome any anxieties or struggles . I use play a lot . So I use play to like jack the arousal and to really allow the dog to become more environmentally established . When the environment can be tough and I know when we're prepping a dog for crufts .
Speaker 1And I'm going to say this right now we don't want no poodly poodle , we want like a wham . Bam , I'm bobble , thank you out of my way . We need , we need this dog super confident . We need him super present . We need to really safeguard his confidence , but also not like baby him , if that makes sense . So you need to not over woolly jumper them and over . I'm going to put like clothes on . You be my handbag dog . And at the same time we also want to safeguard his confidence because we don't need an Ulla or a Sensi wiping him or knocking him out and they'll do that , sometimes just running through the hallway , but they don't even mean to do it . Like Blink's been like bowled over by a dog Tokyo early on , just from like walking through the same space together .
Speaker 2It on um , just from like walking through the same space together . It's not any dog had any bad intention , so , yeah , how does that look for you ? Play ? So , play um . All of the poodles that I teach have the attention span of a gnat on it off it on it , off it .
Speaker 1I love that . You thought to yourself wouldn't this be a great breed to go and train ? So all of the poodles I train have the attention span of a gnat . So I thought to myself I'm going to do that . I love your wisdom . Keep going .
Speaker 2I love a challenge so I will be establishing a huge amount of interaction with me play , focus , focus and attention , um , everything about centering their an orientation around me so that they don't . The ones I've trained tend to check out very quickly . You know they'll notice something worse than all the behind . They'll notice something and their attention will go . So , yeah , and in terms of confidence , the thing that I try to coach people with small dogs not to do is pick them up , is get them to meet the world from the floor . They are a dog . They need to be able not not to overface them , but they need to be able to behave like a dog , work like a dog , have the confidence of a dog on the floor not being carried around by me because it's so easy .
Speaker 1I that is one of the biggies is . It's so easy because I know often when I'm running up and down stairs and things like that , I just grab skittle under my arm because they're so easy to grab . So I definitely fall into that small dog owner category where I scoop them up way too often . But it is easy and sometimes it keeps them safeguarded
. But I agree there are places when it doesn't need to happen .
Speaker 1Now , thinking on this , linda , I know we've got our 10 days to puppy success course and I really , really , really want if you're listening to this and thinking , I want to understand this better . I want to know this better . I want to understand this philosophy in this way of thinking . Please jump in and get it . It's reduced right now from 97 pounds to our listeners it's 27 pounds only , lifetime access and you can jump in and you can listen and you keep it forever . Resources galore and really beautiful puppy learning .
Speaker 1But , linda , what would be some of your um sort of early stage um tips in terms of when you introduce your dogs or how that goes ? Because I know for sure that I'm never in a rush to introduce my dogs , but I think it's good for people to hear it from from different people , and to the point that I don't think tokyo met venture until he was about seven months , like not properly . I mean , I would maybe go out and about on a walk or I'd maybe , but I didn't put them head to head in the house , where I know it could be potentially a problem , and I would say even more so with a big dog and a little dog coming into the house . I think that little dog , I think we really forget . There's a very horrible story that when I was sort of early on in my dog training career , an acquaintance of mine , she had two Jack Russell Terriers and her nan had a Chihuahua and they left the dogs together and that Chihuahua died like it died People . They forget we're dealing with animals . These aren't animals .
Speaker 1And when you're talking about a toy poodle , a papillon , a very , very small breed , I also know of a papillon that was killed at a big festival that we run in agility Kennel Club Festival . It's called , not we when I say it , it's the Kennel Club run it and we go to that festival and that papillon died again at the jaws of another dog and this isn't like a nasty , aggressive beast , this is a dog who's bitten and gone , and at the same time it's been in the wrong situation and no one's managed the environment correctly . And so , for me , those two terriers should never have been left with that chihuahua . That was absolutely irresponsible and of course everyone has that heartfelt . We hate that feeling for someone . I mean , nobody wants to be in that position . But come on , guys , use your sense , like where's your sense . And so , for me , if this was my poodle , I'm not in a hurry to leave these dogs unsupervised . I'm not in a hurry to um introduce these dogs head-on in confrontational spaces or situations .
Speaker 2But equally , every train is different and I'm really open to hearing how you might do it well , I already don't leave my dogs , so the person on the sofa behind me today , um , she's never left unsupervised with my others . The only dog that's left out in the house unsupervised for free is Ping , who's the eldest . The other two girls go in crates if I'm not present , um , or you know , they might lie on a sofa or something like that , um , with the puppy . He would probably be six or nine months , even more . I might never be left alone with the others milling about . I mean , I just don't do it because you , you know , you've only got to have somebody come to the door and then bark and get aroused and there'd be an accident , even if it's one gets trodden on . I just don't , I don't let it happen , I don't go there . I know we have this ideal of it .
Speaker 1The dog's house is their house and they should have a free roam a bit and they go where they like , and I I think they're better off just being safe and I really love that you have that perspective in a multi-dog household and I think it's worth saying here your household , like my household , we've got some dogs who are really level and cool with life , but actually we've got some naughty but nice dogs and my naughty but nice dog this morning and venture um , oh , I mean some days I think you're a little witch like she's got a real edge , like she's got real edge , and you probably shouldn't say that on a podcast . But hey , here we go , let's be real . And she , she really did just snipe over a vegetable . So I chucked a few vegetables in the garden and I thought they're so low value I didn't really think much of them , but she's so resourcey at times that even the vegetable in the garden that she didn't want was enough for her to snipe at . And so it's just being constantly mindful when you've got multi dogs . I've got 10 dogs and I know that you're also in a multi dog household and I think you've just always got to be mindful and I'd much prefer to be safe than sorry . And , like I said , the two sorry , the two Jack Russell's and the Chihuahua uh , the papillon at the big kennel club event , like those , for me are stark warnings , and the other one I had as a youngster was I was walking in the park and two dogs went head on head and one died . They just ran . It was just a , it was instant , and I've never experienced things like that , linda , and yet those were life-changing another life-changing one for me and it was very emotional .
Speaker 1Another life-changing one for me is I taught a lovely , lovely student for a good number of years beautiful , beautiful dog , one of my favorite dogs I taught . In fact , she got me really even more in love with Border Collies than I already am and was , and she left her with a pig's ear and she choked three-year-old dog . She choked and and I just remember being so utterly I just couldn't believe it . I was gobsmacked . It was like losing a part of because I taught her since she was eight weeks old . I taught her since she was a baby .
Speaker 1I loved this dog and this dog was really talented and I loved working with her and I loved training with her and she was just a great little dog and I just remember being super horrified at the how easily that could happen . So so , yeah , supervision , massive dogs like him wouldn't be left with chews that are potentially going to do things like that , like there's lots to think about , isn't there , I think , people . What I'd love to do is prevent these things from happening to other people , because we know that these , these are things , sadly , that can happen , and I think it's important that we we maybe safeguard any of those . What do you ?
Speaker 2think absolutely . But then again , I don't wrap them in cotton wool , so agreed . So this pup will be in the van from day one . Um , they travel on the seat next to me in a crate so that I can get them used to the idea of travelling , because he'll be out and about every day . He'll be going to anywhere I go . He'll be exposed to , you know , the supermarket , car park , the train station , bobble , on a road trip . That's right , absolutely . So I don't fuss about whether they're inoculated or not . I mean , I don't let them go sniffing around in places where there's been 101 dogs , but out in the middle of the country he will be on the ground .
Speaker 1I love . I have to say really quickly , linda , I love this because only
an hour ago I was chatting away to Dave Dave , you and I know very , very well one of our regular podcasters and a brilliant , brilliant trainer in search dogs and he said I just want to be a little bit controversial . And I was like , oh god , what's he gonna say ? Because you're always aware when you're filming a podcast or you're recording or filming something that you're just like , what's he gonna say ? Is it needing to be edited out ? And he , he said the thing is with puppies , with puppies , with puppies can't say it the way of saying puppies , but with puppy . He said I will get them out after their first vaccination . And he said I'm not waiting for the second . And I said , right , I'm going to be even more controversial and I'm going to say I don't care about any vaccination versus getting them out .
Speaker 1But similar to you , I , but similar to you , I'm not going to throw them down in the middle of the Birmingham city centre . Dog poo , right , that is left in too many different places and I'm sure it's left in lots of other city centres too , not just Birmingham . We were talking Birmingham because that's where Dave lives . However , when you're in Oakhampton and it's so rural , no , I'm not going to drop them in like rat infested water , but I'm also going to avoid lepto . But I'm also and I'm not going to take them to an area that I know is known to have parvo , because there are several places in the country that are known to have parvo and recently it was a dog show and it was known to be in that area .
Speaker 1You're a bit more cautious , for sure . At the same time , there's a , there's a risk and a balance and a management space to be had . That you're sort of fine tuning , that aren't you ? You with your socialization risks . So I love what you say and have to just bring it up there because you and dave and I aligned you're on the same page .
Speaker 2None of this . Oh , he's got to be locked in a little box until he's had all of his infodoculations . I just don't do it . I don't make a fuss about it at all .
Speaker 1So he'll be out and about running , so he'll be on your road trips with you . What type of road trips are you going to take him on ? Because I , I really love this and this is exactly how I do it we do life , we just do life , so we just do life , and we keep going and we do life together yeah , so he'll go to the shops .
Speaker 2He'll go to my training days , um . He'll probably have to be babysat by lots of cooing women um on my training days , so he'll get used to being toileted by people he doesn't . He's never met , um , he will just be exposed to my life and and he'll get on with it basically , and then he'll get trained . Whenever I've got spare moment , and what about hubby ?
Speaker 1how does he fit into all of this ? Because he's a good man , isn't he your husband ? He's a good man . I think he needs a shout out of his own here .
Speaker 2He's just supportive of everything I do around dogs , and
so there's never any question if I say we're getting a puppy , or I say what do you think about this dog ? Or whatever he goes , yeah , yeah , let's go for it . So , um , he , he follows the rules . He's pretty good at not undoing all my training , because he's certainly been the recipient of don't use that word , that's the competitive cue or something . So he , he knows what not to say and he knows what to say and he , he's very , very good with them . So if I'm going away for a you know , I don't know if I was going somewhere and I thought that wasn't suitable for the pup to go I'd be quite happy if he would be left looking after the pup .
Speaker 1Um , so , yeah , he's , um , he's a good man I also love that you say puppies , straight away in the van and just rock and roll . And I'm going to give you a couple of van stories while we're here , and one of mine is that my cat , as soon as I got her , went in the van . So Sadie , the cat , straight in the van with the dogs , obviously her own crate , and I put her next to a spaniel because I know the spaniels wouldn't like spat at her , which the collies probably would um , but I love that . I was just like rock and roll , get in the van . So there was no , there was no thought of um , this isn't for you , uh , for me , whatever , and Sadie is my cat , not my , my dog , um .
Speaker 1And the second one um for me is when I'm in the van , I have to be a little bit careful about who I put them next to , because Venture , even three bars , can be quite snipey and she can be sharp , and so as much as once mine do progress to being in the back with the other dogs and sometimes I can't put them on a front seat because I've got matt and eliza and I and it's only a three-seater um . And so again , just for I'm sure you're very , very well aware of this . But equally for our listeners , if mine are in the vehicle against another dog or near another dog , I have to check which dog so wild , is going to be sweet and nice . She's going to be like this tokyo would have been licking them through the bars and trying to be their best uncle tokyo , whereas venture would be sniping and trying to pierce their lip and give them an early ear piercing . And so you've got to be mindful of who you put them next to .
Speaker 1And that doesn't make venture a terrible dog . She's just a sharp , naughty but nice dog , whereas um tokyo had gorgeous manners . Equally , um tokyo could sometimes be a bit much and would lick their head until they probably didn't want to be licked . So you've kind of got to know when they , when each dog is appropriate or not . And I think it's just mindful again , when you've got multi dogs , just to know these things . And I didn't realize that a dog can still go between bars and they really can like ventures really tried to to pierce through bars . So if you've got a dog who really doesn't like a puppy , just don't put them in that situation , because even the snarling and the growling and the sniping and the those things all still to still carry through right , it will .
Speaker 2That's why I've always had solid crates , so I don't have crates with bars between . Yeah , but with the pup I tend to have them in a , as I say , in a small puppy crate on the front seat and so I can reassure them , and then I transfer that to the back , and then gradually , and then they and this one's going to be a particularly small crate , isn't it ?
Speaker 1it's just going to be . I want you to tell me what . I want you to tell me what weight he is when you get him . Okay , so you're going to day one , you're going to weigh him for me .
Speaker 2I want , in fact , I want a weight and a height okay , okay , because I was talking , I was actually teaching the people with the food was yesterday and , um , they said you don't , you know , it's going to be really small , don't you ? And I said , well , how small then .
Speaker 1And they went , oh , and they sort of held their hands up , a bit like this and I went oh my god , you will be shocked , like I've had lots of small dogs , but I'm always shocked . I'm always like , oh my god , you're so tiny , so I cannot wait , linda . So everyone's excited for you , everyone's rooting for you , everyone cannot wait to see bobble and bobble on his crufts journey all the way to championship . Uh , are you going to share more with us ? Are you game ?
Speaker 2I will , I will . I will keep you updated on how he does . I will do my best to actually log some of his training because that would be people would probably like to see that .
Speaker 1Beautiful the adventures of Bobble . They are about to open . So , guys , that was this episode of the Sexiest Girl podcast . Thank you , Linda , for joining us . As always , we can't wait to hear more about Bobble , and I'll see you all next week . And remember , guys , stay sexy .