Chad Mackin U.K Workshop

This is a 4 day workshop. The workshop consits of 3 parts. 

Part 1 :

Chad's New 'Leash Workshop'

Most dogs (and owners if we’re being honest) have a complicated relationship with the leash. It seems to bring equal parts comfort and stress. For the dog, the leash means we are going outside, which is very exciting, but once they get outside, it’s a constant source of conflict and frustration. For the owner, it provides safety for the dog and a degree of control they otherwise would not be able to create, at least not easily. But that safety comes with a price, the walks aren’t very fun, with the dog pulling one way and their owner leaning back the other way. It’s not uncommon for dogs to actually risk their owner’s safety by dragging them to the ground. I’ve seen more than one person toppled by an unruly dog.   Leashes  present three big  friction points. They require the dog to walk slower then they want. They require the dog to walk closer to us than they want. Finally, the leash is approached as a way to impose these rules on an otherwise unwilling dog. Under these circumstances, how can the leash be anything other than a source of conflict and frustration for both dog and owner? This is why so many people struggle to get their dogs to walk nicely on the leash.   The training community is not immune to these problems. Amongst the “balanced trainers,” there seems to be a bias towards making leash pulling less pleasant with a heavy focus on tools that increase discomfort or create a mechanical advantage over the dog. In the “force free” community, leashes are often approached as a necessary evil, with trainers preferring to train without the leash at all. As different as the view points may seem, they both more or less discount the leash as a tool for having a cooperative conversation.   I have spent more than a decade doing my best to understand the leash and it’s potential, from both a theoretical level and a practical level. I have focused on how it works more or less in the absence of other training concepts and (more importantly) how it fits into a broader framework involving other training tools and motivators. The goal has been to build within the dog a positive and cooperative response to leash pressure. The leash should be as versatile and innate as our voice or our touch. This workshop, is the culmination of those countless hours working with hundreds of dogs and dog owners, figuring out not just the most efficient techniques for teaching dogs, but also the most efficient techniques for teaching owners as well. As any professional trainer knows, there are some very effective training techniques that require a great deal of skill to make work. Those techniques are great for the training room, but they don’t usually translate well to the dog owner. Then there are techniques that dog owners can be competent with pretty quickly, but often they are somewhat ham-handed and put a greater burden on the dog. There is a happy medium in most cases. And that solution begins with rethinking the leash from the ground up.   We are going to discuss in detail both theoretical and practical aspects of the leash. You will learn how to defeat the leash paradox and turn the leash into a welcome ally for the dog. We will explore the 7 objective qualities of leash pressure, and the 3 subjective ones. I will explain the 5 levels of leash pressure and why dog owners (and trainers sometimes) get stuck in the most unproductive levels, and why so many attempts to reduce conflict with the leash end up increasing it. We will discuss the intuitive mistakes almost everyone makes, and how to avoid them.   We will go over specific exercises to increase your effectiveness with the leash, and hopefully, learn some new ways to apply it. I will outline some step by step approaches I use in my daily work to build cooperative leash work. We will address long lines, standard leashe, as well as retractable leashes. I am not only concerned with changing the dog’s relationship with the leash, but changing yours as well.   Perhaps you feel like your system is better than what I outline here, that’s great. I still believe these exercises will make you more efficient in that system. The goal is not to change your methods. The goal is to give you a more complete theory of the leash and leash pressure. This is, from my perspective a truly unique endeavor.

Part 2:

 Behavioural Problem Solving. 

 5 dogs will be pre selected, to be used for Behavioural Problem Solving Demos,  Chad will work the dogs for the first time in front of us as if it were a Behavioural problem dog attending his workplace. He will show us  how he starts to address each dogs issues and how he choses which strategy for different dogs , which tools he uses and why and how he will begin to explain/teach the strategies needed to the owner. A great insight into how he works with different types of behavioural problems to solve issues that may be extreme or ingrained.

If you have a dog you would like to put forward please email me for a Behavioural Form and submit a video.

You will be told in advance if your dog has been successful and has been selected. ( however we can not guarantee all dogs selected will be used on the day.)

Part 3: 

Advanced Socialisation Solutions for Difficult Dogs

This is the workshop that started it all.  The “classic” Pack to Basics workshop has been incredibly successful and continues to grow in popularity each year.  Having been presented in the US and Canada and U.K it has been extremely well-received.  In this workshop we teach how to use the dog’s natural instincts to alleviate and in many cases CURE anti-social and aggressive behaviour in dogs.

This is valuable not only for dog trainers and dog owners, but also would be great for anyone who is looking for a better understanding of how dogs communicate with people and each other.  Doggie daycare owners and workers have benefitted from this workshop as have a number veterinarians and everyday dog owners.   The workshop is entertaining but jam packed with vital information.  While we encourage students to bring a dog with them, those who attend without a dog will not miss out on any of the experience.