Our Teaching Dogs
A teaching dog seeks to interact with other dogs and has an innate
willingness to modify their behaviour using their body language and
highly developed communication skills.
We have four resident teaching dogs whose job it is to see that everyone gets along nicely. They are all lurchers - Beama, Barley, Gracie and Luka.
Beama and Barley work brilliantly as a pair - they know when to work together or when one of them should hold back. They get on extremely well and have a great mutual respect for each other. Beama and Gracie also often work together and are great mates, dispelling the myth that bossy bitches can't tolerate each other! Luka focuses in helping our special dogs - see more about him below.
We also have guest teaching dogs who are constantly developing their skills, and several stooge dogs - a stooge dog describes a dog who is used to trigger the behaviour. We also have a stuffed black labrador called Cesar who causes much amusement at assessments. Cesar is a great stooge dog, and we can tell a lot from how a dog approaches him and greets him
Beama
Beama is an 8-year-old saluki/whippet cross who is a very confident
girl. Beama is like the finishing school headmistress who is a
stickler for good manners and impeccable behaviour.
Beama has learnt to use exaggerated facial expressions to make things very obvious to dogs which lack communications skills, often a look from Beama is enough to stop a dog in its tracks! She is also very playful and will often teach nervous or shy dogs how to play - but following her rules, of course!
Beama working:
In the first photo, Beama stands confident and alert as she lets the other dogs know she is policing the group. In the second photo, the black dog lowers its head to signal it recognises that Beama is "in charge". The final photo shows all the dogs relaxed and playing.
Barley
Barley is a seven-year-old neutered male lurcher and has been working
alongside Beama and Gracie for several years now. He is tolerant but
only to a point and will use clear facial and body expression to show
his displeasure at impolite behaviour. He is a great right hand man
for Beama, they work really well together. He is a serene dog whose
handsome good looks belie his calm and confident approach. Barley is
very calm, helping teach dogs by his own example and his perfect
manners: he has a very good influence on dogs who are over
enthusiastic about life. Barley is very gentle and kind, helping
nervous dogs (and owners!) feel confident about socialising. Barley
also makes our human clients feel at ease by leaning against them and
sitting on their feet!
Luka
Luka is one of a kind! He is a saluki lurcher who has overcome his own
issues and now loves to help other dogs. He has a special affinity for
dogs with communication problems and can befriend dogs that have never
been able to interact with other dogs before. Luka also adores working
with small and nervous dogs and will gently help them gain in
confidence so that they can enjoy canine company. Luka has brought a
smile to many owners' faces as he instigates their dogs to join in
play for the first time.
Luka working:
Luka meeting a confident and assertive black terrier cross. After the formalities of greeting and getting to know each other are out of the way, Luka invites the terrier to play.
Gracie
Gracie is a 6 year old whippet cross who works differently to Beama,
as she is very tolerant of most behaviours. Rude and pushy behaviour
is wasted on Gracie, as she just isn't impressed! Gracie will gently
encourage dogs to behave appropriately within a group, although she is
no walkover and will step in if she feels dogs are acting aggressively
or aren't behaving nicely. Gracie really is true to the adage that
size doesn't matter, as she may be tiny but she's a very strong
character -- she is scared of nothing and most dogs adore her.
Gracie had previously watched as the collies harrassed Morris, the pointer cross, so she knew they weren't very polite dogs. In the first photo, Gracie assesses the collie that is laying in the sea: she makes it very clear she is watching it. Gracie's body language is very confident. In the second photo, the collie rushes out of the sea and approaches Gracie very confrontationally. This doesn't scare Gracie at all, nor does it impress her - she thinks he is very rude! All the time her body language is confident and assertive. Notice how, throughout the series of photos, the collie's body language becomes polite to Gracie, and also its tail carriage relaxes. And then finally they both have a shake, which can be a release of tension.
Lola is a female English Setter. She is adored by most dogs and will try to make friends with everyone! She has impeccably clear and very obvious body language, putting even the most nervous dogs at ease. Lola is completely non-reactive and is a brilliant stooge dog.
Lola meeting a shy Cavalier King Charles
Spaniel in our Shy Guys group
We have several guest teaching dogs that help our resident teaching
dogs regularly.