thank you @Liz Lillington for sending those! Nothing makes me happier that when advise is put into practice and real life :) We also got the links for anyone wanting one. Mine would say most likely KARATE 4 DOGS lol unmbrella https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D4VBT8YL?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_wa_apin_dp_0Y2HW28T02BR0CG35PVF&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_wa_apin_dp_0Y2HW28T02BR0CG35PVF&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_wa_apin_dp_0Y2HW28T02BR0CG35PVF&newPreview=2&th=1 letters https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0HDYLBJ3W?ref=cm_sw_r_cso_wa_apin_dp_JDHZY612DH7SGQN3QCVE&ref_=cm_sw_r_cso_wa_apin_dp_JDHZY612DH7SGQN3QCVE&social_share=cm_sw_r_cso_wa_apin_dp_JDHZY612DH7SGQN3QCVE&newPreview=2&th=1

One of the most useful skills I teach through play is also one of the quietest: holding an object with a strong, calm grip. I first learned its value in protection training. Between bites, we ask the dog to hold the sleeve calmly. This gives them a chance to rest without losing drive, settle their grip, and contain all that energy in a static behaviour. The dog is still engaged. Still motivated. Just able to be still. That got me thinking: could I take those same feelings and transfer them to holding a dumbbell? From bite work to a better retrieve In retrieve training, we want a confident, steady hold. But sometimes the process creates pressure and uncertainty. Instead of holding calmly, the dog chews, chomps, grips loosely, or drops the object. The criteria vary between sports, but a reliable hold matters across many of them. I started adapting what I had learned in protection training, adding more structure and a few tweaks to help dogs struggling with their retrieve. And then I thought: why wait until there’s a problem? If I can teach a dog to enjoy holding a toy during play—with a strong, calm grip—then I can transfer both the skill AND the feelings to a retrieve object. My dog Fufik really brought this home. His hold for the Mondioring retrieve was horrendous. At one point, I honestly thought we would never get it. Using this approach, the retrieve became one of the strongest exercises in our training. After that, I started teaching the hold this way to my coaching clients across different sports. Then the benefits started showing up outside training We lived in the countryside, but Fufik travelled with me to busy places and big cities across Europe. I noticed that holding his toy helped him stay calmer and more contained when the environment became overwhelming. He had something familiar, enjoyable, and well practised to do. A little like a child holding their favourite teddy bear: that’s an analogy, but it captures what I was seeing. Something familiar that seemed to help him feel more secure in an unfamiliar situation.

I've recently started the Heeling and Playing with Purpose courses and I'm really happy with how my dogs are starting to open up. I can already see a difference in the way we play, even though we've only just started putting some of Alex's advice and techniques into practice. Sharing a short highlight from one of my first sessions with my mal Karma. I'm planning to make a video of me playing with all my dogs too, partly to share my experience and partly to hopefully get some feedback on what I could improve. Something funny happened today actually 😂 I was out on the field where we usually train and play, and one of my Australian Shepherds randomly offered me some fancy prancy heeling without me even asking for it. That really surprised me because until now he's only ever done that for hot dogs 😂 I feel like changing the way I play with them is starting to change their mindset too, which I absolutely love. I've already been through Social Playing and Food Games, and now we're moving on to playing with toys, which I'm really looking forward to. This time I'm trying to take things slowly, spend more time actually practising with my dogs and keep going back to the courses to work on changing my own habits rather than rushing through everything. Still very early days, but I'm really enjoying the process and loving the courses so far. Thanks Alex

I'm in the hotel in Poland right now, getting ready for the training camp called Pełnia Potencjału which translates to Full Potential. Actually this is a series of events under that name that I was running here for over a year now. Funny enough, I didn't come up with that name. Years ago, when a friend first invited me to teach in Poland, we were trying to come up with a name for the workshop. I was like maybe play, maybe reactivity... He suggested Pełnia Potencjału (Full Potential) My first reaction? "Nobody will come! What does that even mean?" 😂 But the more I thought about it, the more I realised how perfectly that name describes my approach to dog training. Because building motivation, confidence, relationship, impulse control and emotional regulation is essential to unlock our dogs' full potential. Regardles if we train for everyday life or competition ring. Let me tell you a little story. Meet Fatty, my first Rottweiler. On our first day at the training club, I was told: "Get rid of that dog." She wasn't considered suitable for sport. In fact, they didn't think she would even make a particularly good companion dog. She had very little motivation or drive, was easily distracted, extremely sensitive to environmental pressure, and reactive towards dogs and people. Not exactly the promising competition prospect I was hoping for! I spent months going from seminar to seminar, looking for that one magic training tip that would finally make everything work. But all I was getting were technical solutions. How to teach heelwork. How to teach the sendaway. How to improve this or that exercise. And I kept asking myself: "But how the hell do I teach any of this if my dog doesn't even want to work with me?" That's when I completely changed my approach. Instead of focusing on exercises, I started focusing on the dog. I worked on her motivation through food, toys and play. As her motivation grew, so did her focus and engagement. I worked on her confidence separately from any obedience exercises. She became less sensitive to pressure and the environment, and it also helped enormously with her reactivity.

So in previous post I broke down different kinds of winning/fighting behaviours - Pull - Head shake - Drop weight - Push I also created a poll asking you to vote on how your dog is winning the game. Head shake is winning — no pun intended. 😄 I have to admit, head shaking is probably my favourite way of fighting for the toy. Maybe I even unconsciously encourage dogs to use it. Why? Because, unlike some of the other winning strategies, a strong head shake usually gives me a very clear picture of the dog’s emotional state. The dog looks confident, feels good in the game, and is actively fighting to win the toy. Hard to get it wrong. But what about the other strategies? This is where it gets interesting, because the same behaviour can come from very different emotions. Let’s start with pulling. A dog may pull simply because this is their natural fighting style — something strongly influenced by genetics. But pulling does not always mean confidence. Some dogs pull because they are unsure or sensitive to pressure of handler/decoy. They do not want to give up the toy, but they also do not feel completely comfortable in the interaction. They are almost trying to take their “piece of meat” and create distance. Sometimes you can clearly see that the dog is pulling from insecurity rather than confidence. Look at the whole picture: body language, eyes and, especially, the grip. If the dog is pulling away while maintaining a shallow grip on the toy or sleeve, it can suggest that they do not feel comfortable close to the handler or decoy. With these dogs, the goal is to develop confident pulling rather than simply rewarding the pulling itself. That is where the Play with Purpose framework comes in. Then we have dropping weight. Dropping weight is a more passive way of fighting. Some dogs use it with huge confidence. They simply plant themselves, stop the handler/helper and make it very difficult to move them. But other dogs drop their weight because they are not yet confident enough to fight for the object in a more active way.