An Introduction to Grid Walking with Janeen Warman
A workshop recording introducing the concept of Grid Walking & it's value as a framework for training.
Workshop Summary
In this workshop we will introduce you to the concept of Grid Walking and Grid Training, discuss the benefits and explain how it can be applied to some example situations.
The workshop will explain what exactly Grid Walking is and why it has been found to be so beneficial, especially for many Romanian & overseas rescue dogs who often find the world outside to be very overwhelming. This can result in extreme fear responses, bolting, pulling on the lead, overreacting to dogs, people and pretty much everything.
Understanding Grid Walking can be hugely beneficial for fearful and anxious dogs, but also dogs that over react because it provides them with 'time' to absorb environmental stimuli and process it before being given MORE to absorb and process. This in itself can help build confidence and resilience as well as help our dogs to habituate to this strange world around them, and habituation is where they can learn to become unbothered by stuff and things.
The Grid Training workshop was shared in my RR Pro Trainers program quite some time ago, and the reports that have been coming back from the trainers that have implemented it with their clients, has been off the charts positive!. I just love that ripple effect!
Grid walking can help with puppy socialisation, providing your adopted dog a more positive calm experience of the world, developing a deeper bond and trust with your dog, improving confidence, both yours and your dogs, reduced pulling on the lead and improved engagement and ability to listen.
That's a pretty hefty list of benefits isn't it?
Dog guardianship can be really overwhelming for many adopters of overseas rescue dogs, especially when you go for a walk. Grid walking can help you feel less stressed and anxious, it can help your dog feel less stressed and overwhelmed and the positive knock on effect of that, is that spills over into life inside the home too.
Workshop Content
Ms Michelle Masters
Meesh Masters is the founder and business owner at The Dog's Point of View and specialises in working with Romanian & Overseas Rescue dogs, providing educational resources for their adopters via remote one to one consultations, home study courses, webinars, training programs and her popular Adopters Coaching Group - The number one resource anywhere on the internet for Romanian and Overseas rescue dog information and support.
After becoming involved with Romanian Rescue dogs in 2015, both as a support advisor to new adopters and a fosterer herself, she was led to look deeper into the thinking, feeling, emotional depths of these dogs when things began feeling different about them.
She soon realised how the Romanian dogs were different to British born dogs, that their genetics and bloodline, being from street dogs and dogs that had evolved through more natural selection, meant they seemed to be more in tune with their instinctive nature's. She went on to learn that she needed to adjust the ways she interacted with and worked with these dogs, to accommodate their more instinctive and cautious characteristics. It became very evident that these dogs responded differently to 'training' in the conventional sense at times.
And so it became her passion to share everything she was learning, and is still learning, about the Romanian Dog's Point of View with as many adopters as possible. Today she is Patron of two Romanian Rescue Charities, Cloud K9 Rescue and Annie's Trust, she is also advisor to various other rescue organisations. She runs a course for qualified trainers, The Romanian Rescue Pro Trainers program, to help other canine professionals understand more about working with Romanian & foreign rescue dogs and their families, as many of them can be quite complex compared to working with British dogs. She has also launched an invaluable education & resource program for rescue organisations rehoming Romanian & Eastern European dogs, to help them & their volunteers to understand how to correctly support their adopters if they encounter basic problems.
Meesh is also now a certified Dynamic Dog Practitioner which qualifies her to complete detailed assessments of dogs in the areas of biomechanics, gait, movement & posture to determine whether there are any potential pain or discomfort issues that could be contributing to behaviour. This is an invaluable qualification to have given that her entire business focuses solely on supporting and working with adopters and canine professionals of predominantly Romanian but also other European street, rescue & shelter dogs. With the poor start many of these dogs have in life, along with the potential for them to have sustained untreated injuries, abuse and trauma prior to adoption, being able to assess for pain in a totally hands off, non-intrusive way is often the only way they can be assessed.
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