It’s no secret that I live a double-life.
By day I’m an academic at a top Australian university, teaching psychology students all about behavioural neuroscience, how animals learn and process information, and how this framework informs what we know about mental illness.
Outside of that, I run my own dog training business – K9 concepts, I’m fur-mama to two gorgeous white boxers, Kaos and Havoc, and wife to Nick – my love. My rock.
With so much to juggle, I often get asked how I fit it all in.
“How do you hold down two full-time jobs AND find time to train your own dogs?”
So, as awkward and self-indulgent as it feels writing all about myself, I put together this post to share some tips and tricks for making your canine household run seamlessly and how to squeeze in training sessions when you barely have time to eat.
I need to preface all this by saying I’m NOT an organised person. Routines and diaries and systems are most definitely not my jam. Not because they don’t work, not at all. But simply because I haven’t yet found a system I can stick to that still gives me the flexibility that I need.
And, although there are some who swear by a clear routine for dogs, there are increasingly more and more trainers advising against that – instead focusing on growing flexibility in dogs so that they’re NOT stressed out by change.
My Morning (Not)Routine...
I hate alarms. They stress me out. If I set an alarm, I don’t sleep well.
So, like much of my life, I’ve learnt to go with the flow and wake up whenever my body deems it’s time. 99% of the time that’s somewhere between 6 and 7am. Havoc is usually the first one up – he wanders over to Nick and licks his nose to get him up.
Kaos will rouse soon after and we have snuggles together – yep. Kaos sleeps in the bed and I do not feel bad about that one iota! (The myth that dogs shouldn’t sleep in human beds needs its final coffin nail!!)
Havoc prefers his own space and the freedom to select different beds in different rooms depending on his mood. But equally, both dogs have the capacity to sleep overnight in a crate if that’s what’s needed – if we ever get evacuated during cyclone-season, they NEED that skill.
Nick has become “morning-shift” dude. He’ll get up, make coffee, bring mine bedside (I’m so flipping spoiled) and then go prepare some form of breakfast enrichment for the fur-bubbas. It could be anything from a Kong Wobbler to a puzzle bowl to a scatter feed out on the grass. The time changes day to day and the activity changes too – there is no routine!
The one thing that does stay constant is Kaos’s tablets. A few months ago, I made the call to try him on anxiety medication and it has changed his life. I wish we had done it sooner. But, in all honesty, I felt shame at being a professional dog training and *needing* to put my dog on medication – almost like it was a failure on my part.
And the crazy thing is, I have these conversations with clients and their vets AAALLL the time! Brain health must come first and if medication is needed to get the brain into a place where it can learn then let’s do it! I NEVER judge my clients for using medication – I often encourage them to start these conversations with their vet. I guess I need to start taking my own advice, hey?
Work-wise, morning coffee time is when I do the check-ins:
- I check the K9 Concepts Community Facebook Page (feel free to join if you like!) – new admissions, people to welcome, people who are seeking some guidance and, of course, celebrating wins with the Community!
- I check the status of any of my YouTube videos that have just been released, reply to comments and make note of any video requests people have made.
- I check emails for both K9 concepts and my academic job.
- And I grab some form of FODMAP-friendly breakfast. I have a connective tissue disorder (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome) and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome which makes it tricky for my body to digest certain types of natural sugars (my body is FINE with all the highly-processed rubbish sugars!)
Around 8ish I’ll bring the dogs and down to the office – play some quick games with them, prioritising the ones that are going to work on our current goals. For Kaos, the goals are confidence, calmness and physical exercise to slim him down. He put on a LOT of weight as we were working on his reactivity – yet another reason I wish I’d done medication earlier! He ADORES Whip It as his running/chasing/slimming game. As Havoc is still recovering from his cancer surgeries earlier this year, we’ve just started to introduce some cavaletti – yep, it’s not just for horses! And of course, lots and lots of comforting butt scratches!
Living in tropical North Queensland, Australia, I need to be mindful of the heat so our running around is short, sweet, and swapped out with something else entirely if it’s just too darn hot!
We then make our way into the office – K9CON-HQ – to start my academic job. Depending on the time of year I’m either developing online courses (I’m currently working on a comparative cognition course), helping students with their studies, answering questions, giving essay writing tips and tricks or marking – soooooo much marking!
As I work and take little tea breaks, I like to do “Kettle Boiling” training. Basically, as the kettle’s boiling I’ll play a training game with one of the dogs (and the other will get rewarded for waiting patiently). As the tea bag brews in it’s nice hot bath I focus on making the most of every training second.
What game is going to give me the most bang for my buck right in this moment?
What is the one skill that’ll help my boys’ welfare improve even just 1%?
THAT’S the game we play.
When the tea bag’s done, we’re done! Back to resting for the boys and back to work for me. We’ll do these sessions right throughout the day, gradually improving their skills bit by bit by bit without the overwhelm of needing to commit to a massive long training session.
Midday-ish
In recent months I’ve been trying to look after my health a little bit more. Whereas lunch previously consisted of pot noodles, frozen dumplings or tinned soup, these days I’m trying to throw together something more nutritious like a chicken salad or a wrap. Turns out my body functions better when I feed it a vegetable – who wouda thunkit?!
I’ve spent a lot of the doggies’ life growing calmness as their “default.” This has served them really well because, even when I’m running back and forth from the office to the house, the dogs have learnt to stay chilled out 99% of the time. I used games like Wanna Bet to ensure that they no longer get up and follow me around. Like most adult dogs, they need their 16-18hrs rest per day.
And I love that I can sporadically reward them for choosing calm behaviours like chilling out on their bed, it’s such a worthwhile way to use their daily food allowance and it helps their brains grow in the direction that’ll serve them best.
That gift of being able to relax even with stuff going on around them has been life-changing. Don’t get me wrong, Havoc especially has days where he gets restless – being crate trained was the real tipping point for that one. Him seeing the crate as a place to switch off and nap really helps ensure he’s not suffering sleep-deprivation. Even though the boys are nearly 4yrs old, we “still” utilise our crates on most days, and probably always will.
Arvo's (Why do Aussies add "O" to everything?)
When I finish my academic work day, I put my dog training hat on. I might have private clients to meet with, online behaviour consultations or a group class running.
These days I’ve had my head completely buried in deaf dogs as I get ready to launch my brand-spankin’ new online deaf dog course. So it’s been LOTS of script writing, filming, editing, updating the website, ensuring the whole course is running from my end – it’s been a lil cray cray to say the least! But I’m super excited to get it out there. It’ll genuinely help so many people.
Weather permitting, I like to do some sort of training session/sniffari/beach walk as the day begins to cool down. 30 degrees is a pretty normal day here year ’round but I like for it to drop to mid-ish 20’s before exercising boxers (brachycephalic dogs are more at risk of heat-related illness so we’re very mindful of this).
The late-afternoon is typically when Kaos is most sensitive to noises. So, as part of his training program I’ll give him some form of calm enrichment activity in the garden and he can immerse himself in that while simultaneously hearing those normally triggering sounds in the background.
If I think he might be at risk of perking up and spook-barking, I’ll either clip on a longline, set him up further away from the noise source (i.e. the neighbour’s driveway) or even just give training a miss that day. I never want to train just for the sake of training if his body and mind aren’t in a calm place of learning.
While he’s out in the garden I’ll loosely supervise from the office and go play the It’s Aaaall Good game if I can see him perk up at any sounds he considers important enough to interrupt his munching.
I do my best to get out of the office and back into the main house by at least 6:30pm, if not earlier, so I can lend a hand with dinner – both the hooman and doggie variety!
The dogs have become pretty good at minding their own business when it comes to human meal times. Occasionally they’ll need a kind reminder, “Outta the kitchen, bubba!” But, now that they’ve worked out that if they hang out on their beds while we cook then they’re likely to get “paid” – most of the time they can be found hanging out on a nearby bed – or Kaos will find a crate to go nap in.
Again, it wasn’t always like this! Havoc was TERRIBLE for begging, counter surfing, barking etc and he seemed incapable of staying on a bed. He was genuinely soooooo bad I thought he might never get it. But, with daily practice, his skills improved. And, to date, we’ve only ever lost one roast!
Depending on mine and Nick’s organisation and how hungry the dogs look on the day, either they’ll eat first or we will. Again, the only constant is that there is no set routine! We need the flexibility to ebb and flow and change as circumstances change.
It’s funny because the Kennel Club recently put out a flier about how to minimise stress for a dog’s routines as daylight savings comes and goes. I genuinely giggled when I saw it. If my dogs are so stressed out by something as insignificant as changing their dinner time by an hour then, personally, I feel I’ve done them a disservice.
From Dusk Til Dawn...
I’ve said it a thousand times. Kaos is an old man in a young boxer’s body.
As soon as 7pm… maybe 7:30pm rolls around, he takes himself off to the “mama bed” and settles in for the night.
Havoc usually hangs out with “the adults” until we go to bed – but he’s snoozing while he does it! And that’s usually right at Nick’s feet so he can’t put the recliner out…
After dinner is when I crack on with any other work stuff that needs to get done – video editing, coaching other trainers, I’ll also do after hours online behaviour consults – usually my overseas clients.
I try to set aside some time to watch something on TV with Nick – a movie, Australia’s Got Talent, a nature doco – we really are unglamorous, normal folk!
So there you have it! Yeah, it’s busy but we make it work. I prioritise what needs to be done and try to train smarter, not harder. I capture and reward the good choices the dogs are naturally making (there really are lots when we look for them!), I make use of prevention strategies as much as possible and do my best to prevent the dogs being exposed to situations and rehearsing behaviours that aren’t good for their well-being.
We just focus on doing those little things everyday that’ll help their skills get 1% better each day. And when I look back on how far they’ve come – from truly psycho, unruly teen-puppies who had me in tears most days to the sweetest, easiest companions today… wow. Compound interest is a powerful thing, hey?
Fantastic Natalie, thanks for sharing:)