As a continuation to last week’s post, here are some specific ways by which you cannot only give your dog a “legal” outlet for predatory behaviors and up your chances that you will be able to stop your dog from chasing after wildlife, cars, etc. As I stated last week, predatory behaviors, which in plain…
Category: Basic Obedience
Can We STOP Our Dogs From Chasing?
As we all know, canines are predators. As such they all come hard-wired for chasing after their food. Even our domesticated pampered dogs come hard-wired for hot pursuit even when a warm dinner awaits them – day in and day out. How close to the surface are these hard-wired behaviors varies from dog to dog….
Generalization and Discrimination – Two Important Concepts
These two concepts really shed some light as to how dogs learn. They are important for us to understand because it will help us feel less frustrated when things with our dog are not going our way and to maximize learning. Dogs do not generalize: Here is an example of what generalization means: If I…
Setting Boundaries
I have often read and even used the phrase myself of “setting boundaries” for dogs. But what exactly do we mean by this? And why (and if) should we set boundaries? The dictionary defines boundary as: a line that marks the limits of an area; a dividing lines. A boundary wall. A limit of a…
It’s a Revolution!
One of my colleagues and I are having a conversation about the state of affairs in the world of animal training- specifically we are talking about dogs. We both have reached the conclusion that hearing about misconstruction, inhumane methods of training in the name of helping animals wears really heavy on us. We agree to…
Behavior Chains
John asks me in the morning how he can best teach Rio to jump from a “pretty” position. A pretty position is a dog sitting on her hind legs with the torso erect. As you can appreciate, this requires quite a bit of core strength and stability. I give John a few pointers – mostly…
Have We Reached Success in Training?
How can one measure whether the training done with a dog has been successful? What parameters should one have in order to evaluate if success has been reached? While the questions above are valid, we also must keep in mind that behavior and changes in behavior are quite complex which requires that we take a…
Inspiration
It is Friday afternoon and I am wrapping one more work-week. I turn my attention to my own two dogs. What can I teach them next? My inspiration in working with my own dogs might vary slightly to what I do day in and out with client’s dogs. It is true that on occasion I…
Asking for too much?
As part of my ongoing education, I attend monthly webinars that touch upon different topics surrounding behavior and training. This month’s topic related to the questions of: Are we asking too much of our pets? And, if so, what specific environments or concepts can put a pet’s well-being at stake? Funny that this particular topic…
Can your dog learn from Halloween?
We all know how most kiddos feel about Halloween and the same would go for a large number of adults. All that mystery, sugar and walks to haunted destinations under crisp conditions can send chills down someone’s spine. But what about our dogs? Do they care about Halloween? I guess we will never know unless……