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…
Category: Basic Obedience
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……
Feedback Loop
I am reading an article in Outside magazine “The Metric System”, October 2015 (pg. 50) about exercise gadgets and studies as to why most people abandoned the gadget all together. I won’t spoil it for you, but one of the reasons why this happens according to John Bartholomew, professor of Health Education at the University…
Using Food as a Reinforcement, Part 2
One of the most salient mistakes people make when using treats in training besides using treats as bribe or agonizing if to continue using food, as discussed on the last post, is not fading the food lure soon enough so that the dog learns to work for food as a consequence for behavior instead of…
Are we bribing our dogs with food?
I am working with a client and her dog with recall (come when called). My client calls her dog and seconds later produces a treat for the dog. The dog meanwhile remains motionless down the hallway of the home. I tell my client that it’s best not to bribe the dog. She looks at me…
Decide How You Want To Spend Your Time
I am working with a client who has three large dogs. We are practicing waiting at the door. He tells me that his newest addition to the family has escaped twice from the front yard. One of those times it was when he was taking the three dogs on leash to get in the car….