Crash, Boom, Bang: 4th of July Fireworks
It’s nearly the 4th of July! Every training session with your dog, conditioning him to sudden, loud “Bangs!” will help him tolerate fireworks a little better. However, it’s too late at this point to expect the change in response that you want for your dog during the upcoming event. This Year’s Fireworks For the upcoming […]
My Dog’s Afraid of Men With Beards
If we are to teach anyone, we must identify a starting point. What does the learner already know about the topic? The Dog’s Point of View To find the starting point, seeing things from the learner’s point of view is key. If you see a video on social media titled, “POV: You thought homesteading would […]
Teach Your Dog to Lift a Paw
The other day, I realized that Daisy had not had a real training session in a while. It was time to shape a new behavior! She learned to lift a paw. We actually did three new behaviors that day, in separate sessions. I will probably tell you about the other two in future blog posts. […]
Why Your Dog is ‘Ignoring’ You: Signals, Noise, and Attention
No dog exists in a vacuum. Stimuli are constantly coming at dogs – usually in great numbers and variety – requiring them to continually make decisions about what to do. What should they pay attention to? What should they be ignoring? Some people think that when their dogs don’t come when they call or sit […]
Resource Guarding Update
Resource Guarding has been on my mind lately. Social media offers opportunities for the public to interact with dog trainers of all levels of expertise on this topic and more. There’s been lots of talk about the need to identify and curb resource guarding tendencies in puppyhood and the influences of genetics and experience. People […]
Connections
A big part of training your dog (or cat, parrot, goat, fish. . . ) is creating connections between stimuli. Stimuli are the individual components of the A-B-C sequence, Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence. You’ve most likely heard of this before. Antecedents Antecedents include everything in the environment in which a behavior occurs. Stuff that interests your learner, movements […]
Fear in Dogs: From Beginning to High Impact
When I was a kid, I read tons of library books about animals, particularly dogs and horses. Like so many other animal lovers, I watched the popular TV shows about animals like The Wonderful World of Disney, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, Lassie, and Mr. Ed. These resources gave me my first information about fear as […]
Learning is a Skill Set: Do It Well
I’m a dog trainer, but mostly I’m a coach and teacher. I teach other people how to be their dogs’ partners, and that means learning skills related to dog behavior, how dogs learn, and how to communicate with a non-verbal species. Learning All the Time Dogs, humans, and every other species are all learning, all […]
Good Habits for Dogs: Fetch as Feedback
You build and maintain your dog’s habits constantly. Every interaction with your dog influences the behaviors he chooses in many situations. You can build good habits that benefit your dog and yourself during play as well as other activities. Think ahead and plan to make the most of this possibility. Some dogs love to […]
The Detriments of Saying “No!”
“No” is simply the answer to a question. Don’t use it to express your frustration or shut your dog down. “No” When Dog Meets Cat Your new dog, the one you just brought home from the shelter and released into your home, runs toward your cat as said cat saunters into her once-familiar living room. […]