Here are easy steps to teach your dog to lay down on cue beginning with a food lure. I like to teach sit and lay down separately as dogs can get those two behaviors confused. They will tend to do which ever behavior you most recently have reinforced. If you have a clicker, you can use clicker training to teach this. [Read more…] about Teaching Your Dog To Lay Down
clicker training a puppy
Using Capturing To Teach Behaviors
There are times when I am standing at my kitchen sink that Dawson, my maltipoo puppy, stops his play to come beside me and lay down with completely relaxed body muscles. I keep some treats in my cabinet for just those moments, for, when he does, I say ‘good’ in a slow and drawn out voice, reach down and drop a treat right at his nose. This may cause him to look up temporarily. I ignore that. If he drops his head down again, I drop another treat at his nose.
This is called teaching by ‘capturing behavior’ in dog training. Capturing as a form of training is simply that, it is the process of seeing a behavior, marking it (with a word or a click), and then giving reinforcement. Kathy Sdao, a well-known trainer who I look up to, coined the acronym SMART for See, Mark, and Reinforce Training. [Read more…] about Using Capturing To Teach Behaviors
Training A Vizsla Puppy
The other day one of my puppy training clients wanted to take pictures of me with her Vizsla puppy, Rosie. When she sent me the photos, she also included this recommendation. I was so flattered. Below is what she sent and also a brief video of me using clicker training to teach her puppy down, stay and self control. [Read more…] about Training A Vizsla Puppy