The Role Of Teachers In Pet Training

I love this quote. It speaks volumes for training animals. When you teach by encouraging your student to make choices, set them up so they make lots of ‘good’ choices, and then give positive reinforcement for those choices, you make learning from you fun.

Dog Training Tip: Remember, Training Goes Both Ways

Can you relate? Remember, in every relationship each of us is shaping the behavior of the other whether we realize it or not. Learning never stops. Behaviors that get repeated are the behaviors that have a history of getting the learner something of value.

How To Stop Your Dog From Barking Out Windows

It is not uncommon for people who share homes with a dog to complain about their furry friend bursting into a barking frenzy as a response to seeing or hearing something outside the window. Understandably the noise can be really annoying to human ears, especially when it comes at inopportune times.

Tugging As A Dog Training Tool

I have been working on down/stay/release and recall this month with an awesome and super smart dog. (I know, not unlike lots of other dogs I have worked with.) In training, I talk a lot about building value for behaviors by using reinforcing consequences that are of huge value to the learner (to the learner […]

July 4 Safety Tips For Your Dog

The time is drawing near. July 4 is many a dogs’ least favorite of holidays. Loud, unpredictable noises accompanied with big light displays can be very scary. I’ve written about July 4 safety tips before and have revised them below.

What A Bollywood Class Taught Me About Pet Behavior

The other day I went back to the dance studio where I have many happy memories from past group ballroom and salsa lessons. I heard about a Bollywood class and I thought it’d be fun to learn. Or try anyway. You may be thinking right about now, what does this have to do with pet […]

Words To Give You Thought

Putting The Joy In Learning Through Classical Conditioning

I talk a lot about how animals learn from their consequences; and how, those immediate consequences of their behaviors are what determine the future rate of those behaviors. In scientific terms, this is called operant learning or operant conditioning.

Dog Training Tip: Just Teaching A Behavior Is Not Enough

I was reminding someone of this over the weekend. It’s important to remember, just teaching a behavior is not enough. If you want your pet to continue to have fluency with that behavior, you’ve got to continue reinforce it…to remind your pet that choice is going to be of value to him/her. It doesn’t always […]

In Your Training, Be Generous With Reinforcement

I was out somewhere and I saw it again. A man was in a busy area with his dog doing his best to try and keep his dog’s focus from the external environment, only his attempts were not working too well. His dog continued to pull on leash, and with each pull the man gave […]