I get asked from time to time, “When is the best time to begin training my new puppy?” My answer is always, “the day you bring your puppy home.” I am not talking about obedience training, although definitely what a great time to begin teaching your puppy that certain behaviors like coming to you when called, sitting, and walking on a loose leash are worth doing over and over and over again (because those behaviors get good stuff to happen). [Read more…] about First puppy Training Goals
puppy training
A Lesson About Shoelaces
Instead of focusing on stopping behavior, think about what you would like for your dog to do instead. Toby likes to grab shoelaces and when you’d try to tie one, he’d do just that. It only took a couple minutes to teach him to stay sitting instead while I bent down to tie my shoelace. [Read more…] about A Lesson About Shoelaces
Empowerment And Choices: Putting A Leash On A Puppy
“The power to control one’s own outcomes is essential to behavioral health, and the degree to which a behavior reduction procedure preserves learner control is essential to developing a standard of humane, effective practice.” – Dr. Susan Friedman [Read more…] about Empowerment And Choices: Putting A Leash On A Puppy
Training A Puppy To Sit
When I visited this sweet little West Highland Terrier puppy over the weekend, she showed her excitement for greeting me by jumping on my legs and wagging her tail. And, as precious as she is and as glad as I was to see her too, I stood very still and she actually sat pretty quickly. I’ll tell you what I did in a minute, but first…
Her human wanted to know, “Aren’t you going to tell her no?”
My answer to her was, “no.” [Read more…] about Training A Puppy To Sit
Motivating Operations For Training Success
Yesterday morning, in the later part of a training appointment for a precious eight week old puppy, we spent a little time working on teaching her the crate is a good place to rest. It was after we were in their back yard moving around, having her thinking and playing. She was a tired little girl when we got back to her kitchen and she was most definitely needing some nap time. I left their house with a sleeping puppy completely zonked out with her head resting on a stuffed animal in her crate, and got to thinking about how motivating operations were at work here. [Read more…] about Motivating Operations For Training Success
Are You Puppy Police?
When the subject comes up of scolding a puppy (or dog) for getting into something humans think it shouldn’t, chewing up something of value to humans, or going potty in the house, I want to remind you of this comparison I like to use. [Read more…] about Are You Puppy Police?