RemiAustralianShepherd9months

Many dog owners and dog training students quickly get stuck in one place or feel that they have reached an impassable point.  This cycle can make dog training students bored when they can't go onto something more challenging in dog training or behavioral modification of their dog.  Meanwhile, with an understanding of how to advance their training and get to their goals, those goals are probably within reach by tweaking what they are doing or finding professional dog training help to bring it forward.   How does a dog owner honestly measure their success in dog training and/or behavioral modification.  This is the topic of this blog today. First of all, training your dog is a lot more interesting if you are improving or progressing in more advanced areas.  A dog owner also needs to understand that their current dog is an individual.  Their learning speed, physical prowess, way that they learn, and motivations are all assembled differently than other dog...

  The ability to teach dog training commands that are later on reliable and ​functional depends upon how the ability to break them up into steps and then layer onto them different environments and distractions.   This is also true when you are modifying your dog's behavior or changing your dog's perception of things that might make them defensive or scared.  Many dog owners are not aware that going slower and methodically is going to give them a much better chance of reaching their dog training or behavior modification goals with their dogs. Dogs neither understand English nor read minds.   It is the dog owner's and trainer's job to break commands down into parts which can be taught well, and then advance the command by increasing things like the three Ds (duration, distance and distraction), which was discussed in  our previous blog post . Typically, dog owners will try to start a command either at the end or midway through the command.   Al...

  Most dog owners, especially first time dog owners, do not have a real understanding of what dog training is.  How could they?  This is not something taught to us in most schools, and dogs are a totally different species than we are.   The building blocks of dog training are very important, and it is the understanding of these and why they are used that confuse most dog owners. The first thing you should know is dog training is a process.  There are many steps, and if you don't step off on the right foot in the first place, you will make your self a lot of unnecessary work later or just give up in frustration at a point where you could have excelled.  This blog seeks to give you some insights to understand the bones of the process in hopes that when you start training you will continue on to a very enjoyable life for you and your dog with a fabulous working relationship. Here are some of what I call the building blocks of dog training: Normal Dog Beha...

  Today I am going to go over the very commonly used practices of treat training used with luring to train your dog.   Most of this training falls under the category of positive reinforcement.  That is the practice of adding something to increase the likely hood of a behavior.   In this case, we are talking about food rewards.   CONSIDERATIONS WHEN TRAINING WITH FOOD:   Most puppy training starts with food training.   Puppies are maturing, and do not have the focus of an adult dog.   They are discovering the world with their paws, nose, eyes, and mouth.   Therefore, humans need a good reward method to catch their attention for any period of time.     Adult dogs will have more maturity and focus (usually).  Therefore, the first section does not necessarily apply to them.   Although, these are things you may want to consider, especially if your adult dog seems at all flat when training....

Calming or relaxation exercises benefit all dogs, unless you have the rare very relaxed dog in any situation.  In the majority of dog or puppies though, learning to relax is a very important skill.  It helps those dogs of sound temperament, it helps dogs with behavioral problems, it helps young puppies, and it helps those older adults not exposed to the concept of self chilling. I always hope to influence very young puppies with these exercises, but you don't always get that lucky.   Many years ago, I myself had not discovered the very value benefit to my dogs of doing these.  I discovered the value, when trying to figure out how to calm my dog, Jackie, before we got into the ring to do obedience and earn his Companion Dog title.  This was the key to his success in that area, but this is also the key to a well rounded, confident dog, who has been exposed to many stimulus's that get most dogs all riled up, and cause dog owners many unneeded problems....

  I have loved animals since childhood.   In my adult life, I enjoy my time spent with dogs.  I love doing things with them that they love doing.   My motivation comes from a place that wants to provide my dogs with the most enjoyment possible.   I am the rare person that has not, in fact, met the dog she wouldn't like.   Professional dog trainers told me that when I worked enough dogs, I would find some that I did not like (dogs that is).   This has not happened, though I will admit to liking some dogs less than others.  This usually just has to do with more time spent with a dog/owner team over another.   I like them all, and I appreciate them all.   I like the ones who are bomb proof to the most behaviorally challenged dogs that I have had the pleasure of meeting. Many people want the dog to fill up a spot of incompleteness in their lives.  People may feel their child needs a companion...

  In the past (before I knew how to train my dogs and before I even had an inkling of dog training), down hill skiing on vacation was the most relaxing thing for me. This was true even though I was a $hit skier, and had to take lessons every time to improve myself. I feel like it is the same reason that training dogs (and just hanging with them too) relaxes me. FIRST of all you have a goal to reach. SECOND to reach the goal you need skills and a plan to obtain those skil ls and THIRD if you don't concentrate on that, you are going to fall off the mountain! 😂 Okay, maybe it is just that you don't get down the mountain the way you wanted OR you get hurt on the way there (by your own self). ​So the first time I went skiing with my husband on vacation, I took for granted that you put on the skis and magically down the mountain you went. I mean I had skated when I was thirteen, right? Thankfully, we did have a ski instructor who came with us (and somehow ignored all the obvio...