Having various flavors and desirability of dog training food at-the-ready is imperative when training a dog. Because, when working on a behavior that’s difficult for a dog to learn, getting and keeping a dog’s complete attention and willingness to move forward will be more challenging. That’s when the steak-level training food is brought out with the well-vetted training plan. For example, when working with a dog to step onto a skateboard as he advances on the training plan will require {Read More}
A Big Step
May 22, 2017 By
I grew up with a parent who believed a pet dog should not be stepped over, but rather should move out of a person’s way, even if the dog were enjoying a peaceful snooze. He should wake and move out of the way fast. So the family dogs were never comfortable lying in the pathway of foot traffic. And most places in our house were foot-traffic worthy. Because the dogs had been conditioned to jump up and move out of {Read More}
Adopt Me: Senior Mini Poodle
May 21, 2017 By
Sammie’s an energetic, 10-year-old dynamo. He has a big prey drive, so can’t be placed in a home with other pets besides a friendly smaller dog his size. Sammie hunts cats, lizards, birds, snakes, squirrels, hamsters, any varmint that moves and chases bikes, cars, skateboarders that go by the front fence. He will even chase and bark at a low flying plane. He’s had a lot of training. His graduation video from the summer of 2016. His owner was no {Read More}
Behavior Markers in Dog Training
May 21, 2017 By
When training with a clicker, the sound of the “click” marks the moment the dog executes a behavior the trainer is seeking. That sound communicates to the dog he succeeded and will be rewarded. Every time a trainer clicks, she must give the dog reinforcement, generally, training food. The click is the secondary reinforcer, which announces the food, which is the primary reinforcer, is to come. If a trainer accidentally clicks at the wrong time, it’s important she still give {Read More}
Chomping The Hand That Feeds Her
May 12, 2017 By
THIS HURTS! Giving a chomper food is painful. My dog Raven needed to take a step back in training for me to re-teach her how to take training food with ease. So I stopped training the behavior we were working on, and for a couple of sessions, we worked on taking the dog training food nicely and in a polite manner minus any pain to my palm. I wiped some chicken fat on my palm, and offered her my palm. {Read More}
