I love my board-and-train clients. Everyone of them brings a unique personality, special interests, and challenges to their training program. I see similiarities within breeds and differences from dog-to-dog. I’ve yet to meet a Labrador Retriever, for example, who would turn her back on a ball or interesting toy. What’s interesting in a toy depends on them! Then there are dogs whose interest in toys is dilute. With that said, the training games I use to help each dog learn {Read More}
Egg Hunt For Dogs
April 16, 2017 By
They aren’t eggs, but accroding to both our residet and board-and-train dogs, they are better. They are pieces of homemade tuna fudge and a few Charlee Bear crackers (dog equivalent to oyster crackers) that were placed around a portion of the Outsmarting Dogs’ grounds for a Sunday afternoon springtime egg hunt. The dogs had fun using their noses to find the goodies and because they are non-food aggressive, and are dog-dog friendly, the game was a big success. We love {Read More}
Charging a Marker – Clicker Training
April 1, 2017 By
A marker, in dog training, is communication to your dog at the instant your dog offers the behavior you wanted. By using a marker, you are telling the dog, “Yes! Right there! That’s the behavior I want!” So it’s a very specific moment, an instant in a chain of action that we want to communicate to the dog, “You’re getting a food reward for THAT.” Markers, therefore, and not used for broad type behaviors like calling a dog. No. They {Read More}
Two Training Questions Every Dog Asks
March 23, 2017 By
When training a dog using motivation and reinforcement what two one-word questions do you think your dog will be thinking? I’ll give you a clue. They start with W. Why and What. If your dog were to talk, those would easily be his two one-word questions to you whenever you go to train. And the answers are the trainers responsibility and so is the success of a dog training session. So be sure you know the answers before you partner {Read More}
Come When Called
March 9, 2017 By
The majority of dogs who come through the Outsmarting Dogs’ board-and-train program need a recall behavior installed into their behavior repertoire. The owners of these pups often tell me how their dogs take off for fun and games when they’re called instead of obeying the cue and coming when called. Playing the chase-me game is great fun and very rewarding for the dog, but most owners are not amused when the game is out of context. We’re living in a {Read More}
