Dog Training & Behavior Tips
Teamwork As A Trainer: Building Trust As A Dog Trainer
As professional animal trainers, trust is a colossal part of our job whether we are aware of it or not. We need the trust of the animal so, we can function as a team with the animal and we aren’t injured. However, we also need the trust of the human-side of the equation. The animal’s owner must trust in our opinion, expertise, and ability to provide the results they are asking for in a humane and effective way.
The Big Reinforcer List: Reinforcers For Dog Training
Just like humans, dogs have different preferences. Not all dog treats, toys, or experiences hold the same value for every dog. So, try out a wide variety and if it increases your target behavior, it is a reinforcer for your dog. Here is a big list of possible reinforcers your dog might find, well, reinforcing! Remember to add new reinforcers safely and double-check with your vet before changing your dog's diet.
Teamwork As A Trainer: Knowing Your Broader Team
The dog’s owner, vet, vet behaviorist, doggie daycare, pet sitter, and anyone else interacting with the animal on a semi-usual basis is on our broader team. We must consider if what they are doing is working for us or against us and how we can extend what Ferrazzi describes as “care, concern, commitment, and camaraderie” to everyone on our broader team to accomplish our common goal; a happy, healthy animal the owner can live with (Ferrazzi, 2020).
Training Like A Pro: The Importance of Basics
With my training students, I have found many come to classes or private sessions after attempting to follow step-by-step guides, DVDs, or YouTube videos on how to train a dog.
They are often frustrated that the dog in these books or videos isn't like *their* dog. That dog is already well-trained, a different breed, more focused, or just simply *better* in some way than their own dog…
Puppy Biting - Is My Puppy Aggressive?
One of the most common questions I get as a professional dog trainer from students with puppies is about aggression and biting. We unfortunately have even had people email us inquiring about signing up for classes to have them reply back that they rehomed the puppy before class even started because the puppy was "aggressive".
True aggression in puppies is extremely rare. I have only seen one to two cases of true aggression in a puppy under four months of age in all my years of working with dogs.
So, what are puppy owners actually seeing then?
Why "No" Is Useless In Dog Training
Did you know that you could making your dog's behavior worse by saying "No"? Daily we get emails from people who say that they say "No" a thousand times a day to their dog and they just don't understand why it isn't working and why the dog's behavior is getting worse.
There are two questions I want you to ask yourself:
1. How did you train your dog to respond to the word "No"?
2. How much time do you spend on Facebook?
The Degradation of "Good Communication" in Dog Training
Mr. Webster defines the term “communication” as follows:
Communication
1. the imparting or exchanging of information or news
2. means of sending or receiving information, such as telephone lines or computers.
One could imagine from these definition that good or proper would mean that we are able to impart information quickly, throughly, and understandably to the other party with as little effort as possible.
Loose Leash Walking: Tips to End Pulling
Loose leash walking can be a challenging skill for many owners and dogs. There is a lot going on when trying to train your dog to walk nicely next to you. First you have to learn to hold the leash and the treats, usually while your dog is pulling you everywhere. Not to mention, your dog’s focus is elsewhere as they sniff every blade of grass and pull towards every dog and stranger they see.
Challenges for Medical Professionals Seeking Therapy Dogs
Everything seems to come in waves around here!
This month we are seeing a wave of medical and psychological professionals who would like to have therapy dogs to take to work with them to assist with patients, so I wanted to make this post again for anyone who missed it last time and just to further educate on what our process looks like in this case.
When Can I Stop Using These Treats, Training Collars, and/or Anti-Pull Harnesses?
I very rarely think about getting my dogs away from treats or toys during training anymore. So, sometimes when clients ask me about this, I can have some difficulty understanding why they are concerned because I know that dogs work for many things beyond treats and I can harness those things to use to my advantage.
Is Your Dog Trainer Actually "Certified"?
I have a story about my luck with professionals lately and I thought it helped make a good point about searching for a dog trainer. So, settle in and read on!
Did you know that the dog training industry is unregulated?
Let me tell you about my personal experience with a (mostly) unregulated industry recently. When purchasing our new home, we had a home inspection done, just like any reasonable home buyer would do…
5 Ideas to Make Your Puppy's Setup Amazing
One of the most exciting parts of bringing home a new puppy is figuring out what your puppy likes and doesn't like. As their personalities blossom before us, we often start seeing naughty behaviors appear as well. A good setup for your puppy cannot only prevent some of these behaviors from ever beginning, but it can be a puppy's safe haven where they learn to relax and become independent.
How to Pass your Canine Good Citizenship Exam
The American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizenship (CGC) exam is a ten-point exam that tests whether or not your dog meets the AKC's requirements to hold the title of Canine Good Citizen. The CGC test looks at several basic obedience skills and the temperament of your dog to determine whether your dog is worthy of this title.
3 Puppy Training Problems and Their Easy Solutions
Puppies. They aren't for the faint of heart. Here at Faithfully Yours Dog Training, we get calls about "puppy problems" every day and it has come to our attention that people are usually calling about the same issues. The struggles of a puppy owner are real. Puppies will destroy your clothing and carpet in no-time flat. So, what is an new puppy owner to do? Here are our solutions for the three biggest puppy training issues we get calls about.
Faithfully Yours On The News!
We are happy to announce that last night we were featured in a segment on therapy dog training (not to be confused with service dog training), on WLBT and FOX40. A news reporter got to see a day-and-a-life as a dog trainer, as we trained a Labradoodle puppy named Merlin and went with Faithfully Yours graduate, Misty the Therapy Dog's owner, Gloria Thompson to volunteer at a nursing home in Madison...
Which Dog Training Method is Most Efficient?
When I started dog training many moons ago, the field was based mainly on the now-debunked dominance theory. The current principles applied to dog training were just mere whispers of what was to come. However, I think this goes to show how far dog training is behind other forms of behavior modification and learning. I don’t know about you, but I have never seen any zookeepers or marine mammal trainers apply corrections to their animal students and expect anything other than certain death. Why do we seem to think that dogs are different than any other mammal on the planet?
Red Flags when Hiring a Dog Trainer
With the dog training world being unregulated, labels for various types of training have gotten out of control. You can pretty much call yourself anything and define yourself however you please to sell yourself to clients. Marketing methods like this, put future dog training clients at a huge disadvantage. Dog trainers can confuse you before you even set foot in a training class. You might think you are getting one thing, but you are getting another.
Make Crate Training Fun!
Since I have been homebound lately while recovering from health issues and waiting for my medicine to kick in, I have been working with Oakley, our new Border Collie puppy, on some new training challenges. So far Oakley has already done mat work and sleeps soundly in her exercise pen with crate attached overnight.
However I rarely lock her inside of the crate itself because we haven’t gone through all the training steps I prefer yet to decrease stress and build comfort in the crate.I thought it was definitely time to start teaching her to love her crate!
Isn’t Positive Training Permissive?
Well, here we go into one of the most debated topics in the dog world. We had to go down the rabbit hole at some point. A few days ago I came across a post on my Facebook feed by an aspiring trainer, and I was disappointed to see how a blooming once-promising positive trainer was talking about how “corrections” were needed to train dogs. Their point was that “positive only” training is much too permissive, and we are leaving out a huge chunk of information a dog needs to learn – what they are doing wrong.
Last Minute Ways to Have a Well-Behaved Dog During the Holidays
Thanksgiving is finally upon us. The hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving and yummy treats just for the humans is enough to drive any dog mad. It could be hours of sitting around doing nothing while their owners cook delicious food they can’t have or talk to the cat-people relatives. Our dogs being underfoot, begging for turkey isn’t exactly helpful when we’re stressed from hours in the kitchen. Many dog owners wait until last minute and then realize a week of training just isn’t long enough to solve their dog’s behavior problems. So, here at Faithfully Yours Dog Training, we started testing a few ways to keep your dog happy while you get ready for the holidays.