Reflections from the Crossover Trainer
After a few years working with people and their dogs and teaching them the “wrong” info, I am feeling a bit down. There is no way to go back in time and teach them these new strategies. I only hope that I have not completely ruined the lives of the dogs I worked with and…
Behavioral Shaping through Clicker Training
A method that I have been wanting to try for a while now is called Shaping. This involves no luring or direction from the trainer and simply a click/treat when the dog does something right. You work up step by step until the dog is performing the goal behavior regularly and then you add the…
Clickity Click Click
Some tips on becoming a great clicker trainer! Clicker training is part of being a positive trainer. So far I have used the clicker for two completely different techniques. One technique is to teach the dog a trick or cue and the other is to start building positive associations for things that may scare my…
6 Phrases to Avoid to Live Your Best Life « Positively Positive
6 Phrases to Avoid to Live Your Best Life [BLOG] « Positively Positive. Recently came across this article and thought that this applies even more so to training your dog. So many people don’t take the time to work with their dogs and look for a “quick fix” – that is why there is such…
Puppy Class
Today we went to the first class of a group class that focuses on teaching your dog to pay attention with distractions around. Loker totally surprised the heck out of me! He did so much better than I expected. His threshold was about 20 feet most of the time, so I kept that distance as…
Working with Distractions
We have been working on loose leash walking here in my neighborhood and Loker has been doing great, so I thought we needed to increase distractions. He has been doing almost perfect on the side-walk so I drove to a local park to practice walking on a new sidewalk, around some children at the play…
Never Stop Learning
This weekend I am attending a two day seminar on dog behavior and training. Day one of the seminar they addressed A LOT! Nature vs Nurture, lots of body language, human body language, myths, dog-dog intros, and play styles. Of course, there is a lot to talk about (more than all day’s worth) all this so…
Loved Now and Forever
I know this isn’t the best quality picture, but I just had to share it. This picture shows just how at peace Loker looks right now. This is a face of pure serenity and happiness. It has been a joy having this dog as my teacher, for without him, change would not have happened.
We had a major break through yesterday on our bike ride. Loker used to get all “puffed up” whenever we approached other people. (Puffed up as in hackles up, ears forward, tail super-straight up.) Before I would correct this behavior, which would always make him escalate even more to barking and growling. The new method I am using is clicking and treating every time we see something that is scary or unusual. This way he has developed a positive association with things that were previously scary. On the bike ride yesterday, we rode by several different types of people. Instead of puffing up, he looked at them and his ears went up, but there were no hackles, growling, or barking! I calmly and happily encouraged him to move forward and continue with focusing on the ride with words like “let’s go” and “good boy” to keep his mind focused on coming with me and not focusing other people too intensely. He did so well! I can feel a change in him and he is not as intimidated by strange people anymore with my encouragement.