Biology Backs Clicker Training
Dogs are emotional beings. This is a new concept to me as when I was a Dog Whisperer fan I believed dogs did not have personalities, but rather that they were either dominant or submissive. Now that I have completely dropped this kind of thinking, as a biologist I am looking at how a species…
Growling is Good!
Dogs communicate with us in many different ways. One of the least attractive ways is growling. Before “crossing over” I discouraged all growling, I saw it as a challenge to authority. Now though, I see it as a warning that my dog is uncomfortable. If you remove the warning signal, then a dog has not…
Unexpected Mistakes in Dog Training
During our last training session, I was having Loker work for his evening meal He kept getting commands wrong and was being more of a “spaz” than usual. It was so frustrating that I had to remove myself from the situation and return after a small break. I could not understand why he was being…
One Person’s Experience with the Dog Whisperer
[schema type=”BlogPosting” title=”One Person’s Experience with the Dog Whisperer” Written by “Ines Gaschot” url=”http://wp.me/p2tzIp-bG” dateCreated= June 20, 2012 description=”How one person learned that Cesar Millan’s techniques were not the best for her dogs.” city=”Austin” state=”TX” postalcode=”78720″ country=”USA” email=”info@allpositivedogtraining.com” phone=”512-300-3851″] I recently came across an article that had been written by someone who had their personal…
Guest Post: “One Dog” – The Story of My Dog Training Journey
By Sarah Fulcher, Cert. CBST Barks and Recreation Pet Services _________________________________ In the dog training community we have a saying: “I’ve crossed over”. This refers to the big philosophy switch from relying heavily on dominance theory and corrections in animal training to utilizing positive reinforcement and scientifically founded behaviour theory. There are extremists on both…
Treating Reactivity
Won’t feeding my dog treats when he acts aggressive or barks only reward that behavior? I wondered about this question when I first began positive association training with my dog, Loker. I was starting the “Click the Trigger” (CTT) method to try to get him to quit being so reactive when he saw other dogs or…
A Different Way to Teach Heel
There are many ways to teach a dog how to heel. I have chosen to work on back end awareness with my dog, Loker, by teaching him to rotate his behind around an object while standing on the object (see “Forming the Perfect Heel“) This helps him learn to recognize his back end and learn how to…
Teach Your Dog to Go to His Mat!
Teaching your dog to go to the mat is easy. Although I have always taught obedience with some positive reinforcement techniques, I was not very familiar with the variety of techniques that can be used. I would have to say that my favorite that I have learned so far is high frequency reinforcement. Although it looks like I’m just…