When a Kick in the Gut Isn’t Enough, I Don’t Know What Is…
I haven’t been kicked in 10 years! Those are the words I heard after I witnessed a 3 Star Parelli Horsemanship Instructor get kicked during a professional demonstration with her horse this past weekend. My nerves had become more and more tense as her demo went on. At the beginning, she had mentioned to the…
Top 5 Loose Leash Walking Dog Training Videos
I decided to weed through many of the loose leash walking training videos you can find on youtube to list out the best. This skill is one of the hardest for both dogs and their owners. It’s hard to exercise your dog when every walk is a training session! What I usually recommend is to…
Marking the Trigger
A couple of months ago I wrote about how I was working on Clark’s reactivity towards other dogs. It is still an issue, but I’ve decided to tackle this issue head on. He barks at other dogs on leash because he gets super aroused by them. If he was off leash, he’d go check them…
Doggy Backpacks!
I believe that backpacks are a good way to drain extra energy out of your dog. They can also be helpful on hikes or camping trips. The use of backpacks is something I carry over with me from when I used to follow Cesar Millan’s training style. Everyone seems to have a differing opinion about…
Doggy Chiropractor
I’ve always been a skeptic of holistic medicine. I am a very rational/logical person and got a degree in Biology after all. Fortunately, I’m very open-minded (as you all know). Before I crossed over to positive reinforcement based training, I didn’t believe in using drugs or supplements to treat behavior issues. I believed that behavior…
Promoting Positive Reinforcement
As part of my “Let’s Talk About Positive Reinforcement Training” initiative, I recently put together a video that demonstrates the reliability and connection that positive reinforcement can create. I reached out to my friends on Facebook and there was an overwhelming response! Everyone wanted to contribute their videos to the project. I chose to demonstrate…
Off Leash Romps for Loker!
For those that don’t know, Loker has had to be on leash for the last few months because our current fence is short and he can hop over it without effort. We’ve worked hard on coming when called and auto-check ins and I’ve recently taken the plunge into letting Loker off leash more often in…
The Downfall of Labels and Miscommunication
What if you switched the word “interrupter” with “correction”? What if you switched the word “punisher” with “interrupter”? Does the label truly affect what is actually occurring? Is the label all that separates “all positive” trainers from “balanced” trainers? Is our difference in vocabulary the main difference between our training? Is it even fair to…