Finding Motivators for Picky Dogs
It’s been quite the change between Loker and Clark. Loker eats pretty much everything I give him. Clark, on the other hand, is extremely picky. For example, I chopped up some hotdogs the other day to see if he would eat them during our training session. I was pretty hopeful that this would beat his…
Calming Supplement for Dogs
As many of you already know, Loker is very anxious and usually goes from 0-60 in about 2 seconds. He doesn’t really have an in between. About three weeks ago I decided to start him on L-Theanine or SunTheanine as recommended by Suzanne Clothier back at the February seminar. According to Wikipedia, it can cross…
My Top 7 Favorite Dog Training Videos
Over the past year I’ve watched tons of YouTube videos to learn about more positive reinforcement techniques. There are so many dog training videos out there that it is hard to wade through all the techniques that are not backed in science and skill. I’ve put together my top 7 in this blog post to…
Trust in Your Training – The Next Milestone
Our new yard has a fence that is about 2-3ft high. It’s nothing to Loker who has springs for legs. Luckily, he’s never had the opportunity to jump it, but he does often put his front paws to peer over it to smell the yard over. After being able to call him off a squirrel…
How to Address Constant Whining from Your Dog
About a week ago Loker had, what I can only describe as, a nervous break down. Loker began whining insistently anytime we were home, but not around him. One night, he was even up at 6am whining for about 30 minutes. We restrained from telling him to be quiet just incase it was attention seeking…
Less Really is More!
I was browsing a book at the bookstore earlier this week and it talked about how dogs seem to learn in between training sessions. After a very short training session, they come back next time performing it better than the previous session. I have observed this with my own dogs. (Are they practicing at night or…
Preventing Reactivity
The newest addition to my household is Clark, a 9 month old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. As you probably already know, Corgis are quite vocal because of what they were bred for. While I understand this, I still want a thinking dog, not a reactive dog. Since getting to Austin, I’ve started taking Clark out to…
Lessons from My Leash Reactive Dog, Loker
Ah the challenges of training a reactive dog… I’ll start by saying, “It’s easier said than done.” As a trainer, I know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy! It’s been hard, but it’s also been fun! That’s what I love about positive reinforcement based…