One of the challenges of learning “stay” from the dog’s perspective, is humans often want to teach it in a very vague manner, which leaves the actual stay itself very poorly defined. It’s compounded by the fact that we usually aren’t thinking very much about sitting...
Common myth: Shaping means standing around waiting for the dog to spontaneously do the right behavior. (or worse “free shaping”… don’t get me started…) No, wait! You know what? Let’s DO get me started! Somewhere the internet got the idea that in order for training to...
Evaluate these two statements: 1. “My dog is not toy motivated.” 2.”Our tugging behavior is not yet strong enough to use as a reinforcer.” One implies a characteristic of the dog. The other describes the behavior. One is a fixed, unchangeable...
Bob Bailey says “be splitter, not a lumper. “ And that is the ideal to which we all aspire. However, many of us are lifelong members of Lumpers Anonymous, and chronically struggle to find ways to “split “our behaviors as we train them and avoid the...
Is there a trainer out there that has significantly influenced you in a major way? I have several, but one of the top women that changed the way I look at training is Leslie McDevitt. I loved her book and, as soon as I finished it, I purchased the accompanying DVD...
Why should we bother teaching the dog to “back up”? It’s an important movement skill, which helps the dog learn to use his body safely and efficiently. It’s a skill that is used in rally directly (the dreaded “3 Steps Back”), but it’s also helpful in strength...
