Dog Puppy Behavior Training Help

Tough Boy Trick- Capture your Dog’s Cute Behaviors – Place on Cue

Imagine a photographer with a camera focused on a bird’s nest – just waiting for the baby birds to pop their heads up. The instant the birds show their heads, the photographer captures the image by releasing the shutter. Imagine a dog owner (me) walking his turbo Australian terrier (Bentley). Imagine Bentley scratching the ground with his feet (like a bull), immediately after he urinates....

Puppy Making you Crazy? Tether that Turbo Girl!

Most of us would not walk an untrained puppy, off leash, next to a busy street. We realize the puppy is not trained, and she may wander into the street and get hit by a car.  We use a leash to keep the puppy safe. Inside the house, it’s a little safer. No cars are going to break your puppy’s legs, and your puppy can’t run away from you and get kidnapped or lost. But she can get into trouble...

Troubleshooting: Capture Sit for Folded Arms

Truth is, most dogs default to sit when they reach the impasse, as presented during the ” capture sit for folded arms” exercise. The leash is a tool to reduce your dog’s choices. Ideally, the dog will not feel any pressure from the leash, unless he or she jumps up. The short leash will abruptly stop the dog’s upward progress, and the dog’s attempts to jump up will fail. Most dogs...

Short Dog Training Sessions Should End With Success

I always ask my clients to practice with their dogs during short sessions throughout the day. For puppies and dogs that are learning look and sit (the first 2 commands), I recommend 5 sessions each day, for 60 seconds per session. As the dog is introduced to more commands, such as here, stay and down, the sessions will be  longer. How you end the longer sessions makes a difference! Cool down before...

Limitations of Rewards Based Dog Training

Animals that already own rewards will not perform behaviors to receive the same rewards they already own. Animals that receive rewards without any behavioral requirements will not examine and modify their own behaviors in order to receive the same rewards they already have. This means dog training success via positive reinforcement depends on your ability to Identify -  Manage –...

Tips for Making Your Dog’s Behaviors Reliable

Here are some ideas on how to get your dog to perform anytime, every time! Loose Training – Practice the behaviors in many different areas, while adding distractions Discriminative Stimulus – only reward for learned behavior when signal or cue is given Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement – use intermittent schedules Generalized Conditioned Reinforcers – vary the rewards Food Treats...

Methods to “Get” your Dog to Perform a Behavior

Before you can use positive reinforcement to reward your dog (Food treat, Attention, Touch), you’ll need to get the dog to perform some version of the behavior. There are many methods to get behavior. Here are some dog-friendly methods. Capture – good for simple behaviors that are naturally offered, like sit. Just wait until it is occurring and then reinforce the behavior. Capturing requires...

Schedules of Reinforcement

Schedules of reinforcement are consequence sequences or rates for teaching and maintaining behaviors. Different schedules are used at different stages of teaching and maintaining behaviors. There are three schedules of reinforcement. Extinction Continuous Intermittent Extinction – when a previously available reinforcer is withheld or no longer available Some trainers suggest extinction to...

You Should Not Stop a Dog from Jumping Up on Counter

Forget about stopping naughty behaviors.:) Instead, spend a little time with your dog and teach him a behavior that is incompatible with jumping up on counters such as to Go-To-Place. If you focus on stopping behaviors, you are destined to make a full-time hobby out of training. For example- If you focus on stopping a dog from jumping on the counter and succeed, you really haven’t taught the dog...

Dog Training & The ABCs of Instrumental Conditioning

There are three distinct pieces to a voluntary behavior, called the ABCs. The “B” represents the behavior. “A” is for Antecedent, which is anything present in the environment before a specific behavior. The A precedes the behavior. “C” is for Consequence, which is the immediate result of the behavior. Here’s an example of the ABCs of a voluntary behavior....

Does Your White Lab Get Too Excited To Obey When People Visit? Practice With Distractions!

Many of my clients report that their dogs jump up on visitors and pretty much ignore them whenever the dogs are excited. The people often say their dog is stubborn. This is an indication that the people have not practiced basic obedience commands with distractions. Practicing with distractions is called proofing. You should proof your dog with all commands in various locations, with various distractions....

Teach Your Memphis Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Puppy Additional Commands (cue, signal) for the Same Behavior

I always suggest that my clients teach their dogs and puppies two commands for each behavior. Sit is a god example. One command should be audible (word “sit”) and the other can be visual (folding of arms across chest). Once you’ve taught your dog to obey one cue or command for a particular behavior, you can teach another cue for the same behavior in 6 trials – or less than 2...