2010 September Tuesdays

- Click Here to reserve your spot -NEW Online Enrollment Form

@ Collierville Pet Hospital

Forget About Words!

Train like a professional!

In one Tuesday evening, you will introduce your dog or puppy to 4 most important commands –

using 1 letter, 1 word, 3 hand signals and body language.

(plus you’ll learn how to use a reward system to teach anything you want . . . without talking!)

Look, Here, Sit, Stay

Tuesdays in September

6:15- 7:45 PM

Fee $30 per Dog (only 4 dogs per class)

Registration & Deposit Necessary

- Click Here to reserve your spot -NEW Online Enrollment Form

Alan J Turner, SATS LL1

Group and Private Animal Training & Behavior Services

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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.

Imagine me marking that behavior and then giving Bentley some version of  F.A.T. (Marking is when you click a clicker, say a crisp X, or use whatever signal you use as a marker. F.A.T. is a reward system, consisting of food, attention, and touch.)

I thought Bentley’s natural behavior of  ”scratching out” was cute, so I decided to teach him to do it on command. All I did was mark the instant he did it and then give him a reward. At this point I am not saying anything to Bentley. I am patiently waiting, then marking.

I am like the photographer in that I patiently wait for something in particular to occur, then I act.

During one walk with 3 or 4 instances of Bentley scratching out and me marking the behavior, Bentley caught on. To test his understanding, I waited for him to scratch out, and I did NOT mark the behavior. He looked up at me as if to say, “hey stoooopid, I  scratched out – where’s the mark?”  Now I was ready to add the command or cue. On our next pee stop I slipped the words. “Tough boy” immediately before he scratched out. I marked the behavior and a new trick was born.

Now I can ask Bentley, Are you a tough boy?” and he will scratch out like a bull!

You can capture any behavior your dog naturally performs. This means you can teach sit and down via the capture method. It’s too easy but it works very well!!

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – Canine Relationship Solutions – Memphis – Collierville – Germantown – Dog Training – Cat Training – Bird Training – Horse Training

21Dog

How’s Bentley – Dog and Puppy Shake – Fun Facts and Trainer Truths – iPhone, iPad, iTouch app.

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I’ve been lazy about posting new articles this year. I was working on another fun project.

It’s the iPhone app titled Dog and Puppy Shake – Fun Facts & Trainer Truths. The app made it into the iTunes App Store Thursday, June 3rd Hooray! Visit the app store and search “How’s Bentley” to find it.

If you have a moment, visit my newest site, 21st Century Dogs. You can upload a picture of your dog!

Thanks for visiting dogand! I’ll be adding some new articles and editing some current articles soon.

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It’s a silly app with dog trivia, fun facts, tips, and instructions. It has 50 slides of my clients’ dogs (with the dogs’ names) and a fun fact. You’ve seen many of the pictures on this site! Single tap the picture to read more information about the topic mentioned on the front. Double tap to save the picture to your camera roll. Shake your iPhone to see another random slide.

Alan J Turner

Upload your Dog’s Picture on my new site, 21st Century Dogs. It’s a FREE Dog and Puppy Club. The mission is to provide professional instructions on 21st Century Media. Soon you can watch professional videos on your iPhone, Droid, or WIndows smartphone!
Dog and Puppy Club

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Here’s a cute video of two golden litter mates!

New iPhone app -Dog and Puppy Shake – Fun Facts and Trainer Truths
21st Century Dogs – Dog and Puppy Club

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It’s the one with the dog who places the anti- bark shock collar on the man. Click HERE to read about dog-friendly solutions for barking dogs.

iPhone Version - Open YouTube app and search superbowl ad doritos dog collar.

Enjoy

Here’s the other commercials on CBS Super Bowl 44.

Dog and Puppy and Behavior and Training and Help

Alan J Turner

How’s Bentley Memphis TN

Be KIND to YOUR DOG! Stop Dog From Pulling with the best head collar –  Purchase Canny Collar Here
Private and Group Dog Training – Memphis, Collierville,Germantown,Bartlett,Olive Branch,Jackson,Oxford TN MS

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How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Picture of Buffalo at Shelby Farms Park, in Shelby County Tn

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Say, I have another web site site with information about teaching a dog or puppy to walk nicely on a lead. The name of the my site is My Dog Pulls.

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis Dog Trainer

Group Dog Obedience Mini Courses

Collierville, Germantown,Bartlett, TN

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I’ve met some older dogs, 1-2 years old, who still nip and mouth, which poses a true problem. This is an indication that their humans did not understand play biting and unknowingly created a play biting habit.

Here are three steps you can use to deal with play biting by a puppy 8 to 16 weeks old. If your older puppy is play biting, CLICK HERE for SOLUTIONS.

STEP ONE: Stop asking your puppy to bite during playtime.

Avoid games that involve pushing, poking, tumbling, hugging, especially game that involve getting on the floor with your puppy. Hands off during play! Rough play gives puppies the wrong ideas! Play games like sit for a treat, hide-n-seek, chase the toy on a rope, or fetch.

STEP TWO: Tell your puppy that play biting makes you go away.

Tether your puppy. Engage him or her to play with a toy. When the puppy bites you, say ouch and then walk away. The puppy cannot follow you because he or she is tethered .

STEP THREE: Teach your puppy how to bite and play with toys.

Immediately return to your puppy and offer a suitable toy. Praise your puppy for chewing the toy!

ALan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

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BETH’S EMAIL:
Well, I taught him….Inside voice….and he acts like he is going to bark but doesn’t make a sound……Now he just sits and looks at me and gives me inside voice!!!!  This is fun……Thanks!

OK….I have created a monster!!!!!  This new trick he learned for inside voice…..HE WON’T STOP!!!!  He just sits there an looks at me and keeps doing it…..I keep praising him and I sometimes give him a treat….but ok…what do you do when he has it down right?????

MY REPLY:
Hi Beth,

I’m glad to hear you are teaching Mac new stuff!!!!

Please tell me, in detail:

How did you teach him? Did you mark the behavior with your instant reward marker when he used the inside voice (IV)?
Did you tell him anything about outside voice?
Did you say anything?

Now- do you ask Mac for inside voice? If so, how?

Your next step is to place the behavior “on cue”, which means he only does it when you ask.

Answer my questions and I’ll tell you how.

BETH REPLY:
How did you teach him? Did you use the “X” when he used the inside voice (IV)? Yes….I caught him doing it once and said X and gave him a treat.  Did that a couple of times  I caught him again said X and inside voice and again gave him a treat….  Then I just said inside voice and he started doing it….Now I don’t say anything and he keeps looking at me doing it….This is where I don’t know what to do…..I don’t want to discourage him

Did you tell him anything about outside voice? No I have not said anything about outside voice

Did you say anything? Yes inside voice

Now- do you ask Mac for inside voice? Yes If so, how? Now I put my index finger to my lips like SHHHH quiet and I say Inside voice……He’s got it down tooooo well.

Your next step is to place the behavior “on cue”, which means he only does it when you ask. Ok….Now how do I do that because right now he is sitting here looking at me doing it over and over and over……I praise him but he’s not looking for praise he wants a goodie!

MY EMAIL:
Hi Beth!

You are almost there. I’m so proud of my new student!

Exactly what do you want Mac to do, and under what conditions do you want the behavior to occur?

Exactly what do you want Mac to “not do” and when?

BETH REPLY:
Exactly what do you want Mac to do, and under what conditions do you want the behavior to occur?  Kinda like your tough guy thing with Bentley….it’s just something cute!  Do it on command……Mac….Show your inside voice!

Exactly what do you want Mac to “not do” and when?  I don’t want him just sitting at my feet doing it over and over again……I feel if I don’t acknowledge when he does he will get discouraged.

My EMAIL
Here’s what you do:
Step 1: Reinforce the behavior you want.
Step 2: Punish the behavior you don’t want.

Don’t add touch or his name or talk to him during this exercise.  Follow these instructions as written!

Step One:
Cue the behavior (shhh signal), X the behavior, give tasty food treat. Don’t talk or pet him. Repeat the same sequence 3 more times for a total of 4 cycles.

Step 2: Say nothing- no cue – no talk – no touch. Wait until he vocalizes. (DATA A:note how long it takes for him to vocalize). Immediately look away, turn your back on him for about 10 seconds. Do not speak or make eye contact during this time out.

Turn back towards him, say “Hi Mac”-
Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until DATA A equals 10-15 seconds.
When you do Step 2, he will probably bark louder and be more demanding. Perfect. That means he’s about to give up!
When he quiet for 10-15 seconds in Step 2, praise him! Add touch!!!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley - Memphis TN

Private and Group Dog Training - Memphis, Collierville, Germantown TN

Stop your dog from pulling you on walks!

Canny Collar USA Dealer

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An even stronger heart tug is when only two puppies are left. Many people make split second decisions to adopt both puppies. People are thinking,”heck, it’s not much more trouble to raise two puppies instead of one puppy. And I don’t want to break up the family. They can entertain each other, right??”

Yes, adopting litter mates is easy; raising and training litter mates is not so easy!

You see, litter mates often become “one unit”.

They sleep together, eat together, play together and are never alone, even when their humans are off to work. The puppies become best friends and all seems well.

Challenges with this oneness arise as they get older.

You’ll notice that when apart, the dogs are not quite the same. This may not sound like a problem, until you live it.

At some point, you’ll need to separate the dogs for training, walking, emergency vet visits, et cetera. Depending on how the puppies were raised, these brief split ups can be very traumatic or non eventful.

Now, they are 7 months older and much stronger. You haven’t really taught them to walk nicely on a leash, and they pull like crazy. When someone comes to the house, you have to grab their collars and prevent them from mugging the visitors. You can get one dog to sit politely for a moment, but the other one jumps and barks. By the time you get dog # 2 settled, dog #1 is through being polite and starts to jump and bark. It’s a circus!

This scenario is even more frustrating when one dog is naughty. It’s impossible to fix behavior problems such as fear, anxiety, aggression without separating the dogs.

You now realize it’s impossible to train 2 dogs at once; you decide to take one dog outside for training. The instant you exit the house with one dog, the other dog is whining and crying in the doorway, not quite sure why he or she has been abandoned. The dog outside with you is hesitant to walk away from the house, puling at the lead, trying to get back to his or her playmate. Neither dog will eat a treat, or pay any attention to people, because they are very anxious about being apart.

Help your Litter Mates Become Independent

If you have litter mate puppies, teach them about being apart when they are young and not fused together. Take one for a walk, then take the other. Crate one puppy while you teach the other basic commands. Spend time with each puppy, when the other puppy is somewhere else. Do this from the start. Your puppies will be less likely to freak out when they are apart.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley Memphis Dog Trainer

Group and in-home, private dog training sessions

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