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....

Teach your Dog Inside Voice – Capture Dog’s Natural Behavior and Place it on Cue

One of the neat things about using an instant reward marker is how you can capture a natural behavior and then teach your dog to do it on cue. Here’s a recent email exchange with my client, Elizabeth, who has a 4-5 month old large mix breed dog, Big Mac. 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...

When Can I Start Training My New Puppy?

Your puppy’s training starts the minute you bring that little furry critter home! At this age, your concerns will be house training, play biting and socialization. However, you can introduce a young pup to basic commands: look, here, and sit. Just make sure your expectations are realistic, and be kind. Puppies and dogs do not ever need to be spanked! Follow this link to see a video of Harry,...

Dog Fights are Scary – Interdog Aggression

It’s scary when dogs in the same household fight. The solutions can be as simple as feeding the dogs in different areas, or as complex as implementing a behavior modification plan for inter dog aggression. Your first steps are to identify triggers and situations when the dogs are more likely to fight. Manage the environment so the fights are less likely. Remove high value toys and food items;...

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 –...

Easy & Lazy: Sit in a Chair & Teach Your Dog or Puppy to Lie Down!

Of all the methods to teach a dog to lie down, capturing is the easiest, but it is seldom used because people do not understand or believe it will be effective. Capture is when you set up the environment for the behavior to occur, or just wait for the dog to perform the behavior, then you mark and deliver a treat. You don’t say anything, or offer a food lure, or provide any other input before the...

Using Italian Model Eliska Kovarova Maltese Name for Maltese Puppy Trainer Email Scam?

Hi Fellow Trainers. I suspect any of you APDT members  or any other trainers who replied to the original email from someone posing to be named Muneta Bianco (white money) Italian model Eliska Kocarova’s assistant, (as I did) received the next message (quoted below) in the series. I believe see where this email phishing scam is going. After I reply with the public information requested, I suspect...

Video ** Puppy Clicker Training Demo – Harry in Class: 4 Commands, attention, here, sit, down

Click the You Tube link below this text to see Harry, the AKC registered Norwich Terrier puppy, perform 4 obedience commands. The commands are Attention on Cue (Look), Here, Sit (verbal command and “folded arms” cue) and Down (with hand signal). Harry is less than 4 months old in this video; The client chose to use a clicker as the reward marker. The client’s excellent timing of the...

AA-3 Markers, Reward System, Rewards Awareness Program (NILIF)

What are Markers? In order to communicate, it’s helpful to teach the animal a few phrases, actions or events that have specific meanings. I refer to these signals as markers. Markers can be words, phrases, noises, sounds, hand signals, flashes of light, stomps on the floor, touches, odors or other stimuli the animal can sense. Professional trainers teach and use multiple markers to give the animal...