Is Your Dog Nipping At Your Ankles? Does your dog tend to herd you, your kids, or even other pets? This can be extremely frustrating at times due to the constant nips at your ankles and the tripping hazard your dog presents. Fortunately, there are options available to you. As with all training advice offered […]
How to Decide If You Should Get a Dog There are many things to think about and to prepare for before getting a dog whether it is from a breeder or is a rescue. Getting a dog is a major commitment for the dogs entire life! Some of the areas I will be discussing are […]
When we raise our dogs appropriately they can become independent, have confidence, be calm and well-mannered. This leads to a better life for you and your dog.
Dog to Dog Socialization Socialization is not what many think it is. Socialization is when your dog can co-exist in any environment without the need to interact with another person or animal. It is when your dog is neutral. A dog park or daycare setting where dogs are constantly playing with no rules, boundaries, obedience, […]
How You May Be Reinforcing Bad Behaviour Thinking you know it all can have harmful consequences in your training. Educating yourself is important and encouraged but it is easy to make mistakes if you have not been trained by a professional. Sending your dog to a professional trainer not only drastically lessons the chances of […]
Involving Your Children in Training Your Dog Your children are part of the family and need to know how to interact with your dog, reinforce good behaviour and correct bad behaviour. Getting the kids involved with providing the necessary structure not only teaches your dog valuable skills and discipline but it also teaches them as […]
Does Your Dog Hate Bath Time? A lot of dogs are very reluctant to get into the bathtub. To ensure your dog meets its grooming needs it is especially important to teach your dog to tolerate having a bath. Before the Bath Starts Burn Some Energy Tire your dog out! A great way to start […]
Training Without Treats Although many owners and trainers prefer to use treats there are many other ways to train your dog without the use of treats. Sometimes a dog is just not food motivated! Therefore, its important not to be one dimensional in your training. Having a solid understanding of many different motivational techniques is […]
Teaching A Dog Proper Behaviour Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning is when a dog associates an involuntary response to a stimulus. For example if I said the word “yes” and followed with a treat, after many repetitions eventually as soon as I say “yes” the dog would start to salivate. The stimulus is the word “yes” […]
Establishing Treats as a Reward Before we start teaching behaviours like “sit”, “down” or “come” we start by building a communication system through the use of verbal markers. We like to use the word “yes” to mark a behaviour and then follow with a treat. When charging the mark we say “yes” and then deliver […]