Training How-To: Loose Leash Walking

By |2015-12-09T17:29:13-05:00December 14, 2015|Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

What is loose leash walking? Loose leash walking is an informal leash walking behavior. It’s not “heeling”, which is a precision walking behavior required for obedience competitions, but it can be a precursor to that. While loose leash walking it is acceptable if your dog sniffs, lags behind you, or forges ahead of you a little bit, as long as the leash stays loose.

Keeping the leash loose is a two-way street. Remember, your dog can’t walk politely if you are pulling her! (Photo Credit: Dave Fayram)

Why does my dog […]

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Training How-To: Get on the Mat

By |2015-12-09T17:21:58-05:00December 10, 2015|Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

Dog on a Bed You can use any object as your dog’s mat! Dog beds are a popular choice, but towels and small blankets work well, too. (Photo Credit: Howard Young)

What is “Get on the Mat”? The dog learns to relax on a ‘mat’ – a specific towel, blanket, or dog bed. This mat can be moved to any location, like your kitchen, the vet’s office, or the car, and your dog will know to stay on it and relax.

Why does my dog need to know it? Getting on a mat […]

Stop Free-Feeding: How to Feed Your Dog Regular Meals

By |2015-12-02T16:00:02-05:00December 7, 2015|Helpful Hints, Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

Stop Free Feeding Your Dog Is there always a bowl of food on your kitchen floor? If so, you’re free-feeding. (Photo by JnL on Flickr.)

One of the first management recommendations I make to my clients is to stop “free-feeding” their dog. Free-feeding means leaving a bowl of dog food on the ground for hours at a time, if not all day long, rather than giving the dog regularly scheduled meals which need to be eaten immediately.

Here are some of the problems with free-feeding:

Free-fed dogs are harder to housebreak. Scheduled input of food means […]

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Product Review: The Honest Kitchen Beef Bone Broth

By |2015-12-02T15:59:46-05:00December 2, 2015|Product Reviews|

The Honest Kitchen Beef Bone Broth ReviewHere at Spring Forth, we are huge fans of The Honest Kitchen! All of their products are human-grade and made in the USA. So when the kind folks at THK asked if we’d like to review their new Beef Bone Broth, I jumped at the chance! (Full disclosure: we received free product in exchange for a review.)

Bone broth is very “trendy” right now for people, so I’m not surprised to see pet food manufacturers jumping on the bandwagon. Bone broth naturally contains a lot of the things […]

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Leave It! – Or Don’t? Self Control vs. Imposed Control for Dogs

By |2015-11-25T17:16:00-05:00November 30, 2015|Training|

"Leave it!" Do you need to teach this to your dog? [Photo Credit: Andrew Hyde]  

“No!” “Leave it!” “Off!” These are three cues that are more familiar to some dogs than “sit”, “come”, and “good dog.” Surprisingly, they often work against dog owners and serve to reinforce the very behaviors the owners are trying to punish.

A scenario: At the pet store, a bag of dog kibble has torn open and spilled all over the floor. A man is walking his dog down the aisle. His dog notices the kibble and lunges forward to eat some. “Leave it! No, […]

Puppy Nipping: A Plan to Stop It

By |2015-11-23T02:27:07-05:00November 23, 2015|Helpful Hints, Puppies, Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

Puppy nipping is one of the most frustrating behaviors that new owners report. It hurts! But you’ll see a big reduction in puppy nipping in a short period just by getting some human cooperation.

Puppy Nipping - Dachshund If this is a familiar sight, it’s time for a new training plan! (Photo Credit: Renata Lima, Flickr)

Let’s start by examining why your puppy is putting his mouth on things. I don’t like to spend a ton of time pondering why a dog is doing what he’s doing, but puppy nipping is such a frustrating behavior for owners […]

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Reactive Dogs: Resources for More Information

By |2015-11-09T00:55:06-05:00November 9, 2015|Reactive Dogs|

There are some wonderful resources available for owners of reactive dogs who want to learn more about helping their canine companions. Many of these books have training plans that can be used to rehabilitate reactive dogs. However, I strongly urge you to seek professional help from a trainer or behaviorist who uses only humane, pain-free methods of training. Any graduate of Karen Pryor Academy will meet that criteria.

Books

Scaredy Dog! Understanding and Rehabilitating Your Reactive Dog by Ali Brown. I feel this is the most user-friendly of the three books […]

Calming Signals in Dogs: What are They?

By |2015-10-30T14:12:27-04:00October 30, 2015|Reactive Dogs|

Lip-licking is one of the most common calming signals. (Photo Credit: Dave Lindblom)

What is a calming signal?

Calming signals are behaviors that dogs naturally exhibit when they are feeling stressed and are trying to diffuse a situation. Norwegian dog trainer and author Turid Rugaas coined the phrase “calming signals” and she has identified approximately thirty behaviors as such. These behaviors include: licking the lips, showing the whites of the eye, sniffing the ground, turning away (either just the head, or the entire body), lifting a front paw, yawning, full-body shaking (as if […]

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What is a Reactive Dog?

By |2016-12-19T23:44:35-05:00October 26, 2015|Reactive Dogs|

 

Reactive Dog Behavior One common cause for reactivity is fear. By putting on a fearsome display, the dog effectively scares his trigger away. The increased distance makes the dog feel more comfortable, and is therefore reinforcing. (Photo Credit: Leon G. – Flickr)

(This post is the first in a mini-series I will be writing about canine reactivity. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any future posts!)

What is a “reactive dog?”

Simply put, “reactive dog” is shorthand for a dog who over-reacts to particular things in the environment. Most of the […]

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Training How-To: Hand Targeting

By |2015-10-21T16:21:53-04:00October 21, 2015|Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

What is hand targeting? It’s simple! The dog learns to touch his nose to a human’s hand. That’s it!

Why does my dog need to know it? Hand targeting is one of the most versatile behaviors you can teach your dog! It gives boisterous youngsters and shy, wary dogs something appropriate to do when presented with an outstretched hand. Instead of mouthing the hand or backing away, the dogs know to nose-poke it instead. It can also be used to teach dogs to walk on a loose leash, and to move dogs from one place to another, such as from the couch to […]

About the Author: Katherine Ostiguy

By |2015-10-25T23:25:12-04:00October 21, 2015|Blog|

Well, hi there!

Katherine Ostiguy KPA CTP | Providence RI Dog TrainerI’m Katherine Ostiguy, and my company is Spring Forth Dog Academy, located in Providence, RI’s historic Jewelry District. This is a bit of a leap from our roots in the suburbs of Boston, but I’ve been training dogs in Providence for over a year now. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with the city.

More about me

I have been training dogs professionally since 2007, but started out by training our family pet, Tessie, to do just about everything under the sun: agility, […]

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