What is a Reactive Dog?

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-12-19T23:44:35-05:00October 26, 2015|Reactive Dogs|

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 […]

Training How-To: Hand Targeting

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|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 Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2015-10-25T23:25:12-04:00October 21, 2015|Blog|

Well, hi there!

I’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, […]