Fear of the Clicker: How to Train Your Dog Through It
Does the sound of one of these send your dog running for the hills? Read on for some tips to fix that!
Most dogs take to clicker training like ducks to water! But occasionally, one of our […]
How to Chop Dog Treats in 5 Minutes or Less
In our Day School program, we go through a lot of dog treats! During our busiest weeks, it is not uncommon for us to use 10 pounds or more. We’re always looking for the fastest and most cost-effective ways to prepare and store this much food in our training studio.
When it comes to food rolls, we have this down to a science. We recommend and sell Happy Howie’s treat rolls. Happy Howie’s rolls are way less crumbly than other rolls on the market, which is why they are our favorite. These are 1- or 2-pound chubs of semi-soft dog treats which you can chop up […]
Capturing Your Dog’s Behavior: A How-To Guide
Over the last several weeks, I have written about shaping and luring here on Spring Forth Dog Blog. My next topic is capturing, which is a pretty simple, straightforward way to get behavior!
Clicker training allows you to capture a behavior, like this terrier’s adorable tilted head, so you can put it on cue in the future! (Photo Credit: Mike Weston)
Getting Started with Capturing
Simply put, capturing involves waiting for the dog to do the ENTIRE behavior you are looking for with no prompts from you, then clicking […]
Luring Your Dog: A Primer
Last week I started off my series on “How to Get Behavior” with shaping. Now I’m going to explain a bit about luring and how to use a lure to teach behavior.
The term luring refers to the use of a desired reward to coax the dog into achieving the desired behavior. The “desired reward” is nearly always a food treat, but it is possible to lure with toys. Luring can be used to teach many behaviors, including sit, down, loose leash walking, and a lot of tricks.
How to Lure
I use food lures in my group training classes unless the owner […]
How to Get Behavior: Shaping
Cricket has been taught to lie on her mat using shaping.
When it comes to positive reinforcement based clicker training, there are four major ways of getting behavior: shaping, luring, targeting, and capturing. There are other ways, including physical modeling, but they have limited applications and are rarely used by most force-free trainers. In this post, I’ll address shaping, and in the coming weeks, I’ll follow-up with the others.
Shaping
What is shaping? Shaping is a method of building behavior “from scratch” by clicking successive approximations […]
Training How-To: Adding a Cue
The cue “sit” was only added when we were willing to bet $10 that this puppy would put her bum on the ground immediately after we said it.
What is a cue? A cue is a name or label for a particular behavior. It is the “green light” for the dog that tells it “perform that behavior now to get rewarded”. Once a behavior is on cue, the dog should only offer it upon perceiving the cue.
The most common examples of cues in dog training are words like “sit” or “down,” […]
Creative Puppy Socialization
Good puppy socialization requires a bit of creativity. Read on some suggestions for getting your new addition “out and about” in the real world.
Always be on the lookout for new people for your puppy to meet! This German Shepherd puppy is learning that people in uniform are a good thing. (Photo by Nicholas Wadler)
Remember that when socializing your puppy, your goal should always be exposure without overwhelming him. We want your puppy to experience novel things without getting scared […]
How to Teach Your Dog Self-Control Around Food: VIDEO
In one of my previous blog posts about self-control versus imposed control for dogs, I explained that I do not teach “leave it” to my dogs. Instead, I train my dogs to wait for permission to take food, objects, or anything else they want.
Here is a quick video demonstration of how I train dogs to have self-control around food.
Keys to Training
One of our students demonstrating self-control around food. Great job, Willow! (Photo: Smiling […]
Training How-To: Loose Leash Walking
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 […]
Training How-To: Get on the Mat
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
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 […]
Puppy Nipping: A Plan to Stop It
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.
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 […]