Walk Your Dog

This will always be the biggest hurdle in training, and in ownership. If you offer your dog his freedom, to make his own choices away from you. However there is power in an off leash walk, trainers from all views and methodologies find it. Casual owners find it too without even knowing. I have been rediscovering it again by owning a puppy.

Put your dog down and walk away, see who they are alone without any other dogs but you guiding. You passively offer assistance, changing direction and calling to them. Young puppies are glue, close by, relying on you to show them, maybe moving ahead just to come back. These passive moments are building the good habits, engaging and trusting your guidance out of their comfort zone.

This also offers insight, especially as they mature, into who they are. Are they confident? Do they learn quickly? Do they get distracted easily (more than a regular puppy)? There is no right answer here just insight into your dog.

So far I have come to learn Savvy is much more handler oriented than I expected, she loves to use her nose, and does have a strong desire to carry things. We have built a recall, name recognition, the ‘boundary zone’ they wander to, heel, and much greater deeper things.

Still though I have people afraid to ever take their dog off leash. I get it. They could leave, they could get hurt, or worse. Even more so older dogs, but to remove the physical restraint, to trust your training, to trust your dog… they sense this. But if you’ve done the work please consider this a necessary evil. Way out from the hustle of needing to exercise the dog, out of cell service, and away from the dangers of roads, give it a chance.

I could go on about training and methodologies but I will leave that up to y’all.

Till next time,

Happy Tails

The First 6 Months

I have been struggling with some computer troubles so I have been delayed making puppy posts. Savvy has been making great leaps and bounds in learning to be a basic dog and I hopefully can cover some of it in this post. I never really deal with puppies, if y’all know me you know I hate raising puppies. I didn’t really take on training puppies because it seems almost like they should be self training, and in a way they are. Puppies pick up on behaviors incredibly fast as they are trying to figure out how to be successful in the world. However there are some things that I and Savvy have been working on and I hope I can pass along for other people to reflect upon. These behaviors aren’t tricks but life lessons that I have come to see in successful dogs and places that had been failed to worked on in dogs who struggle. 

Dealing with Failure
One of the biggest issues I see in adult dogs is they don’t know how to cope with failure. This is a double-edged sword and I want my dogs to recover from external environmental failures and try again but I also want my dogs to understand corrections and NOT try it again. Training comes into play where rewarding for the proper behavior after a correction is key to keep the dog ‘playing the game’. Your dogs natural temperament is also going to play a big role in how much of a support role your going to be playing. Gus I spent a lot of time reinforcing situational acceptance. Any time something potentially ‘traumatic’ could come by I immediately was there pushing the treats and praise. With Savvy anytime that same something comes by, which for her is ‘exciting’ I am right there reinforcing the engagement on me.  How your dog deals with failure is going to be how much outside work you’ve done on these ‘lower class’ moments. If your dog fails to jump over a log are they going to sit down and cry for help, try to find another way, or keep at the same method. I reward multiple attempts, adding praise and when needed support so the dog doesn’t learn to quit.

I want dogs who learn to keep trying regardless of their natural temperament. To have a dog that keeps pushing environmental failures is to produce a dog that won’t shut down when your training a hard command and they fail.

No one wants a sad baby but teaching them to deal with failure is an important life skill

Dealing with Corrections
This is tied to the failure statements above but these are all failures that come from you. Your dog will fail at some point regardless of your chosen method and despite your best efforts you WILL end up correcting your dog. Whether is it is a NRM ( no reward marker), a pinch collar, an e collar to everything in between. Eventually ( if I pressure myself enough) I will give you an overview of my collar pressure work I do with puppies, where if they release the pressure they get rewarded.  It isn’t more complicated than adding a slight pressure to the leash and collar and them getting a treat for moving into it. If you do it enough it is the foundation of my leash work. However it will teach a valuable lesson on human pressure is something that can be rewarding to give into.

Savvy left with trusted dog-women

 

Dealing with Chaos
The unknown is inherently scary but the unknown needs to be normal. No matter what you do your puppy will not experience everything adult life with throw at them. Unfortunately dogs are really good at scenarios and not generalizing. I make it a point to take Savvy to the grooming salon to be around chaos of other dogs barking and screaming so she can learn to relax in that enviroment. If you live in the outskirts of town don’t wait till your dog is 6 months old to make a trip to town. Make a point to drag them in, even if they will only be in town a few times a year. Many pet dogs don’t handle the chaos of grooming, vet trips, or boarding because this was missed in puppyhood. Random things happen there, loud noises to spook them, children, yelling, etc. I don’t mind if puppies acknowledge these things ( as noted above in the failure section) with treats as support but I especially want to reward and teach them to not really mind it.

Of course all these things come with them learning the basics. Savvy and I attended a training class, learning to work with other dogs. We have spent a ton of time just running around building the coordination needed to work the field along with birds and bumpers. One last thing to note of course, again, is to be aware of fear periods of your puppy and be sure to reinforce all potentially scary situations. Help them through these and the impression will last a lifetime.

Hopefully I will be able to update again soon!
Till then,
~Happy Tails~

DIY Dog Training: Puppies First Week

Hey there everyone! Last week I drove to Texas and back to add a new partner to my pack. This gives me a great opprotunity to walk y’all through my puppy raising protocol. Now remember what I may do for my dog may not be what you do. Savvy is a very courageous, confident pup the exact opposite of what Gus was so how I treat her isn’t exactly how I treated Gus.

Poodle puppies are the cutest ever! We are going to have so many adventures ❤

Let me first introduce the idea that it isn’t all in how you raise them. All dogs have a genetic code inclining them to certain behaviors or personalities. You can shift this a little bit with training and exposure but it won’t make a terrier any more inclined to herd than a shepherd to be everyone’s friend. Savvy comes from first and second generational retrievers, so hopefully she has the potential to develop these skills to a high degree as well.

Most puppies are sent home around 8 weeks (and depending on the puppies maybe toward 12 weeks) so they can allow puppies adequate exposure in an environment they’re already comfortable with. As reported by the AVMA, puppies benefit starting socialization and puppy training before 12 weeks. Even with the potential risk of disease exposure, they strongly encourage this exposure to combat potential behavioral issues later. At 14 weeks most dogs have entered a fearful period, in which they will no longer take new things as passively as they once did. I will probably cover this more as Savvy ages and we go through these phases ourselves.

 

Second day in the crate in the car

Now that you’ve had a moment to think all that over I would like to get into the first week home. Hopefully you have already developed a routine the puppy can fall into. Now if you haven’t already  I strongly encourage you to do so before the puppy comes because starting a new routine with a baby dog isn’t fun. Some breeders have already crate trained their puppies ( bless them) others have not but have worked them on outside pottying etc. Figure out what your breeders routine is and perhaps think about adjusting your own. Now Savvy didn’t have any crate training but seeing as she was an 8 week old dog with no real ideas about anything she took to it really well. I introduced my regular routine which is up every 4 hrs so 9pm, 1am, 4am, just to see how she would do. She came home Aug 1st I have increased her to every 6 hrs now, so 10pm (yeah I end up staying up late) 4am. Within a few weeks she should sleep in till 6am.

 

When it comes to the obedience there is real no serious training. We will be starting a puppy class as soon as one is available, not because I couldn’t do it alone but because giving her a chance to learn to work around other dogs is important. We do basic leash pressure work, and introduce the sit, stand for exam etc.

Overall the first week is about setting the routine that we will use to expand upon later. Puppies and dogs thrive on routine and structure, having a set time for learning, sleep and play, sets you up for success and a lot less struggle. I hope y’all enjoy watching little Savvy grow with me and watch how we do as a team.

DIY Dog Training: Rewards

There is something that isn’t often talked about and that is building drive for rewards. Not all rewards are ‘built in’ to dogs, and a lot of desire can be built around novel rewards if proper care is taken. One of my first hand experiences with my own dogs was Gus. Originally he had zero desire to retrieve anything but now he lives for it. I do think much of it is genetic ( the desire to chase and carry) but he could have lived his whole life not touching a bird. This leads me into the cause for this post; I was discussing recall with a client.

She was complaining that her dog had no motivation for treats or toys so teaching his recall had been difficult. I have run into this more than once and usually my response is something along the lines of “Well what have you done to motivate the dog to have the desire for the reward?” See rewards are not innately motivating on their own and desire can be built on just about any reward. When we are looking for a high level ‘jackpot’ reward but our dog just doesn’t have one what are we to do?

A common occurrence in dog training for a non-food motivated dog is to limit food they have available to them. Many trainers suggest removing food or kibble all together and make the dog work for every piece. This is just one example of building drive for a reward. The food becomes more motivating because it is a limited resource. Treats work for a similar reason that they are a limited resource and more novel than the kibble. I have always been a big fan of tug for a high level reward for my dogs. One, because it is easy to teach a dog, and two, because it is almost always accessible. Now if I offer my dogs a chance to play they will do anything for it, it is more limited than treats and obviously more so than kibble.

To the original client I suggested only playing with the dog with a tug involved, and only allow the dog the reward when she was involved. Allow a little bit of over exuberance is the play reward and build an intense desire to play. Her ‘ah ha’ moment was realizing that she had to train in her rewards and the intensity of the response they created. Gus loves birds because they are a limited resource (they’re bloody expensive by the way), and as a pup I wasn’t to strict with them the same way I was about bumpers and other toys. This built a strong love and desire to ‘play’ with the bird, play the game right and the game continues. This love created the self-fulfilling game of fetch where the reward is to do the behavior itself.

I encourage people to think about their rewards and the drive they’re creating (and in some cases diluting and destroying) as they train. I have spoken about this a few times before when I talk about making yourself and your affection the most limited resource and this plays a part in that. To the client I told her that she needed to make the opportunity to play with her the most limited of the games. Where she makes the call to start and stop it, leaving the dog always wanting more. There are so many components to engagement (that with a quick search you will find I talk about non stop) however this is one approach I don’t think I have touched on yet.

Hope this gave you some ideas and thoughts about how you handle rewards or at least how to approach it when suddenly the rewards didn’t mean what they used to.

Till next time.

Doodles after his recent surgery. Everyone is always curious to see a Russell with the desire to please. 

Do you keep a dog journal?

A few years ago I was presented with the idea of keeping a training journal for my dogs. First assumptions is that this is for the serious dog handlers, people who actually HAD things to record daily. For me, the weekend trainer this didn’t seem a necessity although I recently realized it was, and probably should be for most people.

As humans we tend to forget things that aren’t immediately ‘visible’ as a cause. Things can easily be forgotten over the course of the day or week (or till the next time you see your trainer). All these things can paint a bigger picture for your future self and what may be a root of some issue or the next baby step.

Gus’s first year, I wish I had bothered to record the finer details like water temp and his attitude towards the concepts (not to mention the concepts)

Remember your 5 W’s? Keep a record of:
-Who was involved
-What you did/What happened
-Where you were working
-Why you think the situation did x or y?
-How you are planning for the future

These concepts are more powerful coupled with goals. Making some sort of game plan from getting to point a to b, will make the steps you take more deliberate. We all know training rarely goes as planned, but that doesn’t mean that free form is the best way to complete a goal. Often the power is in the plan but to create a solid plan you must have a solid understanding of your goals and failings.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” Vince Lombardi Jr.

~Happy Tails~

DIY Dog Training: “The better you are the less force you use…”

I came across that idea a while ago and have been digesting it since. The better a trainer you are the less force you end up using.

Now on the outside layer I tend to agree, in the beginning people over do the amount of work they need to put in to a given command regardless of method. This can manifest as yelling a command, rapid fire treat tossing and repeating, using leash pressure more than needed. My rules have always been to use what ever pressure is needed, no more, no less, and to be fair to the dog. The better you are, i.e. the more clear directions you give to a dog, the less force you need. Makes sense.

I think this attaches well to another concept I hear which is that if you fully understand dog behavior you end up not using punishment. In my oh so frank opinion, if you understood human behavior you would understand why people want to use punishment. People want behaviors to stop, punishment stops behavior. That’s it, the end.

Well not quite because if you stop behaviors you need to create other behaviors, that’s your job. An unfair correction is to me when someone corrects a dog for something they never showed them how to do in the first place. Dogs do not innately know what we want from them, however most are biddable creatures and desire for everyone to get along. Notice I said most, and this is where those broad generalizations fall apart for me. There are many independent dogs, beyond the scope of regular independence, who for what ever reason end up needing more ‘no’. More pressure, more correction, more exemplified rewarding. Dog’s who haven’t for whatever reason been motivated (yet) to work with their human counterparts.

These dogs are tough dogs, and when an owner gets a dog like this generally I sigh first and let them know that this will get ugly. That there will probably be tears and stress and feelings of failure, and at the end of it you come out better for it. A great handler can take any dog and make it look “easy,” except it isn’t. We have just mastered the craft of being subtle and using as little pressure as possible, positive trainers do this too.

The next time you go to work your dog I want you to think about this, how much are you using and how little do you actually need? My tagline is always start soft and get harder as needed, roughly translating to the amount of force and pressure people use. If you want a dog that reads subtle cues, well you have to be subtle.

Just food for thought this Sunday morning,
Till next time,
Happy Tails

DIY Dog Training: What to do when you get stuck

Despite our best efforts our dogs will get stuck. Were talking about mental suck not physical though many dogs are also good at that too. It’s important to have a plan set up and react appropriately when your dog gets stuck. The longer a dog stays stuck the more likely they will start to shut down. Having some basic methods and skills in place you can use for in times of need to keep your training productive and positive. If all else fails, as always, contact a trainer local to you to help you directly.

A ‘stuck’ dog is a term I use to classify that moment in time before the dog mentally shuts down. Sometimes it involves literally physically unmoving, sometimes it can be as simple as a decrease in engagement. Being able to read your dog and when they start to get stuck on a concept is important. Every dog takes stress differently, some process it better than others. Teaching your dog to handle stress is a topic for another day ( I have mentioned it before in popular post Forcing the Soft Dog ). Review some basics of dog body language but don’t forget you know your dog best.

What you do when you notice the behavior can make your training session a positive one or a disappointing struggle. Let’s introduce an example: I was working with Winnie on e collar behavior, enforcing heel and stay, and dealing with pressure. The basic concept was stay in heel, leaving heel will cause an unpleasant stimulation (not a sudden shock, I want my dog thinking and shocking will cause her to shut down) staying in position would cause a reward. As well as throwing in some stays to mix it up and keep my dog from getting bored. She had a negative association with an e collar so the training was geared more towards her ability to deal with pressure and to continue to think her way out of it. She was wearing a leash and collar as well as I planned on her getting stuck and/or needing some guiding help. The primary techniques I applied to her involved treating to keep her in a positive place mentally, and guiding when stimulation was overwhelming. What’s interesting is my collar stimulation didn’t change, same level and same type.  In the beginning she would freeze up with stimulation after she drifted out of heel, I would then guide her a few steps with the leash and when she stepped in the e collar would stop. Two sessions across two days and she got it. The second session I used the leash once, and the e collar was set lower but did move up depending on the distance she drifted. In both these I was sure to end the session on a good note, making her successful. But depending on your dog depends on the ‘lubricant’ for the sticky situation. For some dogs who need toys a few fun tosses after a extremely stressful situation will give a reset, some need praise, some need as I shown physical help.

Keeping Winnie from getting stuck the first time helped me be successful in the long run. She did get stuck a lot in the first session, like A LOT. Perhaps previously shutting down and freezing is what worked, but that’s not condoning of learning. Regardless of if you choose to use an e collar or not you should have a method for unsticking your dog. Generally all methods rely on some sort of positively associated release. Releasing your dog is a command and one that you have hopefully associated positively, a mini break in training, reward can reset a dog before they shut down. Emergency U turns are popular among reactive dogs but rely on the same principle, a positive association that trumps pretty much all else.

Always review scenarios after the fact, was it something you did? Did you push to hard to fast? Is the concept to complicated? Reflect upon your training sessions but don’t be afraid to change it up mid session. There is nothing wrong in doing something different because the stuck dog isn’t going anywhere at least mentally.

Now all this starts to fall in the teaching your dog to handle stress category but like I said, that’s a topic for another day. But breaking your dog out of minor stressful situations when they can’t do it themselves is important for handlers and owners to learn and thought about prior to training. So there is no shame in setting up a game plan for what to do when your dog gets stuck, because it will happen.

Till then

~Happy Tails~

 

 

DIY Dog Training: The Foundation -Respect and Trust

If you haven’t heard yet, you can’t build a house from the roof down. Foundational work is well, foundational. More than behaviors the foundation of your relationship is trust and respect. No matter what method you follow you will hear about trust and respect. You think you know trust and respect but still, I to this day, find it with my own dogs constantly evolving.

When you interact with your dog they’re learning, just like with people. And just like with people trust and respect is gained mutually through time. You have to do things with the dog. Training is a good place to start generally 😉 . Puppies are highly trusting, they have to be, it is survival for them. They trust you to show them how the world works and what happens when certain things happen. Inconsistency breeds confusion and distrust. If for no other reason in training being consistent is the foundation for trust.

Respect is a hard one. Positive only nutcases will make it seem like it’s a dirty word. That a dog will respect someone only if it has been beaten into it. Sane positive only people will realize that you respect your dog and the dog respects you. Respect the fact that the dog is a thinking individual with wants and needs you may not be properly understanding. That is respect. Balanced trainers talk about it a lot too. That is because the dog respects the fact that while I COULD go that far that I won’t. They respect me I respect them.

Across multiple disciplines you’ll find examples of these components in relationship building. Generally games in which the dog is having fun but while the handler remains in control are ideal. Structured games of fetch or tug, where they’re are rules like ‘drop’ and ‘wait’ to follow. When the handler reinforces the rules and rewards appropriately the dog learns these things. On the flip side so does the handler, reading the dog and learning how they tick, growing a deeper trust for the dog maybe allowing a little le-way, respecting that they know the rules and don’t need to be harped on. Again this sort of thing doesn’t happen over night. 

Respect and trust are thrown around a lot in the dog training world and I have found every individual thinks of it differently. This is fine as long as you are aware the importance of them. The notion that it is somehow gained when certain goals are obtained is obscene for that reason. Something intangible cannot be gained through a series of exact steps. Dog training is as much of a science as it is an art and no two dogs are the same, just like no to people are the same.

So ask yourself, is this helping me grow trust and respect? Is what I am doing perhaps worth the harm to these things to my dog? Will this help the foundation of our relationship?

There are many times I sit up at night and question what I have done with my dogs and reflect back on what I might do better. There are somethings that I have done for one dog that would shatter another. Each of their relationships is different with me and in different places. I can push one dog in a way I could not push another, challenge them that would cause another to shut down and give up. I take great care that my dogs trust and respect me.

It is important to have respect and trust in your foundation. If you have never questioned why you should, it will help solidify your belief in them. When I let my dogs off leash I trust them to make the right choices but I respect them as individuals with different triggers and thresholds we work on. When I let my dogs interact with strangers, or run in an event, we are a team and unless these things are mutual we struggle to actually work together.

In the end it doesn’t matter what game we are playing that day I always want them to feel the same way towards me. I also want them to also reflect back on the training we have done and perhaps think, in their own dog way, that while it was difficult they learned something and I showed them the way to it. That is how I build trust and respect.

I love hearing how others build trust and respect with their own dogs. Every relationship is different, how do you build trust and respect?

Till next time,
~Happy Tails~

DIY Dog Training: The ‘Place’ Command and Concept of Confliction

I won’t lie at first I really wasn’t too keen on the place command being a sort of fix it all for most dog training problems. It comes up frequently on forums and chat groups how one of the first things many trainers teach is ‘place’. I honestly vary rarely have ever taught place. It has benefits of helping train relaxation, keeps dogs from getting underfoot, and overall gain control in a chaotic household. However I have none of these problems of my own and for most of my clients they needed more physical restraint such as a kennel or hitching post for their dogs. Recently though I was asked by a friend of mine to help with dog training problem and so I started trying to formulate a plan and the place command has kind of come to the forefront of that. Now I generally don’t start off by saying something doesn’t work, the place command works very well but what I wanted to do is kind of look into why it works so well.

What the place command generally does is it gives a conflicting behavior that forces the extinction of the unwanted behavior. This concept of extinguishing behavior is not just found in one style or method of dog training it is utilized across all behavior modification, not limited to dogs either.  To elaborate on extinction, if the conflicting behavior is rewarded so that the dog offers it more the original or unwanted behavior will slowly be offered less and less as it is no longer ‘worth the effort’. So a very simplified version of my train of thought is teaching place, a relatively easy concept, the dog will no longer rush out and jump as it will remain in ‘place’ until released. The dog is only released when calm. If it offers over exuberance it will be sent back to place to wait till the dog relaxes once again. You can also tie the command to a cue such as a doorbell or knock so the dog offers the ‘place’ until released, useful in cases like door rushing.

The place command has been around for probably a long time but recently had his started to show up a lot more because it’s a great conflicting behavior that’s easy to train. If you’ve never taught your dog place generally they pick it up I’ve noticed fairly quickly. When I have clients doing weekly lessons it only takes 3 lessons or so. With a dog who has been previously trained in something like bed or kennel or any other command that requires the dog to be in a certain area to be rewarded they seem to pick it up faster as well.

I don’t see the place command having too much of a negative addition to your dogs repertoire. What I do not like is I don’t like how sometimes the place command becomes the ultimatum for everything, where the dog no longer has free reign or free choice and it remains under control all the time. Now it sounds kind of absurd but what I prefer my dogs I prefer them to make a proper choice regardless of whether or not they are “under my control”. I do think the place command gets over used quite a bit and dog training because of how well it works. In my own opinion, I think a properly trained dog should make the proper choice regardless of “being under control”. However I do understand one of the reasons for training is behavior modification and showing the dog the proper choice. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you have done the training eventually the dog will be allowed ‘free reign’ and will make the proper choice. That should be the end goal of all training.

Till then,

~Happy Tails~

DIY Dog Training: Getting Off on the Right Paw

Fall is here. There was frost on the ground this morning and I couldn’t stand being outside without a coat. Sorry for the slow blogging, we recently moved into county allowing for more dog space and some much needed people space. They dogs were upgraded to their own personal space outside with attached runs, and I finally have a space for ducks to be kept! So this morning, over ample coffee, I had some time to start delving back into my series on DIY Dog Training, this time tackling a important issue of building and designing a simple game plan for success and how to set up your dog to make the right choice.

The family is all fitting in well down here. Plenty of space for training and yard work.

One of the easiest way for at home owners to start changing or creating new behaviors is to sit down and think how the dog does the bad behavior. One of the easiest rules to follow is the dog can’t do x if its doing y. For instance, we have a dog who jumps at the door, instead of thinking what we can do to stop it, start thinking about what behavior conflicts with the first. Most people teach a sit. The dog can’t jump when it’s sitting. Another example, marking on furniture, quick fix keep the dog away from the furniture or belly band so the dog simply cannot do it. Seems easy right?

 

Right here it is good to note that we didn’t dive into WHY the dog is jumping at the door (or peeing on your furniture) only what would conflict with it. Good trainers are actively in search of the why the dog is doing something. Once you understand why the behavior is being presented you can train better.

Delving into the why of the two above examples. Does the dog get overly excited when the door is answered, is it because perhaps it needs more stimulation and exercise? Is it lacking self control on other thresholds or parts of it’s life? Are visitors rare? Why is the dog marking? Is it because it has an underlying infection? Was potty training never finished fully? Is there is new animal in the house? If you really want to modify your dogs behavior fully and permanently you need to understand the whys of the matter.

Now that I have given you a little bit on an intro lets talk about setting up the dog for success. How would we stop the jumper? Lets say the dog is simply a over stimulated young puppy. First off we develop a game plan where the dog could get enough physical and mental stimulation to help it retain some sanity when the exciting happens. We fist work on conditioning the dog to ‘sit’ or ‘place’ when the door rings (assuming these behaviors have been previously taught). Alone we practice ringing the door, the dog runs over in excitement but we counter with a opposing command, something that counters the dog jumping to greet. We reward the dog immediate for compliance and repeat, extending the time between the reward and command. Eventually fading out the command.

The potty training is a slightly different take. Once the dog is cleared of underlying possible medical issues, we start by deep cleaning the areas removing all possible scent residue. Then we make a clear plan how to keep the dog from repeating the behavior while we retrain. Kennel training is by far the most popular method for dealing with elimination issues, and if kennels aren’t your thing tethering the dog to your body will also help. What this does is keep the dog within your sight, helping prevent the usual sneak away to pee problem. But we need to investigate the why? Generally it is because something in the household has changed. Whether it be the addition of a new animal or human coming to live, an odd visitor, or simply some other change, all can cause a relapse of potty training. Figure out the cause of your dogs recent relapse. Figure out the triggers that cause the unwanted elimination and attempt to rectify them. Sometimes all it takes is a few weeks revisiting potty training and rewarding correct choices for a dog to extinguish the unwanted behavior.

By teaching the dog a conflicting behavior you generally can quickly modify the dogs behavior to something more acceptable. This well established technique is quite easy to learn and many trainers DIY or otherwise employ it for basic needs. In this segment I did not utilize any corrections in my training. Generally I attempt to teach people the modification by rewarding first off. I will be covering corrections at a later date because I do think it is an important topic to cover and one I utilize in my regular training. The next topic will cover basic correcting and how to go about it fairly.

Till then

~Happy Tails~