Training

My friend has super fast dogs, and they compete in agility. I always imagined that the magnets on the back of her vehicle indicated just how fast they could run: MACH speeds! And C-ATCH: Catch me if you can! Obviously my Border Collie, Duncan, and I didn't get far enough in our brief agility career to earn any titles (he preferred to make up his own courses). But when my curiosity got the better of me and I looked into what, exactly, those letters on my friend's car actually meant, I quickly learned that there are countless titles and certifications that can be bestowed upon our canine companions.

Current research has demonstrated that many species, including our beloved canines, share brain circuitry very similar to the human part of the brain that controls emotion – the amygdala and the periaqueductal grey. While there's no doubt among most dog lovers that dogs have emotions, this concept is still being discussed in the halls of academia. Some insist that even though animals show emotional behaviors that we can observe, we can't assume the behaviors mean the animals who display them have emotional feelings. (I don't know how anyone can think this, but some scientists really do!) Others, such as the esteemed neurobiologist Dr. Jaak Panskepp of Washington State University, argue that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it's probably a duck!

I found the concept of a vibration collar potentially useful. But in practice, there were a number of things I didn’t like about the...

Dog harnesses vs collars - which is safer? There are many types of collars and harnesses on the market, and some serve specific purposes.

Be sure to reinforce both/all dogs for calm, appropriate behavior in each other's presence. Your reinforcers should be calming: treats, massage, and verbal praise are good choices; tug and fetch are not. You can use tethers, if necessary, to create calm, and follow Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas' suggestions to have dogs approach each other in a curving line rather than directly, allowing them to sniff the ground and do other displacement and appeasement behaviors such as looking away, as they choose.

How to produce a completely dependable "stay" in your dog, no matter what the distraction. (Hint: It takes a lot of practice!) We were on our usual morning neighborhood walk. All of a sudden, three children on bikes sped past us on the sidewalk, racing each other on the way to school. The faster and older children raced around the corner, leaving the younger bicyclist in their dust.

We have Edward Thorndike (1874 - 1949) to thank for teaching us about The Law of Effect. While studying behaviorism, he observed and described The Law of Effect, which states that behaviors change as a result of the consequences to actions. Boundless.com has a nice succinct explanation of The Law of Effect:

When it comes to learning to come when called, not all dogs are created equal. Some dogs learn the “recall” very easily. They seem to know instinctively that coming when called is to their advantage. Others will come when called most of the time, perhaps more reluctantly. For some dogs, however, coming when called is the most challenging behavior they will ever learn – especially when faced with choosing between complying with the request and distractions like squirrels, cats, balls, or other dogs.

There’s a behavior that we never used to teach in old-fashioned training classes that is now one of my absolute favorites; I can’t wait...

One of the things that parents almost always say when they decide to add a dog to the family is, It will help teach the kids about responsibility." That's the hope

When I was a kid, nobody talked about “socializing” their dogs, and most of the dogs we knew were just fine with kids. What’s the big deal? At risk of sounding old, when I was a kid, it was a different world. The only dogs I knew who weren’t free to run around my rural neighborhood were either hunting dogs or watchdogs; kids knew not to fool around with any of those dogs. And all the ones running loose in the neighborhood were extremely “good with kids.” That’s because they were constantly exposed to kids! I want my dog to be as rock-solid with kids – and every other type of person – as he is at resisting the urge to chase cats. So we’re going to have to practice.

Training, says Massachusetts dog trainer Donna Duford, should be fun, not work. Her seminars are such upbeat, tail-wagging events that the dogs seem to be having a party. Look closer and you’ll see a serious class, with participants taking notes as Duford reviews the laws of learning and defines classical conditioning, operant conditioning, positive and negative reinforcement, positive and negative punishment, continuous and variable reinforcement schedules, and other fundamentals of behavioral training.