Training

A Labrador leaps into a pool in a Splash Dogs contest, one type of dock jumping.

It helps to keep track of exactly what it is that you expect the dog to do when you use a certain cue. If your dog is often confused about a particular cue or behavior, you might look over your own dictionary to determine whether your definition or cue has drifted away from what you originally taught your dog, or whether you have cues or behaviors that are easy to mistake for another one.

We listed a variety of applications at the beginning of this article. Here’s a little more detail on each one: Polite greetings: Visitors coming? No...

All dogs love a gentle pat on the shoulder or the rump. To them it can be a signal of a job well done or simply an indication of our affection. Touch strengthens the bond between dog and owner and is a basic building block of the canine-human relationship. We have already considered effleurage, the open-hand technique that resembles smooth petting strokes yet does so much for the dog’s circulation, relaxation, and balance. Compression, another open-hand technique, also affords enjoyable physical contact between you and your dog while providing important health benefits to your canine friend.

Not long ago, I got to take a weekend off in San Diego. On the first day, quite by accident, I ended up at...

Introduce choice to your dogs by teaching a 'You Choose' cue.

Walking politely at your side doesn’t seem like it should be so difficult to teach a dog, but it often proves to be the most challenging behavior for dog owners to achieve. Dogs who are letter-perfect with their sits and downs, targeting, and “leave it” exercises in the training center happily drag their owners across the parking lot to and from their cars before and after class.

Classical conditioning, quite simply, is learning by association. It is when a person or animal associates one stimulus with something that was not previously associated.

When they fill out their evaluation forms at the end of a six-week course, my clients frequently name the Off" exercise as one of the most useful behaviors they have taught their dogs in class. "Off" means "Whatever you are paying attention to right now

Those of us who love dogs find the prospect of bringing home a new canine family member intoxicating and exhilarating. Well-planned in advance or...

The super-fun walks described in our “Walk This Way” article in last month’s issue aren’t always possible; there are times when dogs do need...

You may think feeding your dog is a simple matter of dumping food in his bowl and plopping it down on the floor in front of him. You may be wrong. Mealtime is fraught with significance for your dog, and loaded with opportunities for you to influence his health and his behavior. Failure to take advantage of these could actually contribute to the development and/or escalation of problems that might otherwise be averted. A few deliberate decisions and choices on your part can go far in creating harmony in your home.