Beginner Dog Training

we start with shaping that behavior and backchain to the completed "Fetch" behavior.üGradually

If you use a clicker as your marker, you would create this association initially by clicking the clicker and then immediately feeding the dog a treat. You repeat this a number of times – click, treat; click, treat; click, treat – until your dog's eyes light up when she hears the click and she looks for the treat. We sometimes refer to this process as charging" the clicker; we've given the click significance

Most of the time, when dogs do something we don't want them to do (such as stealing our socks or jumping on our elderly...

It's very frustrating when you're sure your dog knows the cue for a behavior but he doesn't do it when you ask him to. Imagine how frustrating it is for him when you cue a behavior and he just doesn't understand the cue that you were so sure he knew! Here are five things to do to avoid this impasse.

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.

Taking a dog for a walk or hike off-leash must be done appropriately and legally in order to prevent any number of risks to the dog, other dogs, or humans who may encounter the off-leash dog, as well as livestock or wildlife in the area. Off-leash dogs may run off and get lost, run onto roads and cause serious accidents, cause hikers to fall and bicyclists to crash, and chase or even kill other animals.

You've no doubt heard the adage, You can't teach an old dog new tricks." If you have an older dog

Switching to positive training? At first, it might be frustrating for you – and your dog. The benefits, however, will last a lifetime. In positive training, the goal is to help the dog do the right thing and then reward him for it, rather than punishing him for doing the wrong thing. If he makes a mistake, the behavior is ignored, or excused with an “Oops, try again!” to encourage the dog to do something else.

A cue becomes “poisoned” when the dog’s association with the cue is ambiguous – it’s sometimes associated with positive reinforcement, and sometimes associated with punishment. When the association is ambiguous, the dog becomes confused and doesn’t know what to expect. Poisoning your “Come!” cue is the best way to ensure that she’ll stop and weigh her choices, then take off after the bounding deer, rather than come galloping to you when you call.

so he's trying it again.üIs this dog dominant or acting like an "alpha dog"? No; he's been trained to jump up and bite on cue."

The level of your children’s participation in your dog’s training program will vary based on the age and abilities of the children.

Many dogs pull on leash so much and so hard that it can be difficult, even dangerous, to take them for walks. Frustrated owners often stop trying to exercise and socialize their pullers, leaving the dogs bored, lonely, and underexercised in backyards. This can result in the development of undesirable behaviors – barking, digging and chewing, perhaps roaming – to alleviate boredom and expend energy. Adolescent, out-of-control, digging, barking, and chewing dogs frequently end up rehomed or surrendered to animal shelters.