Purely Positive Dog Training?
What is my main complaint about PP (Purely Positive dog) training theory? Of all the famous trainers I have followed, they don’t truly have trained dogs. They are just tolerating, managing, or blocking undesired behaviors. That means they can’t train your dogs to live in their Promised Land: your dog will not be under verbal […]
What’s The Truth About Using Aversive Methods In Dog Training?
No normal person wants to harm a dog. Let’s get that out of the way up front. This article is not about how to harm any dog. If you are someone who would take your anger out on a dog, or get pleasure from harming a dog, then you should stay about a million miles […]
What Is Owner Absent Misbehavior?
Some dogs soil the home when the owner is gone, destroy things when you are not around, bark or howl, dig, or cause trouble for other members or pets in the family. This is “Owner Absent Misbehavior”. What sets up this problem? Well, you’ve become the Fun Police. When you are around, if your dog […]
How Is Your Relationship With Your Dog?
If your dog Comes happily, allows grooming, accepts a leash and collar, likes playing with you, likes being petted by you, listens to your commands, can be left home alone without distress or destruction, and doesn’t have to be left in the yard while you are gone, then you have a good relationship with your […]
Rescues, Shelters And Breeders Need To Focus On The Puppies
What would make the biggest impact on reducing the number of dogs in animal shelters, and consequently, the number of dogs put to death every year? Rescues, shelters and breeders need to start focusing on puppy socialization and training. Get the puppies right and you are much less likely to get them back. Socialization. We […]
Preventing Shelter Dog Deterioration
Long term, inappropriate kenneling creates neuroses in shelter dogs, resulting in repetitive or severely inhibited responses; multiple signs of extreme stress, self-preoccupied behaviors; increased care soliciting or care rejecting behavioral patterns; resistance to being returned to the kennel; snapping at the leash or while being leashed; food bowl guarding; suspiciousness, restlessness, and excessive vocalizations; trembling; […]
Understanding Puppies
On one hand, puppy wants what it wants and can’t inhibit themselves very well. On the other hand, external influences limit a puppy’s actions. How can we best raise and own dogs, from puppy to adult, and balance these conflicting forces? About 60 years ago, a new perspective was overtaking the dog world. The message […]
Dogs, Pavlov, and Skinner
What are we, as dog owners and trainers, to make of the mechanistic learning science doctrines of Pavlov, Skinner, and others? The troublesome outcome of their work in animal and human experiments is that their concepts were sterile and inadequate, and forced to explain all behavior as combinations and sequences of exact, independent, reflexive actions. […]
What Kind Of Dog Do You Have?
One of the first questions I ask a potential student is about the kind of dog they have. I do this because training should match the dog, not the other way around. Once the breed, breeding, or mix of breeds, is established, then I want to know what kind of training the owner is seeking. […]
Force Free vs Balanced Dog Training?
There has been a long-standing dispute between the “force free” dog training community advocates and the “balanced” dog training community advocates. What’s that all about? The “force free” dog training community are generally those who advocate that all dog training should be comprised of positive reinforcement methods. In this group, it is considered inhumane to […]