Learn a game to grow ItsYerChoice in daily life. It's especially useful if you find your dog staring at your pocket or the toy in your hand, or any "cookie" that you may have out. It will help make you aware of your responses to your dogs responses.
We all love our dogs, therefore it is difficult not to indulge them occasionally. However, I have often said, "dogs are far better at shaping people, than people are at shaping dogs!" Learn a game to to change your dog's unwanted behaviour around the house, and replace frustration with fun! This game is going to make you aware of your responses, and how you can use what your dog finds reinforcing for the benefit of both of you.
Understanding the Reinforcement Zone is one of the KEYS for success in dog sport. Our dogs having value for RZ is going to be a reinforcer in it's own right for the competition ring! Your dog being by your side because he wants to be there is going to exponentially increase your joy and performance in the sport as a team.
One of the most frequent questions we see as dog trainers is "how do I stop my dog pulling on the leash?", and it's not just in the usual dog training channels you will see this. It's everywhere on the internet. It's heard at the dog park, the vet, on the street, heck, it might also be the topic of dinner party conversations. Stopping your dog from pulling on leash starts with understanding your dog's Reinforcement Zone (RZ)! When you know RZ, you can help your dog love loose leash walking.
Trimming toenails is always a HOT topic for all of us who live with dogs and want the best for them. But what if you dog HATES having his nails cut? What if he is terrified? What if attempting to do so is a danger to him and to you? This is something I've experienced first hand. Learn how to help your dog put his fear of nail trimming behind and how to lessen the trauma for both of you.
I know that many of you would have read the title of this blog post and done a double take .... and could well be thinking "that Susan Garrett has gone a bit cray cray, she has spent years telling us that agility and dog [...]
We get a lot of questions about dogs who misbehave …. dogs who counter surf, raid the garbage, destroy the flower beds, run away when called. You might know a dog like this, or it could even be your dog. One thing we all know [...]
I've recently travelled back home from this year's FCI Agility World Championships held in Finland. Being on a plane always gives me time to think... and my thoughts turned to what leads to agility success. Agility success can be at any level of the sport, [...]
As committed dog owners, we all know the importance of exercising our dogs minds and bodies for their well being, and so they have the best life possible. Studies have shown that exercise is a common factor in the longevity of dogs. My friend, Rodney [...]
We previously looked at creating a positive experience for our dogs when visiting the vet. This includes shaping our dogs to cooperate in their own care. Over the years on my blog, I've written a lot about the benefits of shaping. I've even included a [...]
One of the many things that unite us as dog lovers is that we will all have to take our dog to visit the vet. This can be a harrowing experience for our animals, but it does not need to be that way. More and [...]
Over the years, I've written a lot about tugging. It has almost always been from the perspective of helping people and dogs embrace and enjoy the game. Lately though we have seen a shift... we used to seldom see questions about dogs who loved tugging [...]
