by Denise Fenzi | Jul 25, 2018 | Generic training advice, Musings
What does positive reinforcement based training mean to you? For some trainers, it means a lot of cookies and maybe throwing a toy into the mix on occasion. I see that kind of training a lot. As a matter of fact, it’s the most common type of positive...
by Denise Fenzi | Jul 1, 2018 | Generic training advice
In my last blog I talked about “making your dog’s radar”. Now I’d like to talk about how much you might want to be on your dog’s radar under different circumstances and your options for adjusting that using dog-friendly methods. Here are...
by Denise Fenzi | Jun 28, 2018 | Generic training advice
Recently I was talking with a group of people about how I trained my neighbor’s free-roaming dog not to come through her gate and harass me and my dog. First I tried talking nicely to the dog. That had no effect. Second, I tried crossing the street. That seemed...
by Denise Fenzi | Dec 2, 2017 | Generic training advice, Musings
When I talk about personal play or interaction, I’m talking about the process of interacting with your dog without food or toys in a manner that is enjoyable for both of you, but rarely do I consider personal play a reinforcer. So what does that mean? A...
by Denise Fenzi | Oct 27, 2013 | Brito
For those who are worried that Lyra may have disappeared…no worries. She’s doing very well and, if anything, has been rather brilliant this week. But…she’s getting to be a “trained” dog, which means there is less and less that I...
by Denise Fenzi | Sep 25, 2013 | Most Viewed Posts, Musings
Many of you probably know that I wrote a book with Deb Jones. The book started out as an obedience book, but as we started to write it just didn’t end up that way. So we started over, with the plan of writing three or more books. The first one has happened. It...
by Denise Fenzi | Jul 18, 2012 | Most Viewed Posts, Musings
Does your dog know that you love her? With humans, we use words to express our love, but more imporant, we use our actions. We interact physically by hugging, kissing and playing, especially with children. We interact emotionally by offering support when times get...
by Denise Fenzi | Apr 15, 2012 | Most Viewed Posts, Musings
I recently had the privilege of working with a dog/handler team that had particularly good interpersonal play skills. Without using food or toys, this handler could engage her dog for several minutes at a time. Further, she could then ask the dog to work for her in...
