Are we having fun yet?

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...

Making the Radar

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...

Brito – Training Day 5

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...

The Book: Dog Sports Skills

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...

Friendship

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...

What is Relationship?

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...