The incentive for teaching Lulu to run into the harness from a distance came from the owner who complained that she tended to back away from him when he tried to put the harness on her.
So, after a few minutes of ‘target’ training she began to stick her head through the opening. Now she can run across the room and stick her her head right through the opening. And it is so much fun for her. When her walker came he was holding the harness and all of a sudden her head was already sticking through!
We laughed so hard!
The other fun thing that happened this week was that Will actually had the chance to open the door of a small refrigerator. we worked in a different place than usual that had a small size fridge. Since we had been working on opening cabinet doors and drawers, this presented a great opportunity for us.
Here is the result. By the way: I did not ask him to retrieve anything from the fridge because I did not want him to get hurt when the door fell closed on its own.
This is a captured trick. Bailey, like so many dogs, scratches when they are not quite sure what is asked of them. I guess just like humans would scratch their head in frustration or when they are puzzled. This is a perfect opportunity to capture that behavior and put it on cue. As in the following video: Do you have an itch?
Do you remember the story of June, the rescue mini dachshund with the megaesophagus? Yesterday I got a text that June was able to stay alone without any signs of anxiety or barking for a whole hour! It is an excellent example demonstrating that separation anxiety is largely a function…
I can’t touch her ears! She hates the brush! He shakes on the way to the groomer. Isn’t it an oxymoron that on one hand we “spoil” our beloved dogs with the fanciest beds and coats, find the greatest joy in giving them a toy they love to play with…
We now have a studio! The home-like atmosphere of the studio allows us to teach dogs and puppies manners that will transfer easily when they are back home. Sessions at the studio can be tailored to your needs. New services by Dog Relations NYC: Park and Train & SpaDoggy Would…
My dog is stubborn! He doesn’t listen! Wait….really? Maybe the “stubborn” behavior is the result of your own behavior. Maybe you have inadvertently sent out messages that reinforce the dog to be “deaf”. Don’t underestimate the power of intermittent reinforcement! If you reinforce a dog’s behavior in some way, he…
I frankly was not aware of Ian Dunbar’s theory that the playtime before puppy class where the pups are allowed to run free was to teach them bite inhibition. I always knew that bite inhibition was taught much earlier, when the pup was still with his mom and litter mates.…
Just because you say it, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen I think one of the biggest misconceptions people have about a dog’s learning process is that they think the dog can conceptualize new verbal input. Let’s take the famous “sit” example. What actually makes the dog understand “sit” and…
When I am out walking my dogs I try very hard to act like a “normal” dog owner and not a trainer. But tonight I experienced something that was deeply disturbing to me. I was walking Zeldi and we ran into a sweet young Labradoodle. They clearly were interested in one…
Let’s be practical here. As much as you would like to shape behaviors but not force the dog by molding or yanking (an example for molding would be: putting the dog into a sit position by pressing on his butt until the butt hits the floor) or teaching a sit stay…
Most of us have heard of the behavior exercise : Leave it! When the skill is learned the dog will turn away from an object he desires voluntarily because this action has been highly rewarded in training set ups. Here is a version of this game I thought would be…