A Little Food for Thought When It Comes to Treats
Let me just say that the word “treat’ implies that there is something particularly special about the quality or the palatability or the salience. Remember that “treat” also can be…
Training your dog with positive reinforcement
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…
consequences for nuisance behaviors
One of the first things I taught my puppy Zeldi is to settle on the floor during food preparations, human and canine. She knows that very well. as soon as…
“Greed” in the context of dog training
When talking about greed in the context of teaching dogs I think of the following: The lack of generosity in rewarding behaviors you want to promote Asking for too…
Thinking from the dog’s point of view
The general advice for extinguishing unwanted behaviors is to “ignore” those behaviors. I think that simply saying “ignore the behavior” is not exactly the right way to put it. If…
Rewarding Dogs Without Food
Recently I learned more about the Premack principle in a webinar given by Kathy Sdao who is an admirable animal trainer. I was interested in learning more about how I…
Small victories make me happy
A couple of years ago I read a blogpost by the very thoughtful British dog trainer Kay Laurence. http://www.learningaboutdogs.com/ She had a new puppy at the time and she was…
Dog runs: what do you think?
Zeldi just had a great play session with an adolescent border terrier who lives a block away from us. They had a very animated game, their playing styles were matched really well.…
Reward strategies
On a recent walk with my puppy Zeldi we came across a woman standing around in the street playing with her phone. She was wearing a billowing long dress. Zeldi…
Fear mongering
The current political climate is disturbing and yes, frightening. People are het up with fear and hatred, leading to an atmosphere of alarmism, reactivity and violent lashing out. Whatever impulse…
