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 but when it comes to…
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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 you like to “park” your…
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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 will try that behavior again.…
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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. That aside, there seem to…
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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 perform the "sit" reliably is…
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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 another but the Labradoodle seemed subdued…
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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 by yanking on the leash…
Read MoreMost 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 fun and useful. The dog…
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Traditionally speaking the pillars of "basic obedience" are: Sit, sit/stay, down, down/stay, walk in heel position and come when called. I wonder what she wants??? Very often the first and sometimes the only thing a dog is taught is "sit". More often than not this is not crowned with much success. It requires multiple prompts from…
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A couple of days ago a client mentioned that her brand new puppy yaps and whines when in the play pen and that she was ignoring the yapping and yelping and she expects that the behavior will stop if she ignores it. Hmmmm...yes. But I am thinking: what is the fallout here? Will puppy actually…
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