On Saturday was my last judging assignment for this 4-H year. This event was bigger than the others, with three judges present so that all the classes could be completed efficiently. It was very interesting that I received quite a few comments from parents and show staff, “I just Read more…
At the Steve White seminar in April, Steve and Jen had a short talk on finding and noting patterns. The patterns could be things that happen before or after the desired behavior. Or in when or how the person cues or reinforces. Some of these are hard to see without Read more…
By then end of a class session, half the students have typically met their goals and are happy with the progress made. The other half asks, “what’s next?” What are your goals? If we haven’t met your goals, we should probably keep working. We can talk about class Read more…
For six months I’ve been quite confident I was training Griffin to find a specific scent and to lie down. However…. it’s not as strong as I had thought (and hoped). If at all possible, he will dig/paw/bite/retrieve the container rather than alert. The Down is only happening if Read more…
Sometimes students have ‘Potentially Unrealistic Expectations.’ Behaviors that they say they want, and that we can theoretically train… but there isn’t actually enough time, commitment, or experience to make it happen. That’s one of the reasons we emphasize management. Crates, Gates, Leashes, Kongs, Food Toys…. things to keep Read more…
Today, Griffin swam across the pond! With only a little extra help. We’ll get good at going across the “short” way and then work up to going across the long way. We do only very scattered field work…no specific goals besides the golden retriever “Working Certificate”. But all Read more…
After leash reactivity class we try to always ask “Which part was the best and which part was the hardest?” It’s very, very interesting how most people will then tell the best part.. and the “worst” part. Part of that probably is that “worst” is considered to be the opposite Read more…
Sometimes at training group we talk about whether or not training is “too hard.” We struggle with parts of it. Our dogs aren’t perfect (except for Griffin….). And how do we expect people to succeed when they don’t want or need to know everything about training? Sometimes I Read more…
Recently a facility opened in our region for dock diving. The owners are also affiliated with a national dog training franchise that….is very different from what I do. It is not clearly evident that the two are related, however the same humans are associated with both businesses and it appears Read more…
Cues mean more than a history of reinforcement if a specific behavior occurs. Cues can give so much information to the animal! Griffin and I have been working on and off on his “Drop on Recall” obedience exercise. We do a session. It goes poorly. I come back to Read more…