Teaching Manners, Behaviors, and Relationships
Summer session starts July 10th.
For more scheduling and enrollment information click here.
Classes are located in Mahopac, New York.
Questions contact Lisa@threedogstraining.com
Three Dogs Training class enrollment.
Okay maybe summer cooking school is not for your dog. But…
Three Dogs Training is.
Then… Your dog will get to wear this kind of hat!
For more information:
click here or contact Lisa@threedogstraining.com
Everyday we train our dogs we make a choice about the relationship we want with our dogs and the relationship we want our dogs to have with the world.
The reality is that any good trainer has been well trained by their dog—one way or the other.
Teaching new skills goes through successive approximations to achieve better and better behaviors with a final goal in mind. It can look like the trainer is rewarding crappy behavior. But, in fact we are rewarding better-than-before behavior knowing that we are nudging the behavior closer to our final goal.
We will gently shift our criteria for each rewardable event to slightly improved behaviors, little-by-little.
In other words, if I want a dog to settle while their favorite thing on earth is nearby (say kids playing ball) I have two choices:
The positive reinforcement trainer has been well trained by their dog to know how often their dog will need rewards to remain in the settle.
The positive punishment/negative reinforcement trainer has been well trained by their dog to know when they need to correct the dog, how much they need to correct, and when to release the collar.
In the end any trainer who achieves reliable behaviors has been trained by their dog to know what that dog requires to learn.
Positive reinforcement is a back and forth negotiation that allows for the dog to say,
“This is too hard for me so you need to pay me a bit more.” Or, “I really don’t care for this but if you pay me well I will do it.”
A. Verg Dog
This is not unlike when we look at our boss and tell them we will need time-and-a-half to work on a holiday. With appropriate payments the final result will be a great settle that has not negatively effected how the dog feels about performing the well-paid-for settle in the face of the children?
Positive punishment/negative reinforcement training it is not about negotiation but about forcing the dog to comply. Here the dog will probably say the same thing,
“I really don’t care for this thing,” Or, “This is too hard for me.”
A. Verg Dog
But this dog receives punishment for her inability to comply or lack of understanding. This is not unlike the boss who tells the employees they will have to work on the holiday and if they do not, they will be fired. The final result in this instance is a dog who learns to comply but has a negative association with their handler (boss) and the activity
As we near publication of A Dog Named Boo, I spoke with Publisher’s Weekly about publishing, dog training, and how working with dogs changed my life.
As we get nearer to the official publication date of A Dog Named Boo, I sat down with Publisher’s Weekly to talk about publishing, dog training, what makes a good therapy dog, and how working with dogs changed my life.
Here’s a link: The “Ruff” Road to Recovery: PW Talks with Lisa Edwards
It was very exciting and I hope you enjoy it!
Leash anxiety can be a common behavioral problem in dogs. Here are some great positive reinforcement tips on how to overcome it.
Ask Professor Boo is our recurring, positive reinforcement dog training and behavior question and answer column. If you have a question that you would like to ask Professor Boo, please feel free to contact him.
On the one hand, she seems as if she’s leash-phobic, which isn’t entirely uncommon, and on the other she seems to be exhibiting the signs of a more general type of anxiety.
Almost no dog is born liking their leash. It’s something they eventually learn to love, tolerate, or even hate depending on the rewards associated with them putting it on. Going for walks, play, and general fun will make the leash much more attractive for a dog who likes those things.
Stepping back for a moment and putting it in human terms, in many ways on a behavioral level a leash to a dog is the same as a tie is for a man.
No man, young or old, likes wearing a tie the first couple times, but if they’re consistently told they look handsome in it – or if they get paid a million dollars to wear it – they’re going to learn to really like it.
Alternatively, if someone has to wear a tie to a job that they only kind of like but they get paid pretty well to do it, then they’ll tolerate the tie but – more often than not – will look forward to pulling it off the second they’re out of the office.
Finally, if the only time someone wears a tie is to go to funerals then the powerful negative associations they’ve made to the tie will essentially guarantee they’ll hate every second of wearing one.
Bringing it back to your anxious greyhound, for whatever reason she’s put herself in the “funeral” associative camp and your job is to get her from there to tolerating and then loving her leashes or harnesses.
Once you’ve gotten to the point where she’s happy to wear her leash or harness, you are going to go very slowly as she builds up her confidence while she’s wearing it.
Dogs feel at a disadvantage when they’re leashed so you must be very careful so you do not undo all the work you’ve done.
(As an aside, I’ve written before on the topic of how best to handle leashes – Leashes, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Mad About Leashes, or How to Manage Leash Aggression.)
Check with your veterinarian to be sure that she is healthy and find a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant who has experience with anxiety in dogs. That person will need to help you set up a protocol for desensitizing and counterconditioning your dog so you can change how she feels about the the scary things in her life.
Ideally you will need to address both the leash sensitivity and anxiety in parallel because the confidence she builds from the leash training might lessen the anxiety while the lessened anxiety from the over-the-counter approaches might allow her to better focus on the training.
All of this will take time and patience on your part, but desensitization and counterconditioning through positive reinforcement does – and can – work wonders.
And don’t forget while you are working on these items please seek out professional help to assist you with the root cause of your greyhound’s anxiety.
Good luck and let us know how it goes! Stay positive!
