Teaching Manners, Behaviors, and Relationships
As of this date, Three Dogs Training is now officially Three Dogs Training, LLC.
As part of the ongoing changes we mentioned earlier this month, we’re happy to announce that we’re now Three Dogs Training, LLC.
With my over two decades of dog training experience and over ten years in business, the exciting things that we have scheduled in 2010 (and beyond) required taking this step to allow Three Dogs Training to grow.
I can’t wait to share what we’ve got planned for this year, but sometimes surprises are fun – and worth the wait!
Lisa and Boo will be on Working Dawgs on January 19th – set your Tivos!
Delta Society let us know that footage they shot of Boo and me for the national Beyond Limits Awards will be featured on Working Dawgs: The Human Animal Connection on Tuesday January 19th.
The show airs on satellite TV – the In Country Television channel (DISH Ch .230 or Direct Ch.344) and our episode will preview on Tuesday, January 19th at 8:00 PM EST/7:00 PM CST.
In addition, the episode will feature and interview with Alan Beck from the Center for the Human Animal Bond at Purdue University where he shares his insights into research that’s been done which clearly demonstrates how animals truly have a profound impact on us.
Additional interviews from professionals incorporating animals into their practices, and insights from every day people whose own pets enrich their lives are also featured.
Positive reinforcement dog training can be simple as A-B-C once you know what they mean.
Some trainers will tell you to make a specific sound like growl like a dog or make a snake-like hiss to get a dog to stop doing something.
They will tell you it is the sound that makes the dog stop as if the sound has some magic property.
Alas, there is no magic sound out there that will stop a dog or make a dog behave one way or the other.
However, there really is magic in dog training. It is in the simple but very powerful premise of A-B-C and all living creatures learn behavior via this simple yet powerful premise:
A = Antecedent
B = Behavior
C = Consequence
In layman’s terms the (A) can be a sound that we make (it could also be other things but that’s for another day).
It could be a cue word like sit.
It could be a sound like “uh-uh” or “uh-oh.”
No matter what it is – it only becomes magic when there is a consistent consequence that follows a behavior.
All living things will repeat behaviors or not repeat behaviors based on the consequences – rewarding or not rewarding.
So if you offer a “magic” sound like “uh-uh” when a dog is jumping on you then you stand there looking away from the dog or just walk on by – you have offered a tremendous immediate consequence – No Reward and No Attention. These are two of the most powerful consequences you can offer a dog, and the great thing is that the most effective consequences are both pain and fear free!
Maybe the dog jumps again because jumping is such a self reinforcing behavior and you offer the same sequence of “uh-uh” with No Reward and No Attention. Dog learns that this behavior (B) = (jumping) just doesn’t pay – so they choose another behavior – maybe sitting or just standing there by you.
This is magic step one: the dog has chosen a different better behavior
Step two is the big one…
As soon as dog chooses another Behavior (B) that you like you MUST offer a consequence that dog likes. This will ensure that dog learns that “uh-uh” means – choose something better then you will get rewarded.
Magic!!!
