Category: Training Tips

Building a safe Dog/Baby Relationship

Brody and Baby-L – How this beautiful relationship got started

In August of 2018, Jessica reached out to me regarding her dog Brody and her son (aka Baby-L).

She kept me updated over the years and has given me permission to share her story of love, safety, and success.

“When we brought Baby-L home I felt like I was drowning in fear and anxiety because of our dog, and I honestly thought I would never come out of it.  Obviously, I still manage and watch them carefully, but I do feel confident and I am much more emotionally relaxed while I help them build their relationship.”

Jessica’s note from September 2020
All Three Dogs Training’s clients fill out a behavioral questionnaire. Some of the items from Jessica’s questionnaire were:
  • “Brody’s overexcitement/anxiety makes him very jumpy, barky, and all worked up when something out of the ordinary happens (guests, car rides, etc.).
  • I do not believe that my dog would hurt my baby but…
Brody had a history with a toddler in the family.
  • “We cannot close Brody off in his own room without him crying and barking and digging at the door (he dug a hole in the upstairs carpet …)
  • I want to help him learn it’s okay to be away from us and have him learn to relax away from the action. We joke that he has FOMO (fear of missing out).”
Brody’s FOMO was going to get in the way of the positive association exercises he needed.

Jessica worked on teaching Brody skills to be comfortable around Baby-L while separated by a gate or play yard, or very focused oversight.

When a dog is on the other side of a baby gate or play yard he can watch baby’s development and learn to be okay with a crawling, toddling child. It also allows us to be able to give our dog commands and rewards for being quiet and calm around the baby.

More details on this can be found in Please Don’t Bite the Baby and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs, Gates and Crates! pg 52

Skills Jessica worked on:
Watch Brody go from feeling left out to being relaxed around his toddler
  • Settle
    • With and Without the Treat n Train
      • At first with Jessica was in the room with Brody
    • Then Brody was on the other side of a
    • She worked short departures like going upstairs or visa versa while leaving Brody with GREAT toys (stuffed with food)
    • She encouraged any calm behavior around the Baby-L
More to come…

Cooperative Care Workshop

The Three Dogs Training Cooperative Care Workshop is available for enrollment.

This cooperative care workshop starting April 11, 2026 is for anyone who wants to help their dog tolerate and even enjoy the kind of physical care that often makes dogs uncomfortable and even aggressive. IAABC outlines cooperative care in this article.

We care for our dogs to keep them happy and healthy. Sometimes they don’t tolerate that care easily or comfortably. We can help them be more at ease with this care.

Dog in bath tub getting feet washed.

Pax’e stands calmly waiting for her treat while I wash the muck from her feet. No restraint and no struggle!

You can enroll in the cooperative care workshop to prevent your dog from developing handling issues, or you can enroll to fix handling issues your dog has (see limitations below).

This cooperative care workshop will teach you how to desensitize and counter condition your dog to accept and be comfortable with non-preferred body handling activities. These can be –

  • Brushing
  • Combing
  • Ear cleaning
  • Nail trimming
  • Teeth brushing
  • Moderate upkeep between grooming
  • Medication oral, injectable, topical, etc.
  • Accepting equipment, like harnesses, muzzles, cones, etc.
  • Having more successful vet visits
Suzy keeps her eye on the “bucket” as Vicky desensitizes her to petting as a prelude to brushing.

Yes – you might see the bucket game in this class. Thanks Chirag!

This workshop is four weeks and the first week is for humans only. Class time is 11:20 and runs for an hour.

Enrollment is limited to the following:

  • There are four spots for dog/human teams. The dogs need to be dog and stranger comfortable and have NO bite history.
  • There are three spots for humans to audit without their dogs. These are for families whose dogs need help with cooperative care but are not dog and stranger comfortable, and/or have a bite history.
This is not a class on how to groom your dog.

The workshop fee is $280 for dog/handler teams and $250 for human-only auditors.

This class meets for an hour and attendees will bring their own supplies.

For more information or to enroll click these links.

Does your dog think sit is just the beginning of down?

Sometimes our dogs chain behaviors in ways we didn’t plan, so here’s a way to help your dog from becoming confused about what your commands really mean.

If so, you are not alone!

All too often we teach sit easily — it is a calming signal dogs tend to throw our way in the early stages. When our dog sits, we get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding the dog and – voila! – we have a sit command!

Sometimes we have to work a little harder at getting that sit by either luring or shaping it, but again once the dog complies we get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding the dog and – voila! – we have a sit command.

No matter how we get to it, we have established a basic skill that is used as a stepping-stone to so many other commands: sit/stay, sit/wait, sit/paw, sit/down.

The sit/down (and sit/paw) are the two combo-commands most commonly chained together by our dogs.

All too often folks start training the down command with the dog in a sit position and for some dogs it comes easily and for others it can take a while. Again no matter how we get there once the dog does his/her down, we get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding and soon we have a down command.

Here is where it gets tricky: if we only ask for a down from a sit position our dogs can begin to chain the two together. They begin to be conditioned that down always comes after sit and it is not long before they believe sit always comes before the down and voila — we have a dog who believes sit is just the beginning of down.

Okay — how do we break or avoid this? Easy.

Begin teaching the down cue from a standing position. The lure is the same: a stinky treat in a closed hand at the dog’s nose, slowly bring treat straight down to the floor (slowly enough so the dog’s nose follows the treat), wait for the dog to begin to lie down and then completely lie down — then get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding.

There are a few dogs who will not go all the way down — no problem, just pay for half a down, then three-quarters of a down, then nine-tenths of a down (you get the idea). You can also shape down from a standing position by simply rewarding it each time your dog does it (more on that in another blog). And if your dog already knows down from a sit, the same procedure applies as above. But you may not ask them for a down from a sit for a complete month (or more if they already think sit is just the beginning of down) because we need the dog who believes sit is just the beginning of down to let that notion extinguish from their behavior pattern.

Remember the biggest pitfall here is when we are not committed to the requested behavior.  So often we are just happy the dog is stationary that we just take the down when in fact we asked for a sit. We have to commit to the behavior we have asked for.

There is however no need to punish — no need to vex.  Just walk away if you ask for a sit and your dog slides into a down or ask the dog to stand and try again.

Remember we just want our dog to stop something and ask for a sit but when the dog slides into that down we have to get the dog back up into the sit or stand and try again—but do yourself and your dog a favor—remember to ask for the behavior they are most likely to offer reliably until you have fixed that sit-is-just-the-beginning-of-down issue. That puts fix for the lack of reliability back on us.

In the end so much of dog training is, “mean what you say, say what you mean, but don’t be mean about it.”

 

Dog Gates and Crates

Teaching our dogs how to be happy on the other side of a gate or in their crate is pretty easy but will take a bit of attention and training.

In a crate or behind a baby gate is a lovely and secure place for dogs to spend time when you’re not at home or you can’t be watching them because you’re in the shower, taking care of a baby, or busy making dinner, just to name a few.

The techniques in the excerpt below will apply to crate and gate training equally. Whether you are crating for puppy potty and house manners, or gating so you dog can see your baby having floor time, the process will be the same.

Behind the gate or in the crate should be a safe place where your dog is not disturbed and where they can have fun with wonderful safe things like – toys, food, treats, a kong, a bone, and more. Remember if crating for puppy potty training, the size of the crate should be large enough for your pup to turn around, lie down, and stand up without crouching. More on puppy potty and manners in the Puppy 101 series.

An excerpt from:
Pg 52 – 54
Teaching our dogs how to be happy on the other side of a gate or in their crate is pretty easy but will take a bit of attention and training.
  • We begin by tossing a treat for our dog as we close the door of the baby gate (or crate) so the dog is on the other side.
  • Then treat him for being on the other side of the gate or crate. Take a step away, then return and treat him.
  • Take enough steps away so you cannot reach him and toss the treat.
  • Return to the gate and treat him. Then move farther away and toss the treat. Repeat this rotation of reaching out to hand them a treat and tossing him a treat from farther away. You don’t want him thinking you always have to be near the gate or crate for him to get something. He needs to never know when he might get rewarded except that it is when he is on the other side of the gate or in the crate. Once he has figured this out, you can move to the next step.
  • NOTE—if your dog starts to jump or bark, you should turn away, walk away, and IGNORE him—DO NOT TALK to him, DO NOT LOOK at him. As soon as he is quiet—toss the treat. Your dog will figure out quickly that quiet gets him what he wants.
  • If your dog will work for his kibble—great. However, if not, you will need a treat that is higher value. Please be sure to read the ingredients of the treats and look for treats that have meat as the first ingredient.
  • Once your dog is happily standing quietly on the other side of the gate or in the crate, then start asking the dog to settle there. Follow the settle directions from above adjusting for your being on the other side of a gate or crate.
  • Eventually you walk away from the gate or the crate and go do something. If you will be doing something that won’t allow you to intermittently return to the dog to treat him, or you won’t be able to toss him a treat, for example if you are taking a nap or a shower, leave him with a Kong, stuffed bone, or puzzle toy so he is happily occupied while you are otherwise engaged.
  • Eventually, when your dog is on the other side of a gate or in the crate, you will no longer need to interact with him because he will be content with this place and not need further assistance.
  • If your dog is really opposed to being alone, however, there will be some setbacks. You can always feed him his meals on the other side of the gate or in his crate while you are in another room in addition to working the above steps.

Pinball getting sleepy in his crate.

NOTE:

If your dog hurts himself in the crate you will want to try to build happy crate time following the steps above but at a much slower pace and only for occasional use. While you may not envision putting your dog in a crate regularly, there are situations in addition to management that will call for your dog to have crate time, such as: the dog is lost and taken in by Animal Control, or the dog is injured or must undergo surgery that requires them to be crate-rested for a period of time. If your dog finds himself in either of these situations and is unhappy in the crate, he will be extremely stressed and may hurt himself while crated and his crate fears will only increase. If your dog simply cannot adjust to a crate, do not force the issue.

For more tips on keeping dogs and kids safe together see:

Please Don’t Bite the Baby and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs.

Dog Training Supply List

This dog training supply list includes your dog’s wearable equipment.

Many dog training tools are specific to training class but most of them will be useful in classes, at home, on walks, and more.

TP is not a dog training supply
Your dog may disagree about what is and is not a training tool. But you will hold firm on no TP.

Collars, harnesses, and leashes.

For most of our dogs, it is good to use the same equipment for walks, hikes, or classes. Occasionally we will use a longer or shorter leash for different activities.

Collars
  • Flat collar – these are the basic collar everyone thinks of when they think of a collar.
  • Martingale collar – this collar allows the collar to close just enough to prevent the dog from squiggling out. This is my preferred collar.
  • I happen to be a fan of the Lupine collars linked above. They are well made (US), guaranteed (even if chewed), and they have loads of nice patterns 😊
Harnesses

Understanding the difference between a back-clip harness and a front-clip harness is critical.

If your dog’s harness has the leash clipping to a d-ring on the dog’s back, this is a back-clip harness. In most cases, this will increase pulling as it engages your dog’s oppositional reflex and they will push their chest against the front of the harness reflexively (they just can’t help it).

A Front-clip harness will have a d-ring on the dog’s chest where the leash will attach.

Front clip harness is a dog training supply

This is a front-clip harness. Notice the leash is attached to the harness on the front of the dog’s chest.

This will reduce the pressure against the dog’s chest and decrease or eliminate the oppositional reflex. This will stop or reduce greatly the pulling battle that often goes on during dog walks.

Here are three well made and reasonably priced front clip harnesses.

  • Freedom No-pull harness. This fits the best and has a secondary back clip if you want to switch between back and front clipping.
  • The Easy Walk Harness. This can take some tinkering to get it to fit right. But if it fits your dog, it is a good front-clip harness.
  • The Sensation harness. This was the first of its kind and still well made and secure.

There are many other front-clip harnesses. I find the ones that have what looks like a breast-plate in the front move side-to-side too much to be effective. The Whole Dog Journal has a nice article outlining many different front-clip harnesses.

Leashes…

There are far too many types, styles, textures, and lengths of dog leashes to list them in this training supply list.

I prefer leather or biothane leases for my own dogs. These materials sit more comfortably in my hand than cotton or nylon. For either, I like three-quarters or five-eights width. For most women, an inch width will not allow the hand to fully close around it. So, the three-quarters or half inch will allow for a more secure hold.

The length of leash will vary. For an average walk in the park, four or six feet is fine. Six will allow you the most flexibility to allow your dog to move away to eliminate. But four is easiest if your dog is playing with other dogs on leash. For hiking or playing in an unfenced area, a longer ten to twenty foot leash will allow for maximum flexibility.

  • Leather is the softest and sturdiest leash I have found. But it is not waterproof.
  • Biothane leashes are waterproof and as easy on your hands as leather (they don’t slip or burn). They come in a variety of colors, lengths, and widths.
  • A subset of these is the multi-leash. This is a leash that has multiple connection points to allow it to transform from a six-foot leash, to a three-foot leash, to a wrap-leash, or even a tie-out.

General Dog Training supply product page