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Things Professional Trainers Never Say

By |2022-02-23T12:51:33-05:00June 15th, 2016|Categories: Dog training, Medications for fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Don't expect to hear any of these comments from a professional animal trainer. "I don’t feed the dolphins fish when they jump through the hoop, they should do it because they respect me." "We never use food to train our lions to stand for injections, that would only make them think they’ll get food every time they did it for us." "The seals at our facility ...

Dog Trainers, Thanksgiving and Tomatoes

By |2015-09-26T18:43:13-04:00September 26th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , |

I grew up in the northeast of the United States, in an urban area with neither parents nor neighbors who gardened. The majority of the fruits and vegetables I ate were store bought, with the summer time exception of sweet corn, a staple delight of childhood, food you were suppose to eat with your hands and that usually tasted a lot like butter and salt. I'm not ...

Training Fearful Dogs

By |2015-07-05T08:15:31-04:00July 5th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , |

Among the reasons people resort to the use of punishment (P+) and tools like prong and shock collars is that they often provide immediate results when it comes to getting a dog to stop performing inappropriate behaviors. The users of these pieces of equipment will justify it because they work and point to how successful they proved to be, and in some cases we cannot argue ...

Dog Trainers Are Behavioral Mechanics

By |2015-06-01T09:16:06-04:00June 1st, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , |

Frank Swanton was driving down Route 53 when the car he’d had for a year started making a loud clanking noise and was pulling hard to the right whenever he stepped on the brake. He had noticed that there were some problems early on after he bought the car but they didn’t seem too bad so he didn’t bother to have them checked. But today ...

Train The Dog!

By |2015-05-26T08:24:17-04:00May 26th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , |

Here's the main point that we often dance around- it's about training the dog. Yes the dog needs to feel safe, and we often need to counter condition to triggers before we can get down to business, and that business is teaching the dog what they're suppose to do. For the most part dogs are pros at figuring out what we want them to do, ...

Dog Owners Should Stand Up For Their Rights

By |2015-03-10T09:34:40-04:00March 10th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Dog trainers are a notoriously passionate bunch, and I will not deny that I am among them. However what is going on in the dog training industry extends beyond personal passion for the subject and crosses over into what pet owners should expect when they pay for a service. What they should expect is solid advice and guidance based on the best information available to ...

Who’s Going To Land This Plane?

By |2014-11-30T16:47:31-05:00November 30th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , |

I imagine being a dog trainer is like being the air traffic controller back in the tower trying to talk a stewardess through a landing after the pilot has a heart attack or is killed by Nicolas Cage. As attractive and savvy the stewardess may be, this might be her first day on the job, or she was sick the day they went over flying ...

Should This Dog Be Up For Adoption?

By |2014-11-23T09:57:15-05:00November 23rd, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

drawing by Leslie Swieck all copyrights apply The compassion that people show for dogs with fear-based behavior challenges is commendable. Rescue groups pull them from shelters by the thousands and well-intentioned people adopt them. Given the number of people joining online groups looking for support and advice about how to help these dogs the reality that it requires more than time and love should ...

Why Are Dog Trainers So Averse To Training?

By |2014-11-02T12:51:03-05:00November 2nd, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Building a relationship or a recall? We are living in a golden age of dog training. The industry has been infused with information from professionals in the field of applied behavior analysis and animal training in general. Mark and reward training (click/treat) and lure/reward are if not embraced, are at least not unknown to most dog trainers and pet owners. Bob Bailey was pulled out of ...

The Tragedy of Dog Training

By |2014-10-14T10:20:21-04:00October 14th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

It is not difficult to make a name for one's self in this industry, and I say that speaking from experience. Come up with an idea or rehash an old one, package it well and people will buy it. It's not always a bad thing. I like to think that my focus on the sciences of learning and animal behavior for coming up with solutions ...

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