Will Your Halloween Be Fun or Scary?
Halloween can be a fun time for the entire family, including the family dog, or it can be a scary, and sometimes even a dangerous situation. Think about it for a moment from your dog’s perspective. Loud, screaming, running monsters, rushing up to the door, ringing the doorbell, screaming and running off. Whew, just that one sentence made me edgy. Now, put that scenario into play for two hours. Deciding if a dog will join the Halloween festivities needs to be a decision carefully thought through. Will the family dog… Continued
Is Planet Earth Flat?
Well the simple answer to that is NO! Of course we know that. If anybody asked you that question nowadays you’d probably be very amused. Why do I ask this on a dog training blog I hear you say? Well, I have been asked this question so much lately on social media, training consults and class…..what is the question? “Do I need to be a pack leader?” “Do I need to be alpha?” and, dare I say it, “Do I have a dominant dog?” Let’s look first of all at… Continued
Keeping Your Social Butterfly Social
When my wife I adopted Buddha he was a two-year old Labrador with no training and serious case of separation anxiety, thanks to a puppyhood that was disrupted by misfortune beyond his control. His foster family had just begun working on his SA and suggested that Buddha could become a therapy dog, if only he was given the support he required. I not only adopted Buddha but also the goal of seeing him become my Pet Partners registered therapy dog. If human kindness and sound dog stewardship could heal Buddha… Continued
Accidental Punishment
I charged straight into a positive punishment scenario by accident recently. I’ve been somewhat in the training doldrums lately, probably because I am putting so much energy into finishing my book. I have several training activities that I fall back on when I don’t have much energy. They are fairly unchallenging for me (read: I can’t mess them up too badly) but still fun for the dogs. Even those have been hard to do lately. But the other day I had some time and energy and decided to play a shaping game with each dog. We don’t… Continued
The Importance of Socialization for the Young Animal
Humans take years to learn socialization skills. In the process of growing from infant to adulthood, the human takes more than 20 years for his or her brain to fully develop. Yet during this time there is much socialization that is taking place. How different it is for animals that have far shorter lifespans than their human counterparts. Typically smaller dogs have a greater life expectancy with some breeds living more than 15 years –and some living into their 20s. Larger dogs, however, have a shorter life expectancy. Great Danes… Continued
How Safe Is It for Your Dog to Jump off Furniture?
As a dog Mom and professional dog trainer, dog safety is always on my mind. It seems every year, I start to question things I’ve done in the past, as to whether or not it is safe. My current dog, Dexter, is a small breed dog. Ok, so he’s double the breed standard, but still is only 27 pounds. He’s my first small breed dog. He’s also the first dog I’ve cared for that was allowed full access to furniture. But let’s back up a few more years. Before Dexter,… Continued
A Freddie Moment
Freddie passed away on October 4, 2014. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and all that he meant to me in his brief life. He changed my world significantly since our first meeting at the adoption fair, and without him, I never would have discovered the joy in helping other people and their special canine companions. But rather than be maudlin, I’d like to share an excerpt from an article I wrote for a magazine years ago, highlighting “volunteer activities with your dog.” While unpacking… Continued
Sink or Swim: Eight Ways You Might Be Flooding Your Dog
Thank you to Marge Rogers, Debbie Jacobs, and Randi Rossman for discussions regarding this post. The point of view expressed and any mistakes are solely my own. The journey of becoming a positive reinforcement-based trainer sometimes seems like an endless stream of goodbyes to methods I once used. Goodbye prong collar (yes, I used one). Goodbye collar pops. Goodbye pretending to eat out of my dog’s bowl before she did. (Yep!) Goodbye forcing my dog’s butt down if she didn’t sit. Goodbye making my dog back up by walking into her space.… Continued
Dog Training: It’s Not Just Semantics
Stop press! Have you heard? You don’t need to be a military commander to train a dog! You don’t need to yell or shout. You don’t need to use threats or physical punishment. You don’t need to know a single command. You don’t need to be the dog’s “master” or “pack leader”. The dog does not need to be “calm submissive” and you definitely don’t need to dominate him! So, how can you train a dog without using any commands? It’s actually really simple. You teach the dog what you… Continued
The Arrogance of Punishment
As a professional force-free dog trainer I often hear dog owners use the term “punishment” and understand it from their perspective as a word in common use. Webster’s dictionary: 1 the act of punishing; 2 a. a suffering of pain or loss that serves as retribution; 2 b. a penalty inflicted upon an offender through judicial procedure; 3 severe, rough, or disastrous treatment. I will address each definition in context of “punishment” as applied to pet dogs by their owners, rather than the use of the term as understood by… Continued
But It Worked for My Dog!!
What happens when someone shares a “success” story about training with aversives? Here’s my response to a commenter who did so on one of my previous posts. A Parable Once there was a woman named Reva who had a serious health condition that needed intervention. Her intexagog was inflamed and could rupture any day. Reva looked up intexagog specialists in the phone book. She found Dr. Bleppo, who had an ad that was both slick and reassuring, and picked him. She made an appointment. He was a likable guy and radiated competence. He said sure, he could fix… Continued
The Prodigal Dog
It is so hard not to be cross when Rex runs off. You call him, and without even a backward glance he keeps on running towards something he would rather be doing than keeping you company. I think of the parable of the prodigal son where in essence the younger son is a waster who leaves home and the older son is a good boy. After many wrongdoings, the younger son eventually comes home prepared for trouble, but instead of punishing him, dad celebrates his return because he was lost… Continued
Free-Feeding From A Bowl Can Be Costly!
Food is sustenance; it keeps us alive, it fuels our activities, but for most of us it is emotional comfort. Food can trigger wonderful memories of family gatherings, or console us when we’re sick or upset, so no wonder we want to show our love for our pets with food. And it behoves us not to set down a big bowl of “love” so our pets can graze all day long. The problem is that pets, such as our dogs do not equate food with love; they don’t respect… Continued
How To Train Your Dog to Stand Using Capturing
When people consider how to teach a dog to stand, they usually envision the action of standing up. They focus on getting the dog up on their feet from a sit or a down. But that’s the hard way to start, especially since by the time most people get to training stand, they have reinforced the dog a billion times for sitting or lying down. But most dogs also stand, right? Unless a dog is very old or has a physical problem, she probably stands frequently. We don’t have to start by… Continued
Working Dogs Want to Have Fun, Too
Off-duty working dogs enjoy many of the same dog sports as pet dogs … but training for and competing with a career dog raises some interesting questions. Deni Elliott, whose guide dog, Alberta, has nearly earned her Rally Advanced Excellent title, but their start in the sport was a bit bumpy. Deni needs a sighted guide (human) to read the signs to her, but that was the easy part. The biggest adjustment was for Alberta, who had to figure out that, not only was she not supposed to guide Deni… Continued
Progressive Zoos Never Use Aversive Punishment — Should You?
This series of blog posts recounts topics drawn from the Pet Professional Guild Radio Show, featuring Linda Michaels (2). Question: What are some of the benefits of using Positive Reinforcement (+R)? Answer: The benefits of using Positive Reinforcement training with our companion animals are pretty much the opposite of the drawbacks of using aversive punishment. Goodness, today, all progressive zoos and wild animal parks use management and positive reinforcement ONLY even with large and potentially dangerous animals. (See Video from San Diego Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo). Surely, we can train our… Continued
Let’s Get Tricking
Why I Believe We Should All Be Teaching Our Dogs To Do Tricks. You probably don’t realize it but you have already taught your dog to do lots of tricks! Have you taught your dog to sit, lie down, stand, stay or come? Have you taught your dog how to fetch a ball to your hand? Have you taught your dog to zigzag in and out of weave-poles? Name a behavior and I will tell you it is a “trick”. The words behavior and trick are often interchangeable. Trick dog… Continued
Defining the “C” in PCT-A
The Pet Professional Guild and force-free training are on my mind on a daily basis and I often think about the trainer certifications I have worked for. I have always been introspective and try to understand things on a deeper level in a world that seems to grow more superficial with every internet post. Lately I have been thinking about the deeper meaning PCT-A credentials have for me, and how that may extend to the community of professional trainers at large. Specifically, I wish to define the “C” in PCT-A… Continued
A Dog’s World
Do dogs see in color or black and white? How did my dog know that a thunderstorm was coming? Why does my dog bark when no one is there? How curious the dog’s world must be for them to respond so differently to their surroundings than we would often expect. Though we share the same surroundings, dogs perceive their environment quite differently than humans do. To begin to understand these creatures, we must try to wrap our heads around how they perceive their environment. Having a clear concept of the… Continued
People Skills for Dog Trainers
Being a dog trainer is great. I love training dogs. But, I also love teaching people. Being a dog trainer requires a huge and unique set of skills. First, you must be adept at recognizing and understanding canine behavior. Then, you need to develop the manual skills to teach that non- verbal being to follow your cues and live in a world with vague rules that have no parallel in the canine world. Once you have mastered the dog communication and training portion, you need to have people skills. Included… Continued
The Mad Hatter
As a dog trainer, I wear my “professional hat” when I patiently educate my clients to help them resolve their dog’s behavioral issues. The joke is that when I get home, the last thing I want to do is start training my own dogs. I think the saying, “The cobbler’s children have no shoes” fits here. But I’ve come to realize that my relationship with my dogs (and cat) is so much more than just teaching them certain behaviors and consequently, I wear a variety of “hats” with them,… Continued
What Does Citronella Really Do to a Dog?
My ‘Paws for Thoughts’ blogs are just what they say – thoughts. I don’t profess to be an expert on my subject matter or feel that we should believe everything we read, but it should always make one think. This train of thought started with an email I received the other morning from a man with a cocker spaniel, Bertie. The four-year-old dog was now on his third home. A couple of months previously this client had canceled his appointment with me because my simple telephone advice had worked instantly. Obviously I was… Continued
Confession of a Professional Dog Trainer
My name is Daniel H. Antolec. I am a professional certified force-free trainer…and I own a shock collar. Not only do I own a shock collar, but it is among my most prized possessions and is proudly displayed in my library of 45 books and 25 DVDs on training and behavior. You see, once upon a time I met a little dog named Pete and his owner, Penelope. I changed their names for this blog but the story is factual. Pete was six weeks old when Penelope obtained him. He… Continued
The Impact of Using Shock to Train Recall
This series of blog posts recounts topics drawn from a recent guest segment by Linda Michaels on the Pet Professional Guild Radio Show. Question: Can you tell us if you think training an emergency recall with P+ (positive punishment such as a shock collar) could, in any way, be preferable to using R+ (positive reinforcement, such as a treat or affection)? Answer: This is such an important topic because both shock collar trainers and so-called “balanced trainers often use recall/come in demonstrations to the public or online, as a way to impress… Continued
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