There are many ways that dogs wag their tails and they can all give you information about the dog. Read this excellent article by Joan Orr: Learn to Tell the Tale from the Tail
Teaching dogs to greet people calmly, and teaching kids how to interact with dogs they would like to meet are both important to help everyone have a pleasant time. This video, a Canis Film Festival 2011 runner up, shows some wonderful ways to teach dogs how to be calmer around people and teaching kids what to do around dogs. [...]
We had mentioned that we were going to shape Zip to circle cones and figure 8 around cylinders, like the chicken video. I haven’t worked on it that much, but we have a good start. This video shows a training session and progressing through and adapting to what is happening, it’s a bit long.
These are one of Zip’s favorites. The chicken liver dries out and becomes like leather, no longer squishy. Very easy to break off pieces and they don’t crumble in your pocket. Ingredients 20 ounce container of chicken liver a bit of oil for the pan Directions Line a cookie sheet with foil, and oil it. [...]
Shaping is when we teach a behavior by succesive approximations, reinforcing behaviors that can lead to our desired behavior and gradually changing what we are reinforcing to closer and closer approximations. A challenge with shaping is choosing appropriate steps to increase criteria and choosing when to increase criteria. When we make a training plan, we are [...]
Targeting is when we teach an animal to touch, follow or go to an object. Many behaviors are a form of targeting or can be taught with targeting. Some behaviors I use targeting to teach: Jump up to touch my hand Move aside, follow my hand to move out of the way Spin Weave through my legs (figure 8 going [...]
This was originally published on my old blog, on 10-2-2010 There are many different ways to teach the competition Scent Discrimination exercise. How I do this is a combination of free shaping and chaining. Behaviors needed: Retrieve on a verbal cue. I check that the dog has no problem picking up the articles (metal and [...]
A link to Bob Bailey’s Suggestions for Better Training. Anytime I find myself with a bit of difficulty with something, remembering those suggestions gets me back on the right track.
Usually, I like that my Border Collie follows me around everywhere. Sometimes, it isn’t as charming. My bathroom door doesn’t close tightly. When I am using the facilities, Zip would barge in, flinging the door wide open. The door is too far away for me to reach to close myself. Stuck in a compromising position!
