Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Winter Classes
Unfortunately our indoor space fell through for this Saturday. We're working hard on having a new space ready for Saturday November 6th, but check back soon and we'll let you know for sure.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
New Class Schedule
As the weather is getting colder and the days are getting shorter we are moving classes indoors. Starting next week all classes will be held inside at our North Logan location on Saturdays. Check out the schedule page to see what time your class is.
Foundation Level 1 10/19/2010
Tonight we practiced all of our Level 1 behaviors and several dogs passed all of their behaviors off and are moving into Level 2!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Puppy Class 10/18/2010
Tonight we worked on handling exercises, maintaining control of your puppy while they are off leash, and recall. We practiced handling paws and began teaching the puppies to offer each paw on their own for examination, introduced dog toothpaste and made our first steps towards tooth brushing, and the puppies were left off leash for most of the night to work on their attention and focus without the leash present, and to give everyone lots of opportunities to work on and reward their puppy's recall. Of course, we hand plenty of play time too!
At home continue to work on handling your puppy's feet and face, and practice the basic behaviors they've already learned.
At home continue to work on handling your puppy's feet and face, and practice the basic behaviors they've already learned.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Are You Really Training Your Dog?
Some popular "dog trainers" these days focus pretty intently on what a dog is doing wrong, but what does that really do for you and your dog? Not much, a dog that only ever gets told what not to do isn't going to be all that useful is he? There are all kinds of ways that a dog can "misbehave" but usually only a few things you'd like him to do in any given situation, making teaching your dog what you'd like him to do far more efficient.
Imagine for a moment that you are learning a new task. Your teacher has given you little or no direction, or at least not anything that was clear, and your both sitting at a table with several objects in front of you that you'll need to use for this task. Now, if you sit still without interacting with the objects for too long your teacher corrects you. It doesn't really matter how, yelling, a slap on the wrists, spraying you with water, etc. Of course you don't like that so you try something else, but each time you do something that your teacher doesn't want you to do, say picking the objects up out of order, or holding them wrong, or putting the wrong ones together, or looking away from the objects, or taking a deep breath, or standing instead of sitting (you get the idea) you get corrected again. Doesn't sound like fun, and how long would it take you to learn what you're supposed to do, if you even get that far, most of us would choose to leave such a situation given the option.
Now think about your dog, he doesn't speak English, he can't read your mind, your body language can be confusing, and he can't read. How will he learn from you? Well, you could watch for every little thing that he does wrong, and correct him each time, or you could use a simple system of communication (think click/treat = good things happen so I should keep doing this) to teach him what you want him to do.
Training your dog should be about teaching him how you'd like them to behave. If you focus on rewarding the good stuff and simply removing the rewards for the not so good stuff, it will go a long way toward building an amazing relationship and bond between you and your dog. Just remember, if you're always correcting behaviors you don't like, are you really training your dog or just hurting the bond you share?
Imagine for a moment that you are learning a new task. Your teacher has given you little or no direction, or at least not anything that was clear, and your both sitting at a table with several objects in front of you that you'll need to use for this task. Now, if you sit still without interacting with the objects for too long your teacher corrects you. It doesn't really matter how, yelling, a slap on the wrists, spraying you with water, etc. Of course you don't like that so you try something else, but each time you do something that your teacher doesn't want you to do, say picking the objects up out of order, or holding them wrong, or putting the wrong ones together, or looking away from the objects, or taking a deep breath, or standing instead of sitting (you get the idea) you get corrected again. Doesn't sound like fun, and how long would it take you to learn what you're supposed to do, if you even get that far, most of us would choose to leave such a situation given the option.
Now think about your dog, he doesn't speak English, he can't read your mind, your body language can be confusing, and he can't read. How will he learn from you? Well, you could watch for every little thing that he does wrong, and correct him each time, or you could use a simple system of communication (think click/treat = good things happen so I should keep doing this) to teach him what you want him to do.
Training your dog should be about teaching him how you'd like them to behave. If you focus on rewarding the good stuff and simply removing the rewards for the not so good stuff, it will go a long way toward building an amazing relationship and bond between you and your dog. Just remember, if you're always correcting behaviors you don't like, are you really training your dog or just hurting the bond you share?
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
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