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Fun and Effective Jumping Games for Agility, Rally, and Obedience Training
Before delving into the specifics of jumping exercises for agility, rally, and obedience, it's essential to instill in your dog the idea that jumping is not only enjoyable but also rewarding, which can be done by incorporating jumping games into your training! These...
Four on the Floor: 5 Tips for Teaching Your Dog to Stop Jumping
Do you often struggle to get your dog to stop jumping when you walk through the door? While it's natural for dogs to be excited and want to greet you enthusiastically, jumping can quickly become a nuisance. Fortunately, with the right training and techniques, you can...
Understanding Puppy Body Language: What Your Pup is Trying to Tell You
As puppy owners, we all know that our adorable furry friends have their unique ways of communicating with us. While they may not speak our language, they are experts in expressing their needs, emotions, and desires through their body language. Understanding what your...
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Guest Posts
Articles Written by Nicole for other websites
Mastering Side Steps in Rally: A Step-by-Step Guide to Precision Lateral Movement
Building Value for Heel Position: Engaging Games to Teach Your Dog to Find Heel
Teaching Dogs Generalization: Expanding Behaviors Beyond Contextual Cues
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More Blog Posts
Reducing Jumping Up by Teaching an Incompatible Behavior
As a pet dog trainer, one common problem for which people seek out training is jumping up. It’s annoying when dogs jump up, and if the dog is large, it can be downright dangerous. So, how do you train your dog not to jump up on you and your family/friends? ...
Pay Attention! Teaching Your Dog Eye Contact
If I could pick one behavior that is most important to teach your dog, it would be eye contact. More importantly, it would be offered eye contact, in other words, you don’t cue it, but rather the dog does it on his own. Eye Contact Starts Work I use...
Planning Ahead: Reducing Reinforcement for the Ring
The process of reducing reinforcement in preparation for entering an obedience or rally ring is something it’s easy to overlook and rush. Most dogs act very differently when their handler has treats versus when the handler does not have treats, yet many people go straight from training with treats in their pockets to leaving treats on their crate and going into the ring.
A Simple Process for Generalizing Behaviors
If your dog can give you a reliable cute sit in the kitchen, but can’t do it in the backyard, you might need to work on generalizing behaviors! Generalization means the dog can apply a concept in many different situations. When you teach a dog a new behavior,...
Just What are Reinforcement Cues Anyway?
Knowing exactly what reinforcement cues are and how they work will result in faster learning and less frustration. The clearer we can be with our dogs about what and how we're rewarding, the better it is for everyone! If you're looking to clean up your training, read...
Pivot Bowl Next Step: Movement!
You've spent some time teaching your dog the value of the pivot bowl and your dog understands how to stay on it. (If you missed this blog on introducing the pivot bowl, be sure to check it out!) Next, we'll focus on movement! Teaching Movement on the Pivot...
Introduction to Pivot Bowls: Your Best Friend for Heeling Foundation
There is one method that has become extremely popular for teaching heel position, left turns, pivots, and rear end awareness. Different trainers call it different things. I’ve heard the terms brick work, perch work, pivot bowl, pivot disc, and more. I refer...
Canine Enrichment: Keep Your Dog’s Brain Happy!
Enrichment - such an important topic! But what exactly is enrichment? Enrichment can mean a lot of things, but basically it refers to different ways to satisfy some of the needs of your dog. By stimulating the dog mentally and physically, your dog will be less...
Manage Your Puppy for a Happy Household
Did you recently get a new puppy, or are you planning on one soon? Puppies are so much fun, but they are also a LOT of work. Sometimes you wonder if you’ve brought a little velociraptor into your home as you survey the damage and destruction your innocent little...
A Peek Into Rally Master: Dog Circles Right Handler Circles Left
The Dog Circles Right Handler Circles Left is one Master sign that many people dread, but it’s not nearly as difficult as it seems! If you think of this sign as two left about turns in place, you’ll realize your dog already has the skills he needs to be able to...
Where’s Your Brain? Asking Your Dog “Are You Ready to Work?”
The one question you should ask your dog before every single training session is, “Are you ready?” I call this the Where’s Your Brain? game; other people call it ready to work or start button routines. I start each and every training session by asking my dog, "Can you...
A Journey to a Dream Come True
Life Long Passion I fell in love with training dogs back when I was a teenager working with my large German shepherd. Actually, the passion was ignited well before that, when I was a small kid growing up in Rochester. Our neighborhood had lots of dogs, and I, having...
Teach Your Dog to Find Heel Position From Anywhere!
Teaching dogs to find heel position is important for so many reasons. It will help your heeling, setups, and finishes. It’s important that your dog has a lot of value for being in heel position and that he or she can find heel position from many different angles....
Teaching Lateral Fronts for Better Understanding!
The Rally Master class has lots of fun signs, including the sidestep front signs! I like to teach my dogs to move laterally (sideways) in both heel and front as I feel it gives the dogs a better understanding of the heel and front positions. Once a dog understands...
Props for Fronts!
Why would you want to use props to teach front? Because, used PROPerly, using props for fronts can make your life a lot easier! Keep reading to find out why I love using props so much! Easier to Fade In my opinion, it’s easier to fade a prop than it is...
Teaching the Moving Sit at Distance
If you play rally, obedience, or TEAM, your dog will need to understand how to do a moving sit, when the dog stops motion and sits facing you. There are two components to this exercise: a sit out of motion and the ability to sit in place at a distance without...
Go! Teaching a Send to a Target
There are several obedience and rally behaviors which require a send to a target. In rally you’ll teach your dog to send to a cone, and in obedience you’ll be teaching the dog to run straight across the ring away from you. Generally this behavior is taught to a ring...
My Dog Just Messed Up – What Do I Do? How to Handle a Mistakes in Training Part 2 Examples
Last week we discussed why dogs make mistakes, and some general guidelines on how to handle mistakes in training. This week I want to get into a little more detail on what exactly you can do to make success more likely. We listed out a few reasons that dogs...
My Dog Just Messed Up – What Do I Do? How to Handle a Mistake in Training
Your dog just made a mistake in training. What do you do? How do you handle it? Knowing what to do in the moment is not always easy! It generally requires some thinking about what happened and where the dog’s understanding of what you were asking fell...
Ready from the Start: The Importance of Having a Ring Entrance and Setup Routine
If your dog knows exactly what to expect from the moment you step through the ring gates, and is comfortable with your ring entrance and setup routine, you’ll be much more likely to have a strong performance. When I am thinking about this particular piece in my...
