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What Your Dog Does After Reinforcement: The Five Seconds That Matter Most

What your dog does after reinforcement can tell you more about a training session than the behavior that earned the reward. When people evaluate a training session, they almost always focus on the behavior they were trying to teach. Did the dog sit quickly? Come when...

Golden Paws Dog Training: 2025 Year in Review

As 2025 draws to a close, I find myself incredibly grateful for the opportunities this year has brought. This year has been full of meaningful work. I helped hundreds of families across the Iron Range strengthen communication and connection with their dogs. I also...

Moving Position Changes: How to Teach Sit, Down, and Stand While Your Dog Is in Motion

Teaching your dog moving position changes—sit, down, and stand while they are still moving—requires clarity, precision, and thoughtful progression. Most dogs learn these cues from a standstill, with the dog in front of the handler. But moving position changes require...

Reducing Reinforcement in Dog Training: How to Teach Dogs to Work Without Treats

Reducing reinforcement in dog training is one of the most important steps for building reliable, confident dogs. When we teach new skills, it’s natural to reward frequently. Cookies flow every few seconds, and that’s exactly how we create strong foundations. But once...

2024: A Year in Review

2024 has been a fun and exciting year for Golden Paws Dog Training! We celebrated our second year in our new training building. It’s such a perfect setup for dog training classes! This summer, we finished our agility field, a 110x110 foot fenced-in area. It’s so...

Managing FOMO in Dogs: Teaching Calm and Controlled Behavior

Like humans, dogs can experience FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). This occurs when a dog feels anxious or frustrated about missing out on exciting activities or attention, especially when other dogs or people are involved. FOMO can lead to behaviors like barking, whining,...

Go Touch! Teaching Your Dog a Target Send Behavior

Mastering a target send behavior is required for some obedience and rally training. In the upper levels of rally, your dog will need to know how to send to a cone, whereas higher level obedience exercises involve sending the dog straight across the ring, away from...

2023: A Year in Review at Golden Paws Dog Training

What an exciting year 2023 has been! Take a look at the review of 2023! First off, last year was our 15th year in business! Wow!! It's incredible how far Golden Paws has come, from teaching in a tiny classroom in an old school to opening up a brand-new...

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...

Gates: A Useful Tool for Fronts and Finishes

Wire training gates can be a very useful tool for teaching and maintaining many obedience, rally, and agility behaviors. In this blog, we’ll discuss how I use gates to train fronts and finishes. What are Training Gates? First, what are training gates and where...

Six Fun Games For Bonding Between Kids and Dogs

It’s so heartwarming to watch your dog and kids grow up together, the best of friends. Games between kids and dogs can be a great way to foster that relationship. When playing these fun games together, kids and dogs should be supervised. NOTE: Don’t play...

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,...

RACH Hi-Star Striving for Excellence – “Excel”

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