Reflections on a Horse Clicker Training Clinic by Peggy Hogan
In early October I attended a horse clicker training clinic taught by Peggy Hogan. I used to ride and jump horses and some day I hope to do it again. When I rode, I was knowing for having strong legs and being able to make any horse move. I was given the stubborn lesson horses…
Counter Conditioning/Desensitization Breakdown
Counter conditioning is when you teach the dog that good things will happen when the scary thing appears. It’s a simple tool to have in your toolbox and there are so many ways it can be applied. I use it a lot with both of my dogs to work with their reactivity to other dogs…
Why You Shouldn’t Need Verbal Encouragement in Training
I’ve caught myself talking to my dogs to encourage them to keep going. Usually, I try to remain silent to let them focus, but sometimes I’ll talk to try to get them to keep going. When I saw this pop up in a recent conversation, I realized it might be a good topic to discuss…
Guest Post: My Journey to Crossing Over
In Spring of 2013 I was contacted by a fellow trainer who had a few questions for me. I soon learned that she was also in her crossing over transition and we’ve helped each other grow in different ways. She is now my assistant moderator on the “Let’s Talk About Positive Reinforcement Training” Facebook group…
Educating the Community
In September, I had the privilege of sharing my observation skills with the “average dog owner.” I was invited to present about dog-dog introductions. This is tough for many people because they want to keep their dogs safe, but the leash creates a frustrating barrier for many dogs. I started with basic body language observation…
Positive Pit Bulls
There is a brand new group emerging and I have to share with you. I’m a Pit Bull advocate and could not be more excited that there is a group out there that is promoting positive reinforcement based training for bully breeds. Pits are so smart and benefit greatly from positive training. I only wish…
Follow Up: The Premack Principle
After a previous post about finding unusual motivators that might with challenging dogs, I received an inquire asking how they could use the Premack Principle with their dog to reinforce loose leash walking. I figured this might be a question many people might be wondering about so I decided to take Loker out on a…
Ducks are Friends, Not Food: Positive Training for High Prey Drive Dogs
A friend of mine shared her success on social media and I got her permission to share her words with you! Special thank you to Ms. Wulf for this. I believe showing off what force-free training can do is the best way to promote positive training methods. The follow is Ms. Wulf’s words about her…