Our Blog
What is reinforcement? My quest for cleaner, and smarter, training.
Over the last few months I haven't spent much time training the dogs, which means my mechanics have gotten a little sloppy and I haven't had much time for experimenting or continuing education (which is super important). Now that the Academy is open and I'm not...
Working around distractions: Calmness
When we think about teaching service dogs to work and focus around distractions, we think of it as three separate things. 1. Their ability to be calm around distractions. 2. Their self control around distractions. 3. Their ability to focus on your around distractions....
Three things professional trainers do to teach their dogs to work around distractions.
In celebration of our upcoming membership site (details coming soon) we are starting a video series on teaching your dog to focus around distractions! In this first video, I'm sharing three things that professional trainers when they're teaching service dogs to work...
The rat is always right.
"The rat is always right" - B.F. Skinner This is quickly becoming one of my favorite animal training quotes. Why? Watch the video to find out:
What training horses can teach us about training service dogs.
This summer I've been working on training my 3 year old horse in preparation to begin riding. She's been a great teacher giving me some big reminders and some important lessons. Reminders and lessons that are equally important for training our service dogs.
Targeting for service dogs.
Targeting is one of our FAVORITE training tools when it comes to training a service dog. Watch the video to find out why, then make sure to grab your copy of our free clicker training e-book: https://myservicedogandme.mykajabi.com/p/clicker-training-ebook
Clicker training tips and troubleshooting.
In this video we're talking about tips for using the clicker, trouble shooting some of the most common issues, and Karen Pryor's ten laws of shaping. Watch the video to learn more, then make sure to download our clicker training e-book to learn more! Here are the ten...
Intro to shaping and why it’s one of the best things you can do for your service dog’s training.
This week we talked about shaping and why it's a tool you definitely need in your training toolbox. Not only is shaping a great way to teach your dog anything he is physically and mentally capable of doing, it also teaches him skills like: Problem solving Grit...
Using capturing.
Capturing is the process of marking and reinforcing behaviors that our dogs do spontaneously, meaning behaviors that they do without any kind of prompt. Capturing is something most of us do whether we mean to or not and it's an important concept to understand when...