Blog Archives

From Auspicious Beginnings to a Hard-won Solution – Malena DeMartini

From Auspicious Beginnings to a Hard-won Solution – Malena DeMartini My second client ever (circa 2001) was a separation anxiety case. The dog’s name was Guinness, like the beer, and his guardians had found him sickly and tattered, scavenging for

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, Educational, emotions, Fear, Learning theory, Positive Animal Training, Psychology, Separation anxiety, Technology, Training tools

Dog Training: Praise or Treats?

While we understand that good behavior should be rewarded if we want the dog to repeat it, there are different opinions about how and how much we should reward our pooches. We might consider that a “good boy!” is a

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, Learning theory, Misc, Positive Animal Training

The Insider’s Secrets to Teaching Words to Dogs

For as long as humans have lived with animals, we’ve fantasized about being able to hold conversations with them. Throughout much of the traditional literature we can find people and animals talking together, from Eve and the serpent in the

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, Learning theory, Misc

Behavior momentum: increasing efficiency in training

Regardless of what species we’re referring to, whether human, dog, horse, dolphin or bird, when teaching something new, the easier we can make the training session, the better the results. If a dog or a child feels successful, their desire

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Posted in Dog training, Learning theory, Misc, Psychology, science

Learning theory basics – Part 2: Operant conditioning: if it works do it again!

Just waking up from a nap, the 2 month old puppy is now replenished and full of energy. Since he’s locked up in a crate, little Jake starts vocalizing and scratching at the door. Thankfully, Coleen, hearing her pup in

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Posted in Bob Bailey, Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Learning theory, Psychology, science

Learning theory basics, part 1- Classical conditioning in dogs: beyond the training session

Most of us have heard of classical conditioning. Pavlov demonstrated how a neutral stimulus could become meaningful to a dog when followed by something that elicits a natural response. So when a bell, meaningless in itself, is consistently followed with

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Posted in Bob Bailey, Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, Learning theory
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