When teaching dogs new behaviors, we mostly focus on positive reinforcement, in other words, on adding something to the situation that will increase the chances of a particular behavior or aspect of a behavior to occur. Giving the dog a…
Blog Archives
6 ways to prepare your dog to meet the new baby
Dogs are a wonderful addition to any household and growing up with a dog provides a child with valuable learning experiences about respect and care of another being. Most of all, growing up with a dog can be fun and…
Tagged with: Animal training, baby, Behavior, dog and baby, dogs, Jennifer Cattet, reward based training, Smart Animal
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource
10 effective ways to help our dogs feel safe
Barking, aggression, destruction, separation anxiety, resource guarding, … Many behavior issues that directly affect the dogs welfare can be attributed to stress and fear. These emotions dominate the dog’s life experience and are often responsible for the human/dog relationship breakdown.…
Tagged with: aggression, Behavior, Dog, dog aggression, dogs, fear, human dog bond, Jennifer Cattet, reward based training, stress
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Punishment affects both the dog and the owner
Reward based training methods are slowly gaining in popularity among dog professionals including: trainers, veterinarians and behaviorists. But popular beliefs about the value of punishing for so-called ‘bad’ behaviors still run strong. In a society where we justify scolding, handing…
Tagged with: Animal training, clicker training, Dog, dogs, Jennifer Cattet, prison dog training, reward based training
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Could we soon have a conversation with our dog?
As dog lovers it’s quite obvious that we communicate with our dogs. At the very least, they react to our body language and emotions in ways that indicate they understand our intentions and moods. How much and what we actually…
Tagged with: Dog, dog cognition, dog communication, Jennifer Cattet, Technology
Posted in Dog behavior, Educational, News, Resource, science, Technology
Posted in Dog behavior, Educational, News, Resource, science, Technology
Blah, blah, blah… Do dogs understand anything we say?
‘Do you want to go out for a walk?’ ‘Sit, sit, sit, I know you know how to do this, SIT, good boy, good doggy’. ‘Did you take my shoe? Rover, fess up! I know you did it!’ ‘Stop jumping…
Tagged with: Dog, dog cognition, dog understand words, Ethology, Jennifer Cattet, Smart Animal, Technology
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science, Technology
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science, Technology
The importance of preparing animals for the vet
Until recently, it was believed that animals didn’t feel pain or that they felt it differently than we do. In the past decade, research has shown that this simply isn’t true. Our pets definitely feel pain! We have stress when…
We just can’t resist puppies! Why?
Puppies are like gremlins. They bite everything in sight, including our hands, pant legs and favorite shoes. They pee all the time, chase after every moving object, and just like human toddlers are a ton of work! Yet, for some…
Tagged with: cute, Dog, dog cognition, Ethology, Jennifer Cattet, Konrad Lorenz, puppies, puppy, Smart Animal
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Resource, science
The joy of shaping
There are few things more exciting for a trainer than working with a dog on shaping a new behavior through clicker training. From teaching the dog to lie down on his bed, to retrieving objects, or flipping a light switch…
Tagged with: Animal training, classical conditioning, clicker training, Dog, dogs, Jennifer Cattet, operant conditioning, reward based training, shaping
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Easy Potty-Training Instead of Housebreaking.
Teaching a dog good potty habits as well as house manners in general, is about making sure he’ll develop the habits of behavior that we’re looking for(the opposite approach of ‘housebreaking’ uses punishment). Building strong habits is no different than…
Tagged with: Animal training, Dog, human dog bond, Jennifer Cattet, Potty-training, reward based training, Stanley Coren
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science