Canine Nation on Pet Life Radio (PetLifeRadio.com)

We used to call it a 'command' when we wanted our dog to offer us a behavior. I find the parallel with issuing commands to computers very interesting. Do we have unreasonable expectations about our dogs and our training with them? Do we expect unquestioning obedience and compliance from our dogs just the same way we expect our computers and other appliances are supposed to just work? Dogs are not something we can program. They are beings that we need to TEACH!

Some of us are shapers, some of us are prompters, some of us even use lures. No matter how you train, it’s important to show your dog the ropes so they know what to expect when it comes to training time. If your dog needs help, be sure to provide it. If your dog needs time to explore and try things, be sure to let that happen. It’s not about how you train, but how well you do it with your dog!

Dogs can end up in shelters for lots of reasons, some bad, some awful, and some that couldn’t be avoided. Shelter workers have incredibly difficult jobs. They take in and care for these dogs, not knowing what is in their past or what their future may hold. And they care. That may be the hardest part of all. Caring for these dogs is no easy task but I am grateful that dog training professionals are starting to help out shelter workers with new tools and techniques. Anything we can do to make their jobs easier, I say. I’m so thankful they are out there.

Is my dog 'over threshold?' Is she 'under threshold?' Is that good? Is that bad? Do I even know what I’m looking for? Knowing how your dog is responding to their surroundings can play a key role in whether they are learning, whether they are enjoying themselves, or want to get the heck out of there! If we aren’t paying attention to our dog’s thresholds, are we asking them to put up with more than we should? I think that’s a question we should all be thinking about.

Training our dogs is like a game of charades. We’re just trying to get them to do the thing we’re trying to teach them. But who wins and who loses? Well, since we’re the ones running the game, I guess we get to decide. How often does your dog win? How often do they lose? Do they know the difference? You bet they do! Dogs who feel like 'winners' are more likely to want to work with you. No one likes losing, after all.

Sometimes all of the hashing and rehashing of this theory or approach or concept just starts to irritate me. What happened to working with the dogs to see if it works or not? We can speculate and pontificate all day long but if our dog’s behavior says it isn’t true, then that’s what it is. Shouldn’t we be sharing what we KNOW about our dogs rather than what we THINK we know?

Coming to a new understanding of dogs and dog training was a conversion of sorts for me. It has been an interesting journey. I went from skeptic to student to evangelist before finding a way to put it all in perspective. It can be too easy to try to right the big wrongs and fight the good fight; especially with all of the online forums out there. Now I focus on being a better trainer by finding what is right instead of what is wrong in the dog world.

People are people and dogs are dogs. Sometimes people can 'clever' themselves right past their dogs while training and then get frustrated when the dog doesn’t 'get it.' Maybe if we learn to keep it simple, we can learn to build amazing things with our dogs - like behaviors and relationships. We might even learn a thing or two about ourselves.

Wouldn’t you love a perfectly trained dog? I thought so too. Then I did a little reading about 'perfect' dogs. The ones who are instantly compliant and never do anything unexpected. My dogs aren’t machines provided for my amusement and required to immediately attend to my every command. My dogs are, well, imperfect dogs. Dogs who sometimes do the things dogs do even when I want them to do what I want. And that kind of intelligent imperfection seems to be perfect for me and my dogs.

Humans are reasoning creatures. We have a tremendous capacity to reason out how things work from the barest of facts. But when it comes to dogs, perhaps we need to take care in how we reason. Observation is often a useful companion for reason. Dogs are not what we think they are. They are what they are. And that is for us to discover and learn.

We’re back from our 2 week road trip with our dogs! It’s always fun but it takes a bit of extra planning to make sure the physical and mental needs of our dogs are met while we our on the road. Thinking ahead and bring the things you need is part of it, but taking time to involve our dogs in our daily activities makes it fun for them and more fun for us!

We enjoy traveling. Many times, we travel off to dog events like Dog Agility Trials. Leaving our dogs behind when we travel is just not an option for us. So even before we ever leave home, we are already teaching our dogs the skills they need to be happy and comfortable travelers. You might be surprised at just how much you can do to get your dog used to the various sights, sounds, surfaces, and situations that travel requires without ever leaving your home town!

I talk quite a bit about dogs and science in my articles. But other than reading about it in books, it can be difficult to find real research and science on canine cognition, biology, genetics, or behavior. I was fortunate to attend a conference recently with some of the leading scientists researching dogs. To say it was amazing would be a huge understatement. It’s incredible to see the things we are just now learning about dogs!

We have all kinds of signals for our dogs. Most common are 'that’s wrong' or 'that’s right.' But do we have other signals for our dogs? There are some we might not even realize we are giving them. They know when it’s time for a walk or when we are preparing dinner. Maybe they even know when we’re not paying attention to them. If we teach our dogs the signals we would like them to know, think of the possibilities!

Our dogs are going to make mistakes when we train. And we have a choice to make about how we respond to those errors. The fastest way to get the behavior we want might also discourage our dog from wanting to learn anything else with us. How we tell our dogs they didn’t get it right matters. With a little help from marine mammal trainers, there is an interesting way to get our dogs back on track without interrupting the flow of learning. The Least Reinforcing Stimulus or LRS can be just the thing to make the occasional error a non-event and keep your dog eager to learn what you are trying to teach!

Giving your dog a reward will certainly encourage them to perform behaviors for you. But what do they find most rewarding? Do you reward them often enough? Do you know how the mechanics of rewards affect your dog’s behavior? You might be surprised at how it all works. The science of behavior provides us with some pretty clear guidelines for when and how to reward behavior. It is our dogs who will provide the best feedback on how valuable they find those rewards. Rewarding often enough and for the right behaviors is only part of the process. Knowing what our dogs want to work for gives us a much greater chance of success!

The clash of cultures is growing within the dog training world. Traditional compulsion based training is being re-branded to appeal to 21st century dog owners. Newer methods for living with and teaching dogs based on science and rewards is gaining popularity. Differences between proponents of these approaches to training can be confrontational and not entirely factual. Change can be difficult. And our knowledge of dogs and how to work with them is changing. It could be that dogs and their owners are getting caught in the crossfire of debates on dog training philosophies. Can we make the transition to newer and better ways to train with less conflict and more insight? I wonder.

My dogs are silly sometimes. I’m quite proud of that. And I’m delighted that I get to be silly with them too. There is nothing quite like getting down on the floor and rolling around with my black dogs! With a little training and practice, we have created many fun and safe games that we play together. It’s a great way to teach them the rules and reward them with fun. And I never have to yell at them to 'knock it off!'

I hear the word dominant used a lot when people talk about dogs. Unfortunately it’s a mostly inaccurate term that is used incorrectly. And that often results in some pretty rough treatment for some dogs. Do you think you have a dominant dog? You might want to think again. In fact, you might want to take a step back and make sure of what you mean when you say dominant. It’s time we took a closer look and found a different way to talk about unwanted behavior.

Most dog owners are proud of their dogs when they are behaving themselves. But it never surprises me how often dog owners blame their dogs for their own failures as trainers. We find it all too easy to blame their dogs for when then see them misbehaving. Do we have a right to put responsibility for bad behavior on our dogs? I don’t know but I’m sure we have a responsibility to teach them so we never have to make that call. Is it the owner or is it the dog? I’m pretty sure I know who is at fault.

Sometimes all we need to do to help our dogs be better is to interrupt their bad behavior and show them something better. Working with our dogs doesn’t have to be a fight. A friendly reminder can go a long way!

Training our dogs is important. But maybe more important is how we manage them. Sometimes management is needed while we train and other management is a lifelong project. It could be managing their environment, their access to spaces or objects, it could even by the situations we put them in. How we manage our dogs can mean the difference between a "good dog" and a dog that we are constantly yelling at. Management can be simple but it takes planning and thought. In the end, it’s all to make our dogs and ourselves successful.

While debates rage on whether or not using positive training with your dog is a good idea or not, those of us who use it every day are enjoying what it brings to our lives. Many of our dogs have developed very clever and creative ways to get our attention or to earn their rewards. Some have even learned to outfox us and make us laugh. And there is nothing wrong with a little playfulness and joy. Dog training is not all about serious obedience and performance, after all

Could it be that there is a Tyranny of Small Dogs? Tyranny not because the dogs themselves are doing anything wrong. Quite the opposite; small dogs seem to have a tremendous capacity to lull us humans into thinking that we don’t have to work with them like we would a larger breed. Somehow we expect them to be great little dogs just because they are small and cute and we get to cuddle them. And that could be working against them if we are not giving them the training and structure they need.

Our culture is full of images of courageous, loyal, smart, and lovable dogs. Many of those dogs are just fictional ideals, the sort of perfect dog we all wish we could have. Perhaps our idealism goes even further than that if we also attribute the best in human qualities to our dogs. And that’s where we need to be careful. If we put to much expectation on our dogs, do we lose sight of their own qualities that make them so remarkable? Perhaps we should love our dogs for who and what they are and not risk being disappointed if they do not live up to our unrealistic expectations.

How can dogs be stupid and smart at the same time? How can they have less intelligence than humans and still control our households? For all our intelligence, we humans certainly find our reasons to claim to be both inferior and superior to our canine companions when it suits us.

Owning a dog is wonderful and rewarding but it is also a big responsibility. Training and management are not simple tasks as some would have us believe. But with the right teachers, it isn’t all that difficult to learn to do it well. Could we be doing a better job of teaching people about training their dogs?

Getting results can be about good, good enough, or GREAT! It matters how we train. Ask Olympic athletes Usain Bolt and Oscar Pistorius. How you teach your dog can make all the difference in the world.

You know that horrible moment when you are at the park with your dog friends and you call your dog and they ignore you? Yeah, me too. It’s a mystery why dogs sometimes choose not to do what we ask. Sometimes there are very good reasons why they don’t respond. But other times, well, it’s just a mystery.

Many think that Behavioral Science treats organisms like machines, manipulating behavior and bending others to their will. But it’s not simple. In fact, there is another side to Operant and Classical Conditioning. What you can learn about your dog while you are changing his behavior might just surprise and delight you. You might just discover that the science can show you your dog’s personality in wonderful detail!

The technical stuff is interesting and teaching the cool tricks is lots of fun. But sometimes you just have to do the practical everyday training to make things work with your dogs. This podcast covers some of the things we train to make things run smoothly with our own dogs! It could be moving our dogs from one room to another or making walks a little more pleasant. Simple behaviors can be trained with any dog to make communication better. And it helps that it can make life easier and more fun too!

Correcting bad behavior in our dogs can be like putting out a fire. We have to act swiftly and decisively. But if we don’t know a little bit about behavioral science, we could end up making things worse instead of better. Inspired by Dr. Susan Friedman, this article looks at what our options are when we need to deal with unwanted behavior. Punishing our dog for bad behavior might be the first thing that comes to mind but, according to Dr. Susan Friedman, it is likely that it will be the least effective for correcting behavior long-term. There are lots of options to try before we resort to trying to stop behavior. Being proactive and teaching the behaviors we want to see is a great start!

There are a few common phrases that float around in the dog training world that get my hackles up. One of those phrases is 'I use whatever training technique my dogs need.' Not all training techniques are equal in how they impact your dog and your relationship with him. You should know all you can about how a training method works before you try it on your dog. Don’t take the word of your neighborhood 'dog expert' without understanding how it works. If they hearsay doesn’t make sense, don’t be afraid to be a heretic and do things your own way!

This is a special edition of the Canine Nation podcast. It’s longer than our usual podcasts and it’s features a couple of special guests. We hope you enjoy it. Petra Wingate is a great dog trainer. She also happens to be my wife. She has been teaching puppy and agility classes for the past few years. Darcie Jennings is a great friend and has been training dogs and their owners through her CommuniCanine business for over 13 years. As we often do, the three of us sat down to talk about dogs and dog training. But this time, Petra decided to record it and also prepared some questions for us to discuss. The result was a spirited discussion that lasted well over an hour and covered a lot of ground from essential behaviors to what makes us laugh about dogs. We’ve edited down the first part for this podcast. Not every trainer sees things the same way but in this case, we all challenge each other to be better and better.

What if your dog offered you a behavior you didn’t ask for? What if it was a good idea? Being smart enough to catch your dog doing something right is good for both of you. You get what you want and your dog gets to flex his creative muscles! Making your dog a more active participant in your training can make great things happen. Giving them the freedom to try things doesn’t mean that they will be the "wrong" things. Rewarding your dog for doing the things you like can lead to a great relationship and less trouble for both you and your dog! Give it a try; catch your dog doing something right.

Sit!. Down!. Fetch!. These are things that most people associate with dog training. But is there more we can teach our dogs beyond simple behaviors? You might be surprised that you already do! And there might be more you can teach them. It’s not hard to teach our dogs to do tricks. They are, after all, just behaviors. But how do you teach a dog to think about things like bigger and smaller or closer or farther away? Our dogs have the capacity to learn such things and they do it every day. What if we could engage that conceptual learning? What might be possible if we trained beyond just behaviors?

Crossing over to positive training can be frustrating. Abandoning old techniques for new is uncomfortable. Especially when you aren’t good at the new stuff. Dog trainer Eric Brad has found that sticking with positive training is well worth the effort for the rewards that come later. Back when I was crossing over to positive training, it seemed like every time I turned around another technique I used to use was now a bad idea. I had to keep running back to books or asking questions of positive trainers online to find appropriate alternatives. But the answers were there and my new habits developed quickly. But not as quickly as my relationship with my dogs improved! It was well worth the extra work.

Do you ask your dog to do things for you or do you tell them to do them? How we think about working with our dogs matters. It affects our expectations and can lead to cooperation or conflict. It seems to be an AND/OR proposition. Is working with your dog a cooperative offer or is it a ‘do it or else’ proposition for your dog? Your dog’s willingness to work with you might be at stake. It’s not just about getting results. HOW you get those results can make all the difference

Is it more ethical or moral to use positive dog training? For Eric Brad, the reasons are less lofty and more practical. And sometimes the simplest reasons can be the most compelling. When I decided to re-think my approach to training my dogs, I wasn’t looking for a moral or ethical solution. I was looking for a fast and easy change that wouldn’t involve a lot of expense and effort. Imagine my surprise to find that positive training would give me more than I could have hoped for!.

Have you heard about positive training but aren’t sure what it is or how to get started? Well, I can give you a road map to success with four great books to get you on your way! These four books cover different aspects of a positive approach to training and living with our dogs: Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor, The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson, The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell, and How Dogs Learn by Burch & Bailey..

When a dog’s behavior suddenly changes, a good dog trainer does not turn to training techniques and behavior modification. They turn to their veterinarian. Chances are there is a very real health problem that should be dealt with first. The drastic change in our dog’s behavior was both confusing and frightening until, with the help of our veterinarians, we found the cause. It was not purely a behavioral issue. Without help, we might have made the problem worse. This series of podcasts explores what happened with our Tiramisu, one such dog, and what was done to unravel the mystery of her behavior change.

It would be great if positive training and behavioral science made everything perfect and wonderful with dogs. Most of the time, it does exactly that by providing a way to communicate effectively with our dogs. But sometimes things can break down. Eric Brad shares a story of a frightened dog that needed more than food treats and positive reinforcement. The drastic change in a dog’s behavior can be confusing, frightening, and can make you feel like a failure as a trainer. But it’s not always a purely behavioral issue. This series of podcasts explores what happened with Tiramisu, one such dog, and what was done to unravel the mystery of her behavior change. The next podcast in the series discusses what has been done thus far for her rehabilitation.

Coming to Positive Reinforcement training from more traditional methods is called 'crossing over.' It’s not easy to cross over from more familiar and socially accepted forms of dog training. There are lots of reasons not to consider it. But many do. In this series, Eric Brad looks at what it takes to ‘cross over.’ Change is difficult and frustrating and something most of avoid if at all possible. My own life circumstances made reconsidering my dog training approach unavoidable. But for most dog owners, what they have always done has always seemed to work. Well enough, anyway, or at the very least it got results. But what if you could get what you have now with half the effort? What if you could change the way you worked with your dog and it made life better for you and your dog? Would it be worth a little work now for an easier life later? It’s up to you. It’s seems an easy choice to me.

Dog trainers are supposed to be teaching their dogs. Eric Brad has found that there is much that the dog can teach the trainer as well. In this installment, Eric says “Thank You” to his dog Tiramisu for the lessons he has learned. Listening to his dog has made him a better trainer. Books and articles can only take you so far. You actually have to dothe positive training with your dog in order to get good at it. And who is the judge that you are improving as a trainer? Why, your dog of course! The faster and happier they learn, the better you are getting at teaching your dog. If you make it fun, it’s an even better way to learn.

Is your dog ‘dominant’ or willing to submit? Could you be living with a dog determined to take over and control your household? Dog Trainer Eric Brad looks as his own dog to see if the warning signs described by so many web sites could mean his dog is a tyrant in the making! There are lots of websites out there that will tell you just how badly behaved your dog might be. And most of them will happily tell you how to correct these signs of aggression and dominance to keep your dog from thinking he’s the alpha in your pack. But you may have to agree to a price first. The truth is, dogs are not pack animals. They are domesticated companion animals bred by humans. And those warning signs some web sites caution you about may just be natural behaviors or indicators of something totally different.

Eric Brad challenges his listeners to question what they think they know about dogs. As the Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people believe.” Our best source of information about dogs is the dogs themselves! Perhaps it’s time to ask them and see what they say. With all of the methods and information out there, this is a great time to try something new and learn something about our dogs. Our dogs are wonderfully adaptable if we give them a chance. There’s not harm in trying something we’ve never tried and it may work better than what we have been using! Question everything and be prepared for some surprising answers.

When training dogs, it’s sometimes helpful to prompt them for the behaviour we are looking for. Trainer Eric Brad cautions that “prompts” can be as much a distraction as a help. Knowing how to “fade” them out of the picture can be just as important in good training. How we get our dogs to do the things we are trying to teach them matters. There are lots of techniques to try and each will come with their own pros and cons. I think it’s worth taking the time to look at how we go about teaching our dogs and make things as clear and easy for them to understand as possible. Sometimes that means getting unnecessary or distracting actions or sounds out of the way so they can learn!

Dog training can sound almost like a chore that needs to be done. But dog trainer Eric Brad finds it an almost musical experience. Working with your dog in training can be a wonderfully creative experience. Training your dog can be an incredibly creative experience. Communicating with a different species is challenging and can be very rewarding for both the dog AND the trainer. You just need the right approach and the ability to think outside the box a bit. You might be surprised at what’s possible with positive training and a little creativity.

Food is something every dog has every day. Unless they are ill, there should be no reason for our dogs to turn down any snacks we offer them. But many dog owners claim their dogs won’t work for them for food treats as a reward. How can this be? Dogs are scavengers by nature. Could it be something we humans are doing that puts them off sometimes? There can be other reasons dogs won’t take food such as anxiety, distraction, or arousal. It’s best to make sure that a dog is within their tolerance for these things before attempting to train them or offer them food. Failing to do so could create more problems than it solves.

It’s been a great year. 2011 was a very positive year for Canine Nation and I want to thank all of my readers and podcast listeners for their support and comments over the past 12 months. I’ve learned a lot writing and producing the podcast and reader/listener comments have been a great source of information for me as well. Here’s wishing you all a successful and joy filled 2012 with your dogs!