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! Questions or Comments? Send them to...
Oct 18, 2014•14 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - T...
Sep 08, 2014•13 min
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 thei...
Jul 05, 2014•18 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send th...
Jun 26, 2014•16 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this...
Jun 14, 2014•15 min
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? Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Training Dogs In You...
May 23, 2014•18 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@pet...
May 15, 2014•18 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Dog Simple on Pet Life Radio...
Apr 11, 2014•14 min
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. Questions or ...
Feb 24, 2014•17 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Canine Nation Episode 4 Dogs Beyond Reason on Pet L...
Feb 14, 2014•15 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Traveling With Dogs - Notes From The Road...
Jan 31, 2014•14 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them...
Jan 24, 2014•13 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More de...
Jan 14, 2014•15 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this epi...
Jan 08, 2014•14 min
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...
Dec 27, 2013•15 min
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 th...
Oct 21, 2013•17 min
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...
Oct 04, 2013•14 min
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!' Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on thi...
Sep 24, 2013•13 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: e...
Sep 17, 2013•13 min
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....
Sep 05, 2013•13 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Dog Interrupted on Pet Life Radio
Jul 22, 2013•14 min
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 d...
Apr 27, 2013•13 min
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! Questions or Comments? Se...
Apr 04, 2013•13 min
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. Ques...
Mar 26, 2013•11 min
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 ...
Mar 16, 2013•14 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Outwitting Dogs - A Rant on Pet Life Radio...
Feb 05, 2013•13 min
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? Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Dumbing Down Dog Training on Pet Life Radio...
Jan 25, 2013•14 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - World Class Dog Behaviors on Pet Life Radio
Jan 07, 2013•14 min
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. Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Mysterious Case of the Randomly Disobedient Dog on Pet Life Radio...
Dec 27, 2012•13 min
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! Questions or Comments? Send them to: eric@petliferadio.com More details on this e...
Dec 12, 2012•14 min
