Awesome Dogs

09/05/2023

My clients hear a lot about cats and can openers. Thus learning is called Classical conditioning. If you understand the core process, it leads to more than 101 ways to use it. Your creativity is the limit. You could teach your animals to run into their travel crate when they hear the fire alarm. better than looking under the bed for them.
(Never put yourself in danger. But it’s nice to have your animal going to the crate, not away from it.
Let’s see if I can come up with 101 ways to use Classical conditioning.

08/19/2023

In my sessions, people learn about classical conditioning. (Cats and can openers). It’s the “ other type of learning.” No behaviour to reward. Just as cats learn that can openers = dinner, animals learn many things.
This is clinic kitty Hamish. Security alarm beep beep beep…Hamish shows up.
Because a Hamish has learned that when the alarm starts… breakfast is next.
If you look for classical conditioning, you’ll notice it’s everywhere. Subltle and powerful tool.

08/01/2023

Keep your dog in the “ sweet spot” of learning.
Too easy = stagnation.
Too hard = crash and burn.
Between these is the sweet spot. Growth the dog can master. And master it they will in the sweet spot.

07/27/2023

Dog Training Hack #3.
Learning in the real world is not often better.(Some exceptions apply, but they are few) Skill building is like going to the gym. Muscles built will help you climb mountains in the real world. Drilling at home, in training builds muscle memory in YOU, in YOUR DOG. So you build strength to face the real world. Building these skills in a quiet space lessens the chances that your dog will be incapable, that you are frustrated, or worse, on your arse. Okay...still not a hack. Build muscle memory in the training room to face life with strength!

07/26/2023

Training Hack #2.
Dogs are a lifestyle change with huge time requirements.
Do or don’t do. Still no hack. You may have to cut other activities if you choose that you do go get a dog. If you do, make time to do it.

07/26/2023

There is no such things as animal whispering. Gasp! No wait. This is good news for people with dogs.
If whispering is a gift, then you are born with it, or not. If not, you’re screwed in terms of dog training. You don’t got the gift.
Skill sounds like work. It is. You CAN learn it. Does that take effort? Yup. But you CAN do it.
I’d put skill against whispering any day. It will win. Because whispering isn’t a thing.
The biggest issue I have with such terms is that while it compliments the skilled person, it implies YOU are lacking. That you don’t got the magic, the talent. That YOU are deficient.
I simply refuse to believe such utter nonsense about YOU I believe, with work YOU CAN LEARN and succeed.

07/25/2023

DIY learning online? ROUGH CHOICE! Might cost you more in the long term.
If you do do it, remember this.
Social media pushes the popular.
Companies get more ad revenue pushing the popular.
Popular usually means “ conflict laden”.
Social media does not, never prioritized based on quality. YOU need to vet information and find quality.
That isn’t easy.

07/24/2023

Your dog likely does not listen because… you likely are signing commands WHILE saying commands. Either/or on its own is good. Together is a problem.
It’s like trying to watch a show, listen to a show, while the close captioning is on. ( try it). The brain picks what the brain wants. You will catch yourself reading your show and MISSING the video and audio. You will tell your brain off. “Brain… why? Stop it!) Then minutes later, your brain will say… nah, you will read the CC.
Multiple forms of info at the same time cannot be processed. The brain picks one. In most obedience, your dog’s brain will focus on the hand signal at the expense of the verbal.
And so, the verbal commands are never even registered, and thus never learned. Your dog can’t understand.
Don’t let your gestures, your body language, be like close captioning. It will block your dog from registering any verbal information. Doing so is human/trainer error.

07/23/2023

Being positive does not mean that you should be a doormat.
Being positive means that we don’t become nasty, controlling and coercive over imperfection.
Boundaries need to be skill/level appropriate.
There are three leadership styles.
Permissive: doormat
Authoritarian = My way or else. Abuse lies here.
Authoritative = Kind, positive, consistent. And yeah, boundaries… it does not include coercion or force.

07/23/2023

Everyone has been training dogs wrong. Here’s the hack that will change your life….
No wait. That’s click bait.

07/21/2023

Not popular. Not a s*xy sell. But people struggle to train their dogs because they think the dog needs fixing.
No. Humans need to learn to teach.
If you learn to teach, your dog will shine.

07/21/2023

Focus on your dog… because they are very focused on you. Dogs will learn, quite easily, when you are not paying attention.

07/20/2023

There is peace in learning that things worth doing will be done when they are done. I had to learn this. We get programmed that we need to get to some goal. When you get focused on the end, you rush. When you rush, you make mistakes. You miss the goal.
But, if you can learn to enjoy the drill, the joy in the moment. If you can learn to celebrate gains on the way to a goal, you can enjoy the process, and actually get to your goal.
Dog training doesn’t work in a Big Box now now now model. And I’ll say that there is true joy in learning to just drill with contentment, knowing you’re going to get there.

07/14/2023

To schedule sessions - please use text.
Apple and Facebook have been in conflict. Apple pushing for privacy rights. Facebook wants data to get more advertising revenue. The latest Facebook warning/retaliation has just happened.
If you do not switch to facebook preferred (cough supported) browsers, your aren't going to get messages correctly or even at all.
Please do NOT use messenger. I cannot guarantee that it will be received. I am not going to jump to a Google product so that messenger will work. Sticking with Apple.
And, it's this war that is killing all content creators. If you used messenger and I didn't answer....try texting. Sorry, but that's what FB is doing right now.
Text 519 268 7886.

07/11/2023

Faces in Doggo vision! For “ dogs that seem to hate men.”
My grade 6 teacher, Mr Aziz, had us stand on our desks and describe what we saw. He was teaching us that what I see is not necessarily what you see. We can and should do the same to understand dogs. If your dog has a trigger, then we need to change our perspective. What is the DOG’S perspective? What do they see? What can they not see?
They see more black and white contrast. Only yellow and blue. This exaggerates the human, “facial mask.”
Humans like to divide people into neat male and female groups. We miss other things that are obvious if you take a new perspective.
Some faces, faces that humans like to label as male, ( but might not be) are hard to read from an extreme angle in dog vision.
It is critically important to socialize dogs well. This includes all face types, all s*xes, all races. So your dog isn’t freaked out by “ disappearing eyes”.

07/10/2023

“Man hating dogs…” Or Brow ridge hating?
it is easy to assume that these dogs hate men. S*x is the easy answer. It’s a question people hesitate to ask because of the political fights. (I’m truly a hard core feminist. Anti oppression.) But many many men have a pronounced brow. It just out. That hoods the eye. Stereotypically!!!! Male faces, seen from a dog’s point of view, pushes the enter eye into darkness.
Easy to spot. Even from a distance.
Here’s the problem. Some females have a brow ridge. If you make it about man hating, you will probably be surprised when your dog reacts to a woman. Why HER?
Because it’s an under socialization problem, a sight problem (can’t see from that angle) and perspective problem. your dog hates faces that are harder to SEE. Usually those ridges are on biological human men. With exceptions, diversity and nothing at all to do with gender. Last image coming. It’s more obvious in dog vision.
(I have kept the sizes of the heads the same for comparison. There should also be a size difference.)

07/07/2023

Why do so many dogs hate men?
How are they working out who is male or female? (Bio s*x, not gender)
Answer part ONE.
First you need to know how dogs see humans. How dogs see YOU! they look UP. Dogs see a lot of chins and look up nostrils. The cheeks hide parts of the eye. For toy breeds, cheeks can hide all of the eye. First part is to realize your dog does not see human faces from the same angle you do.I have drawn a face and tried to make it s*x neutral. Fun guess… did I use a bio male or bio female photo to draw from?

06/29/2023

THE PROBLEM WITH CONSENT:
Post and duck? Let's see if I said what I wanted to...or not. DUCK!

Assent is a protective factor for the vulnerable. It is not, I repeat NOT an argument for more force. The concept of assent recognizes that the vulnerable can be exploited by being asked to consent…

06/22/2023

If you misuse positive interrupters, you likely are rewarding the "bad" behaviours you are trying to eliminate. Oh...poop.
Positive interrupters are also positive reinforcers. Learn what not to do, and what you should do instead.
https://awesomedogs.blog/2023/06/21/__trashed/

wouldn’t “thank you” also reward grabbing the chicken? You bet it can. Positive interrupters are more correctly called, “Secondary REINFORCERS.” Th

06/19/2023

Positive interrupters do interrupt. They are positive, so they are positive reinforcers. They reward the behaviour that you interrupted.
Use them in emergencies. But not as a habit or you’ll reward the behaviour you’re trying to eliminate! If you face emergencies, go back and beef up the skills that actually want. Don’t keep repeating emergencies!

06/18/2023

Food should not be like a pay check for a job...it would be better than that! Because getting paid for a job that sucks....still sucks.

No matter the pay: The boss is an ass. The job sucks.

06/16/2023

Asking friends to feed your fearful dog is usually a bad idea. Using food is good. But asking friends your dog fears to do the paying is like putting a hundred dollar bill in a cage of snakes and saying… you know you want the money….
Nope… that is fear factor, not rehab.

06/15/2023

Asking strangers to feed your friendly dog for sitting nicely will get more sits….
And it will make your dog really motivated to pull towards strangers.
You should do the feeding. Near you… where you actually want the dog to hang out.