Good Dog Academy

25/08/2022

My girls love fetch, but it’s a special treat, I make them sit and think while playing fetch, and I don’t do it for long at all 🎾

21/09/2021

Focus on telling your dogs what you DO want them to do vs what you DON’T want them to do. It makes for a much better relationship!!!

05/09/2021

19/08/2021

"My dog won't do what I ask unless I have a treat!" 😧
"I don't want to be bribing my dog with food!" 😠

Have you heard or said either of these things before? We have heard them a lot, and there is something that can be done about it - you just need to make sure you 'fade out the lure'!

To fade out a lure all you need to do is:

🔹 Lure the behaviour with food or another lure, until they have successfully done it 3-5 times in a row.

🔹 Lure the behaviour with an 'invisible treat'. This means you have no treat/lure in your hand but your dog may think you do.

🔹 When they have done the correct behaviour, then show your dog there was no treat/lure in your hand BUT still, reward from the other hand you did not use for the lure.

🔹You can then make the lure behaviour itself smaller and smaller until it becomes a subtle hand signal, or add in a verbal cue.

🔹Once the dog can do the correct behaviour, you can gradually reward them less frequently.

This teaches the dog that even if they do not see a treat on you at the moment you ask for a particular correct behaviour, it does not mean one isn't coming, (getting rid of the need to 'bribe' the dog in order for them to do the behaviour).

This doesn't mean we stop rewarding our dog, to maintain a behaviour; rewards still need to occur, albeit less frequently, however, a reward is not a bribe as the dog doesn't know when it will be coming. These rewards do not always need to be food, but they do need to be rewarding to the dog, otherwise they are not rewards.

We would also like to add that although luring is useful for teaching new behaviours and cues in training, it should never be used to get a dog to do something they are uncomfortable with. This is especially important when working on behavioural modification as the lure will need to be used at exactly the right time in order to be effective, so please seek the advice of a qualified behaviourist or trainer. 👍

19/08/2021

Have a picture of your dog coming when called? Show us in the comments :)

18/08/2021

EDIT: When I wrote this in 2021, I used incorrect terminology, instead of Puberty, the correct term is adolescence.

Let's talk a little about puberty. The real side of it and how it affects us.

Did you know that most dogs who are given up are going through puberty?
Did you know that most of our new private training and behaviour modification clients are dogs in puberty?
Did you know that puppies and humans I have trained before, will usually reach out to me again when their dogs are in puberty?

Guys. Puberty is ROUGH.

My angel baby, Siggy, is currently going through puberty and her energy levels are endless and quite frankly making me jealous😂 She has discovered that if she's really quick she can steal things and run away, she can grip every person's leg when she feels like she isn't getting the amount of attention she deserves and she loves the feeling of her own bark more than life itself 😂

A lot of my humans that have pubescent dogs are struggling with very similar problems. Their dog doesn't know their name most days and tries to see if any all boundaries still exist. Their energy never seems to fade and they are just never calm. I personally see puberty as a big make or break phase in a dogs life and how you handle their puberty will determine a lot of how they will be afterwards. Will they be frustrated or fearful because of all the punishment? Or will they be calm and confident because they've been set up for success and managed correctly?

First, a word of comfort: It gets better.

Stick through it, continue teaching them what to do instead of correcting them for everything that annoys you. Enrich them all the time. Never feed them out of a food bowl, ever, just feed them out of puzzles, snuffle mats, stuffable toys etc. Food time is a prime time to burn off some of that energy, so use it wisely. Do some training and mental work every day, this helped me so much with Titan and it's helping me with all my clients and Siggy too. A mentally tired dog is a happy one! Do some physical exercise with them like a sniffing walk every day, but concentrate more on the enrichment and training as that actually calms them down more. Manage your environments properly. Dogs going through puberty don't have a great track record of making good decisions, so help them by not putting them in situations where they can fail. For eg. Every time people come over, Siggy is on a harness or leash so I can help her stay calm around people and not jump on and grip people.

Work on your own patience. If Titan has taught me one thing, it's patience. My patience level is at a proper boss level now thanks to that amazing boy of mine 😂 Realize that you will have good days and bad days. Write down all your wins so that on the bad days you can still see all your accomplishments and realize how far you've come.

And remember, IT GETS BETTER (It always needs to be said more than once.)

13/08/2021

“Many methods of changing behavior in dogs are effective; however, the evidence-based veterinarian or behavior consultant should be concerned not just with what is effective but what does the least harm and produces the best long-term results.”

So glad that the Veterinary Community is on board with positive reinforcement training!

10/08/2021

This!!!