Gentle Touch Dog Training

01/13/2026

How can we make our animals happier? I don't know if you have noticed, but the dogs and occasional cats in my videos look happy. Key things: 1) give them choice in things 2) be aware of their body language and react appropriately to it 3) know what they like best and what they don't like. 4) ask for consent - for petting, for picking them up, for putting on stuff (collars, coats...) etc. 5) Maintain patterns - for feeding, for exercise, for training, for daily things ---these don't have to be exact, but stability, predictability is comforting and calming. 6) Add in some adventure/novelty/learning...new stuff for fun and interest.

How can we make our animals unhappy/grumpy/unwilling? Ignore the above happiness creators. Example: unfortunately many kids aren't taught how to approach animals and go running at them, grabbing for or immediately petting or trying to pick them up and then get rebuffed by the animal. If it's a dog, the dog gets reprimanded, if it's a cat...it has usually already run for it.

But here's the thing: if they want contact they will come to you and push into you or give happy face/easy wag invites. Then you can give about 3 seconds of pets and stop, and see if they ask you to continue. That's consent. Cats frequently like the person best who pets the least. Dogs vary widely in their desire to be petted by strangers and even by owners.

Do you have key things that make your animals happier?

Here's a short video of a couple of my dogs learning to do the trick - Crawl.

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01/11/2026

There's a joke about doing advertisement(s) in the local paper: sit, sit, sit, siT,sIT, SIT! with a dog who finally sits. And maybe the concept of repeated advertisements does work. However, saying a cue over and over or doing a cue repeatedly is just a way to teach a dog that sit or down or come or 'whatever' the cue is supposed to be for is a lot of gibberish blah, blah. blah. Think of yourself in a foreign country with someone repeatedly saying words you don't know, over and over, louder and louder. Dogs are not English speakers, but they can learn a lot of words. And many times it appears the dog never realized that whatever a person was doing or saying meant much at all, they just throw a behavior in after a while that has previously gotten rewarded since someone's starting to sound upset and is looking at them. Soooo. How do I train a cue? Since dogs already do the things we want to teach them, but we want them to do them on a cue, I set up my position/actions (often hand movement/signals) to elicit a behavior (dogs are attracted by movement and many will mirror you) or I wait for the dog to offer a behavior I like and quickly reward them with something they really like. Waiting for it, means observation, patience to ignore the unwanted stuff, and readiness with rewards they like most (treats, games, toys, pets, and praise). At 90% confidence on the hand signal, I'll add a verbal cue for the action, in a soft voice, wait briefly and do the hand signal. Wait for it. Reward for the dog's correct response. Fade the hand signal. Ta Dah! We're nearly to solid response on one cue and we've got 2 ways to get the behavior - hand signal and verbal request. How long? surprisingly fast...but dogs don't generalize very well. If they know it in the kitchen, doesn't mean they'll know it outside. More practice in many, many different and distracting situations to really get the concept generalized.

In the video below...foot targeting in the fairly early stages, not on a verbal cue yet.

01/09/2026

As long as I'm posting coming up classes...the next series of Canine Good Citizen prep and test. Are planned to start Feb 24th, 6:30-7:30pm, Tuesdays for 8 one hour per week sessions, $240.

01/08/2026

Basic Agility Class has one slot still open. Six 1hr/wk sessions on Fridays at 2-3pm starting Jan 16th for $120. Bet your pup would like to do some jumps, tunnels and agility games. This class is beginner friendly and a lot of fun. And unlike the pup in the photo, we'll be inside, warm and not being crazy!

01/07/2026

My daughter and her dog, Ace, headed back east this morning. We spent the week working on new stuff, like doing tunnels and pattern games and somewhat old stuff... reactivity towards other dogs. And made some significant progress. I like the application of pattern games to resolving reactivity. Of course, more practice is needed...different places, different dogs, different challenges. Sad to see them go, and a bit worried about the icy weather.

12/29/2025

Basic Agility classes: Start Jan. 16th - Feb. 20th, 2-3pm for 6 one hr/week sessions. Fun, suitable for all. Reward-based. Small class size. $120. Message Gentle Touch Dog Training on fb or call/text 715-748-4248 to reserve a spot. Proof of vaccinations required.

12/21/2025

Having technical difficulties and rather grumpy (grrr) related to new phone, so if you need me...message me on Facebook.

12/17/2025

Congrats! to the AKC STAR PUPPY grads in last night's class. They accomplished all 20 of the checkoffs in the 6 sessions of classes and did well on the final 4 (sit, down, come and loose leash walking) graduation re-test.

The next STAR PUPPY class starts Tues. Jan 13th, 6:30-7:30PM and runs each Tues for six sessions. Cost $200.

Other classes coming up FUNdamental Agility starting Thurs. Jan. 15th, 6:30-7:30pm, each Thurs. for 6 sessions. Cost $120.

AND...potentially a daytime series of sessions...Puppy/Dog Basic Obedience... I need feedback to know days/times that would work for people (who don't or can't do evening sessions). Thx.

AKC CGC (CANINE GOOD CITIZEN) CLASS and test. Depending on interest...starts Tuesdays, Mar. 3rd for 8 sessions, with the last session to include the 10 Requirements Testing. Cost $240.

WHAT about Novice Tricks class? Owners and their dogs love this class, but it's hard to get people to sign up... What's goin' on?? Don't you know that fun and learning are great partners?

12/16/2025

Thinking about day time 🐶 classes... One person is wishing for Fridays.

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12/14/2025

Housetraining

I usually get several calls about this topic every year, but I've seen so many good summaries of how to housetrain your pup/dog it seemed like I didn't need to write another one. However when my daughter brought her new dog here straight from his prior owners (who honestly felt he was housetrained) and he proceeded to have housetraining issues I reconsidered....

I usually get several calls about this topic every year, but I’ve seen so many good summaries of how to housetrain your pup/dog it seemed like I didn’t need to write another one. Howeve…

12/08/2025

I've had questions about the next series of puppy training classes...
STAR PUPPY Tuesdays starting Jan 13th - Feb 17th, 2026 at 6:30pm-7:30pm, 6 sessions 1hr/wk. $200. Reward-based, fun, small sized classes. Practicing socialization, training, activity and responsibility (of ownership). Gentle Touch Dog Training, N5991 Settlement Dr., Medford, Wi. Text or call- 715-748-4248 or Message Gentle Touch Dog Training on FB to reserve your spot.