Mindful Hearts Dog Training

11/15/2022

Last month I finished my CSAT program. It was a lot of work, but well worth it to be qualified to help poor pups with isolation distress to feel safe alone💙💙💙

07/28/2022

All my Goldens at work today💛 Thank you for being a friend!

04/15/2022

I finished a book, so I got a Personal Pan Pizza (something I picked up in childhood😂). We reward our dogs for behavior we like, and it goes up in frequency! Don't forget to do the same for yourself!🍕🎉💯

03/30/2022

03/25/2022

We use a lure to begin teaching a behavior, then fade it out so your pup can do the behavior without having to see the reward beforehand.

L is for 'lure.'

Lures are simply prompts that manufacture behavior before a cue is installed. They sometimes get a bad rap when trainers conflate the fading of the lure with the fading of reinforcement.

For example, if a trainer is transitioning a sit-for-a-lure to a sit-for-a-hand-signal, he would make the same motion as the lure, but with no food in the signal hand. It is CRITICAL that the trainer pays the dog with food when she sits. Otherwise, the dog will learn, "Oh! Only sit when I can see the lure first; got it!"

Trainers sometimes interpret this as a problem with lures, when it's really a problem with (lack of) reinforcement. At The Academy, students install basic behaviors with lures, and then fade them systematically.

03/22/2022

https://www.purina.com/about-purina/purple-leash-project

"Nearly 50% of domestic violence victims have delayed leaving their abuser out of fear of harm to their animals.
52% of victims in shelters leave their pets with their batterers."

Through the Purple Leash Project, Purina is helping create more pet-friendly domestic violence shelters to help survivors and pets get to safety together.

03/09/2022

I'm really good at reminding myself that everything is impermanent when something bad is happening. "This too shall pass" is a response to unpleasantness in general.

My new practice is to remind myself that the good things are impermanent too. Gratitude for a momentary ray of sun. Gratitude for the breath.
Gratitude for that one time my dog came when I called him❤️

Take a second today to appreciate one tiny good thing. Keep going.

03/03/2022

K is for...

It can definitely feel like dogs are moral creatures. We believe that they know right from wrong, and that they intentionally defy us for one reason or another.

They want to get back at us for leaving; they're trying to show us they're in charge; they're jealous that we're preoccupied.

These are all stories we humans create that are in conflict with what we do know to be true: Dogs do what works.

Reinforced behavior goes up. Unreinforced behavior goes down. It's simple math!

02/21/2022

Doing the final pack up of my office before we move back to the states, and I'm putting away the photo Sam and Ollie gave me 😭
I'm going to miss all my Germany dogs so much. Beautiful wonderful pups and their families. ❤️
I'll be checking in with Sam and Ollie and everyone else in March when we get settled.
Much love, my babes ❤️

02/06/2022

Sunday Vibes ❤️

02/02/2022

J!

J is for Jumping the Prompt

The relationship between cues and prompts is Pavlovian. In a beginner dog, where you've just introduced the verbal cue to your sequence, it looks like the top row. You give the cue, then give the hand-signal, he does it and you pay. You stick at this step until the dog starts cutting to the chase.

He doesn't wait for the hand-signal anymore because classical conditioning has done its work. You issue the cue and, lo and behold, he does the behavior before you can do the hand-signal. So you pay this.

You keep doing this until he's done a good four or five in a row. At this stage, you now require him to jump the prompt.

11/07/2021

My dog😂

Ha! Happy Friday friends!

11/06/2021

Winston and Arya. Two of my superstars who would bark and lunge and generally look ferocious when they saw other dogs. Now they go on hikes with their awesome humans who worked so hard to help them be chill when crossing paths with pups! Good job, fam❤️

09/28/2021

My favorite training cheese! It's stinky, but not mushy. Perfect.

09/20/2021

I've been spoiled here in Germany, where these are illegal to use on dogs. Come on, America!

Isn't it about time?

08/16/2021

Dogs are impulsive animals. There are exceptions, but most are curious and enthusiastic. Impulse control behaviors (think stay, wait, leave it, loose-leash walking, and premack recalls) all have the common denominator of the dog refraining from acting on his first impulse.

Impulses to move, to charge through doors, to grab and eat stuff on the ground, to chase critters, etc. are very useful for dogs, but are often problematic for owners. Academy trainers are well-versed in installing impulse control behaviors in dogs quickly and efficiently.

07/30/2021

Bo (b. 2018-)
German Field With a Chuck It, 2021
Acrylic on canvas through Ziploc with peanut butter

06/18/2021

06/15/2021

H is for habituation. After repeated exposure to a stimulus, dogs (and humans!) sometimes stop responding to it. Puppies, for example, often paw at their collars for a short period of time before they habituate to them.

It seems logical, then, to assume that repeated exposure to something a dog finds upsetting (like that barking dog he encounters on his daily walk, for example) will result in habituation. Keep walking him passed the dog and he'll learn that there is nothing to be afraid of, right? Not always.

Often times, a dog will become sensitized with each exposure. His fear gets worse and worse, and his responses become more and more intense.

So the best bet is always to help your dog feel better about whatever it is that worries him via classical conditioning. There is literally no harm in doing so, and the alternative (banking on habituation) carries too great a risk.

05/19/2021

This is Feebee. She doesn't think biting ankles is a "problem", but has conceded that if she keeps getting put in the bathroom for one minute every time she does it, she'll probably stop. Says she would rather be out where the action is. Good convo Feebs! ❤️

05/11/2021

What a lovely recall, Linda. The goodest girl, with her good buddy Ayk.
https://youtu.be/zHhNkK_-Rlc

05/09/2021

Happiness is a new unicorn toy🌈🦄

04/24/2021

This is so perfect, done by my colleague, Tiffany Score

04/13/2021

G is for GENERALIZATION. Dogs are excellent discriminators, but poor generalizers. This is why a dog might perform a sit on cue reliably inside, but may not generalize the sit to a new location. This is sometimes seen as "stubbornness" or "selective hearing." But in reality, the dog is noticing the differences in the environment (discriminating) and therefore does not understand that the request is the same.

What are some situations in which your dog doesn't generalize well?

03/30/2021

This is Lucifer who came to me to learn how to walk nicely on a leash and meet dogs. Right now he's trying to make me look up so he can steal my treats. Master of distraction😂😂😂