Argot Animal Training

14/02/2024

This Valentine's Day, give yourself the gift of a better relationship with your dog. 🐕🌿💛

Check out the link in our bio to book your appointment today!

Who is your doggy Valentine this year?

#417

08/02/2024

My clients are my favorite. 💛🌿

Last summer, Cobalt was sensitive to handling and was uncomfortable having collars, harnesses, or leashes put on. Through the hard work of his guardians, this week, he is able to comfortably have all three put on and have a day out with his family at the park. Great job!

28/02/2023

Hi friends! It's a beautiful day to read a book and spend some time in the sun with your pups. Today I'm remembering a book I adored last year, by Suzanne Clothier, called Bones Would Rain from the Sky.

21/02/2023

If you're like me, this bit of warmer weather has CAMPING back on your mind, and you might be thinking about bringing your pup with you too.

Last season, I shared my first tip for camping prep (go check that post out if you missed it!), so here's # 2:

✨️Comfort with tents and their travel crate (if you're using one)✨️

Introduce them to these ahead of time! Tents and travel crates are made of thin fabric, and if your dog is afraid or uncomfortable, it'd be REALLY easy for them to chew through the fabric to escape. Reduce likelihood by introducing them to both ahead of time. Set up your tent in your yard, a friend's yard, outside of your apartment (you may want to give your neighbors a heads up first). Let your dog notice the tent, see what it's like.

Let them stand in the tent. ( ⚠️ How long are your dog's nails? You may want to put a blanket or tarp over the tent floor to protect your tent, as well as get your dog's nails trimmed. ⚠️ ) Reward them for going in and out of the tent at your request. Lay or sit in the tent with them and play, snuggle, give treats, offer them a chew toy while you read a book or listen to music. Spend the time to do this as many times as your dog needs to feel comfortable.

Set up a comfortable familiar bed in their travel crate if you're bringing one, in a place in your home they already like to nap - at least a week in advance. Leave the doors open so they can come and go as they please. Reward them for going in and out. Give them a chew toy or frozen stuffed kong in it. Having a comfortable familiar sleeping place for your pup while you're camping can really help!

If you're concerned about your dog getting loose while camping, take time to prepare and have safety plans in place:
- practice recall
- update your dog's chip & tags
- have backup management strategies for preventing them from getting loose

Have fun camping!🐶

22/01/2023

Hello! My dog and I have recently moved from living in an apartment to living in a house. As you can imagine, a few things you focus on in training are a little different in our new space.

Some quick tips for those of you whose dogs are gaining access to a place to play off-leash, for recalls (coming when called):

1) Practice your recalls in a contained area, or on a long leash to set your dog up for success.

2) Reward recall Every. Single. Time. Successful recall can be a life-saving behavior! Make sure your dog knows coming when you call pays off - dogs do what works!

And the biggest one for making your yard bathroom breaks go smoothly:

3) RECALL, REWARD, RELEASE. Dogs do what works: if recall *always* predicts that fun run in the yard time ends, your dog won't think recalls are very fun to do! Recall, reward, release, more often than you recall to end the fun time or recall to do something unpleasant. Make sure the scales are weighted in favor of recall being the Best Thing Ever!

Book a consult. SchedulingTo book an initial consult, you may use the scheduling widget below, or reach out to me [email protected](call or text) Returning Clients: Book Future Appointments Here Contact

19/12/2022

Do you ever have a rough day where a lot of little stressors happen throughout your day, leading up to something small becoming "the last straw" that you "overreact" to, because of all the built up stress from the things that happened before it?

That's trigger stacking! It's a normal reaction to repeated stress, and it happens to dogs too.

There's a lot of little stressors, both for our pets and for ourselves, around holidays and big events. What plans do you have in mind to help prevent trigger stacking, and help you and your pet decompress during this season?

These little things are what we refer to as stressors or triggers. They might not seem like much to us, and we often don't even notice that our pet might be uncomfortable.

16/06/2022

The weather is 🌟 HOT 🌟 outside lately!

We went tent camping recently with Juniper and still spent lots of time in front of the fan blowing some of our family's RV air conditioning on us, to make sure Juni stayed cool enough.

How are you keeping your pup cool in your outdoor activities this summer?

How many like camping with your dogs, or wish that you could?

Let's talk about what kind of skills would really help your dog be set up for success when camping! There's a lot of the foundation work we do when I work with clients that makes this go a lot smoother, but a few are specific to camping.

What skills does your dog have that make camping easier?

What do you wish they knew to make it go smoother?

Here's my first tip!

1) Not reacting to 🌟 weird noises 🌟

Give your dog a treat when other dogs bark, or when you hear any other weird noise you don't want them to react to while camping. Pretty soon your dog will make the connection and not only decide the weird noise isn't all bad, but will also start looking to YOU in anticipation when they hear them. It's a great skill to work on to prepare your dog to be less barky at your campsite.

If you want more support and guidance through getting your dog ready for whatever adventures await you this year and beyond, reach out and book with me! My website is linked in bio.

🌟🌟🌟

03/06/2022

Understanding the 3D is going to help you create brilliant behaviours and confidence for your dog.

02/06/2022

What size and type of treats are best to use for training?

On the one hand, it depends to some extent on your dog -- for my dog, he needs treats that don't aggravate his allergies. Some dogs have special needs, or unique preferences.

On the other hand, there are some guidelines you can try to stick with that will set you up for success.

The one I want to talk about today is TREAT SIZE:

You want your treats to be in SMALL pieces. You can use a treat thats already small, a treat that can easily be broken of chopped to be small, or a gooey treat in a squeeze pouch that allows you to deliver a tiny bit of the treat at a time.

How small? The size of a single pea, or smaller, if possible! Go smaller, if your dog is smaller.

Why? This photo is of a tally counter I used in a training session with my own dog instead of a clicker, while I was shaping him to willingly put his paw into an object used to clean muddy dog paws. Every tally is one behavior + mark + reward repetition. Thats 92 treats dispensed in one short training session!

This is great - you want a high rate of reinforcement to keep your dog motivated and to make sure you're really making the behavior you're asking for valuable for the dog to perform. However... you also don't want your dog to get full too fast, or for your dog to have too much of his diet be treats.

That's why short training sessions (1-5 minutes) and tiny treats (the size of a pea or smaller) is ideal when it works for what you're training. The extra bonus to it is, it makes sure you stop before you or your dog can get worn out or frustrated.

Have you ever tried out a tally counter in a training session with your dog?

What are your favorite treats to train with that can be easily broken up into tiny pieces?

22/04/2022

Good afternoon! It's a good day for some good reading and a good drink, supporting other local businesses.

Today is Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed and a Choco Oreo with black pearls from .llc .

08/04/2022

Good morning! On this windy, chilly day, Juniper and I are dreaming of warmer walks, like the one this clip was from earlier this spring.

One of Juniper's quirks on walks is that he tends to rush ahead when we cross driveways, because the grass to sniff after the driveway is much more interesting than the concrete on the driveway! In this clip we were doing a little work on making driveways predict a chance to earn reinforcement for staying with me, instead of a chance to rush toward the grass up ahead.

What kind of quirks does your dog have on walks?

21/03/2022

Do you ever feel like your dog "knows" something, but is "choosing" not to do it for one reason or another? Lots of us have been there!

It's important for us to remember that our dogs don't know "right" from "wrong" in the sense we think of it. Dogs know what "usually works" and what "usually doesn't work" to get what they want.

The photos have a few quotes on the topic from The Culture Clash, a book by Jean Donaldson.

Here are some important questions to ask if your dog isn't successfully doing what you've asked of them (courtesy of Jean Donaldson's book, once again):

"1. WHAT: does he know what that cue means and is it generalized to the context in which it's currently being given?

"2. WHY: has the trainer supplied motivation, i.e., is there a strong history of reinforced responses to the cue, and

"3. OTHER OPTIONS: is the behavior proofed against competing motivation?

"If all these have not been well covered, the dog is not sufficiently trained. Period. No hidden agenda, no rebellion, no spite, no mule-headed stubbornness or attitude in need of adjustment, simply an undertrained response.

"If you're taking tango lessons and make a mistake or your kid gets 60% on the math quiz, there's usually no BIG reason. You got it wrong because you need more practice. Your kid needs more study.

"The dog needs more training."

If you're struggling with a dog who can get it right in some situations, but not in others, try breaking it down into smaller steps, and introducing smaller distractions, one at a time, to help them learn to generalize that behavior into all circumstances.

If you want support in that process, reach out to a local trainer! If you're in the Springfield, MO area, you can contact me via phone, DM, or email, and book with me via my website (link in bio).

Reliable responses in many situations is achievable, and reinforcement is the key!

#417

19/03/2022

Last week I had the privilege to spend time with some very handsome cats, while their owners were away! This is Jackson.

He would like to inform you that snuggling with the cats is a vital part of the pet sitting process.

What is the most important part of pet sitting according to your pet?

#417

14/03/2022

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbFv5zjv76R/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This is one of Juniper's tricks that we call "fox".

When he was a puppy, he would do this excited hop that reminded me of foxes jumping while they're hunting. Of course, he did his excited jumps while he was over threshold, and often in situations where they weren't very helpful for one reason or another. So, in addition to working on his impulse control, I taught him to do his hops on cue, so that they could be used in situations where they were more appropriate instead.

This video was from us playing with the fox cue on a recent short training hike. Behaviors that have a strong reinforcement history and that the dog finds rewarding can be really helpful in distracting environments!

Even so, I make a small, common mistake in this video! Can you spot it?

Instead of checking that I have Juniper's attention on me before I cue the "fox!", I cue it twice. Humans will be humans, and it's natural human behavior to repeat.

This is one of the reasons that videoing your training or having someone else like a trainer watch you train can be so useful - You catch places you can improve that you may not have noticed otherwise.

#417

Gregory Alan Isakov • San Luis

11/03/2022

"This is not an easy dog," I reminded her, "but he will teach you a great deal."
Bones Would Rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier

Sometimes, when we invite a dog into our family, we end up with a very different dog from what we expected.

We might realize that the dog we chose is fearful, and needs us to help them learn that the world can be safe. The dog we bring home might be reactive when we go on walks, so the running buddy we had imagined might feel out of reach. It might be as simple as realizing that they are a unique individual, who through no fault of their own, is just nothing like the dog we recently lost.

Whatever the case, there are a few things we can keep in mind when we find ourself in this situation.

1) Train the dog in front of you.

The dog in front of you is the dog you have... instead of trying to make them into the vision you had for them, meet them where they are at, and go from there.

2) Find yourself a good support network, if you're finding it challenging.

Whether it's grief from a pet you lost and how different they were, an very boisterous adolescent dog, or a fearful or reactive dog you're trying to learn how best to manage... finding a support system for you, the human, is just as important as finding training for your dog!

I often recommend finding a positive reinforcement focused group class with dogs of similar ages for owners who are going through the adolescent phase. The training you learn there is helpful, but the important part, for me, is being around other humans going through the same puppy phase as you, and not being alone.

If a group class isn't an option, find a +R dog trainer, or friends with similar experiences, or both, who can support you as you go through this experience with your dog. It really, truly does help!

3) Remember the silver lining: If you have a dog who isn't an easy dog... they will likely teach you a great deal, in the time you learn and grow with them.

#417

07/03/2022

Like many folks here in the Ozarks, I love to go hiking. Often, the golden question, whether you're hiking, camping, or even going to a pet-friendly store, is this:

Should I take my dog with me?

--

Photo #1 is from today:

We took Juniper to Lake Springfield Park, to walk on a small, easy, woodsy trail.

We had medium and high value treats prepped, and went planning to focus on his training. We didn't have a particular goal for how long we wanted to hike on the trail.

Today, we were able to focus on allowing him to sniff, rewarding focus, and practicing some of his already well-established behaviors in a new environment, to generalize cues.

--

Photo #2 is from Saturday:

I didn't take Juniper on my Saturday hike to Busiek-- it would not have been a hike he was ready for, and it wouldn't have set him up for success.

- I hadn't had time to do any shorter training hikes with him recently. It would have been like taking him straight from kindergarten (easy neighborhood walks) to college (3 mile hikes with big distractions).

- There is a shooting range just down the hill from the trail. Juniper hasn't yet been desensitized/counter conditioned to the sound of guns, which would be an important foundation for this outing. Dogs have very sensitive hearing!

--

When you are going somewhere, and you're not sure if you should take your dog, there's a few questions you can ask yourself to help decide if you feel your dog is ready:

1) What distractions or challenges might my dog face in this environment? For how long?

2) Have I practiced the useful foundation behaviors to prepare them for those distractions and challenges?

3) Will I be able to focus on my dog's needs, or leave the situation, if necessary?

Sometimes, it's great to bring our dogs places! We can really enjoy it, and it can be great enrichment for them. But it's also important to set our dogs up for success.

Happy Hiking!

#417

04/03/2022

Not sure you have time for dog training?

You can do a training session in the time it takes to wait for ads to end!

It's common to worry that it might be hard to fit yet another thing into your schedule. We are often busy, and the expectations put on us are often fast-paced!

It's ok! You don't have to devote hours at a time to dog training on a regular basis. It's possible (and often is better for setting our dog up for success) to spread most of your training out across several shorter sessions.

Try having treats near places where you often have to take a brief pause - like the microwave!

Want some help finding ways to fit training into your busy schedule? We would be happy to help! Reach out to us through our website, phone, or email (in our bio)!

28/02/2022

Click! Treat!

One of the tools I keep in my belt for training is a clicker. It can be a really useful tool, but like with most tools, you have to learn how to use it first.

Sometimes, people will wonder if they can use the clicker to get their dog's attention when they are distracted.

While yes, it makes a distinctive noise, and many dogs are likely to look up when they hear an unfamiliar noise... if you use a clicker for this often enough, it loses it's value as a novel sound. In short, it's not really designed as an attention-getter.

It's a lot more valuable in the long-run to teach your dog to offer you attention both by default, and when you say their name, than to use the clicker to get their attention. Attention in response to their name, responding to recall, and default attention are all behaviors we can teach, and build value and reliability into with rewards.

The other downside to using a clicker as an attention-getter, is that it works against our goals with the clicker.

Think of it this way: A clicker is like a CAMERA, not a remote control. Use your clicker when your dog does something you LIKE, followed by a reward. You're trying to "capture" a behavior in the moment, and let your dog know, "Yes, THAT behavior is what I wanted."

In a sense, the clicker is also a little bit like a contract -- the reason that hearing a click after a behavior tells your dog that that behavior is good to repeat, is that it always predicts that something good is coming - a reward! Make sure your click is always followed by a reward, so that the click keeps it's meaning to your dog.

Hence, Click! Treat!

A) Your dog does the behavior you wanted.
B) Click! to capture it in the moment.
C) Deliver a reward.
D) Your dog learns to repeat that behavior.

The click gives your dog information about what they just did.

The reward that follows makes them more likely to repeat that behavior.

What questions do you have about clickers?

#417

25/02/2022

Today's quote comes from Bones Would Rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier, :

"We are, quite often, asking our dogs for that thingamajig, and they make the best guesses they can based on what we have taught them."

Suzanne talks about a training game she has students play in her workshop sometimes, called "Fruits & Veggies." In the game, human "trainers" teach their human partner (playing the part of a "dog") to do 3 simple behaviors... but they can only use the names of fruits and veggies as language to communicate, and they can't employ mimicry to teach the behaviors.

Our dogs don't come pre-installed with our human languages, much like we don't come into the world knowing theirs (as much as we might like to!).

Sometimes we assume that our dogs know what we mean if they've guessed right a couple of times. We might think things like "they know this - I'm not sure why they aren't listening." It bears asking though, have we taken the time to thoroughly teach the behavior we're asking for? Have we rewarded them for it enough times for them to fully understand it, and be motivated to choose it on their own?

Sometimes it's helpful to remind ourselves that until we have taken the time to really teach our dog what our human words mean, "sit", "stay" and "heel" mean no more than "potato," "rutabaga," and "kiwi."

#417

24/02/2022

Good evening, friends and fronds! My business card order arrived this week, and I was too excited not to share them with you.



#417

21/02/2022

"I am dismayed at how people label dogs spoiled when their basic needs are being met, when they are simply well loved and their lives are relatively free of aversives."

Excerpt from Mine! by Jean Donaldson.

Mine! is a fantastic book of protocols for working with dogs who resource guard, but it also has a lot of gems that apply to the rest of our lives with dogs. This quote is one of the ones that really stuck with me.

Jean is right! Often, if a dog lives a life in which their basic survival needs are met, their enrichment needs are met, and they aren't worried about being punished for mistakes, people might worry that the dog will be "spoiled," or poorly behaved, without boundaries.

Thankfully, it isn't true - you absolutely can meet your dog's needs, and let them live a life relatively free of aversives, while still having healthy boundaries and teaching them appropriate behaviors.

#417

18/02/2022

Not sure you have time for dog training?

You can do a training session in the time it takes to microwave leftovers!

It's common to worry that it might be hard to fit yet another thing into your schedule. We are often busy, and the expectations put on us are often fast-paced!

It's ok! You don't have to devote hours at a time to dog training on a regular basis. It's possible (and often is better for setting our dog up for success) to spread most of your training out across several shorter sessions.

Try having treats near places where you often have to take a brief pause - like the microwave!

14/02/2022

Ever wondered about our name?

Argot
ar·​got | noun | ˈär-(ˌ)gō , -gət

: the language used by a particular type or group of people : an often more or less secret vocabulary and idiom peculiar to a particular group

So much of dog training is really learning how to communicate in ways our dogs can understand, and how to listen to what our dogs are communicating back to us - learning to speak each other's language.

That's why we chose the word Argot as part of our name - because communication with our animals is a huge part of the foundation.

17/10/2021

17/10/2021