Attention Oak Park River Forest
📣 Attention, OAK PARK and RIVER FOREST darn good dog parents!!
👍🐶 We have expanded our service area to YOU with limited availability.
📅 If you are available in the mornings on TUESDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, and THURSDAYS, let's talk!
📱 Use this link to book your free 20 minute Discovery Call with Joan H to find out how we can help you and your darn good dog have a better life together: https://go.darngooddogschicago.com/discovery.
❔ If these times aren't free for you, go ahead and email us at [email protected]. We are still building our OPRF service schedule and may be able to work with you on a different day and time.
www.darngooddogschicago.com
🚦STAY - when you have a high energy, young adolescent dog, it can feel nearly impossible to train!
🐕🦺Meet Laika: part PWD, part nuclear energy. At 1 year old, he has three modes: doing, sleeping, pouting when he isn’t doing something.
👩🏫 I did Day Training with Laika, starting he was only three months old, and he is VERY trainable.
⚡️ Due to his high levels of energy, he’s always struggled with jumping and then alternatively, being able to sit or lie down for any length of time.
⏰ For some behaviors, it is simply going to take much longer than other behaviors. For example, Sit is often fairly easy and quick to train. For Laika, Stay is about as hard as it gets!
🤔🙇🏼♀️ In the end not only did it take a very high value reinforcer to make it worth his while, BUT it took SEVERAL reinforcers at once - a reinforcing cocktail!
🦴🧸😁 I also did very short sessions with long play breaks in between. Laika would get frustrated very quickly if I tried to do several sessions of Stay in a row. It would sabotage any progress we had made.
🐶❤️ Dogs truly are our best teachers! I know I learned so much from each and every dog I work with.
😩 If you are struggling to train your dog to Stay, try shorter sessions, long breaks with your dog’s favorite activities, and try layering your reinforcers rather than just using one at a time. And let us know how it went!
#traininghighenergydogs #positivereinforcementdogtraining #chicagodogtrainer #chicagodogtraining
🐶Here is my formerly very #fearfuldog Letty’s newest Expert trick “Hoop Jump Over Back.”
When working with fear, it’s helpful to work on calming activities and behaviors AND confidence building fun behaviors.
🤸For many dogs, tricks=fun!
Having fun and exciting behaviors with a history of #positivereinforcement gives a dog something to do so they don’t notice things in the environment that might make them nervous.
😀 Teach your dog some tricks today!!
#chicagodogtrainer #chicagodogtraining #trickstraining
MONTHS AGO I shared a video of our work in progress on this expert trick “Roll Yourself in a Blanket.” We now consider it done!
🤔 Tricks like this are called “behavior chains” - several behaviors chained together with no other reinforcements or cues given during the chain.
🐕🦺 Service dogs perform chains all the time - like going to retrieve something for their owners.
👩🏫 We often teach chains BACKWARDS. Why? So that the last behavior has the longest history of being positively reinforced. If you get paid $5 to wave, $6 to clap your hands, and $10 to pump your fist, the best sequence to ensure you will complete all three is Wave - Clap - Pump.
📋 This chain was: Go to target (blanket), Down, Take It - blanket corner with her mouth, Rollover while still holding the blanket, Stay in Down.
‼️ One extra training challenge was teaching Letty to hold something in her mouth while performing other behaviors. She would often grab the blanket but then release for the Rollover.
🐾🏆 Out of context I had Letty hold a variety of different objects (Take It) and then do very reliable behaviors like Sit. Spin, Down, and Beg. This is called generalizing a behavior.
⏰ A HUGE factor in teaching more advanced behaviors is the timing of your click or marker. It took time to build duration in Letty’s Take It of the blanket corner.
🐶 These tricks also build on a long history of learning other tricks and behaviors!
🏆😄 Training behavior chains teaches you the human learner so much about training your dog!
❓What is you and your dog’s favorite show off behavior? Share in the comments!
#chicagodogtrainer #chicagodogtraining #positivereinforcementdogtraining #tricksfordogs #dogfun
We celebrate our #rescuedogs every day but let’s give them an extra special shout out today!
❤️ The dogs you see here all were adopted from shelters, or otherwise rescued. Some came from puppy mills, some were puppies from unwanted litters. Many were living in rural Southern states, some were given up my families who fell onto very hard times and made the painful decision to relinquish their pet.
🫶 ALL of them are trainable, loving dogs who have brought their families joy and happiness. As a trainer seeing the potential unleashed that had laid hidden inside a dog who was undersocialized or overwhelmed by #bigcitylife is why I do what I do. It’s such a great feeling.
I love all the dogs and all their wonderful families but today is for the rescue pups!! Consider donating to a rescue, signing up to volunteer, or just hanging out with a friend’s rescue dog.
#shelterdogsrock #shelterdogsrule #positivereinforcementdogtraining #chicagodogtrainer
Thank you, @goddessgrocer, for the decadent Pup Cup!! We hit the one in Bucktown with a convenient walk up window.
🍀☺️ How lucky am I to work with Team Tank!!
‼️❣️He is proof that old dogs can absolutely learn new tricks!
🥗 And his favorite treat? BRUSSELS SPROUTS!!
At 13 years young, he is incredibly engaged in training, learns fast, and is making great progress each and every week.
#chicagodogtrainer #chicagodogtraining #blinddogtraining #positivereinforcementdogtraining
Easy, relatively inexpensive, DIY #CanineEnrichment activity with scavenging and scentwork!
Let’s talk Targeting!🎯
Trainers use this technique to move part of or all of a dog’s body 🐕 in #forcefreedogtraining.
It’s also a great tool for building confidence 🤗 and body awareness.
My pal Nisa had zero choices and was forced to live walked away in a puppy mill before she was rescued by @pawschicago and then adopted by her new family.
🐾 She is finally taking her first steps in a life with choices - but also a life filled with numerable sights 👀, sounds 👂🏻, smells 👃, and surface is to walk on.
🗓️ In just a couple months Nisa has become bold enough to nose target hands, her leash and harness, and other objects. She’s also also habituated to many different surfaces with her paws.
🥳🎉👏🏻 Way to go, Team Nisa! We are so proud of you!
#chicagodogtrainer #puppymillsurvivor #positivereinforcementdogtraining #fearfuldogtraining
Teaching your fearful or reactive dog to “Get Behind” is great way to diffuse a situation. We need to let our fearful dogs know we can keep them safe in any situation.
