Better Dog Behavior

26/01/2024

Watch this. It’s important!

In 2014, 60 Minutes first attempted to answer the age-old question: does your dog really love you? "60 Minutes" is the most successful te...

26/01/2024

18/01/2024

Conway the Pit Bull had disappeared from home for nearly a year but his heartbroken family was about to get a huge surprise. Ten months after the dog had vanished, the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office’s animal services unit spotted a “skinny and exhausted” stray dog on a street. Highland Co...

18/01/2024

So the next quadrant in Operant Conditioning is Positive Punishment. Remember “positive” means something added. “Punishment” means something that stops behavior. So Positive Punishment mean adding something that stops behavior. Things like leash corrections, verbal corrections (“No!”), etc. Positive Punishment is how many “old school” trainers handle behavior they define as “bad” or not optimal. The problem with Positive Punishment is that while many times it will stop behavior, it also tends to create harmful associations in dogs. Many who rely on Positive Punishment don’t think about the Classical Conditioning that creates the harmful associations that Positive Punishment can create.

13/01/2024

09/01/2024

We talked last time about the first quadrant of operant conditioning, positive reinforcement. Another quadrant of operant conditioning is negative reinforcement. “Negative” means to take something away. “Reinforcement” means making behavior continue. So negative reinforcement means we take something away or stop doing something and that makes behavior continue. For example the “old school” method of pulling up on the leash and as a result tightening the collar around the dog’s neck as you say “sit.” When the dog sits then you loosen the leash, so the dog makes the tight leash go away by sitting. In other words the dog “escapes” or “avoids” the discomfort by performing what we want or have taught. I think you can see that this works in terms of getting the behavior we want, but I think it’s also easy to see that escaping or avoiding discomfort even if slight could help create a negative association to the behavior performed. Definitely not as much “fun” as positive reinforcement!

06/01/2024

One of the quadrants of operant conditioning is Positive Reinforcement- “positive” means you’re adding something. “Reinforcement” means something that makes behavior continue. So a food treat or praise or petting when your dog sits is positive reinforcement because it rewards the sit and makes it more likely to continue. Positive reinforcement is where we want to be with our training- your dog is more enthusiastic to do the work if he/she is getting paid well. That makes sense doesn’t it?

02/06/2023

Start off your weekend by tuning into our Better Dog Behavior podcast! ➡ http://betterdogbehaviornow.com/

31/05/2023

Check out Episode 16 of the Better Dog Behavior, "Stop The Barking!" ➡ http://betterdogbehaviornow.com/podcast

05/05/2023

Happy Friday! Be sure to tune in with Episode 16 of Better Dog Behavior podcast! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com/

29/04/2023

You’re Not Gonna Believe This! Listen to Episode 15 now ➡️ betterdogbehaviornow.com/blog

26/04/2023

Episode 15 of Better Dog Behavior Podcast is out! Tune in now! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com/

17/04/2023

Episode 14 of Better Dog Behavior podcast is out! Tune in now ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com/

14/04/2023

Episode 14 of Better Dog Behavior podcast is out now! Learn the difference between "correcting" your dog's behavior vs. teaching them something different and new! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com/

10/04/2023

Episode 14 of Better Dog Behavior is out! Tune in and let us know what you think! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com

31/03/2023

Episode 13 of better Dog Behavior podcast is out! Tune in now ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com

28/03/2023

Episode 13 of Better Dog Behavior podcast is out! Tune in now ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com

24/03/2023

Episode 13 of Better Dog Behavior is out! Tune in now! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com/

21/03/2023

The leash is like an antenna. If you are tense or angry or scared your dog can feel it. And as a result performance will suffer. Don’t train if you are tense! Woo Sah! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com/

17/03/2023

Tune into our latest episode of Better Dog Podcast! ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com

14/03/2023

Dog's possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about six million in humans. Watch our latest epsiode of Better Dog Behavior podcast to learn all about our pups noses and how benefical they are to them (and us!) ➡http://betterdogbehaviornow.com/

10/03/2023

When you work with your dog, your dog's behavior and demeanor tend to be a whole lot better!

08/03/2023

Spotted this guy sitting in his own seat on a flight today at LAX… ✈️🥹❤️

03/03/2023

Tune into the episode of Better Dog Behavior out now! Learn more about the relationship between civilization of humans and dogs. ➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com

28/02/2023

New episode of Better Dog Behavior out now! Learn more about the relationship between civilization of humans and dogs. The things you learn might surprise you!➡ betterdogbehaviornow.com

24/02/2023

Dogs are descendants of wolves-if the alpha male doesn't work for wolves, it won't work for dogs!

23/02/2023

Hey if you enjoy this art check out the artist page! https://www.facebook.com/ScottMetzgerCartoons

Scott Metzger Cartoons