Montreal City Officials passed a Pit Bull Ban ("Breed Specific Legislation" or "BSL") on September 27, 2016 which essentially is a death sentence for thousands of dogs. In this case, the legislation targets Pit Bull breeds and Pit Bull mixes. It is important to note that the term "Pit Bull" may refer to a variety of bully type breeds.
Read MoreYou Might Be Teaching Your Dog Bad Behaviors And Not Even Know It!
Almost every person who hires me for help has some level of behavioral problems with their dog. In almost all cases, this is at the fault of the humans (current or previous owners). Dogs are not born with bad behaviors, they learn them. So how do dogs learn to do certain things? Well, all dog behavior essentially comes down to one thing... Conditioning.
Conditioning is a complex behavioral science, but at its core it essentially means - If a given behavior is reinforced through a reward (positive reinforcement), then it is likely to be repeated in the future. For example, If you teach your dog to sit, and every time that she follows the command you reward her with food, toys, or affection; then the behavior is more likely to repeat itself in the future. The dog is actively choosing to follow the command to sit because of the reward. The concept of dogs just wanting to please their owners is a myth. Behavior is based on conditioning.
So how do behavioral problems develop? With conditioning, behaviors will repeat in the future if they are rewarded... even if we don't mean to or are subconsciously rewarding them. For example, let's say your dog brings you a toy because she wants to play/fetch. She drops the toy at your feet and begins to bark. You try your best to ignore her, but eventually you give in, pick up the toy, and throw it for her. In this instance, the dog has learned that by barking at humans, she gets something good. Furthermore, because you ignored it at first and then eventually gave in to the dog, she has learned that persistence pays off. Shortly thereafter, you have a behavioral problem with barking / demand barking. With this example, the right option would have been to either ignore the dog until she stops barking, or ask her to do something first (like a sit command) and then pick up and throw the toy (once the barking stops).
If you understand dogs, you can begin to shape them through 'proactive' or 'passive training' to avoid undesirable behaviors such as demand barking. Experienced and trained dog trainers who use positive reinforcement methods can teach you how to better communicate with your dog. Begin to have a more balanced and peaceful household and find a local positive based dog trainer near you and get started today!
July 4th Pet Safety!
Fireworks can be very scary for dogs causing anxiety. Follow these tips to keep your dog safe and enjoy the holiday!
Puppy Potty Training
Training your puppy can be tough! At Attention Dog Training recommends that you follow the above guide and crate train your puppy! Crate training is one of the most quick and effective ways to help your puppy adjust to their potty schedule. Be consistent!
We provide in-home training including assistance with potty training for your puppy!
Time To Get Motivated
One of the most fundamental concepts in animal training is finding something that the animal wants. With dogs, food is usually a good place to start. Most dogs are food motivated, which means they are highly likely to do something in response of a food reward. Finding the right motivator for the right exercise is often the difference between a good dog trainer and a great one! All dogs are different! Some like food, some like toys, others enjoy doing the task and no motivator is needed. It all depends on the dog and the 'thing' you are asking the dog to do.
Think of this example, imagine I asked you to run 5 miles. Now, what if I told you I would pay you 5 dollars for doing it. Would you do it? most would probably say no. Unless, you were a person who loved running, then you would do it because it is self-rewarding. But if you are like the rest of us, doing that amount of work for only $5 dollars hardly seems worth it. But what if I offered you $100,000 dollars? Would you run a mile then? Most people would have already put their shoes on. This is what motivators are like for dogs. When we are training dogs, we are asking them to do things and the dog requires payment for the action. It is up to the handler (or trainer) to use the proper motivator to get the desired results.
If we try to teach a dog to recall and he isn't very food motivated, training treats will likely not work. Maybe a filet mignon would do the trick, but that seems ridiculous. So, perhaps that particular dog is motivated by toys or a tennis ball. So, what If we teach him to recall using a tennis ball reward? Now we are on to something... Does that dog like the sound of toys and squeakers? If so, get a ball that has a squeaker in it. Oh boy! this is getting good for the dog now.
So, now that you found something that is highly motivating, how do you use it properly? Well, the trick is to only give the dog access to the motivator when he does an action that you are asking him to do (such as come, sit, down, etc.). Avoid falling into the temptation of giving the dog access to this ball simply because you love your dog and want them to feel good. If you give out this high-value-reward 'willy nilly' then it will begin to lose value. With dogs, high-value-rewards are very valuable to us as dog trainer's because we can use them to get dogs to do just about anything by using positive based, force-free training.
