Imagine having a way to trigger your dog to relax. Consider the benefits and applications in everyday life like vet visits, the groomers or travel. It’s not hypnosis. It’s a protocol involving [...]

In August 2021, I released a special video about my dog, This!, titled “Normalizing Imperfection in Dog Training”, covering our challenges so that everyone with a dog knows that [...]

Recently I came across an envelope containing all my report cards from kindergarten through university. Reading over my teachers' comments was an enlightening study of behavior [...]

As a professional dog trainer, I regularly see a lot of people working with their dogs. A common error people make when things don’t go well is changing criteria in the middle [...]

I’ve met a lot of people at the crossroads of their dog training and looking to go in a more reinforcement-based direction, but they’re worried it won’t work due to old beliefs [...]

Over the years I’ve asked my students to describe the connection with their dog in different environments. How is it different inside your house versus your front yard? What [...]

As a professional dog trainer, I can assure you there are six words that your dog training coach never wants to hear. You might think those words are "but he does it at home" [...]

When I first started dog training 30 or so years ago, I was studying the sport of dog obedience because I wanted to compete. We were taught to lure our dog to do what [...]

Have you ever been in a dog training situation and felt you are in the wrong place as your dog is not responding like other dogs? Or have you ever thought that your dog [...]

To the uninitiated, reinforcement based dog training looks as if you have to walk around with a boatload of cookies or else you are not going to get your dog to do what [...]

Trying to work with multiple dogs at once can be a struggle, especially when one dog consistently interferes. Even if you only have one dog, the information offered in [...]

When you have a new puppy, safe socializing is important. Something to consider is taking a pup to outdoor cafes or restaurants. When you do it right, there are many [...]

My dog won’t take treats outside! Is that something you’ve ever said or heard? We’re looking at the challenge of a dog refusing treats as a case study, as training will be [...]

Why is it important to walk your dog daily? Besides the obvious health benefits of exercise, we’re looking at the advantages of daily dog walking that many people don’t [...]

When we train dogs with layered shaping, we train with out of the box thinking. In this episode, I’m giving a glimpse of what that looks like and how it relates to the transfer [...]

Having coached thousands of people in dog training, I’ve observed that their dogs seem to fall into three categories. The dogs who seem to hate training sessions, the dogs [...]

I use shaping rather than luring with food in my dog training. In the 80s, I was taught to food lure and correct, learned to do it well, and luring brought me a lot of success [...]

We’re geeking out the topic of dopamine in dog training and how it impacts a dog’s motivation. Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter, and there’s a lot of research on [...]

We use targets in our dog training, which has prompted popular questions on the best way to fade a target and when to start fading. So that’s the topic of this episode [...]

A good dog training plan will set you and your dog up for success and protect your confidence. The planning I do for myself and my students includes 10 key elements. We’re [...]