By Emily Larlham The trick ‘Sit Pretty’ is one of my favorite exercises to teach dogs. It is not only an adorable trick, but it has many benefits that make it a must to train. Teaching ‘Sit Pretty’ increases your dog’s balance and body awareness. It also builds your dogs core muscles which protect the…
Reinforcing your dog for doing nothing is a technique I learned from my most amazing mentor, Kyle Rayon. The idea is, when you see your dog doing absolutely NOTHING, that is the moment you want to reinforce him with attention and treats. For example: Your dog is standing calmly at your side on a loose…
By Emily Larlham Generalizing simply means, teaching your dog that when you ask him to perform a behavior, it means the same thing regardless of the scenario or environment you are in. Dogs do not generalize as well as us humans do, so it can make it very difficult for us to understand what they…
By Emily Larlham Your puppy is going to chew, so take preventive measures. Wipe Wintergreen Oil on surfaces that you don’t want your puppy to chew on. For example, wood skirting boards, chair legs, table legs, and wires. Do this weekly. Wintergreen oil is an essential oil sold at places like Whole Foods that has…
By Emily Larlham Handling is a great way to communicate with your dog that most people overlook. It is also a great way to build calmness and trust in your dog. The benefits are endless. When your dog is comfortable with handling, touching your dog causes the release of the calming hormone, oxytocin, in your…
by Emily Larlham I see this happen so many times to so many dogs. A person will ask a dog to sit, give the dog a treat, and then walk away or start chatting with someone. Then the dog sits there looking as though he is thinking “Now what am I supposed to do?”. The…
By Emily Larlham 1 Leave your dog alone while you are home This teaches the dog to enjoy being alone while it is not associated only with you leaving the house. You can use baby gates and pens to keep your dog in one part of the house while you are in another. You can…
By Emily Larlham While searching the internet one day for “dog training tips” to see what the average person finds when browsing the internet for training help, I came across a tip that many people believe, yet I find detrimental to training. The commonly believed tip is that you should train your dog one behavior…
By Emily Larlham You can teach your puppy to walk off leash safely by using a long line attached to the harness your puppy is wearing. Make sure you never attach the line to your puppy’s collar, as you can seriously damage his neck if he were to run and hit the end of the…
by Emily Larlham ‘Think of your dog’s repertoire of behaviors as keys on a piano. To create variety you will need to play songs of different length, tempo, and tune. Never play the same song repetitively. Never play all the notes just because they are there!’ In my opinion, the biggest key to success in…
By Emily Larlham I learned this method from my mentor Kyle Rayon. I find it to be the most effective technique for teaching your puppy to greet other dogs calmly and appropriately on leash. First you will need to teach your puppy a cue meaning “move with me”. I like to use the phrase “Let’s…
By Emily Larlham Train each type of treat delivery as a behavior unto itself, before adding them into training sessions. For example: To throw a treat at a dog’s face for him to catch when he is not expecting it can be very punishing and distract from the training task, even if the dog does…
by Emily Larlham Food: Keep your dog’s treats as healthy as you can. Real meat is a great treat because it is healthy and easy to swallow quickly. Less healthy treats are tiny bits of cheese, hot dog, bread and other table scraps. Find out which treats are the most and the least reinforcing for…
“There are no bad dogs, only dogs that need more guidance and training.” by Emily Larlham I was recently asked, “Well if you don’t use corrections, what do you do when your dog does something you don’t like?” And I was stumped because I could not think of one thing at that moment that my…
By Emily Larlham Every time a puppy is reinforced for putting teeth on human skin, a bite-reinforcement history is being created. Take mouthing seriously and make sure you do not reinforce it! Ignoring biting is a bad idea because it is self-reinforcing! There are many ways to stop biting from being reinforced. Use your judgment…
By Emily Larlham The world can be a scary place for a young puppy. This is especially the case if the breeder or previous caregiver did not take the litter of puppies out-and-about in the company of their own mother and littermates in order to socialize them to everything they will see and hear in…