Dog Training Training Aids

Training Aids

Dog training aids are necessary if you are planning to go on a dog training program. Remember the dog-training aids that are out in the market are actually benefits for dog owners. Dog training aids are there to help you in succeeding in teaching and training your dog. These aids could help the owner in training your dog in obedience, agility and etc.

You will find many types of aids, but only a certain few will work well for you, so choose wisely.

However, I find that the reward method of training aids is the best. Giving small amount of food for a well-completed task will work wonders. This method may not be effective if your dog is not really interested in treats. This method is a really a cheap method of training aids.

For dog agility training aids that are available are e.g. anti bark collars. Many dogs have a problem when they do dog agility. They start barking constantly basically because of the hype involved. Anti bark collars do one of two things or sometimes both, they give a small electric charge when your dog barks and spray some water up into their face. People may think this is cruel but it is completely harmless. It just lets your dog know that barking is not acceptable. These collars are available at pet shops and on the Internet and are not too expensive.

Clicker is another interesting aid. Surprising, this aid is one of the aid many dog owners prefer to use. The dog is taught to associate a clicking sound with a reward, like a treat. The trainer clicks the clicker when the dog does something good, followed immediately by a treat. Eventually, the dog learns to respond to the clicker alone.

The leash or collar training aid is the main form of controlling and communicating with the dog in leash and collar training. This aids is the most popular method of dog training and have been around for a very long time and have proven to be a favored among dog trainers
Whatever aids you choose, you as a owner or trainer is in a better position to determine the best aid that will go well and give good result.

For Infor Check it out at:

”Train your dog the same fast, effective, fun way a professional dog trainer uses to train pet stars in film, television, and commercials.”

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So much dog to talk about All the time in the world!

(source)

Hi Mia,

Yowzer!! We have so much to talk about! Dogs eating poop, welfare assessment, behavioural needs, enrichment and the “guilty look” are only the beginning! 

 

Speaking of which, I’m sure you have at least 7,000 more words on assessing welfare. Can you tell me more about assessing welfare?

You hyperlinked to a scientific journal article by Dr. Georgia Mason, and that made me smile a lot lot lot (or, Alot).

I am a bit of a Georgia Mason worshiper (for any of you who don’t know, she is a researcher in Animal Behaviour and Welfare at the University of Guelph. She explores how the housing of “Applied Animals,” those animals managed or controlled by humans, affects behaviour, brain functioning and welfare. She focuses on lab, farm and zoo animals... I feel like The Oz coming down and speaking to people other than you, Mia. Weird). Anyway, a while back, I gave Dr. Mason directions at a conference in France, and its still a big deal in my book.

So, yes! Tell me more about welfare assessment!!!

Life for me presently revolves around writing projects. Instead of writing about my writing projects, Ill give you a visual interpretation of what I’m working on and how I feel about it.

How I feel after reading a scientific paper and having a worthwhile thought:

Yay words! (source)

How I feel after sitting and writing for a long time:

(source)

Writing projects are about:

Chaser. (source)

Rico. (source)

Sofia. (source)

Another writing project on this beloved topic:

Whats the "guilty look" all about? (source)

And writing up research I presented at the 3rd Canine Science Forum in Barcelona, where we met, awww...

What is aesthetically pleasing? (source)

What is aesthetically pleasing? (source)

Come September well gear up to finish a study at the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab about this:

What the nose knows.(source)

I’ll tell you more about these pictures later.

Happy weekend!!!

JULIE 

Referenced

Mason, G. 1993. Why is there no simple way of Measuring Animal Welfare? Animal Welfare 2, 301-319. Click here for abstract.

© Julie Hecht 2012

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I am a Dog Trainer

I began as a dog trainer because I wanted to help dogs. As a shelter volunteer I saw dogs sitting in kennel runs, not just for months but sometimes for years due to behavioral issues. Some were just hyperactive dogs that needed to be taught some manners, some just needed to learn how to play well with others; none were unadoptable. But someone needed to take seriously the fact that these dogs had behavioral issues. Instead, they were adopted out and returned, sometimes multiple times.

I spent three years educating myself through online courses, taking dogs through different trainers. Reading books, watching DVD’s, and just watching dogs. Yet, after all that, I still didn’t think I had the answers I needed to truly help dogs with behavior problems. There was just too much information out there pulling me in too many different directions at once.

It has now been 8 years since I decided I wanted to be a dog trainer, a person who works with dogs. Not an instructor, like some people; I wanted to be hands on so that I could analyze, teach, and experience the development of the canine education process. Three years ago I finally settled into the trainer I wanted to be. A balanced trainer. I wanted to be the kind of trainer that looked at a dog, accessed the situation, and used the means necessary to train the dog to its fullest potential. If that meant using a prong collar, a remote e-collar, a gentle leader, markers, toys, food, metal or nylon choke collars, then so be it.

My job is done when a dog can live in a relaxed state of mind and have the understanding of each basic “word” that it has been taught. If this helps give a dog a better, healthier relationship with its human companions and keeps it in its home for the rest of its life, then I feel I’m successful in what I’m doing.

With this reasoning, I will not apologize for telling a dog “No”. I will not let anyone berate me because I believe in discipline, a state of being, as well as in giving a correction for a bad decision. I believe discipline does NOT equal abuse and I believe you cannot train a dog to its fullest potential by reward alone. To have balance you must have right and wrong.

My training is not positive reinforcement only, nor is it punishment based, it is based on balance. I use all 4 parts of the **Learing Theory of Dog Training , not just 2.

**The Four Quadrants of Operant Conditioning.

Positive Reinforcement—

      Add something that will increase the chance of the behavior happening again.

      (Treat or Toy reward after asking for Sit)

Negative Reinforcement-

     Remove something that will increase the chance of the behavior happening again.

     (Ecollar tap stops once the dog is in the Sit position)

Positive Punishment—

     Actively doing something that decreases the chance of the behavior happening again.

     (Leash correction, squirt bottle )

Negative Punishment—

     Removing something from the dog that will decrease the chance of the behavior from   

     happening again.

     (with hold treat reward, remove self or dog from situation)

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