Sweet Paw Dog Training

09/10/2021

11th grade will never be the same! I’ll miss you so much but not all the money I’ve been hemorrhaging with you home all day. Have a great year!

04/21/2021

One down, one to go

04/13/2021

How can she be 17!! You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. I love you more everyday 😘

07/30/2020

So I’m completely locked out of Facebook after someone hacked my account on Monday. Look for dog training tips here from now on.

07/09/2020

Noooooooo!!!!

There is a trainer I know who posts a lot of short videos of her own dogs and dogs owned by clients of her board-and-train business. The dogs always look very well behaved and lots of people leave complimentary comments on these posts. I’ve never seen a comment mentioning the shock collars that ev...

07/04/2020

Pets and fireworks: how to keep your animals calm and safe on July 4

Many of our furry friends -- dogs, cats, even ferrets and birds -- go a bit ape when they hear the pops, sizzles and rocket sounds of fireworks. Here's how to help.

06/12/2020

Happy 7th birthday Ruby. Let’s see, what can I say about you ... you bite us, bully us, boss us around, burp in my face, barf up my plants that you eat, bark when being ignored for biting, bossing, and bullying ... you have very few redeeming qualities. But you’re sort of cute and most importantly, you love me beyond anything i could have ever imagined

05/12/2020

How to Keep Training Fun Without Pushing Your Dog to Failure

My motto when it comes to dog training is that training should be fun. You and your dog should be engaged and want to participate in the training session. If either one of you isn’t feeling it, then come back to it later.

Decades ago when trainers were taught to use force, pain, and fear to train, they routinely had their clients push their dogs to failure. What do I mean by that?

They would force the dog to keep training well past a reasonable amount of time and repetitions. And then when the dog failed, the clients were told to punish the dog.

One of my key foundations of training is to never push your dog to failure. If you ask for repetitions of the down command and your dog bangs out 5 but messes up on 6 and 7, then just stop the training session. Or better yet, end it on a positive note and ask for something easier that he readily can do. Then praise and reward.

As humans, it’s so much within our nature to push and push. If you’ve ever had a personal trainer to help you get in shape, you know what it’s like to have someone in your face yelling that you have to keep doing more even when you know you’ve reached your breaking point.

We have the ability to tell our trainer that we can’t do another one. But dogs don’t. At least not verbally. But when they start to give the wrong behavior or just check out of the training session altogether, they are trying to tell you that they have reached theirbreaking point.

Sadly, dog parents don’t always heed that communication and continue to expect what they consider 100 percent participation in the training session.

If dogs could talk, they’d tell us that there are days when they don’t want to train or maybe that they only want to train for a few minutes that day.

They may tell us that they find something a little more difficult and will need extra time practicing it before you throw in the towel and assume your dog is the one who can’t hold a stay.

The whole idea of failure in dog training comes from us humans, not the dogs. The expectations I see some of my clients putting on their dogs can be astronomical. And quite sad.

I’ve had many conversations where I explain to clients that learning basic obedience is not an emergency and will take how long it’s going to take.Certain breeds tend to train faster, but that isn’t carved in stone. However, consistently working on training will produce results.

For positive trainers like myself, who use positive reinforcement to train dogs, the whole idea is to set your dog up for success. When you ask for those 5 downs, you want to do everything in your power to make sure that your dog has the right tools to land those 5 downs.

You want to make sure that when you trained him to give a down, you positively reinforced him with a treat or praise so that he knew when he was getting it right.

Pushing a dog to failure means that when he gets it wrong, you punish. Even if he got 5 right. I’ve written this before and I’m sure that I’ll write it again: behaviors that are rewarded are likely to be repeated. When you start punishing your dog for failing to give you a certain behavior, that behavior will likely cease. Which gets you nowhere near your goal of having a well-trained family dog.

Another aspect of pushing a dog to failure is when we don’t consistently put in the time or energy to train and get disappointed when the dog fails at giving the behaviors we’re asking for.

Training will not happen overnight, but you must work on it on a regular basis. And you must build up your dog’s ability to give you certain behaviors instead of assuming right out of the gate that they will know what you mean when you ask for something even though you haven’t worked on it for two weeks.

When we teach a child the ABC’s, we begin at the lowest possible level with one or two letters and gradually increase the difficulty when we feel the child can handle the additional information. We also continuously reinforce the new learning with high praise, stickers, and the occasional lollipop. This encourages the child to continue to learn and to do so with a positive attitude.

As the child develops in maturity and as their learning capability expands and strengthens, we practice with the new information until it become second nature. In the example of the ABC’s, we sing songs, provide them with coloring books, and encourage them to write the letters out in a fun and engaging manner.

All this takes time.

It doesn’t happen overnight. We understand that the process of learning the alphabet can be a long one and that through the process the learning can never stop but that it rather evolves through stages. We understand that stopping can set us back. So it becomes a matter of countless repetitions.

The same goes for practically any skill we wish to learn in life, whether it’s riding a bicycle, learning gymnastics, a new magic trick, or even how to drive a car. All of it takes continual practice and the more you practice the stronger the behavior or skill becomes.

The young driver who has only been on the road for two years will not have the same level of driving proficiency as the person who’s been driving for 20 years. Time and repetition makes us better.

But we tend to forget this when it comes to our dogs. And that’s typically because, unlike a human child, we don’t view a dog’s learning/education as something requiring a long-term effort. We essentially see learning as a short-term effort that the dog should pick up on relatively quickly.

How do you get through life and achieve anything without patience and consistency?

The answer is you don’t. Not anything worth having, at least. You need to put in the time and effort with some degree of regularity. That means consistency; not just sometimes, not just when you feel like it, but all the time.

The skills that you’re hoping to teach must become a lifestyle for yourself and the dog. And through all of this effort you’ll need to reward the progress. Because results aren’t going to come overnight. Results worth having can take a while before they’re seen or recognized. But rest assured, if you put in the work and demonstrate patience, you will see results.

If you do nothing and expect that your dog should be able to do something you’ve barely taught him, you’re pushing your dog to failure. You’re taking away any opportunity for praise or reward and replacing that with punishment.

If the child learning his ABC’s was asked to recite the alphabet after only having been taught it once, he will fail and will most likely not be very motivated to continue learning. Dogs can do the same thing. If you push them into a miserable training experience that only ends in failure, you will have trouble finding a willing participant. So turn that strategy 180 degrees and set your dog up for success.

05/06/2020

Positive Techniques that Make Dog Training Fun for the Whole Family

I remember when I was in high-school many, many years ago, our family got two puppies. They were adorable but full of energy and needed to be trained. So my dad and I signed them up for a class that met at night, outside on the trainer’s property. She wasn’t a particularly friendly woman but she came highly recommended by our vet.

The first and last night that we brought the dogs there, she explained that dogs needs to be “broken” of their desire to be the alpha of the household. So one of the ways that you showed the dog that you were boss and not him was to lift the dog by the leash on his neck and hold him there, desperate for breath, until he gave in.

Sadly, many trainers were doing these same horrible things because the common belief of the time was that dogs, like wolves, sought dominance in a pack. It was also around this same time that the very scientist who wrote that dogs were like wolves and sought dominance retracted his findings and wrote that in fact, dogs did nothing of the kind. In fact, they rarely paired into packs unless they were looking for the same food source. He had debunked his own dominance theory.

Unfortunately, many trainers still took years to adjust their training techniques given this new information. After all, us trying to dominate something else and assert ourselves as the highest rung in the pecking order is a very human thing to do. Our egos make us want to be at the top. So if abuse and pain had to be used to get there, then that’s what would be done.

Today, very few trainers train the way they did 30 years ago. Now we know that positive reinforcement training is the way to go. And we also know that dogs aren’t capable of the abstract thought pattern it would take to gain dominance over the family. After all, could you imagine your dog sitting on the couch trying to come up with ways to show you he’s really boss? Absolutely not!

Now we know that dog training is most effective when we set the dogs up for success. It’s very similar to teaching a toddler, which is about how smart the average dog is. When the child gets something right, we give him a gold star, when he gets seething wrong, we try and ask differently so he has another chance of getting something right instead of punishing him for getting something wrong. That which is rewarded is likely to be repeated.

If you wanted to harshly punish your young child for getting something wrong, you could, and the behavior would most likely stop, but what lesson have you taught? That fear and pain will change behavior. Not a very good training foundation. Unfortunately there are trainers who still use some of these methods and think that a dog is just a dog so why not use pain to train? So what are some of the techniques that us trainers use when it comes to positive reinforcement training?

Rewards
The easiest way to get your dog to perform the behavior you’re asking for is to find his currency. Every dog has something that they will work for harder than anything else. For most dogs, this will be food. It may be their kibble, store-bought treats, hot dogs, chicken … Sometimes its even carrots and apples. If you think your dog isn’t food-motivated, try a favorite toy. It may take some trial and error, but there is something out there that your dog loves more than anything.

Verbal Praise
When you’re in the midst of actively training your dog, you’ll be using a physical reward, such as treats, but your verbal praise is just as valuable. In the past, the dog was expected to perform without you having to praise at all. That just sounds awful to me. Even when your dog solidly knows something and has been weened off treats, you still want to at least give a genuine Good Girl or Good Boy so he knows he’s done the right thing.

Short Training Sessions
This is really key to maintaining your dog’s attention. Don’t start training by demanding an hour of full concentration from your dog. It’s just too long for most dogs and can end up being a miserable experience. Start out with a goal of five minutes of training a puppy or 10 minutes with an adult dog. If they seem like they can give more, then add another few minutes on. Practice multiple times day so you can get in about 30 minutes of training a day.

Don’t Push to Failure
This goes hand in hand with the above. If you’re training and your dog starts messing up, stop training. Continuing will lead you to frustration, which you’re likely to take out on the dog. Just end the session on a positive note by asking him to do something you know he knows, then give lots of praise. Working a dog beyond their breaking point was very typical in the past. Trainers would use leash pops to get the dog back in line.

Have Fun
For some reason, it never occurred to trainers 30 or even 10 years ago that training should be fun. No yelling, hitting, pain, fear should ever be needed to train a dog. If tat’s was you rely on as a trainer, you’re in the wrong profession and not a very savvy trainer. Whether your training a family dog or a police K-9 dog, no pain ever has to be used.

Praise and rewards will get you much more from your dog than forcing them into a training session they don’t want to be a part of. So if you plan a session but your dog doesn’t want to wake up or doesn’t want to stop playing with his favorite toy, then have the session later. If you’re in a cranky mood, train once you’re feeling better. There’s no reason why training your dog has to be anything but fun.

05/03/2020

How To Train Your Dog in Just Minutes a Day

One of the first questions any trainer hears from a new client is about how long they have to train with their dog each day.

Others want to do a single training session once a day where they can cover everything the dog has learned thus far.

Of course, the ultimate decider is the dog. If you have a puppy, keep training short and sweet. But an older, highly motivated dog may give you a good 45 minutes straight of attention.

But that doesn’t mean you have to train that long. Clients often worry that they won’t be able to give enough time to training. And some will admit that they just don’t want to train that much.

I get it. Sometimes the idea of a training session is just too much. But it doesn’t have to be.

Yes, you have to work with your dog consistently to see progress, but your normal day has tons of built-in opportunities for you to train. It doesn’t always have to be a formal training session.

Success is going to come if you’re consistent, you reward the good behaviors, and you honor your dog’s willingness to train at any given moment.

You can achieve all that in 20 seconds of training or 20 minutes of training. You just have to find the opportunities.

Let me just add right here, if you’re not even willing to put in the minimum, cats make great pets.

So let’s go over some events during your day that can be turned into training opportunities.

Before you put your dog’s food bowl down, ask for a sit. If he starts to break it before the bowl is on the floor, raise it back up until he remains seated until the bowl hits the floor.

Before you let him out of his crate, ask for a sit. Same idea as above, don’t open the crate door all the way until he is calm and sitting.

Start a game of tug with him but every once in a while, make him drop the rope toy, then ask for a sit before you start the game again.

Before you give him a nice bone, ask for a down before putting the bone between his front paws. He must stay in the down while you’re lowering the bone.

Before you walk out the door for a walk, have your dog sit while you leash him. If he jumps or won’t stop moving, wait until he sits still. It may take a few minutes and may feel like a battle of wills, but reinforcing the sit and teaching your dog impulse control is invaluable.

Once he can sit to be leashed, make him sit while you open the door. If he tries to dash out, close the door and start over.

Note, in any of these examples, depending on what you’ve taught your dog, you can ask for a touch, a high five, a sit, a down … pick any good behavior you’ve taught him.

When you’re out for a walk, ask for a sit or down or touch at every corner.

And remember that no matter how good he is at these behaviors, you still want to praise, praise, praise.

As you can see, you’re reinforcing these good behaviors in very simple ways that demand little, if any, time. But it still counts as training.

I do still recommend that you have mini-sessions where you just work on one new behavior for maybe 10 repetitions, but let your daily routine include training opportunities all day long.

04/29/2020

I wanted to address the issue of socializing your dog or puppy during the quarantine. So many people have asked about it as it’s one of the most important things you can do for your pup.

First of all, don’t stress, just get creative. Socializing isn’t just about exposing your dog to other dogs and people. Although that’s a big part, there are dozens of other things your dog should be exposed to.

In just your own home, your dog or puppy is meeting you, maybe kids or other relatives that may be living in your home. If you have another dog, your new pup will meet him/her.

Your dog is getting exposed to different smells, sounds, tastes, textures, and appliances.

Your dog is getting used to new appliances, different vocal tones, grass and pavement, foods, a crate or confinement area, a bed, new toys ...

If you can walk your dog on leash, you may be encountering other people and dogs. While you need to stay physically distant, your dog is still benefitting from seeing other dogs and people from 6 feet away, which isn’t much.

Outside the dog may hear and see cars, bikes, skateboards, strollers, big men and little men, people with hats on, women, someone jogging, cars honking.

In your own backyard, your dog or puppy will hear nature sounds, see squirrels, or hear the neighbor’s dogs. If you live in the city, your dog will hear and see all the wonders of being in an urban jungle.

Finally, depending on where you live, your local doggie daycare may still be open. Some are not only offering daycare, but very small puppy socials as well. If these classes or daycare is in the budget, I would definitely take advantage of this option.

So don’t worry that your dog is going to be a timid mess when he gets older. Even in quarantine there are still umpteen ways to socialize your dog 🐶