Today, we use reward-based training (marker training) to turn training sessions into games in which our dogs learn new behaviors (I.E. Sit, Down, Come, Walk on a Loose Leash). Our goal is to have a dog that looks forward to the next training session, rather than dread training.
We are balanced dog trainers. This means we train new behaviors motivationally with high-value rewards. In Basic Obedience, we use food rewards. In later training, we use food or toy rewards.
The goal is for our dogs to generalizing a behavior. This means they understand the command in different situations and locations. But we also realize that every dog will eventually be placed in an environment where the distractions they face in the new environment are more interesting to the dog than our high value reward.
At that point, our dog may need a correction. How much of a correction depends on the age of the dog, the temperament of the dog, the environment we have placed the dog in and what the dog has chosen not to do. There is an entire segment in out course title “The theory of corrections in dog training”. In this segment, you will learn that the purpose of a correction is not to punish a dog for bad behavior, but rather to get a behavior change. We almost always recommend new trainers error on the side of helping their dogs and not correcting their dog.
We use high-value food rewards in our system. We will explain how to determine your dogs’ preference for rewards, we will teach you how to deliver a food reward without getting our fingers pinched and we will explain (in detail) how to fade using food rewards during training.
We will teach you when and how to start using marker training. We demonstrate with 9 week old puppies and 9 year old rescue dogs. You will learn what engagement is, why it is the key to our training program, and how to put engagement on cue.
We want our dogs to become fluent in the basic commands of sit, down, walk on a loose leash and the foundation of the basic recall. We will teach how to add duration to sit and down commands. You will learn what restrained recall games are, along with other games than build your foundation for a recall. We want our dogs to spit out things it picks up on our walks. There is a segment in our video where we show you how to teach the YUCK or LEAVE-IT command.
The Basic Obedience DVD is exactly what the title implies. There is a ton of information that covers the basic foundation of dog training. The next DVD in the series is titled "Intermediate Dog Training." In the DVD, we take what you have learned in Basic Obedience and expand the training into more complicated behaviors.
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