I highly recommend that you listen to these. They are free and can be listened to while you're cleaning at home, at the computer, while walking, jogging, or traveling in the car!
- The Dog Trainer's Quick and Dirty Tips! No dog is too old to learn new tricks - or better manners. The Dog Trainer explains how to get the polite behaviors you want and then turn those behaviors into lifelong habits. Whether you're house training, teaching your dog to roll over, or wondering how to evaluate a dog walker, The Dog Trainer's podcasts can help.
Recommended Podcasts
My message would be simple: training is not a luxury, but a key component to good animal care. Everyone who has a pet should understand that basic fact. Training is a way to enhance the quality of life for our pets. It is far more than just teaching a dog to do a cute trick. Training is about teaching a dog (or any animal) how to live in our world safely.
~Ken Ramirez, executive vice president of animal care and animal training at the world-renowned Shedd Aquarium
Training Insights and Tools of the Trade
ENRICH Them!
Enrichment is as integral to animal care as veterinary and nutrition programs. Animal enrichment promotes naturalistic behaviors that stimulate the mind and increases physical activity. It reduces stress and therefore promotes overall health by increasing an animal's perception of control over their environment and by occupying their time.
Learn more about enrichment here.
Learn more about enrichment here.
DIY Puzzle Feeders!
One of the cool things that I learned as an Enrichment Coordinator of the Audubon Zoo was that anyone can make a puzzle feeder out of almost anything, AND in the process you get to recycle in a super fun way! Every night we give our dog Hocus Pocus some sort of enrichment challenge to do. Below is a video demonstrating a very easy one for her, but the point is to not just "give a dog a bone". Make them work for it! Be as creative as you want to be! This kind of enrichment provides mental stimulation for your dog, and they learn that being alone is a Very Good Thing. Bonus: It gives you time to do whatever you need to get done while they are having fun!
Check out more ideas for DIY cat and dog enrichment puzzles here!
Pine Cones and Parrots!
Chewing & foraging is a natural behavior that parrots need to do DAILY. Adding non-toxic tree branches & stumps can help to wear down their beaks & nails, while providing much needed enrichment!
Safety Tips:
Chewing & foraging is a natural behavior that parrots need to do DAILY. Adding non-toxic tree branches & stumps can help to wear down their beaks & nails, while providing much needed enrichment!
Safety Tips:
- Collect pine cones as soon as they fall to ground.
- Be sure the pine cones & branches aren't old, damp/moldy.
- Baking/freezing them can make them safer for parrots to eat and/or chew. Check w/ a veterinarian before giving any new browse chew toys!
TRAINING TRUTH: Dog training should not be a battle of wills, but an ever-evolving dance of communication and cooperation. ~ Nicole Wilde
Reward vs. Force
The strongest relationships between animals and humans are based on cooperation and kindness rather than a human dominance/animal submission methodology.
Positive training helps to establish and maintain a connection that increases trust and therefore creates a stronger bond between animal and human.
For example, if your canine companion feels good about you, he or she will be a happier, more confident, and better-behaved dog.
Positive training results in dogs who follow you because they *want to* rather than following out of fear. Outdated training methods use punitive methods to force a dog to behave, which often results in a quick fix that never truly identifies the root cause of the misbehavior, and promote insecurity and negative behavior.
The strongest relationships between animals and humans are based on cooperation and kindness rather than a human dominance/animal submission methodology.
Positive training helps to establish and maintain a connection that increases trust and therefore creates a stronger bond between animal and human.
For example, if your canine companion feels good about you, he or she will be a happier, more confident, and better-behaved dog.
Positive training results in dogs who follow you because they *want to* rather than following out of fear. Outdated training methods use punitive methods to force a dog to behave, which often results in a quick fix that never truly identifies the root cause of the misbehavior, and promote insecurity and negative behavior.
TRAINING TIP: Ask yourself what behaviors your dog is really fluent at right now. My definition of a dog really "knowing" a behavior is that I can slap $50 on the counter and say "Watch this!" and he'll perform promptly on the first cue.
If you don't have a $50 behavior yet, you need to keep training that behavior until you do.
~ Karen Pryor, pioneer of clicker training and author of "Don’t Shoot the Dog! and "Reaching the Animal Mind"
The Use of Food in Dog Training Q & A
- What is positive reinforcement? Does it just mean that I give my dog treats?
- Why should I use food when training my dog? Surely if I ask my dog to do something he should just do it?
- Why does my dog only listen to me when I have a piece of hot-dog in my hand?
- How do I ensure that I don't have to bribe my dog?
- If my dog will not work for food, then how can a positive reinforcement trainer help me train my dog?
- At what point do I stop using the food to train?
- My dog will do sit and down in my house, but when I take him outside to the park I have to bribe him again. Why does this happen?
- If I train a lot, won't my dog get fat?
Learn the answers to all of these very valid questions here!
TRAINING TRUTH: When you punish an animal for exhibiting a behavior you don’t like, it doesn’t stop the behavior. You've only suppressed the behavior momentarily. We have to teach the animal what we want them to do instead! ~ Conscious Companion
How NOT to Train a Cat, and What TO DO instead!
You may be surprised to learn that there isn't really a way to discipline your cat, and that spray bottle you're using isn't doing anything but harming your relationship with your cat.
With so many people using the squirt bottle "technique", you might think that it must be an effective tool for training cats, but the truth is far from that; Using a squirt bottle on a cat only accomplishes these 4 things:
- It creates fear and frustration in a cat.
- It causes the cat to become afraid of you.
- The cat learns to wait until you aren’t around before doing the unwanted behavior.
- It breaks down the bond between you and your feline family member.
TRAINING TIP: Focus on Behavior That You Desire!
It’s so easy to dwell on the naughty behavior. Then we sit in a pool of frustration, anger, and sometimes even hurt by the actions of our beloved animals. When we focus on the behavior that we desire, we are allowing our animal companions to make better choices! - Joan Ranquet - Communication With All Life
This approach is incredibly effective. By ignoring behaviors you don’t like, and rewarding the behaviors you do like, you can transform rude or inappropriate behavior into polite manners. Teach the animal that the behaviors you prefer to see get attention, and nuisance behaviors achieve nothing. If you are consistent, you'll find that some of these nuisance behaviors will begin to decrease.
There is no need to yell, poke, yank, spray, hit, or scream at them when they are doing something you don't like. Show them what you want them to do instead. Give them better options. Animals are always making choices. Help them to make better ones!
So catch them in the act of doing something good! It may seem counter-intuitive, but it's sure to improve your relationship between you and your animal family members, and make your home a happier place.
What can you do to train your cat to behave better around the home?
Jackson Galaxy explains how in this episode of Cat Mojo below!
Jackson Galaxy explains how in this episode of Cat Mojo below!
TRAINING TRUTH: When you punish a cat for exhibiting a behavior you don’t like, it doesn’t stop the behavior.
Learn more about Why Punishment Doesn’t Work!
Learn more about Why Punishment Doesn’t Work!
When we limit ourselves, or our dogs, we also limit our view of what is possible. ~ Ken Ramirez
Dog training tips and expert advice from world renowned veterinarian, animal behaviorist, writer and dog trainer, Dr. Ian Dunbar!
Training Truth: You may think that it’s no big deal to tell a dog “No!” or “Eh Eh!” to stop a behavior. But doing this only suppresses a behavior. The problem with suppressing behavior is that you create a vacuum. The only behaviors in which your dog can replace the one you didn’t like are more “dog behaviors”, and most likely ones you will not be fond of. Another problem with this is that if the behavior is a side-effect of an underlying problem like stress or over-arousal, punishing the symptom can be unfair as well as cause more behavior problems down the line. If you instead get to the root of the problem and fix it using behavior modification, the unwanted problem behavior - which is a side effect - will disappear on it’s own. ~ Emily Larlham
There isn’t good behavior. There isn’t bad behavior. It’s all just behavior.
