Canine Nation on Pet Life Radio (PetLifeRadio.com)

How can dogs be stupid and smart at the same time? How can they have less intelligence than humans and still control our households? For all our intelligence, we humans certainly find our reasons to claim to be both inferior and superior to our canine companions when it suits us.

How can dogs be stupid and smart at the same time? How can they have less intelligence than humans and still control our households? For all our intelligence, we humans certainly find our reasons to claim to be both inferior and superior to our canine companions when it suits us.

Owning a dog is wonderful and rewarding but it is also a big responsibility. Training and management are not simple tasks as some would have us believe. But with the right teachers, it isn’t all that difficult to learn to do it well. Could we be doing a better job of teaching people about training their dogs?

Getting results can be about good, good enough, or GREAT! It matters how we train. Ask Olympic athletes Usain Bolt and Oscar Pistorius. How you teach your dog can make all the difference in the world.

You know that horrible moment when you are at the park with your dog friends and you call your dog and they ignore you? Yeah, me too. It’s a mystery why dogs sometimes choose not to do what we ask. Sometimes there are very good reasons why they don’t respond. But other times, well, it’s just a mystery.

Many think that Behavioral Science treats organisms like machines, manipulating behavior and bending others to their will. But it’s not simple. In fact, there is another side to Operant and Classical Conditioning. What you can learn about your dog while you are changing his behavior might just surprise and delight you. You might just discover that the science can show you your dog’s personality in wonderful detail!

Many think that Behavioral Science treats organisms like machines, manipulating behavior and bending others to their will. But it’s not simple. In fact, there is another side to Operant and Classical Conditioning. What you can learn about your dog while you are changing his behavior might just surprise and delight you. You might just discover that the science can show you your dog’s personality in wonderful detail!

The technical stuff is interesting and teaching the cool tricks is lots of fun. But sometimes you just have to do the practical everyday training to make things work with your dogs. This podcast covers some of the things we train to make things run smoothly with our own dogs! It could be moving our dogs from one room to another or making walks a little more pleasant. Simple behaviors can be trained with any dog to make communication better. And it helps that it can make life easier and more fun too!

Correcting bad behavior in our dogs can be like putting out a fire. We have to act swiftly and decisively. But if we don’t know a little bit about behavioral science, we could end up making things worse instead of better. Inspired by Dr. Susan Friedman, this article looks at what our options are when we need to deal with unwanted behavior.

Punishing our dog for bad behavior might be the first thing that comes to mind but, according to Dr. Susan Friedman, it is likely that it will be the least effective for correcting behavior long-term. There are lots of options to try before we resort to trying to stop behavior. Being proactive and teaching the behaviors we want to see is a great start!

There are a few common phrases that float around in the dog training world that get my hackles up. One of those phrases is 'I use whatever training technique my dogs need.' Not all training techniques are equal in how they impact your dog and your relationship with him. You should know all you can about how a training method works before you try it on your dog. Don’t take the word of your neighborhood 'dog expert' without understanding how it works. If they hearsay doesn’t make sense, don’t be afraid to be a heretic and do things your own way!