Canine Nation

Is your dog “dominant” or willing to submit? Could you be living with a dog determined to take over and control your household? Dog Trainer Eric Brad looks as his own dog to see if the “warning signs” described by so many web sites could mean his dog is a tyrant in the making!

The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “The high-minded man must care more for the truth than for what people believe.” Our best source of information about dogs is the dogs themselves! This is a great time to try something new and learn something about our dogs. Question everything and be prepared for some surprising answers

The words and phrases we use when talking about dogs and training can influence our perceptions. Sometimes our inner dialogues can work against us. Are we being fair to our dogs and looking objectively at our own training skills?

When training dogs, it’s sometimes helpful to prompt them for the behaviour we are looking for. Trainer Eric Brad cautions that “prompts” can be as much a distraction as a help. Knowing how to “fade” them out of the picture can be just as important in good training.

Training your dog can be an incredibly creative experience. Communicating with a different species is challenging and can be very rewarding for both the dog AND the trainer. You just need the right approach and the ability to think outside the box a bit. You might be surprised at what's possible with positive training and a little creativity.

Food is something every dog has every day. Unless they are ill, there should be no reason for our dogs to turn down any snacks we offer them. But many dog owners claim their dogs won’t work for them for food treats as a reward. How can this be? Dogs are scavengers by nature. Could it be something we humans are doing that puts them off sometimes?

It’s been a great year. 2011 was a very positive year for Canine Nation and I want to thank all of my readers and podcast listeners for their support and comments over the past 12 months. I've learned a lot writing and producing the podcast and reader/listener comments have been a great source of information for me as well. Here’s wishing you all a successful and joy filled 2012 with your dogs!

Sometimes our dogs don’t want to do what we ask of them. Sometimes the rewards we offer them are not enough and they turn to “self-rewarding” behaviours. But are those behaviours really self-rewarding? It’s what our dog chooses to do so it must be. But what else is “self-rewarding” behaviour? The answer might surprise you.

Training, behaviour, and science are important parts of my life with my dogs. But there are simple, almost poetic moments that I also cherish. Working, playing, and sometimes quiet moments that help me appreciate the rapport that positive training has given me with my dogs. It starts even before I open my eyes each day.

If our dogs could talk to us for just five minutes, what would they say? I think the answer might be as surprising as it is simple! Decades of misunderstanding might give way to a more open and positive relationship with our dogs if we could change some of our assumptions about our dogs.