In this episode, Ed Frawley shares a question from the Ask Cindy database. Today's question is about a very reactive rescue dog that a owner has. The dog is reactive towards squirrels, birds, motorcycles, and even strangers riding bikes. The owner wants to know what measures they can take to get better at calming the dog down. | Links mentioned: Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs - Online Course: https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/137 | Leash Reactivity with Michael Ellis: https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/165 | Leerburg Muzzles: https://leerburg.com/muzzle.htm | Free with Purchase of Any Muzzle from Leerburg.com - Conditioning Your Dog to a Muzzle - Online Course: https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/150 | How To Measure Your Dog for a Muzzle: https://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/849/Muzzle_Sizing

My Rescue Dog is Reactive

Leerburg's Dog Training Podcast was started in 2006, long before podcasts became trendy like they are today. Our podcast is a place to share valuable information and have conversations that are important to the dog training community. With podcasts becoming more popular in recent years the team here at Leerburg has elected to release new episodes of some of our favorite content from our trainers like Ed Frawley, Michael Ellis, and Kevin Sheldahl. Learn the evolution and basics of dog training from some of the most experienced trainers in the United States.

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Over the past 35 years, we here at Leerburg have built a reputation for selling the finest leather dog leashes, the finest leather harnesses, and the finest leather dog collars in the world. Our Leerburg leather products are strong enough to last a lifetime but soft enough to be comfortable right out of the box. If you go to PetSmart or one of the dog food warehouses and feel their leather products, you will find that their leather is thin and stiff. The leather in our dog leashes is thick, pliable, and soft. It's comfortable on your hands and results in better training for your dog. | Links mentioned: Article: Leerburg's Amish Leather Products: https://leerburg.com/amish.htm | Leerburg's Amish Leather Leashes: https://leerburg.com/amishleashes.htm | Leerburg's Amish Leather Collars: https://leerburg.com/leathercollars.htm | Leerburg's Amish Leather Harnesses: https://leerburg.com/amishharnesses.htm

Leerburg Leather Leashes are the Best in the World

In this video, Ed Frawley sits down with Travis Olson from Keeper Collars® to discuss the quality product that is Keeper Collars. They dive into the mission of Keeper Collars, how to measure your dog for a Keeper Collar, and which keeper collar is best for you based on the various options available. The Keeper Collars® Hidden Prong Collar is not simply a cover for a prong collar. The prong is built directly into the collar, allowing for unmatched functionality and camouflaging of the prong. These collars are designed to easily be put on and taken off. Gone are the days of struggling to pinch the prongs together. For those people who do not have a ton of dexterity in their fingers, this is going to be a huge benefit. Because you are no longer pinching the prongs to put the collar on and take off, you do not have to worry about them eventually wearing out and becoming loose. This also eliminates the worry of your prong coming apart when you need it most. With that, you no longer need to use a backup collar. Leerburg has always recommended using a backup collar with a prong. Simply because if and when the prong fails it will fail when you need it most and maintaining control over your dog in those instances is crucial. With the Keeper Collar, there is no way for the prongs to come apart. Even if they did, the leather flat strap doubles as your back up collar. | Links mentioned: Keeper Collars: https://leerburg.com/keepercollars.php

Ed Frawley Sits Down with Travis Olson From Keeper Collars

When we move our dog to a variable reward schedule and we do it at the right time, it should produce more drive in our dog to perform. If we have introduced the dog to the 'NOPE' marker enough times (hundreds of times - see our online course on Marker Training) the dog will think 'Hey I deserve a reward but I didn't get one, I must have done something wrong so I'll try harder next time'. Then the following behaviors it gets rewarded 3 or 4 times, then no reward again. The goal of a variable reward system is to develop a training module where the dog never knows when or how many rewards it's going to get for offering a behavior. Finding the right balance is your challenge. Being ready to back up your training for a while will help you figure this out. Every dog is different, that's why no one can tell you exactly how to do it for your dog. | Links mentioned: Training Dogs with Food Rewards: https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/206 | The Power of Training Dogs with Markers (2024 Version): https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/96

How to Manage Reward Schedules in Dog Training

It may seem counterintuitive to say that we don't want to use our dog's highest-value food reward all the time. With some dogs, there may be times in teaching a behavior where that's exactly what we need to do. The same thing may happen with dogs that are transitioned to toy rewards. Let's say we have an extremely high food drive dog that gets so amped up when it knows you have steak that it's brain stops working and the steak becomes more of a distraction. So much so that we need to add pressure to calm the dog down so we can help it learn. If that ever becomes the case with your dog, then change your food rewards to a lesser value food reward, maybe kibble. Once the dog knows the behavior and once it has gone through impulse control training, you will be able to go back and use high-value rewards like steak again. At that point, the dog understands that the road to steak is to stay focused and offer the behavior we ask for. | Links mentioned: Training Dogs with Food Rewards - Version 2024 https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/206

When to Train Your Dog Using Kibble As a Food Reward

There is something every new trainer needs to know. If your dog won't take food, if it's not interested in your high-value food reward, it's either: 1 - full and not hungry 2 - it's distracted 3 - it's stressed If my dog is paying attention to the screaming kids next door the dog will often find the kids more interesting than the food reward we have. If my dog is stressed, because of the environment I have chosen to train in, the dog will not take food. Look at it like this: if you are scared do you feel like eating? Probably not. If you are mad, do you feel like eating, probably not. STRESS KILLS FOOD DRIVE.| Links mentioned: Training Dogs with Food Rewards: https://university.leerburg.com/Catalog/viewCourse/cid/206

My Rescue Dog is Reactive

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