There are lots of approaches to training dogs, but they’re not all equally “Good.” Annie breaks down common labels for the kind of training School For The Dogs promotes, including “positive reinforcement training,” “clicker training,” and “science-based training.” 

Show Notes and full transcript: anniegrossman.com/2018/03/training/podcast-episode-2-good-dog-training/9257/ 

School For The Dogs: schoolforthedogs.com 

Store For The Dogs: storeforthedogs.com 

Please make sure to subscribe & give us 5-stars on iTunes! About: NYC-based dog trainer Annie Grossman loves to find engaging ways to help both dogs & humans approach training as an exercise in better understanding all animal behavior. She specializes in working with puppies, teaching tricks, & prepping dogs for commercial work.

Partial Transcript: 

Annie:   Hi! This is Annie. Thanks for tuning in to our second episode. In the last episode, I spoke about how I got interested in dog training, to begin with. Today, I’d like to talk specifically about the kind of dog training that we do at School For The Dogs. Now, before I started studying to become a dog trainer, I think I thought of dog training as just one thing. It was a thing that had a beginning and an end, and it was something that you did to your dog and then you were done. And I think these are some pretty common misconceptions. I think when people think about training a dog, they think “Okay. Well, I’m going to get a dog, maybe I’ll take some classes in a church basement, or maybe I’ll have someone come do this training thing to my dog for me. He’ll learn everything he needs to know, and then he’ll be a trained dog and we’ll be done.” And I know when I first got my dog 13 years ago, it certainly never occurred to me to seek out different approaches to training. There was a dog daycare near where I lived, they had classes, that’s where I went. I don’t think I asked any questions about what kind of training they did because I didn’t know there were different kinds of dog training. And even if I had known, I’m not sure I would’ve thought that it really mattered. I just wanted a dog who was trained and however we got to the point of him being trained was besides the point. Now, of course, I have a completely different take on the subject.

For one thing, I like to ask my clients to consider what it really means to have a trained dog. There is not one universal training goal that we’re all trying to get our dogs to aspire to. And because every dog is different and each one of us has a different life situation in which we’re injecting that dog, no two people are going to ever have the exact same training goals for their dogs. And beyond that is the fact that training isn’t something that stops. And that’s because dogs are constantly learning. All animals are constantly learning, it’s how we stay alive. All day, every day, both humans and dogs are trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. And because their survival is so dependent on us, they’re really excellent at learning from us, which means training isn’t something that just starts when you enter a training class or when you strap on a treat pouch and it’s not something that ends when you get your puppy kindergarten diploma. Of course a lot of the time we inadvertently train them to do things we don’t want them to do. And that’s why I think it’s important to understand the basics of learning theory and understand how conditioning works in order to train them more effectively to do the things we want them to do. That’s why it does matter what kind of training you are doing if you want to train effectively and look at why what you’re doing is or isn’t working.

Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcasts

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