Earlier this month we had a prime training opportunity: a Christmas Market held just two blocks away. With pop-up stalls, crowds, lots of unusual objects, overhead announcements, music, generators, and dancing, the market provides quite a challenge for socialization and environmental stability. We knew that these two pups were not ready for that level of […]

It has only been three days with the new puppy “Trip” but here are some things that might not be second nature to everyone- Patience is my greatest ally- I have 10 to 14 months to bring out the best in this pup. I haven’t put a leash on him yet. I want independence, not […]

The detection dog capable of working undistracted from its task in any environment is a very rare dog. European vendors selling dogs to the United States government, with many years of experience, often have an acceptance rate under 50%. In a government supported breeding program for detection dogs, the acceptance rate was under 20% for […]

Some recent articles on why dogs need to use their nose in normal development. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/201902/allowing-dogs-sniff-helps-them-think-positively?fbclid=IwAR3ohjklOiK84SVd28pAboOINeau4Vl4rLT4OOIWLWqYC_6pui6XIudrGhI https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2019/02/finding-hidden-food-in-nosework.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CompanionAnimalPsychology+%28Companion+Animal+Psychology+by+Zazie+Todd+PhD%29 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159118304325?via%3Dihub

When comes to creating desire for the reward object there are only two approaches. The first is to make use of a young dog’s desire to play and the second is to train the dog to engage the reward object. Play is much easier to use and develop. Using food motivation or negative reinforcement to […]

1. Understand the end goal for a detection dog. This is where behavior assessments and statements of work for purchase are very important (more info available on the website). 2. Use the educational resources on this website. – The blog is short snippets of information that should inspire questions via email or via the Face […]

I have had people ask me about stuff for day yards and at home environmental stability. My advice is junk. I purchase stuff to make presentations visually appealing, but junk works just as well. Most important is to make sure it is safe. I don’t use glass or much metal and thoroughly clean anything that […]

  We have talked about the importance of generalization before. Generalization is the resilience to perform regardless of changes in context. A recent paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10089-0  One of the concepts discussed is the separation of learning into two distinct tracks: the context of the learning and the content of the learning. We all have heard a trainer […]

First, make sure the basics are done before spending too much time in searching. If your dog does not show pronounced desire to possess the reward object, you should not be hiding the object in areas where the dog cannot get directly to the reward. Second, the “pot” test is a TEST given at set […]

It has only been three days with the new puppy “Trip” but here are some things that might not be second nature to everyone- Patience is my greatest ally- I have 10 to 14 months to bring out the best in this pup. I haven’t put a leash on him yet. I want independence, not […]