Drinking From the Toilet: Real dogs, Real training

In this episode, we also talk about the factors that can affect latency, and somethings to think about in your training if you want to improve the latency of your behaviors. For full show notes, visit: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-32-training-word-day-latency

Shade has the exceptional qualification of being one of the only trainers out there training and competing successfully in the sport at high levels and with excellent scores, all without using physical corrections! She has a creative, yet practical, approach to training, always keeping in mind what’s best for the dog and for the relationship. We talked about: :: The challenges of training a traditional sport like Schutzhund/IPO :: How our mindsets have shifted into being more comfortable with mistakes (in dog training). :: The difference between a dog who’s frozen in confusion and one who is simply responding to a different cue than the one you thought you had trained. :: What exactly Shade means when she talks about “toy play”. For more visit: http://www.wonderpupstraining.com/blog/podcast-07-conversation-shade-whitesel#.WMc1MhIrKt8

Founder of Smart Dog University and Faculty member at Karen Pryor Academy, Laurie chats with me about mistakes we made when first learning to teach people how to train their own dogs, why we really CAN teach pet owners to use a clicker successfully and how we break down the necessary skills to make good training accessible. Also- do scientific theories really matter? Tune in to find out!

Dr. McConnell is an internationally known zoologist and a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. In her career, she has worked with dogs with all kinds of serious behavior problems. She was also the host of the nationally syndicated Radio show "Calling All Pets", and she is a retired assistant professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an amazing speaker... in fact, she was one of the first real dog seminars that I ever went to...possibly THE first if my memory is correct. So she is partly responsible for getting me hooked on dog training in the first place. She is the author of many beautifully written and well-researched books, most of which I have in my house, and are among some of my favorite books that I read over and over...particularly "The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs", which again was sort of a gateway dog book for me. And her book "For the Love of a Dog: Understand Emotion in You and Your Best Friend", I have in both hardcover and audiobook format. Her new book, "The Education of Will", which I have read and will read again, is also beautifully written and insightful. It’s a little different in that it’s written as a memoir. She shares stories from her own life and her experience with trauma, fear, and anxiety...something I know a lot of us can relate to. But they are interwoven with stories about the dogs she’s worked with, particularly her own dog, Will, and their journeys with trauma and anxiety. And among those of course, she includes glimpses into what we know about the science of fear and what we can do about it. Fair warning, I did cry a little. So just a heads up. In the book, the theme of resilience comes up. And it’s a topic that really fascinates me. Why do some individuals bounce back after a bad experience and others don’t? What can we do to help our dogs recover quickly after something stressful happens? How can we set ourselves and our dogs up for success? And that is exactly what we talked about during our conversation. For full show notes, visit: www.wonderpupstraining.com/podcast/60

Settling on a station, bed, or mat is one of the most important skills we can teach any dog.

Why is it so important? Settling is the perfect alternate behavior to replace almost any annoying behavior your dog has thought of.

For full show notes, visit: www.wonderpupstraining.com/podcast/67