A Kenneling Alternative

positive reinforcement

Michele’s Thursday Training Tip – Training Treats

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High and Low Value Training Treats

High Value Treats For TrainingYou don’t have to go out and buy treats all the time to train your dog. Instead of feeding them a full meal from their bowl, take their dry dog food and use it as a reward to train new things! This way, you can save the extra good treats for more challenging training or situations.

We hope these weekly training tips assist you in your training adventure. Floofins & Company head trainer, Michele Hatley, is available to create a customized training program for your dog. Visit us at www.floofinsandco.com/our-services/dog-training/ to learn about training options with Floofins & Company.

Michele’s Tuesday Training Tip – Buffy?

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What Does Buffy have To Do With A Weekly Training Tip?

In honor of October being Adopt a Shelter dog month, I wanted to share Buffy’s bio and how together we have promoted the use of positive reinforcement in dog training.

I was attending college in southern Indiana when I fell into volunteering at the local humane society. In a back room reserved for the littlest of puppies, was where I first noticed Buffy. She was definitely older than the other puppies kept there and unlike the others who had torn up their newspaper bedding and decorated their space with poopy paw prints, Buffy always seemed to be patiently waiting. She was calm, quiet and appeared to be house broken and I could only think that this seemingly great dog was being passed up for the younger puppies in the room.

Each fall, the humane society helps organize and run a haunted house that raises money to operate the facility. In order to keep people entertained while waiting in line to get inside the attraction, shelter volunteers would bring adoptable dogs to walk along the lines of people outside. The dog that I was planning on bringing got adopted before the event, so I decided to take Buffy. Since the event was taking place after the hours that the humane society was open, I had to keep her with me overnight and in that short time I got attached and here she is with me today.

Around the same time I adopted Buffy, a trainer I worked with at Shedd Aquarium, named Chris Dignan, was starting up The Dog Saving Network. The goal of the organization is to promote shelter adoptions and the use of positive reinforcement training. Knowing Chris for several years he knew my history of training dogs and doing agility, he asked if I’d like to be a part of a stage show with Buffy. So, very quickly Buffy went from the shelter to the stage and we haven’t turned back.

In 2009 and 2011 we performed in Chicago with other dogs that auditioned to be a part of the group and we’ve been teaching and inspiring people to use positive reinforcement ever since. Buffy has been a great ambassador for positive reinforcement and shelter dogs. Together, we’ll keep increasing awareness about training and about the millions of great dogs out there that need homes.

Michele Hatley’s Tuesday Dog Training Tip – Just Start Training

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Start Training – It’s Never Too Early Or Too Late

In an earlier post I wrote about how training is happening all the time whether we are aware of it or not. Since it’s constantly occurring, that means it’s never too early or too late to start using positive reinforcement. [Read more…] about Michele Hatley’s Tuesday Dog Training Tip – Just Start Training

Tuesday Dog Traning Tip – Positive Reinforcement

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What Exactly Is Positive Reinforcement?

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The term positive reinforcement gets thrown around a lot, but what exactly is it? Positive Reinforcement means that something is added to the situation that will increase the likely hood that a particular behavior will happen again. [Read more…] about Tuesday Dog Traning Tip – Positive Reinforcement

Tuesday Dog Training Tip – Reinforcement

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A Maverick of Positive Reinforcement Training, Dog Trainer Michele Hatley Discusses What Exactly A Reinforcement Is.

Reinforcement is anything that increases the possibility of a behavior happening again. Reinforcement can be food, treats, toys, praise, attention – the list is endless.

Reinforcement can help us train a new behavior or convey different messages. Since a hot dog, for example, may be more valuable to our dogs than their dry dog food, we could use hot dogs to convey that what our dogs did was Excellent! In most cases, your dog should be able to work for dry dog food or treats, but when working in challenging situations or on something new, using a higher value reinforcement, such as a hot dog, is a great option.

When working on training something new and it isn’t progressing very quickly, your reinforcements are something to take a closer look at. If your dog doesn’t find their reward very reinforcing, that could be one of the reasons why the behavior isn’t making progress. Remember, we don’t get to decide what our dogs like or find reinforcing, they do! So find out what those reinforcing items are and use them to advance your training.