Dogs

Learn to read dog body language (calming signals).
Training is creating a common language between you and your dog.
Play is the easiest way to bond with your dog. Don’t leave out all their toys. They loose potency over time. You can build toy drive by playing with your dog in short bursts.
Play a lot with their legs and pawns to get them used to a human touching them. Practice handling exercises across the day to get them used to humans.
Exercise in the morning for a calmer day. Fetch is the most reliable way to drain some energy from your dog.
Don’t use your dog’s name as a reprimand or a part of one. Use it during fun activities and praise.
Don’t repeat commands over and over.
Use the crate many times over the day so they don’t associate it with bad experiences like you leaving the house. The crate should be a place to happily relax!
Instead of yelling at your dog, show them what you prefer they do.
Let them sniff! Dogs live in a chemical world. They experience their world through scent. Take them on sniffy walks and give them lots of new places to sniff. Dog walks are about mental exercise, not just physical.
A great small resource is the book After you get your puppy.
If someone else is taking care of your dog for a while, leave everything written explicitly. They’ll make adaptation much easier and your dog will keep similar habits.
Play before eating. That way the dog will associate toys with a positive thing.
Reinforce being calm on different context. This will make them listen to you in new places.
Understand what can your dog eat and what they can’t.

Building Confidence

Don’t force the dog to do what they don’t want to do/aren’t comfortable doing yet. Make every experience a positive one.
Put them in situations he can be successful in. Maybe it’s finding a treat in plain sight at first and then slowly making it more difficult that they have to figure it out but not so hard that they gets frustrated and give up.
Let the dog make their decision and praise if its a good one.
Touch is a great trick to help them build confidence.

Separation Anxiety

Dogs have evolved to be with us all the time.
Change your [[Routine]] when leaving the house.
Don’t make a big thing about you leaving. Do it in a calm way.
Create a leaving ritual:
1. Make them relax in their crate.
2. Give a treat and say bye.
3. Leave the room.
Do small approximations. Leave the room, then the house for a few moments, … Go gradually. First minutes, then hours!
Try hard to create a positive association and be confident with being alone.

Training Tips

Train in any situation possible (and is safe to do it). For the first 6-12 months, spend at least 20 minutes of formal training a day in short training sessions (1-3 min).
Work on focus with distractions and you’ll have an excellent groundwork.
All animals, including humans, are “trained” 100% of the time
Say “yes!” and award as fast as possible after they do what you want. They have about a 1 second window to register that behavior as the cause of the reward.
Remember to give your dog some “easy wins”. You would not want to be paid less as you got better at your job.
Have treats everywhere so you have quick access to them.
You can use toys and small play sessions as a food reward alternative.
Use jackpots when they do something perfectly!
Teach it to stay at open doors for 5 seconds so they wont stomp out of your house.
Train after a good exercise session. They’ll learn quicker.
Set up and reinforce calm behaviors in any situation.
Make what they want contingent on what you want them to do first. For example, checking out another dog after looking at you.
When playing with your pup, have him settle down for frequent short interludes every one or two minutes. Initially have the pup lie still for a few seconds before letting him play again. After a minute, interrupt the play session once more with a three-second settle-down. Then try for four seconds, then five, eight, ten, and so on. Although being yo-yoed between the commands “Settle down” and “Let’s play” is difficult at first, the puppy soon learns to settle down quickly and happily.
End the training sessions before they get unhappy so they continue coming back for more and thinking it’s fun.
Don’t allow two fails in a row. E.g: If your puppy breaks the stay, make it easier next time
Add music to your training sessions to get it associated with positive rewards.
Train before eating so the rewards have more value and they are more interested in the tricks.
Movement builds drive. Be energetic in the training session.
- Use a soft voice to stabilize a behavior instead of repeating the command or using stay. Break orders with a release cue like OK.
- To increase dog interest in training, throw treats to get them more energized!
If you find your dog isn’t listening perfectly to an old cue, one strategy for dealing with that is to change the cue and work on reinforcing the new cue more carefully. To transfer a cue, give your new cue then immediately follow it with the old cue and reward when the dog performs the behavior.
You can speed up a trick training it with toys. Also, you can add tricks in between “drop it” and “get it” to reinforce them.
Once the behavior is established, start to reinforce intermittently.
For clicker training the main loop is: click, pause, feed. Always feed after clicking! You can charge the clicker while playing [[Dogs#Training Games|training games]].
Develop gradual exposures to new things. Break the challenge into small steps and reward for each step to build confidence. E.g: reactivity.

Training Games

Stay with distractions. While your dog is still, move and run. Reward calmness.
Fetch with stay. Throw a toy and make your dog wait the signal to chase it.
Name Game. Say the name then mark and drop a treat when they come. You can practice this with 2 persons. It’s especially important to practice recalls with high value treats.
Recall Drive. Someone holds the dog while you excitedly run away. Then, you say “come” and the person releases the dog. Reward and play to reinforce the dog running towards you.
Snuffle Mat Come. Put low value treats into the snuffle mat and call your dog away from it. Let them sniff again and call it back.
Attention Game. Make a kissy noise and reward when your dog looks at your face.
Leash Pressure Game. Reinforce your dog turn around and come back to you when they hit the end of the leash.
Heel-work Game. Use a table to help your dog heel with you.
Calmness. Reinforce settle and calm in their bed. Add movement away from the enclosure. You can also add handling and distractions. If your dog gets up or star whining, lower criteria and start again.

Stuffed Kongs

Stuffed Kongs are meant to give your puppy or dog a chance to work out his brain and tongue while he gets a delicious treat or meal and you get some well-deserved downtime to relax. Some stuffings:

Puppy kibble or wet food.
Proteins: Beef (non-fatty cut), chicken, turkey, salmon - all should be unseasoned and cooked.
Boiled, scrambled or raw eggs.
Veggies: Pumpkin (cooked or canned), celery, broccoli, carrots, green beans, spinach, zucchini, peas.
Fruits: Apples, pears, watermelon, bananas.
Berries: Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries
Starches and Cereals: Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, plain oats/oatmeal, plain cooked rice, Cheerios.
Dairy products: Plain yogurt, cottage cheese, goat’s milk, yellow cheese, string cheese.
Peanut butter.

Improving Recall

Work on basic exercises (e.g: calling your dog when you know its going to come, making them go through your legs, …).
The key to a great recall is to counter-condition the dog so it remains calm under all conditions. Condition the dog to be relaxed around wild life and pay attention to you.
Give your dog access to what they want when they come back to you (Premack Principle). If that’s not an option, try to give them a great reward (or a combination like praise, food, petting and vocal inflection).
- Don’t call your dog just to end his fun. If you do this it decreases the chance he/she will want to come back to you when called. Instead, recall often and treat without putting on the lead or ending the fun.
Don’t repeat the cue many times. Recall should be a 100% reliable.
Try not to go towards your dog when working on recall.
Clap your hands while shouting your recall word in an excited, hyperactive voice.
Reinforce each time you get your dog’s attention in the wild.

Improving Sleep

Make the crate the best place for your dog. Give lots of food, treats and praise when inside and calm.
White noise can help.
Cover the crate to reduce visual stimulation during the night.