Among the many misconceptions about dog training is the belief that you must punish the dog for him to learn when he has made a mistake. We follow a different approach, one that does not involve punishment for wrong behavior. We have found it is far more effective to prevent mistakes and reward proper behavior.
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Five Important Learning Rules
- Motivate your dog. Without motivation, no learning will take place.
- Reward correct behavior immediately when your dog is first learning.
- Practice, practice, practice correct, rewarded behavior.
- Wean from food by switching to variable reinforcement once your dog has learned a behavior.
- Prevent mistakes by giving your dog the opportunity to be right.
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Five Important Teaching Rules
- Be consistent. Use the same word to mean the same thing all the time.
- Be concise. Give your command once and once only.
- Be quiet. Give commands in a normal voice if you want your dog to listen to your normal voice.
- Be reasonable. Do not expect your dog to obey commands you haven’t taught him.
- Be happy. Use a happy voice when you give commands and when you praise.
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When I first started with Pet Behavior and Training Services almost 20 years ago, this is one of the first stories I heard. As we embark on our very first blog post, I thought it would be important to understand how we came into being and what is still at the core of our beliefs.
It was a late spring day when the earth was just beginning to warm; winter had finally left us free of snow, cold, and gloomy skies. Spring colors teased the senses with a touch of pink redbud, a dot of red tulips or yellow daffodils tucked around the trees just beginning to unfurl new leaves, and then the bold fuschia of flocks tumbling down the sloping river bank. The sunlight was soft, almost as if the sun knew the new leaves were too young to offer much shade.
On a day such as this, a river bank cluttered with a cooler, picnic basket, and blankets seemed an unlikely place to hold a meeting. But then, this was not a typical meeting, nor the typical group of co-workers escaping from the office – one a veterinarian, a college professor, and three volunteers long active in the animal welfare community. And from that day, from that picnic on the banks of the Scioto came Pet Behavior and Training Services. So much was accomplished amidst the colors and warmth of that one day; a name, guiding principles and policies, some initial therapies. Our Mission Statement and policy sheet contain the concrete words from that day, but perhaps knowing the energies and discussions that went into forming those words are just as valuable as wecontinue the work begun some time ago, when the sun was warm, the colors were clear and bright, and friends were laughing and dreaming by the banks of the Scioto.
Profit or not-for-profit? If veterinarians can provide services for animals and make a living, why shouldn’t we? Other behaviorists were hanging out a shingle and charging huge sums for very basic modification techniques. But Dr. David Tuber just laughed at the absurdity of making a profit from frantic pet owners desperately seeking help with their pets. “Every thing we have learned about human psychology has come from animal models. It’s time we give something back.” In a time when dog and cats are so easily replaced, would PBATS want a profit margin to contribute to the growing number of pets rejected for behavior reasons? So, Pet Behavior and Training Services would be a non-profit organization, not an organization that couldn’t make money, but an organization that would strive to cover our expenses, ensuring that our services were readily available to all those who needed them.
Small, but mighty. We continue to strive to help our community and honor the commitments we made so many years ago. I hope you will enjoy and learn from some of our future posts.
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