dog training part 2 and stupidity

So in the thrall of dog training, I dash to a pet supply house to see if they have anything to help in my endeavor. Spying a bag of dog treats (mmm! bacon!) I decide this is just what I need. No price on the 1 lb. bag but the half lb. bag is only $6.99. Surely, it can't be 2 times the price of the half pounder.

I can buy 3 lbs. of good bacon for $10. I mean good bacon. Thick cut, perfect fat and perfect lean. I mean really good bacon.

Plus I'd feel better feeding my dog real, honest, artery clogging stuff. So real bacon it is. It is pretty sad commentary that fake bacon flavored gunk costs more than the real stuff.

dog training part 1 continued

Basically the way I understand Andrea Arden is this.

Pick a simple behavior that you want to reinforce.
1. When the dog does the behavior reward the dog. Often.
2. After you are sure the dog will do the behavior without prompting then name it e.g. sit, lay, come etc.
3. Keep rewarding.
4. Taper off the reward by switching hands. Then random hands (even other people's hands). Then completely quit.

It is a simple system and it is definitely working for Preston thus far.

dog training part 1

I recently checked out Dog Friendly Dog Training by Andrea Arden at the local library. I wanted to harness my full grown dogs energy and turn it into something useful for both of us. He is, by nature, a dog that wants to please and he seems to have taken to his training really well.

The gist of this book is to reward good behavior not punish bad behavior. So we started with sit. The idea is to have treats ready and when the dog inadvertently does the behavior you want then you reward him. So after a few minutes Preston got bored and sat. He gets a treat followed by a 'yes' voiced response. I step away and he gets up to do the process again. We worked through the handful of treats I had in short order.

The next day I started to add a voice command of 'sit.' Now he sits on command. The day following I started to make him wait for his treat until I give the 'okay' verbal release.

I am probably going a bit fast and will grow to regret it but he was sitting on command, to some extent, before I started this training regimen. But now, and this is the kicker, he sits on command and I can walk away and then give him the 'okay' release and he comes running.

I think as I do this I'm going to write down kind of a recipe book for this process. For me it is easier to follow a list of instructions and then gather the meaning behind the instructions later. Let me know what you think in the comments below...