Tag: behavior modification

Upcoming Dog Training Classes April 2025

Three Dogs Training’s upcoming dog training classes begin Saturday April 26, 2025.

It’s a fine line between your dog bringing you your slipper and eating your slipper…

Dog holding a slipper in its mouth
Late spring classes begin Saturday April 26, 2025 at these times:

Positive reinforcement dog training should be fear-free and force-free. Your dog should enjoy learning and you should enjoy teaching.

As a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and certified dog behavior specialist, I have been teaching fun and successful dog training for twenty-five years. Join us!

For more information on the upcoming dog training classes:
click here or contact
Lisa@threedogstraining.com

Odin the German Shepard Dog prepares for his family’s new baby. Good Boy!

Odin’s family took time before their new baby came home to learn how to and what to train Odin to do to keep their family happy and safe together.

Odin’s family wanted their dog to be ready for their first baby.
Odin dog preparing for his family's new baby
Odin settled near his new baby girl’s automated swing.

Odin the dog prepares for his family’s new baby by doing a settle command while the baby swing goes back and forth.

This allowed Odin to learn how to be calm around baby gizmos like this. He also prepares by learning that these items are not scary things.

It is important to see how our dogs behave around new baby gizmos before baby arrives because:
  • There won’t be a lot of time when baby comes home
  • If we wait until baby is actually in the swing or vibrating Pack-n-Play or other moving and/or sound making device, we won’t know if our dog is reacting uncomfortably because of the gizmo or the baby
  • And, if we know ahead of time that our dog is not as comfortable with the baby gizmos, we can desensitize

For more details on desensitizing your dog to baby gizmos see the Excerpt chapter one – ‘The Ruff Wait for Baby’ from Please Don’t Bite the Baby here.

Odin’s family took time before their new baby came home to learn how to and what to train Odin to do to keep their family happy and safe together.

For more details on how to keep your baby and dog(s) safe and happy together, see more exerpts here.

Or you can buy Please Don’t Bite the Baby, and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs.

Congratulations to Odin and his family – it is all well worth it!

What Can A Certified Behavior Consultant Do For You?

“If you want me to drop these scissors, maybe you should call a specialist.”
An IAABC Certified Dog Behavior Consultant – CDBC

is a uniquely qualified clinician with expertise in evaluating, managing and modifying a wide range of challenging canine behaviors. By using evidence based positive behavior intervention strategies, I will build and strengthen relationships between the human and canine members of a household. This minimized stress in training and creates an atmosphere where all members of the household learn positive training techniques.

Dog Behavior Consultants emphasize preventing behavior problems and when issues already exist, working protocols in the LIMA principal (Least Invasive, Minimally Aversive) to fix and/or manage behavioral obstacles getting in the way of a happy human-dog household.

Find more information on private training here.

Or if you are interested in pursuing private training, please contact us.

Resource Guarding – “Please Don’t Bite the Baby”

Excerpt… “Please Don’t Bite the Baby”

Resource Guarding can be one of the trickiest behavioral issues to modify and manage because there are so many variations.

Some dogs only guard their food

Some guard toys

Some guard bones

Some guard anything that hits the floor

Some guard whatever it was they just stole

Regardless of what your dog guards and to what degree, the process is the same.

There will be adjustments for management and time needed to modify the behavior, but ultimately it is all about teaching your dog that giving up something is far more profitable then guarding it.

And, occasionally, the guarding will pop up for the rest of your dog’s life during stressful periods, or high energy/excited play, but by keeping your dog’s skills in good working order, you will be able to easily resolve any guarding issues.

I have lived with, Pinball, the ‘Super Villain of Resource Guarding’ and have posted an excerpt about my strategies for working through his issues from my book “Please Don’t Bite the Baby, and Please Don’t Chase the Dogs.”

We were all a bit worried when our son arrived in our home with the ‘Super villain of Resource Guarding’ living there. However, by teaching Pinball good solid commands, and slowly allow him and my son to spend managed time together, we saw things we never expected to see. This video where Charlie Brown Takes a Dive is a great example of how far a resource guarding dog can come with some skills, management, and persistence.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvxByT3LS1o[/embedyt]

In the end, if your dog guards things, training good skills then working with a good behavior consultant is essential to take those skills and turn them into more positive behaviors.

Pets and your Health, Puppy Training

Dr Frank Adams of SiriusXM’s Doctor Radio has a great show each month called “Pets and your Health.”

Three Golden Puppy Play Date

I was flattered to be invited to speak with them again yesterday, March 7th about puppies and all the questions that come with having a new puppy.

This a wonderful show (not just because they like me) but because Dr. Adams’s guests answer questions on a variety of pet-related topics and showcase the ever increasing data demonstrating how pets make our lives better.

If, like me, you are in your car a lot and have SiriusXM, you can listen for the re-broadcast of this episode Friday 4am to 6am, Sunday 6am to 8am on channel 110. If your not up and awake enough at these times to listen, you can always stream this episode and others on SiriusXM Doctor Radio.

Just as a shout out to SiriusXM Doctor Radio, besides Dr Adams’s shows “Pets and Your Health” and “Pulmonology,” there are plenty of other great shows to listen into, from “Health Care Connect” that answers all your insurance related questions at a time when we all have questions on this topic, to dermatology, men’s health, women’s health, nutrition, child and adult psychology and more.