/beacondogtraining/BeaconLogo_NoBackground.png){kind=tracking}
Ever wondered “why does my dog jump on guests” or “why doesn’t my dog come when called”? If you boil scientific dog training down to it’s simplest elements, there are four scenarios that determine which behaviours your dog will keep doing, and which behaviours they’ll stop. These are known as the four quadrants of operant conditioning, and this is...
Read More“I’ve tried giving them treats around other dogs already” is a common concern that trainers hear when helping the owners of reactive dogs. Many people have read articles or seen videos on how using food can help a reactive dog. When they try to use this strategy on their own dog, however, they often miss a couple of crucial components that prevent...
Read MoreMany dog owners become frustrated with how their dog focuses on distractions rather than their humans. Rather than thinking of the things that your dog wants to get to as distractions try thinking of them as potential REINFORCERS. For example, let’s say that you have trouble getting your dog to come when called around birds, because your dog loves...
Read MoreMany people struggle with positive reinforcement training because they don’t yet understand what a “reinforcer” really is. The golden rule of dog training is “all behaviour that gets reinforced gets repeated.” Simply put, a reinforcer is anything that a dog will work to get – not just something that they like.
Read More“What’s the command for this?” is one of the most common questions that dog trainers hear from owners. There’s a big focus in the general dog owning public on using WORDS to control a dog. We humans use a verbal language as our primarily mode of communication, so it’s only natural that we instinctively use plenty of spoken cues when we’re trying to...
Read MoreAn issue that’s common amongst dog owners is when their dog seems to have learnt a rule, like “don’t knock over the rubbish bin,” but when left alone the dog breaks the rule, even though the owner thought they “knew it was wrong.” This problem is caused by the mistaken assumption that dogs, like humans, have a sense of “right” vs “wrong.” The real...
Read MoreIt is much more efficient and effective to teach your puppy how to do the thing you'd like, rather than teach them not to do the thing you don't like. For example, you could teach a dog not to jump to get attention, but what if the next attention seeking behaviour they tried was even worse? You'd have to start the training all over again to elimina...
Read MoreThe concept has been so universally accepted by our culture that telling somebody “there’s no such thing as an alpha in dog training” is met with a knee jerk reaction of denial. Most dog owners hear that statement with the same kind of scepticism they’d feel if they were told the Earth was flat or fire was cold.
Read MoreThe first rule of dog training is that "all behaviour that gets reinforced, gets repeated." This means that when a dog gets something that they want out of a behaviour, they are more likely to try it again in the future. A common example of this is dogs that jump up onto people. If the jumping behaviour is repeating over and over again, then that m...
Read More