Advanced Behavior Study Academy, AKA Geek Week!

I just returned from an amazing week working with my Mentor, the amazing Pat Miller, in Hagerstown, Maryland. I, and a handful of other seasoned Positive Dog Trainers got to "geek out" for a week and have in-depth discussions about different Behavior Studies and published Papers on behavior. In-between the science stuff we each worked with a dog on teaching behavior chains and on shaping behaviors for our final practical exam. This is a work-in-progress video of me working with the Scottie Dubhy, one of Pat's owns dogs (no pressure...arghhh) on our behavior chain. . On the verbal cue "Are Ya Sleepy?" Dubh has to sit upright and rub his eyes with his paws, then walk over to a little stool and "say his Prayers", and then finally walk over to a blanket on the floor, grab the corner, roll over and wrap himself in the blanket. In this video I still mark each part of the behavior and reward and use a lot of body prompts (positioning, pointing) but on the final day the goal was to have him do the entire chain only on the verbal cue. I wish every dog owner would play more with their dogs and do fun stuff to challenge them and let them use their problem solving skills. You'd be surprised how much fun it can be.

Found this picture recently of my daughter Dea when she was just a few years old, taking pictures with her play camera of her dogs Cleavon and Bella. Both dogs have since passed away and Dea is now nine years old and about to begin 5th grade. Made me smile when I found this picture; it was always one of my favorites of them all together....

Please read this great blog entry from Jean Donaldson, Behavior Expert extraordinaire and one of the main gurus to Positive Dog Training devotes like myself.

http://academyfordogtrainers.com/blog/2011/the-weasel-files-part-two/

Introduction to Scent Work

Kaleigh, a one year old Lab who is staying with me at my loft this week, is almost impossible to tire out. Believe me I've tried. And I've succeeded but it wasn't easy. Long runs (ok, maybe it was just 3 1/2 miles but that's long for me, ok!!), 2 hour long walks with lots of manners work, and play dates with all kinds of dogs. We needed more of a challenge so my good friend and excellent colleague Jenny Chun came over to help me introduce Kaleigh to NoseWork since it's easier when you're two people and we both have an interest in Nose Work. In essence we'd be teaching Kaleigh to use her excellent nose to find a "hide"- a desirable object - in a box. We used seven or eight different looking boxes and as you can see on the videos one of us would hold Kaleigh back while the other would place the object in one of the boxes and then switch the boxes around making it difficult for Kaleigh to predict where the object was. In these tree short videos you can see the difference in how Kaleigh goes about finding the treat pouch in the box. She becomes increasingly good at using her nose and following the scent as we keep practicing. A dog like Kaleigh could probably go on for hours but with a less intense and enthusiastic dog you would want to keep the practice sessions short and sweet.

This is how all nose dogs begin their training. Building up the desire to search for the object and making sure the dog succeeds at each step, then rewarding generously when the dog finds the "Hide". It's important to throw out all notions of manners or obedience when you do this kind of stuff. You just want the dog to LOVE searching for stuff. After all one day it might be a person buried under rubble or snow or a lost child.

See if you can see kaleigh's progress.....

Enjoy.

Hosting webisode on DogStarDaily

A while back I got an e mail from Dr. Ian Dunbar, who's pretty much the Godfather of modern dog training. (to me it was a little bit like getting a call from Bruce Lee if you're an martial artist or Scorcese if you're a movie director.) Anyway, he asked me to shoot an episode on dog training for his Web TV channel/site DogStarDaily and have it featured under a series of shows called America's Dog Trainers. The idea was to feature different trainers of the "new" generation and have them show what they do and who they are and how they work. My show just went live and is featured this week (but will stay up forever) and the topic is Kids and Dogs. Please go take a look and forward the links to anyone you think might benefit from the information in it. It'll also give you a pretty good idea f how I work and who I am if you're considering working with me.

Let me know what you think. There are two different videos so click on both to see all.

(Part 1) Rikke Brogaard - Kids and Dogs | Dog Star Daily

(Part 2) Rikke Brogaard - Kids and Dogs | Dog Star Daily

I don't really advertise this a lot but......

I will, on occasion, board dogs at my house. It tends to be client's dogs but I will take dogs that are good with children and no dog aggressive dogs (to be fair to my Olive). I find that a lot of people are uncomfortable with leaving their dog at a kennel or boarding facility where they'll spend the majority of the time confused and stressed in a crate, and where they don't know who will be handling their dog. Plus, some day care facilities and boarding places are little germ farms so there's always a chance that a dog will come back with something. It doesn't always happen, but it can. When a dog stays with me they'll live with us as a member of the family. That means park walks (or jogs) and cuddling in the evenings and lots of interaction and no stress. It's also handy if the client has an issue they'd like to work with their dog on and we can schedule training sessions while the dog is with me. Olive, my Great Dane, is what I call a Slowly Moving Couch. She is super mellow and gets along with everyone. Nothing can rattle her. Pesky puppies chewing on her ears; No Problem. Crazy adolescent Lab bouncing on top of her; Whatever, Dude. It makes it very easy to have an extra dog staying here and she makes an excellent buddy for fearful dogs. I love having dogs here so it works out for everyone. Give me a shout or send me a mail if you're interested in having your dog stay at my house; info@rikkebdogtraining.com or call 917-821-6752 for availability and details.

Little Eddie

How cute is this little bulldog? We've been working on basic manners and he's just so much fun and picks everything up so quickly so we threw a couple of tricks in there. This is Eddie doing "BANG"!! At the sight of the hand signal (hand with fingers pointed like a gun) and the verbal cue BANG, he has to "drop dead". He's done it perfectly for me a few times and this is the owner's first time trying. Almost perfect; now she just needs to practice and perfect it a little more.

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