Do Different Dogs Really Need Different Dog Training Methods? #193

Visit us at shapedbydog.com    When I was 12 years old, I experienced the most humiliating event of my young life with a doctor who was trying to be helpful. That event changed who I was and how I processed information and led me to become the dog trainer that I am today. What if the things that we look at as our greatest challenges are actually our biggest blessings? And how could that help our dogs?   In the episode you'll hear:   • About my family and my introduction to riding a bike. • Why my brothers talked about my determination as if I were an alien. • My love of Nancy Drew books as a child. • How an ophthalmologist changed my young life forever. • Why I thought I was weird and how I just tried to figure things out. • My experience at University in an English course and why I stopped reading. • The years I spent with undiagnosed dyslexia and how that shaped me. • What I want you to know about answers existing. • About not giving anyone the power to make you feel less than. • How there are dogs out there who need us.   Resources:   • Blog Post: “Each of us is Somebody’s Weirdo” - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/12/each-of-us-is-somebodys-weirdo/ • Book: Shaping Success by Susan Garrett - https://dogsthat.com/product/shaping-success-2/

2 Dec 202018min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com   What if it were possible to dramatically improve your dog’s focus, skills and overall behaviour just by changing the questions you are asking? There’s no magic pixie dust, but it is possible for everyone. Reinforcement-based training requires outside-the-box thinking. Anyone can become a resourceful solutions-based dog trainer, and I’m giving you the four-step process I share with all of my students.   In the episode you'll hear:   • About swapping old thinking to new thinking. • Why the human brain is an amazing computer. • How to ask better questions. • The challenge with social media darkness and drama. • Why we humans have more compassion for strangers than ourselves. • How you are already answering dog training questions with great ideas. • That you are somebody’s expert. • About knowing what to do next with your dog. • The four-step process for posting a dog training question. • How to get your brain to give you amazing answers. • The importance of empowering statements. • How to get the best support and help with the way you ask questions. • How to have conversations with your family and friends about your dog.   Resources:   • Recallers - https://recallers.com/ • Home School the Dog - https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Game: Learn How to Play ItsYerChoice (IYC) - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/ • Susan Garrett's Dog Training Blog - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/ • Book: Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott -https://geni.us/fierce-conversations   *Amazon Links Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Susan only recommends products she uses herself, and all opinions expressed here are her own. The link above is an affiliate link that, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission if you decide to buy from it. Thank you!

27 Nov 202016min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com    The number one problem every puppy owner will experience is “how do I get my puppy to go to the bathroom in the appropriate spot?”. Now some puppy owners never get this mystery solved as a lot of adult dogs will mess in the house. Things are about to get easier because today we are covering the HOT topic of getting a pup or adult dog house trained fast. I’m sharing my easy 3 part process so you can have potty training success in a week, and within a month put any accidents behind you.   In the episode you'll hear:   • All about what’s HOT: Habit, Observation, Timetable • The easy process you can use to get pottying success within a week. • Simple ways you can set your puppy or dog up for housetraining success. • Why you will thank me for having your puppy or dog on a leash when you start potty training. • Your dog’s privacy and the importance of your silence while you are waiting. • About my “pee in three” criteria. • What a double pee-er is and how your timing matters. • Why to do a bedding check twice a day. • The importance of your puppy or dog having clarity. • What playing poker has to do with housetraining. • The timetable I use for potty training a puppy. • When to get your puppy or dog checked by a Veterinarian. • What to do if an accident happens inside the house. • How to use the same easy steps if you have a potty tray inside the house.   Resources:   • Blog Post: It’s Time to P-o-t-t-y! Inside Scoop on Housetraining-https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/08/scoop-on-housetraining/ • Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/44/ • Podcast Episode 6: The Art of Manipulation-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/6/ • Podcast Episode 30: Why Dog Crates Are Not Dog Cages-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/30/ • Ex-Pen: Rover Modular Pet Enclosures-http://dogsthat.com/roverpanels • Crate Games Online-https://get.crategames.com/ • Podcast Episode 26: Pro Dog Training Tips to Get Your Puppy to Sleep All Night-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/26/ • Podcast Episode 43: Can a Dog be Happy and Well Trained?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/43/ • YouTube Video: 5 Games for Puppies-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxd1sVEQp2Y

25 Nov 202018min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com     If you have a dog, there will come a time when your dog will say to you “Don’t Wanna, Don’t Hafta”. That is the moment when you ask your dog to do something, and he ignores you. The question is, what do you do when this happens? I’m sharing what I do when my dog says “no” and the questions we need to ask ourselves. In the resources below, I’m referencing a number of previous podcast episodes that I strongly encourage you to check out with the context of what I say here in mind.   In the episode you'll hear:   • Why it’s important to value compassion more than ambition. • Your right to have expectations about how your dog behaves. • About your dog’s competing values. • Why considering your dog’s stage of learning is vital. • The importance of asking yourself if your dog is saying no due to fear. • What I noticed with my puppy This! in class recently with a golf cart. • My 5 keys for working through “Don’t Wanna, Don’t Hafta”. • How to rehearse your dog doing what you ask, when you ask, with fun games. • What it means to be the keeper of the joy. • About hard-wired behaviours and “Don’t Wanna, Don’t Hafta”.   Resources: • Podcast Episode 27: Do Dogs Need Rules? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/27/ • Podcast Episode 46: Is Your Dog Trying to Dominate You and What You Can Do About It - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/46/ • Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training -https://dogsthat.com/podcast/44/ • Podcast Episode 42: Behavior Chains: Are You Teaching Your Dog to be Bad to be Good? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/42/ • Game: Learn How to Play ItsYerChoice (IYC) - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/ • Podcast Episode 24: Help for the Dog who Chases Chipmunks, Bicycles, and the Neighbor’s Cat - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/24/ • Blog Post: How to Use the Distraction Intensity Index to Help Your Dog - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2020/09/distraction-intensity-index/

20 Nov 202018min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com    The topic of this episode comes from a listener suggestion, and it is about “alpha” and “beta” dogs. It’s a bit of a spicy subject, and the words “alpha” and “beta” go back to disproven “dominance theory”. Even if you are not sure what “dominance theory” is, you might have heard the term “pack leader”. It was common around 30 or so years ago for pet dog training classes to be based on “dominancy theory”, but not so much these days. Each of us has a filter we see the world through, and that filter is going to have an impact on our dog training choices and beliefs.   In the episode you'll hear:   • What influenced the filters through which I see the world. • How my filter has an impact on my dog training. • What I ask if something goes wrong with my dogs. • The commonalities and digressions I’ve noticed in training beliefs. • What I googled about dominance theory. • My quick diversion on humping. • How what we see in our dogs can be interrupted in different ways. • The ways our filters relate to our dog training decisions and how changing our filters is possible for everyone. • That behavior is behavior, for humans and for dogs, and how choice and communication are powerful for any relationship. • How my puppy This! shredded a bed and my reaction. • The three things you can do when faced with a challenge with your dog. • Why it’s time to get curious when you are furious. • What can go into a plan for you to get what you want with your dog. • That none of us is perfect.   Resources:   • Quick video of This! shredding her bed (on Facebook) - https://www.facebook.com/SusanGarrettDogAgility/posts/3749967288358197 • Podcast Episode 43: Can a Dog be Happy and Well Trained? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/43/ • Podcast Episode 6: The Art of Manipulation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/6/ • Podcast Episode 16: The Thing Before Your Dog’s Thing - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/16/ • Podcast Episode 42: Behavior Chains: Are You Teaching Your Dog to be Bad to be Good? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/42/ • Home School the Dog - https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Recallers - https://dogsthat.com/recallers/ • Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/44/

18 Nov 202017min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com    If you own a dog, there is a very good chance that at some point in your dog’s life, your dog could get jumped or possibly attacked by another dog. It’s vital to know that your reaction could actually exacerbate the emotional damage to your dog or puppy. This episode has my top tips for helping your dog and how you can take control of the uncontrollable and your responses. My puppy, This!, was jumped by an older pup, so it’s a topic fresh in my mind.   In the episode you'll hear:   • About being a helicopter parent, the opposite, and what I learned about being a dolphin parent. • Why the ability to recover is so important for our dogs. • The aftermath of our dogs being jumped and what we can do. • About negative conditioned responses and single event learning. • What happened with my puppy This! and what I did to help her. • The importance of changing a dog’s physiological state. • What I learned from a book about preventing PTSD with pattern-matching games. • How “play, don’t’ replay” works. • Why our first responses might not the best responses for our dog. • How to avoid adding emotional fire for your dog to events you cannot control. • Why to practice responding to things you can’t control. • What I do if my dog gets jumped and strategies you can put into action. • How to make the absolute best out of a bad situation. • What to look for in a good organised and structured puppy playgroup.   Resources:   • Book: Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal - https://janemcgonigal.com/my-book/ • Podcast Episode 12: When Helping Your Dog is an Illusion - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/12/ • Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture) - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/ • Susan on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/susangarrettdogsthat/ • DogsThat Gifs - https://giphy.com/dogsthat

11 Nov 202017min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com    Up to this point in your dog’s life, your training might not have worked the way you would have liked it to work. You can fix that with a simple set of progressions, and you can start right now. I know this works as it has worked for every dog I’ve ever raised, including rescue dogs, and it has worked for many thousands of my students. It all starts with arranging coincidences and positive associations.   In the episode you'll hear:   • What my goal is when I am raising a dog. • How to look at life from the eyes of your dog and arrange coincidences. • A real-life example of coincidences with a puppy. • How positive associations can come through you. • The dog training progressions that I’ve been using for many years. • How you can start again right now. • Why we want the correct behaviour to be extremely easy for our dogs when we start. • The importance of trust, transfer of value, and our dogs making choices. • How layering of confidence lets you advance your training. • What the mid-level on my training progressions chart looks like and how choice is in play. • What I do to set my dog and myself up for success. • How to create opportunities for choice in training progressions. • About the advanced stages of training with my adult dogs who have the layers of confidence in place. • Why my dogs love challenge and why they choose correctly. • How the connection I have with my dogs, and my students have with their dogs, is possible for everyone.   Resources:   • Blog Post: Teaching Puppies: It’s Just Arranging Coincidences -  https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2015/04/teaching-puppies-its-just-arranging-coincidences/ • Game: Learn How to Play ItsYerChoice (IYC) - https://recallers.com/iycsummit-join/ • Crate Games Online - https://get.crategames.com/ • Home School the Dog - https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Recallers - https://dogsthat.com/recallers/ • Handling360 - https://dogsthat.com/handling360/

6 Nov 202018min

Visit us at shapedbydog.com    Would you like a well-behaved dog at the expense of having a happy dog? How do we define happy? Would you be willing to make your dog a little sad, confused, anxious, stressed to be well-behaved? With every dog I have ever owned my approach to training has become a little more Zen-like. Trust in me is important for my dogs to be part of my family, and part of the life I lead.   In the episode you'll hear:   • What I was taught in the ‘80s about house training, and what I do now. • Why my dogs are such characters. • The “so what….” question to ask yourself. • More about what I was taught in the ‘80s relating to puppy biting. • About increasing or decreasing trust and happiness for dogs. • Why what we learn first is what we learn best, and how we can change. • How kindness should extend to ourselves. • About the clarity my dogs have for rules and how that gives them freedom. • How our dogs take on our emotions. • The reason to plan your responses to what your dog does. • That clarity is the opposite of anxiety and how certainty helps dogs. • Why the choice is ours on who we are for our dogs. • How our dogs can help us to become more compassionate.   Resources:   • Podcast Episode 4: T.E.M.P. (Tail, Eyes/Ears, Mouth, Posture) - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/4/ • Blog Post: It’s Time to P-o-t-t-y! Inside Scoop on Housetraining - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/08/scoop-on-housetraining/ • Podcast Episode 17: Help! How do I STOP Puppy Biting?! - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/17/ • Podcast Episode 18: 4 Puppy and Dog Training Games for Acquired Bite Inhibition - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/18/ • Podcast Episode 20: Bridging the Gap Between Blame and Kindness in Dog Training - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/20/ • Podcast Episode 27: Do Dogs Need Rules? - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/27/ • Podcast Episode 6: The Art of Manipulation - https://dogsthat.com/podcast/6/ • Agility Nation - https://dogsthat.com/agility-nation/

4 Nov 202016min