Volume 15 | Number 02
Luvk9s February monthly newsletter

There is nothing like the unconditional love of a dog, and what better day to celebrate the human/dog bond than the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday. Click here to learn more about the human/canine bond and how to strengthen that bond.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Capture and reward desirable behaviors
Clicker versus verbal markers
Photo courtesy of Roger Brown, pexels.com
Training a puppy or newly adopted adult dog can be challenging. The reason dogs don’t do what we ask is because they may not understand what we want. We don’t “speak” dog and our canines don’t understand English.

To improve communication, we need a way to clearly let our dog know when he is doing the right thing - or when he isn’t and needs to try something else. This is where reward (and no-reward) markers come into play.
 
What are reward and no-reward markers?


Verbal praise and/or treats lets this dog
know he is doing what his trainer asked.

But my dog is not food motivated
Photo courtesy of Doris Dressler
With positive reinforcement training, we reward the behaviors we want repeated and ignore or redirect the behaviors we don't like. Rewards should be something your dog loves which is usually food or treats. Rewards can also be activities your dog enjoys such as chasing a ball, going for a walk or car ride, playing fetch or tug, or being petted by their favorite person,

Positive trainers initially use food when training a new behavior because it easily allows quick repetition of the cues you are trying to teach. It's a lot easier and less time consuming to reward a dog for sitting with a food treat as opposed to tossing a ball for a game of fetch five times.

But what if your dog isn't food motivated?

Should I? Or shouldn't I?
Upcoming educational opportunities
Photo compliments of Pixabay
Friday classes in Ball Ground
Puppy class starts Jan. 27 at 11 AM
Basic class starts Jan. 27 at 1 PM - FULL
Canine Good Citizen starts Jan. 27 - 3 PM - FULL

Saturday classes in Ball Ground
Puppy class starts Jan. 28 at 11 AM
Basic class starts Jan. 28 at 1 PM
Canine Good Citizen starts Jan. 28 at 3 PM


 Luvk9s is offering in-home
private consults. Call, email
or text for more info!