For trainers of all skill levels, proofing a behavior for reliability despite strong environmental distractions is one of the most elusive training goals. But hope is on the horizon. Here are 10

When I arrived at my client’s house last week, she was very excited to show me how well her dog Missy was doing with hand targeting. “Watch this!”

What is the natural relationship? “They fight like cats and dogs.”  This saying reflects the commonly held belief that dogs and cats just can’t get along because they

Potty Problems? Are you having trouble teaching your puppy (or even your adult dog) appropriate elimination behaviors? Don’t despair. There’s an excellent chance that your dog can be

This training game is derived from a dolphin research project in which I and others participated, “The creative porpoise: training for novel behavior,” published in the Journal of

What’s missing? “I don’t even know where to start. It just seems so huge and daunting. I don’t know how to define a plan, what steps to include,

Clipping, snipping, brushing, poking… Pets have to tolerate not-so-pleasant procedures during grooming or veterinary care. But it’s hard to convince a feisty Fido that it’s great fun to

Focus on the student and the process Someone recently asked me how the term “microshaping” developed, and what, exactly, it means. I think I probably originated that term

Scent discrimination is one of the “advanced” obedience exercises, but it is actually one of the easiest to train. Why? You are working with the dog’s single most

The limited hold is scientific terminology—laboratory slang, really—for a good way to use the marker and reinforcer to speed up response to a cue. We’re all used to sluggish responses. You call folks

At an annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, where over 2,000 behavioral scientists gather each year, a woman professor with whom I was acquainted told me she had

When do I fade the click? How do I fade the click? We hear those questions all the time. The smart-aleck answer is “Never.” Because we don’t “fade”