Does your dog resist oral medication? If so, you are not alone. Most dogs (like people) don’t enjoy swallowing pills. However, if you open your dog’s mouth forcefully to push a pill down his throat, you may lose your dog’s hard-earned trust—and he may not allow you to touch his mouth area any more. How do you make administering oral medication a positive experience for both you and your dog?
Sarah Hoth, KPA CTP, entered the dog training field in a familiar way: she adopted a dog and needed advice, encouragement, and support. Thanks to Ozzy and more than a few lessons they learned together, Sarah became curious about dog training. That interest began with service dogs and has been extended to many other aspects of training. Her business, The Persuaded Pooch, offers families of dogs of any age behavior evaluations, behavior consultations, and training lessons. Sarah’s expertise includes training for excitable dogs, reactive dogs, service dogs, and puppies.
Walking a dog with a harness is safer and more comfortable than walking a dog with a traditional collar. However, many dogs are afraid of having a harness put over their heads. Shelter dogs are often already stressed, so wearing a harness can easily induce more fear. By creating a positive association with the harness (or any new equipment), you can help a dog overcome his/her fear.
When you think of training new behaviors, you think of training one behavior at a time. For example, in one training session you may teach your dog to jump on a platform and in another you may teach your dog to jump off. However, did you know that you can train these opposite behaviors rapidly if you train them together?
An umbrella snapping open during a rainstorm. A walker rolling along a sidewalk. These are a few of the many common situations a dog might find scary if s/he hasn’t been exposed to them at an early age. By exposing puppies to new and creative stimuli gradually, puppy classes offer an invaluable service to clients looking to provide these vital experiences for their puppies and give them the best start.
Thinking about training your cat? Why not teach your cat to go to a mat? This behavior has many applications: preventing counter-surfing or door-dashing or putting your cat in a carrier for transport. It is also useful for training multiple cats at the same time, as each will have a “parking spot.” In Part 1 of this video series, Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Associate Director Gretchen Carey is shaping her cat Frankie to interact with a mat.
Teaching your dog to stay, an essential foundation behavior, is an investment that will be valuable in a variety of situations, such as preventing your dog from dashing out the front door or out of the car. In this video, Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Certified Training Partner (CTP) Sarah Walsh is teaching her dog Wrigley to stay in the down position.
Chelsea Murray, KPA CTP, began her career as a dog trainer after earning a degree in biological sciences at the University of Georgia. Researching educational opportunities to achieve this goal, Chelsea discovered Karen Pryor Academy (KPA). “I knew that the Dog Trainer Professional (DTP) program would be a good fit for me and would help me gain the confidence and knowledge I needed to take that next step,” Chelsea recalls. She completed the program in Atlanta in 2014 with Laurie Luck as her instructor.
Canine freestyle champion Michele Pouliot is known for using innovative trick behaviors in her entertaining routines. One of the foundation trick behaviors that she uses often is targeting an object with duration. In this video, Michele is teaching her canine freestyle partner Sake to nose target a microphone with duration so that it appears that he is singing.
Waltham, MA, September 9, 2020—Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) is pleased to welcome five new faculty members to its world-renowned Dog Trainer Professional program (DTP). Jen Biglan, Bobbie Lyons, Juliana Willems, Kiki Yablon, and Andre Yeu have joined the KPA faculty, making it more convenient for dog trainers to receive top-notch education and certification from the leader in positive reinforcement training.
