#bensonmaremmastraining

top of page

Tips for viewing our blog posts

Search

Strategies for Using Food Reinforcement with LGDs

Jan 22
7 min

Strategies for Using Food Reinforcement with LGDs

#bensonmaremmastraining, Food is a primary reinforcer for animals, which means that animals don’t need to learn to value it; they value food because it is necessary for their survival. However, that does not mean an animal will eat food, even food he likes, in any/every context. Animals have social, environmental, and situational considerations throughout their lives. These considerations continue to exist even in the presence of food the animal likes, and sometimes the prese

My Education Continues - Primary Reinforcers

Jan 10
11 min

My Education Continues - Primary Reinforcers

#bensonmaremmastraining, I have been taught that dogs do what is immediately reinforcing, and I have been taught that food is a primary reinforcer. This means that it has innate value to a dog. A secondary reinforcer, or conditioned reinforcer, is something the dog learns to value. Well, OK, so far. I learned, through my Karen Pryor Academy education, how to use food as a primary reinforcer to increase the likelihood of behaviors being repeated and to use food to teach new be

The Top 10 Reasons LGDs Fail - Plus One More: The Responsibility of Social Media

Dec 3, 2022
5 min

The Top 10 Reasons LGDs Fail - Plus One More: The Responsibility of Social Media

#Bensonmaremmastraining, Words can hurt. They have consequences. People have a choice to read and believe or move on. Dogs don't have that choice. If a dog's owner believes what he reads on social media and brings that information home, the dog is left with trying to figure out the new things that are happening. Sometimes this is a really good thing! But often, dogs pay a high price for the misinformation presented through social media. People reach out to social media simply

That Essential Window of Bonding for Livestock Guardian Pups

Dec 1, 2022
7 min

That Essential Window of Bonding for Livestock Guardian Pups

#bensonmaremmastraining, Scientific principles govern how dogs learn; not traditional lore, not trendy opinions, and not even if you love your dog so much you believe what you want to be true is true. It can be difficult to become educated about how to raise a guardian dog well, even though so much is known from a scientific standpoint. I struggle with why this is true. Wouldn't owners want to really know what is true for their dog? When I started with my first guardian dogs

Being Trained by Rufio - My Natural Encounters Adventure

Nov 25, 2022
5 min

Being Trained by Rufio - My Natural Encounters Adventure

#bensonmaremmastraining, I am an LGD trainer - so what does that have to do with training a Macaw?! Quite a lot! I have been chasing my formal education about behavior and training for several years now. I have learned a ton! But NONE of it was about guardian dogs. ALL of what I have learned I have had to adapt to my needs with LGDs. And ALL of the scientific principles and learning theories are applicable to LGDs, as they are to all animals. The motivation that drives behavi

My LGD Podcast with Natural Encounters, Inc.!

Nov 25, 2022
1 min

My LGD Podcast with Natural Encounters, Inc.!

#bensonmaremmastraining, In November 2022 I went to Florida (from Oregon!) to attend a five-day training course at the Natural Encounters facility. This 34-acre facility is home to over 70 species of animals, including birds of prey and over 100 Macaws. This was an amazing experience, deserving of its own blog post, so watch for that. While I was there, Chris Jenkins, one of the hosts of this weekly podcast and my team leader trainer for the week, invited the group of student

Capitol Press LGD Article - Nice Coverage!

Nov 25, 2022
2 min

Capitol Press LGD Article - Nice Coverage!

#bensonmaremmastraining, In September 2022, Molly Cruse, writer for the Oregon Capitol Press newspaper, contacted me about guardian dogs. She wanted to write a factual account of how Oregon ranchers use guardian dogs to their advantage. She had interviewed other LGD owners but wanted to also interview me so I invited her to the ranch. To my surprise, she was willing to drive four hours each way to do this live interview with me. Molly spent about three hours here. She took ma

The Special Needs Pup - Learning to See Behavior In Pieces

Nov 10, 2022
7 min

The Special Needs Pup - Learning to See Behavior In Pieces

#bensonmaremmastraining, I had the distinct privilege recently of working with the owner of a special needs pup. She came to me after having been turned away by several trainers along the way who stated concern about working with a pup with disabilities; this pup is blind. Maybe they weren’t clicker trainers? Positive reinforcement trainers? I say this because positive reinforcement training is all about leaning into strengths, not summing up an animal, or situation, based on

untitled image

Apr 28, 2022
5 min

Understanding – and Misunderstanding – Canine Behavior: LGD Early Warning Signs

These dogs gave their owner LOTS of warning signs before they reached this extreme behavior. #bensonmaremmastraining, #lgdtraining, Any behavior can also be viewed as small pieces of behavior strung together to create a more complex behavior. I think of it as counting from one to ten. If I change the dog’s behavior at two, I can change the behavior he would have gotten to at ten. Simple. Interrupt – Redirect – Reinforce Here’s an example. A dog is running toward me with the c

When to Get That Second LGD

Apr 28, 2022
3 min

When to Get That Second LGD

#bensonmaremmastraining, #lgdtraining, #lgdpuppytraining At first glance, starting out with only one LGD can seem like the conservative and responsible choice, particularly if you are new to LGDs. In my experience, though, training a single LGD pup is much more work than raising a pair of similarly aged pups together and much less likely to be successful. Here’s why: All LGD training should build the confidence of the dog A single pup is a frightened pup. Pups don’t learn wel

untitled image

Apr 21, 2022
1 min

Clicker Training Up Close - The Shelby & Kim Pups

#bensonmaremmastraining, This is the end of my first clicker session with the Shelby pups and the Kim pups. Check out those mindful little superstars! The black and tan pup is Juniper. She is the one pup of the Shelby litter that showed me LGD behaviors. One of the Kim pups was purchased as a partner for her. Watching the two pups work as a pair will be very interesting!

untitled image

Apr 20, 2022
1 min

Training With the Prancing Pony Pups!

#bensonmaremmastraining One of the things I thought I would have to give up when I stepped down as a Maremma breeder is clicker training with a litter of pups. When I visited Kim Crawmer, Prancing Pony Farm, the other day imagine my surprise when she handed me a clicker and some baked chicken! I had the best time playing with these pups! I was a stranger to them, and at least a couple were obviously in a fear period (sensitive period) but the language of the clicker drew them

untitled image

Apr 6, 2022
2 min

The Shelby Pups - Sequoia in a Fear Period

#bensonmaremmastraining In anticipation of the pups going to their new homes, I decided to begin leash training with the litter. I selected Sequoia as the pup to start with because he has been consistently the first pup to offer behaviors to me, and he has always been very confident. What I found on this day is that Sequoia had entered his predictable fear period. This meant that I needed to adjust my training plan for him. The pups have never been away from each other. Since

untitled image

Apr 6, 2022
1 min

The Shelby Pups - Puppies as Sovereign

#bensonmaremmastraining The Shelby pups are getting ready to go to their new homes at nine-ten weeks of age. As I mentally prepare for this my mind keeps playing over some of the scenarios pups experience in the hands of new owners, having been one myself. I hope this video will ease the way for these particular pups and owners, and maybe it will be helpful beyond that. Puppies as sovereign..... Many new owners acquire pups and then set about "training" them, rather than lear

untitled image

Mar 29, 2022
1 min

Clicker Training Is Easy! The Shelby Pups

#bensonmaremmastraining It really is! The backstory: My assistant and I usually do a better job of communicating with each other. I told her I had trained with the pups the night before. She thought that meant I had introduced the pups to the clicker, but I didn't get past teaching them to take chicken from my hands. When she began the training you see her do in this first video she made the assumption that she wasn't very good at what she was doing. Heavens! What she did was

untitled image

Mar 19, 2022
2 min

Thor And The Chickens

#bensonmaremmastraining, #lgdchickentraining, #lgdtraining, #positivereinforcementtraining, Thor is almost six-months-old now and has been with me for about two months. He is as tall as most of the Maremma pups I have been using as mentors! He is more resilient in most situations than he used to be. This is a lovely age! Thor will head back to his real home soon, now much better prepared to step in alongside the sweet female Maremma who waits for him there. In his life job Th

Going From No and Wrong to Change and Create as a Trainer

Feb 13, 2022
5 min

Going From No and Wrong to Change and Create as a Trainer

#bensonmaremmastraining, #shaping, #Maremmasheepdogtraining, #positivereinforcementtrainingforlgds When I was a child, I heard "no" a lot, and I learned to avoid people who wanted to place limitations on me. I suspect you can imagine what those notes on my school report card often looked like. But when I reflect back on my childhood, the people that I remember the most are the people who invited me to try something new and then made sure I was successful at it. I remember wor

untitled image

Jun 27, 2021
1 min

How to Teach a Dog to Touch a Hand Target

#bensonmaremmastraining, Hand targeting is a great skill to teach pups. It has many practical applications. Examples would be moving dogs through livestock, or at side, without the need of a leash and collar. All the training shown here with these five pups can be used to begin to build a training relationship between pups and their new owners. Eight of the goats in the background arrived just this morning. All the goats put on quite a show as we attempted to keep our minds o

Teaching a Maremma To Come When Called - Recall

Jan 3, 2021
6 min

Teaching a Maremma To Come When Called - Recall

#bensonmaremmastraining, You know where I am about to go with this, right? If you yell “COME!” you aren’t likely to get the behavior from the dog that you are looking for unless you have taught your dog that when he comes when called, the very coolest things happen! Recall must be tied to something wonderful. In the beginning, that means food, but as training progresses, exuberant verbal praise and physical cuddling are something wonderful too. To teach this to very young pup

Why Clicking and Correction Used Together Doesn’t Work - The Poisoned Cue

May 6, 2020
2 min

Why Clicking and Correction Used Together Doesn’t Work - The Poisoned Cue

#bensonmaremmastraining, Dogs trained using positive reinforcement methods have learned that cues are linked to wonderful rewards. A cue can be many things. For guide dogs seeing a curb is a cue to stop. Most of us use words, gestures, or body language as cues. Dogs learn to see cues as happy opportunities for something they will like. But what if you give a cue – and something unpleasant happens instead? Will the dog ever feel the same joy in hearing that cue? The answer is

bottom of page