#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining This term is not a value judgment. In some social circles it generates a lot of energy: positive trainers are good, traditional trainers are bad, and on and on. Another misconception about this type of training is that it is permissive; it is not. I believe in science based training because it is based on facts so let’s define this term. In science the word “positive” means “added.” Think of the word positive as a plus sig

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Krysta is a masterful puppy trainer. Her enthusiasm draws the puppies to her and her excellent timing of click and reinforcement lets the puppies know exactly what she is trying to say. The pups quickly become confident in their ability to make Krysta pay them – and snuggle with them! A good time is had by all, and the puppies never suspect that they are being “trained.” Perfect. I’m certain that from their perspective Kry

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Teaching 3-5 week old puppies to mand is very easy. Their pudgy bodies end up in a sitting position frequently; that provides ready opportunities to click and reinforce the behavior. Working with pups older than this is more challenging because they have lots of learned behavior and muscle memory in moving around as puppies do rather than thinking about how to get a person’s attention. The other challenge can be getting an

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining The pups have moved from their safe and familiar home base permanently. They are handling this change beautifully! Rosie and Sabrina are with them. All the pups work the field and I often see single pups working. This thrills me because that is an indication of confidence in the pup. The group all still eat together, which is also an indication of confidence and a willingness to be respectful of each other. I am often watc

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtrainingRecently I had occasion to take six month old Rosie to the vet; you can see how stressed she was! Situations like this are where you can really see the benefits of the novel stimulus training pay off. Rosie and I were at the clinic for two hours. The techs took her to the back to draw blood, get a fecal sample, do a thorough exam, and who knows what else. The whole vet hospital fell in love with Rosie on this day as she fli

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining I am fortunate to have a variety of friends willing to train puppies with me. I have tall trainers, short trainers, young trainers (the youngest being 5 years old), older trainers, and men and women. With the Blush litter you’ve all seen Barry. He has been wonderfully consistent in making time to train with us; two of the pups will ultimately go home with him. From time to time we get to borrow Wendell….. Wendell is “the d

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining ***NOTE: The videos in this blog are from Hannah’s 2018 litter. It is challenging for me to produce videos of myself doing leash work with the pups! And now the real work begins…. Feeding puppies three times a day, poo cleaning, clicker training, livestock introductions, field transitions, and all the rest are easy – they are nothing compared to what is to come. To this point we have worked with the full litter as a group.

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining This field is our last big transition for the pups in terms of changing the fields they are responsible for. This transition is a favorite of mine, and for my puppy trainers, because it is such fun to watch the puppies explore this very big area that has so many elements in it that the pups have never seen before. The Blush pups did a wonderful job of owning this field right from the start! I always have volunteers station

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining At this point in the pup’s training it becomes more and more challenging to come up with things that they will experience as novel because we have done such a thorough job of convincing them that Martians could fall from the sky and they’d be just fine! This novel stimulus toy is one that I save to near the end of my puppy training window of time because it has the potential of really frightening the pups, and that is NEVE

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Serendipity’s litter of ten pups, sired by our Benson Ranch Bonavento, were born on July 7, 2019. Training is what I love to do so I thank Dr Laura Bailey, the owner of Serendipity, for the opportunity to purchase five of the pups. I purchased three males and two females. I will partner one of the males with a female from Blush’s litter; the other four pups will be placed in male/female pairs. Laura started these pups well

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining The “fear period” is actually just a time of heightened sensitivity for pups. Typically these transient periods last for just a few days. It is important that extra care be taking during these times so that pups continue to learn only positive lessons; our training tasks are adjusted accordingly. I do very little novel stimulus work if any of the pups seem wary – there is still lots to do! Environmental challenges are appr

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Introduction, written by Kathy Flynn "This is a short video of Luna, a 5 year old Maremma, and Stella, a 15 month old Nigerian Dwarf who was new to the property.  Her attempted introduction to the dogs had taken a bad turn when she panicked and butted, then kicked, my younger dog who then retaliated.  His retaliation was actually appropriate, and he didn't harm the goat, but obviously we wanted to avoid that again. It

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining This blog is my heart so if that sort of thing doesn’t interest you please feel free to skip this one…. Recently I lost the friendship of someone I loved, and I am grieving that loss. She didn’t die, and there are no “bad guys.” We just discovered that we are very different people and that the differences are such that they preclude us from continuing our friendship. I believe that as we get older life becomes more challen

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining It is easy to teach puppies to be comfortable with necessary husbandry care such as toe nail trims, clipping, brushing, etc., if you listen to them and let them feel that they have some control over the situation. On this ranch I have a lot of demands on my time and tend to be task oriented. If I make the time to do grooming with one of the dogs I like to be able to complete that project and cross it off my list. I have le

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Resource guarding issues are among the most common problems LGD owners have with their dogs. This behavior is learned – that is an important point. It is also a VERY easy behavior to prevent. This does not ever involve scolding the dog. Dogs that worry about needing to protect their resources are frightened or insecure. Telling them they shouldn’t feel that way, or behave that way, doesn’t make sense to them, doesn’t chang

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining This transition can be challenging for the pups for a variety of reasons. I introduce them to this field with great care and make sure I have my incredible puppy trainer volunteers on board to help. The field is long. It is expansive visually because it offers no relief; there is nothing to hide behind or to break up the sight line, other than the diminishing pile of decomposed granite. There are ten sheep in this field. T

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Leash work with LGDs is different than leash work with companion dogs because LGDs own the ground they stand on. Pet dogs are owned by you, so wherever you go they go too, and all is right with their world. They do need to learn to tolerate the constraints of a leash and harness or collar, but that’s it. For an LGD he needs to learn to accept that too, but his bigger concern is what to do with this new ground – what is his

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining This training session was soooo much fun!! After the girls had finished with the leash training we didn’t have a lot of puppy left. It was hot outside and they were getting sleepy so we knew we had to come up with a new task quickly or we wouldn’t have awake puppies to play with. I teach our pups to climb ramps for a variety of reasons. Since they had seen these ramps in a previous novel stimulus training session the pups

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining Yes, I know. Not a Maremma. Not in a field. But this was the best video example I could come up with to illustrate the use of a cue and the willing participation of my dog. This is Josie, my three-year-old Miniature Schnauzer. I am taking part in a six-month intensive dog training course and Josie is my training partner, in part because she has to travel with me for the course. What is important for my course is the way th

#clickertraining #maremma #puppytraining #dogtraining I do not teach my dogs to “sit” and in fact this cue/command is a hot button for me with regard to LGDs. Here’s why: My problem isn’t with the behavior, necessarily, but with why and how it is usually asked for or ordered. Let’s start with what is always my primary consideration in training, which is the perception of the dog. I want my dogs to feel powerful ownership of the fields they live in. Telling a dog to sit can co