What a wonderful piece.
Have you ever done any sort of instructional training Tom? By that I mean instructed/trained others in a classroom/ work environment.
Such a natural manner that all good instructors have.
Geo
Thanks Geo. No, I've never done any instructional training, (Well, not officially, in a classroom or anything) but like everyone else, (Especially parents) I've passed on what I can when I can. It's really rewarding, as I'm sure you know.
For the record, there was no real training involved in that video. It's just a case of me being aware of what Kizzy is thinking and then, over a period, using words combined with tone and body language to influence what is actually just her instinctive behavior.
If we're talking about training, of the most important things you can teach your dog is the word 'No'. Your dog should interpret this to mean "What ever you're doing at this precise moment, stop doing it".
If you can teach your dog this, it will make all other training miles easier. For instance, imagine you're teaching your dog to stay. He doesn't know what you want at first, so you put him on a spot where you want him to stay and you hold your hand up in front of his face and say "Staaaay".
Of course, he has absolutely no idea what you are talking about, so he will probably just get up and walk towards you. At this point, you can say 'No!' and if he understands the word 'No', he will know he has to stop doing something. He might not immediately associate this with coming towards you, but he will know he's doing something you don't want him to do.
The penny will drop much quicker if he understands 'No'.
He may not know what the right thing to do is yet, but if he knows when he's doing the wrong thing, you're half way there.
Reading that back, it sounds like gobbeldygook.
It's much easier to teach animals than it is to teach people to teach animals.
I'm going to upload a video of Kizzy's feeding routine because that does involve her behaving in a way that she's been trained to behave rather than just following her instincts.
Her instincts tell her to rush in and eat the food as quickly as possible. Her training prevents her from doing that.
Her meal time behavior was all taught by just using the word 'No' at the right time. She knows the routine now. so I no longer have to use it.
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