Aidan's blog

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Too Super Cool

If only everyone saw you the way your dog did.

Also makes me wonder what dogs are actually thinking when we try to talk to them using words they don't know, especially those who are trying to stop behavior this way.

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What to Use Instead of a "Training Collar" for Loose Leash Walking in Safety

Over the years I've had a lot of questions from people with big, strong dogs who use some sort of "training collar" (prong, electronic or check chain) to prevent being over-powered. Often they have a very good reason for using this sort of collar, but want to know if they can wean their dog off it.

The answer is definitely "yes". A friend of mine weighs in at about 80lb and has two massive German Shepherds. They are both trained to walk on a loose leash, but she uses head halters on both dogs in case of emergency.

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Positive Petzine e-Book now available for download

If you've always wanted the Alladin's Cave of dog training and behavior nuggets that is "The Positive Petzine Collection", but wanted it in e-book form - now you can get it for just USD $25!

This will suit anyone with a dog, but especially professional dog trainers looking for class hand-outs. You will be able to print-out select articles for use in your classes (some conditions apply, please contact us for details).

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German, Danish, Spanish and Portuguese Translations of Positive Petzine Articles

If you speak German, Danish, Spanish or Portugese then you may be interested in these translations of Positive Petzine articles on clicker training, positive dog training and operant conditioning:
German
Danish
Spanish
Portuguese

If you -
- are a dog training instructor
- own a dog or pet related website
- speak a language other than English

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Pitbulls, breed-specific legislation, the opinion of a board certified behavior analyst

Kellie Snider, a board certified behaviour analyst specialising in canine aggression, has penned a very interesting blog entitled On Pit-bulls and Courts of Law.

Kellie Snider did her thesis on what was later termed Constructional Aggression Treatment - figuring out what is reinforcing aggression then shaping the aggression into something less dangerous (or even completely safe). In this work, Snider and her mentor Jesus Rosalez-Ruiz looked very closely at the causes of aggressive behavior.

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Our domain used to send spam! "Spoofing"

If you are not a subscriber to Positive Petzine, or any of our e-courses, and you have received email from an email address ending with @ positivepetzine.com, please be assured that this email did not originate from us.

We have recently been the victims of an email spoofing campaign, where someone has illegally used our domain name on their outgoing mail in order to avoid prosecution for sending unsolicited bulk email.

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Tamar Geller Video - "Child Proofing Your Dog"

A topic of a recent blog post was "child proofing a dog". This is a procedure where we try to make a positive association with things kids do to dogs, and reward calm, accepting behavior.

Oprah's latest dog trainer and author of "The Loved Dog", Tamar Geller, has a video hosted at the HSUS which demonstrates:
Click here to view the video

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Primate Testing

I am contacting you to ask your help to support a Ban on Primate Testing in Europe.

Please forward my message below concerning Written Declaration 40/2007 in the European Parliament to your group.

This is urgent because The Declaration will fall on 7th September and the signatures of half the MEPs in the Parliament is needed by then.

It is in all our interest that Animal Testing is replaced with Alternatives based on Human Biology not Animals.

I would appreciate your help and the animals even more so.

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Dogs Do What Works for Them

All behavior is easily explained with this LAW of behavior, somewhat
paraphrased but accurate nonetheless:

Dogs Do What Works For Them

Implied in this (quite correctly) is that dogs have no regard for the
written word, implications, morals, or even pack leadership if it is not
enforced with conditioning. They will simply do what works.

The part about this that most people seem to struggle with is the
logical inversion of this rule -

If your dog is doing something, it is working for him.

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Training "Reliability" part 2

Is your dog 100% reliable? Does he always come when called, no matter what? Could you train a dog to avoid a snake reliably?

In Part 1 of this article series we looked at what is necessary to maintain or increase operant behavior - namely, a schedule of reinforcement.

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