“Love your dog first and the sport second.” Every now and again this quote makes the rounds on social media. I’ve seen it attributed to various sources. I’m not sure who gets the credit, but I’m always happy to see it shared. In a sport like freestyle, because the rules are written broadly to encourage… Continue reading…
Get a Cue
I believe the primary reason so many trainers have difficulty creating effective verbal cues is a lack of understanding. How to place behaviors on cue is the most misunderstood and misapplied process in training. And when done incorrectly or incompletely, the dog’s response to a verbal cue can be inconsistent at best, or completely unpredictable at… Continue reading…
Tricks of the Trade
“Does my dog have to know a lot of tricks to do freestyle?” “Why teach tricks, shouldn’t we be working on heeling if we want to do freestyle?” “My dog knows a ton of tricks so we’re ready for freestyle, right?” People ask me a lot of questions about trick training. And I won’t lie,… Continue reading…
Shaping Success
I’m often asked why I use shaping when my dogs already know so many cued behaviors. My answer is that, besides being fun and creative for me, the trainer, shaping teaches my dogs to think. And this greater cognitive capacity makes their future learning of more advanced or complex skills quicker and easier. Improved communication, the… Continue reading…
Getting Started with RFE
Congratulations on being one of more than 1,600 members and their dogs worldwide who are enjoying Rally-FrEe together and seeing its many benefits! While I agree with the sentiment, “Be brave enough to suck at something new,” we’ve got tons of resources available to help newcomers get off on the right foot. We want new and… Continue reading…
Can You Hear Me Now?
Proofing our verbal cues is a necessity for sports like Rally-FrEe and Musical Freestyle. As handlers, we work hard to build and maintain value in our verbal cues, but we don’t often take our efforts to the next level and teach our dogs to work through cue interference. Read on to find out how to… Continue reading…
Paying Your Pup
The economics of behavior! The Cost of Behavior As cool as Freestyle and Rally-FrEe are, they can also be challenging sports for both dog and handler. We ask our dogs to stay engaged while training complex behaviors and while putting those behaviors into longer sequences and routines. That’s a proper challenge! It’s no wonder our efforts to keep our… Continue reading…
Phee’s First
How we’re prepping for our first Rally-FrEe entry! I’ve just started practicing the course for Phee’s first entry in Rally-FrEe Pre-Novice class. I’m nervous and excited! She recently passed her Skills Test. (That allowed me to assess whether we were ready to take the next step and enter a video event.) I thought I would… Continue reading…
Trial and Error? No Time for That!
Why and how to set up for success We’ve all heard it – maybe even said it. “Dogs learn through their mistakes” With any luck, we all learn from our mistakes! But is it really the best way to learn? Should we embrace errors as an effective form of learning? In training for performance, there’s no time for… Continue reading…
Fluency on Cue!
Cue fluency and how to tell if your dog has it Let’s talk fluency. It’s something we all strive for in our behaviors. Fluent behaviors are: consistent, dependable, and reliable. They have been generalized to various location and contexts. In short, the dog has honed their skill in executing the behavior beautifully. We not only need to… Continue reading…
