When I work with animals, I combine knowledge from my past experiences working as a behavioural interventionist with my formal education in psychology, counselling, teaching and dog training.

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I focus on building a loving bond and partnership between dog and human, built on trust and cooperation, prioritizing that the dog feels safe, calm and happy.

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Communication (dialogue between you and your dog) and understanding the animal's perspective is my focus when working with dogs.

 

Several of the techniques and methods I use are

 

Relationship Based Training (RBT):  focus on building a positive relationship between dog and human.

 

RBT's basic principles include: 

ensuring that basic needs have been met before beginning a training session, 

controlling the animal's environment to ensure success,

discovering what motivates the animal to assist with the development of proper behaviours,

interpreting the animal's body language to assist with the communication of commands, 

using positive reinforcement to encourage the desired behavior,

replacing unwanted behaviours with desired behaviours.

 

Behaviour Adjustment Training (BAT): 

 

BAT's basic principles include:

controlling of the environment, 

desensitizing by repeating certain scenarios, 

functional rewards, 

communication

 

I also borrow techniques from traditional psychology such as

Classical Conditioning (learning to associate things in the environment), 

Operant Conditioning (behaviour motivated by consequences), 

Reinforcement  (I encourage verbal praise when it comes to reinforcement, but also use food, toys, clickers, and games).

 

While working as a behavioural interventionist with young children I used a teaching technique called Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

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ABA uses positive reinforcement to bring about meaningful and positive changes in behaviour.  Meaningful change occurs when the learner (the animal) understands the connections between the behaviour and the consequence.

 

I am clear and consistent with my requests.  I begin by giving requests that are easy for an animal to successfully complete and then systematically move forward towards a more desired behaviour, while ensuring the animal feels safe, calm and happy during the process.

 

I believe in always setting up an animal for success. This means that I keep environments calm and quiet, and without distractions. The dog sets the pace. Patience is important.

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During training, I believe that it is essential to identify the animal's attributes and personality. Communication between the animal and human needs to be clear and consistent. This means that I observe and react appropriately to the animal's body language. By understanding the animal's expressions and noticing what motivates the animal, I form a connection and build a trusting relationship, which assists in training success.

 

I have found that the combination of these methods help the animal to not only successfully perform the requested command but builds lasting relationships between the trainer/owner and their animal.