How To Train Your Dog With Love And Science - Dog Training with Annie Grossman, School For The Dogs

This is a follow up episode to last week's "journey" through the world of pet insurance. Annie mentions some companies she's heard good things about from listeners in the wake of the episode airing, and dives deep into what insurance will cover in terms of dealing with behavior issues. Her guest is trainer Briana Balogh, who is the Client Care Coordinator at Behavior Vets.  https://behaviorvetsnyc.com/our-team/briana-b/ Looking to get some help with house training? Download our free guide at http://schoolforthedogs.com/house --- Partial Transcript: [intro and music] Annie: Hey there. So this is sort of a follow-up last week’s mammoth pet insurance episode. I just wanted to mention or reiterate a few things and respond to some feedback I’ve gotten. And then I do have an interesting interview to share. But I just wanted to reiterate that I think it’s a good idea to get pet insurance as early in your dog’s life as possible, because I don’t think there are any companies out there that are really gonna cover preexisting conditions. So you want to get a plan that you like before your dog or cat has any conditions. And the sooner that you start out with one company, and the more time you may have to stop working with that company, try a different company, et cetera, et cetera, once your dog or cat has any kind of pre-existing conditions, you’re going to kind of be locked into working with whichever brand you’re with because you’re not going to be able to switch and get that stuff covered. If you do have a dog who has a pre-existing condition, definitely check out the pet assure discount code, which I talk about in the episode, which is probably the best option in those cases. I also got some feedback that I was a little dismissive of companies that offered different kinds of insurance. And I think that’s totally true. I was just trying to narrow the field a little bit, set some parameters, arbitrary as they may be. But a couple of people have reached out to me for instance, and said that they have Nationwide and said they’re really happy with Nationwide. I ran a quote and it looks like Nationwide would cover just about everything that the the company I ultimately chose would cover. They don’t have tons of options to toggle and choose from, which I actually really like. I think it simplifies things. And the quote that I got from them looks like it would be about what I’m going to end up paying per month with a plan I chose with the company I chose, except the deductible would be lower. I have a thousand dollar deductible. The nationwide one would be 250. The wellness visit would still be covered. And they would cover 90% of bills. Although the plan I got is a hundred percent of bills. So I think definitely that’s one worth checking out. And as I did mention in the last episode, if you already have insurance that you like, a lot of people already have Nationwide for their home insurance or renter’s insurance or car insurance or whatever.  You might be able to get a deal bundling your insurances together. So again, that is one of my major recommendations. Full Transcript at SchoolfrotheDogs.com/podcast

Annie wanted to get pet insurance for her young dog, Poppy, and decided to dive deep into researching all the options out there -- and oh boy, there sure are a lot of options! In this episode she speaks to several industry experts and company representatives, looks at reviews, reads the fine print, and, after narrowing down the options, discusses the matter with her husband, Jason, whose opinion about what to get ends up being a little different than hers.   -----  Pet Insurance comparison: https://www.caninejournal.com/pet-insurance-comparison/  Companies mentioned in this episode:   The Dog Tale  https://thedogtale.com/  Wagmo https://wagmo.io/  Crum and Forster https://www.cfpetinsurance.com/  Pumpkin  https://www.pumpkin.care/  ASPCA Pet Insurance  https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/  Hartville Pet Insurance https://www.hartvillepetinsurance.com/  Lemonade https://www.lemonade.com/pet  Pet Assure  https://www.petassure.com/  Eusoh  Sign up for Eusoh through School For The Dogs and get 30% percent off the monthly membership fee for life at http://schoolforthedogs.com/eusoh  --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hello humans. So this episode really has been a challenge to put together for several reasons. It’s about pet insurance, and I was inspired to research pet insurance because of our young dog Poppy coming into our family. But there’s a lot of numbers when you’re looking at pet insurance. There’s a lot of choices, a lot of boring, fine print. So rather than just figuring out what I could from websites, I tried to get representatives of a bunch of different insurance companies on the phone, which was very helpful.  But I was still left with a lot of options and a lot of information. So before I play the episode, I just wanted to share a few takeaways and explain or point out some things that I think are missing from this episode. First of all, there are a lot of pet insurance companies that I did not discuss in this episode. And that’s not because they’re not good. In fact, they might be great. They might be better than the ones I ended up focusing on. I’ll explain how I ended up picking the five companies that I focus on in a little bit, although it ended up sort of accidentally being more than five. But I just wanted to mention, you know, I’ve heard, I’ve heard a lot about Trupanion, Happy Paws, Embrace.  Embrace is one, actually, I do kind of mention in the episode for a funny reason. So perhaps there could be a part two to this episode. And if you are using one of the companies I do mention, or one of the ones I don’t mention, I am super curious to hear about your thoughts on your pet insurance. Full Transcript at SchoolfortheDogs.com/podcast

As far as Annie knows, there is only one other female-owned dog training storefront in Manhattan: Amanda Gagnon Dog Training. Both Amanda and Annie also have toddlers. Annie reached out to Amanda, whose daughter is a couple years older than Annie's, for advice on how to approach parenting in a reward-based, non-coercive way.  Learn more about Amanda at  http://www.amandagagnondogtraining.com/ Canisius College's Masters in Anthrozoology https://www.canisius.edu/academics/programs/anthrozoology Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right https://amzn.to/2QCvbGc --- Partial Transcript: [Intro and music] Annie: So today I am here with Amanda Gagnon, who, you know, you and I actually have so much in common that I feel like this conversation could probably go on for five hours, like some Joe Rogan Experience episode or something.  And we’ve actually never even chatted in real time before, so it’s pretty exciting that we’re getting to talk at all. But why don’t you sort of give a brief introduction to who you are, and then we can talk about some of the things we have in common and some of the things that I think I could probably learn from you. Amanda Gagnon: Absolutely. Yeah. I’ve been looking forward to this too. This is going to be a lot of fun. I, yeah, so I’m a dog trainer. I have a business in Manhattan, which is something we definitely have right in line with each other. I’ve been dog training for about a decade now. I’m also an anthrozoologist. That’s where I got my graduate degree in, which means I studied the relationship between people and animals. Obviously I focus on dogs and humans, and I really am particularly interested in dogs and humans and foreign cultures. So I spend my days typically training dogs and reading lots of books and talking to lots of people about how they feel about dogs based on where they live and who they’re around. So it’s a pretty fun life, I think, because I love dogs. Annie: That is so interesting. So where did you study anthrozoology? If only I had known that that was a thing one could study, but tell me more. Amanda: Tell me about it. You know, I spent so many years looking at animal behavior graduate programs because it seems like that’s what I should do. And every time I would read the curriculum, I would feel like it was missing something, and then I came across the anthrzoology curriculum. It’s at Canisius college, which is upstate New York and it included so much about the human side of the coin. And I realized, Oh, of course that’s what’s missing from a lot of animal behavior, the human animal. I didn’t get into dogs just because I love dogs. I got into dogs because I liked the relationship that we have with them. I think it’s really unique and cool and interesting. So yeah. Canisius College, it’s a really cool program if anyone’s interested in that.  It’s partially in person, or at least it used to be before the pandemic, and it is partially remote. So it’s a pretty accessible thing. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a pretty accessible thing for people like you and me who work full time. Full Transcript at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcasts

Following a tragic loss in her family this week, Annie, worried about how the death will impact the health of her grief-stricken loved ones, remembered the first chapter from the 2012 book Zoobiquity, on the potentially-fatal heart condition that was discovered separately by veterinarians and by human cardiologists: Broken Heart Syndrome. It's called Takotsubo (when it effects humans) and Capture Myopathy (when in other species). The chapter goes on to talk about the "One Health" movement and to argue that human doctors (aka veterinarians who only work with one species) could learn something from those who work with medical conditions in other animals, and encourages readers to be more humble about humans' place in the animal kingdom. Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers https://amzn.to/32Yd4Ne Featured "Black-chinned emperor tamarin (S. i. imperator).jpg" by Kevin Barret is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Yesterday, my step-brother died in his sleep. He was only 41. He was in good health. It seems like it, it may have just been a sudden heart attack. We don’t really know what happened. But it’s just been a huge, huge bomb to my family. It’s such a tragedy. He was a wonderful person. Wonderful, wonderful father. He and his wife had been together 21 years. They were foster parents to many little children, and they had two kids of their own who are just two and four. And he was such a great dad to these kids. He and my stepfather were extremely close. They were really best friends. He’s my stepfather’s only kid. And, yeah, everyone’s just taking it really hard. And, and yesterday on the phone with my mom off and on all day, at one point, she said to me, I’m really worried about him, about my stepfather, that I’m worried he’s not gonna make it through this. And I wanted to say, Oh, you know, this is awful and terrible, but he’ll pull through. But the truth is, I felt her fear. And I thought of anecdotes, people I know or people I’ve heard about who have seemed to die of heartbreak. I have a friend whose parents were together 70 years and her mother who was in fine health died within, I think within 12 hours of her father dying. And then a few years ago when one of my favorite actresses, Carrie Fisher died, one of my other favorite actresses, her mother died the very next day. And, you know, one might say that all of this is a coincidence, but the other thing I thought about was this really interesting book I read a few years ago called Zoobiquity. And it is by a cardiologist, I think a cardiologist psychiatrist.  Her name is Barbara Matterson Horowitz, also written with Catherine Bowers. And this isn’t about dog training, but it is about animal behavior, both mental and physical, this book.  It’s really about the overlap between specifically veterinary medicine and human medicine. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

This weekend (Saturday April 24th at 4PM ET) we are hosting a screening of the short film Patient Like The Chipmunks, by Drs. Bob Bailey and Miriam Breland-Bailey, followed by a conversation and Q and A session with Dr. Bailey himself.  In advance of this event, Annie has recently read aloud some of Dr. Bailey's work. Today, she reads a famous essay written not by him, but by his business partners: the late Keller Breland and Marian Breland (who would later married Dr. Bailey, hence the hyphenated name).  This article, The Misbehavior Of Organisms, first appeared in American Psychology in 1961, and was titled in response to BF Skinner's book, The Behavior Of Organisms. The Brelands had worked closely with Skinner as graduate students, and were the first to bring his laboratory work into the commercial realm. There, working with over 100 species of animals, they discovered that  it just isn't always possible to operantly condition a behavior. The reason? Sometimes, an animal's baked-in instincts take over and can't easily be overcome.  Dr. Bailey's site: http://www.behavior1.com/ Other episodes about Dr. Bailey  Training Wisdom From Page 9 of Dr. Bob Bailey's Website https://anchor.fm/dogs/episodes/Bonus-Training-wisdom-from-page-9-of-Dr--Bob-Baileys-website-Plus-Join-Annie-for-a-film-screening-and-Q-and-A-with-Dr--Bailey-on-April-24th-eu9mmo The ABC of Behavior By Marian Breland-Bailey and Bob Bailey https://anchor.fm/dogs/episodes/Bonus-Annie-reads-from-The-ABCs-of-Behavior-by-Marian-Breland-Bailey-and-Bob-Bailey-from-The-Dog-Trainers-Resources-by-The-APDT-Chronicle-Of-The-Dog-euonns --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hello humans. So I’ve posted a few Bonus episodes in the last few months that are me reading things relating to dog training and animal behavior, the science of behavior.  Reading aloud short things that have impacted the way I think about behavior. And I have read a couple of things in the last few weeks by Dr. Bob Bailey in anticipation of the screening and Q and A we are doing with Bob Bailey this weekend. You can still sign up at schoolforthedogs.com/Bailey. It is taking place this Saturday, April 24th, at 4:00 PM Eastern. We will be showing this rarely seen, really interesting short film by Bob Bailey called Patient like the Chipmunks. And he will then be joining us after that for a conversation with me and a Q and A. Bob Bailey really is a Titan in the field of animal training. And this film talks about his rather extraordinary career, his business Animal Behavior Enterprises, which he started with his late wife, Marian Breland Bailey, and her late husband Keller Breland.  And talks about sort of the history of operant conditioning from BF Skinner’s lab through today. And it shows off some of the really entertaining and inspiring work that came out of Animal Behavior Enterprises, including their IQ Zoo, which was basically an amusement park they created of trained animals. It talks about some of their work with the military.  Anyway, just really fascinating stuff. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

School For The Dogs is currently taking applicants for its six month Professional Course, which begins June 1!  In this episode, Annie responds to a listener who is interested in becoming a dog trainer, but is worried that she may end up in a program that is a scam... She describes the evolution of School For The Dogs' Professional Course, discusses some some others, and talks about the many different paths people take towards becoming a professional dog trainer. She also answers a listener's question about a young dog who is resource guarding her food.  Apply to the School For The Dogs Professional Course before May 1 at http://schoolforthedogs.com/professionalcourse Also mentioned in this episode:  Kennelwood Academy - https://kennelwoodacademy.com/ The Academy of Pet Careers - https://www.theacademyofpetcareers.com/ Animal Behavior College - http://animalbehaviorcollege.com Jean Donaldson's Academy For Dog Trainers - https://www.academyfordogtrainers.com/ Victoria Stillwell Academy - https://positively.com/dog-training/become-a-dog-trainer/ --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hi, this is a bonus Q and A episode. I try to go live every Thursday on the School for the Dogs’s Instagram account. If you would like to be alerted when I’m going to go live, or if you’d like to answer a question in advance, go to SchoolfortheDogs.com/qanda. Thanks for being here. So today’s question comes from Melissa, who lives in St. Louis. She has a corgi, Pembroke Welsh corgi named Patchy. And Melissa wrote: Actually, I have a question that isn’t about my pop, your cast and tips have been extremely helpful so far. I was actually wondering, where would you suggest someone who wants to get into the field of dog training go? I’ve looked into the Karen Pryor Academy, but there aren’t any nearby locations to St. Louis, Missouri. There is the Academy of pet careers, which costs $20,000 for a 180 day class. There is the Kennelwood Academy for $14,000. I really want to get into this field, and I enjoy using a lot of your techniques on my puppy with the clicker.  But I’m trying to find something more affordable and something that isn’t a scam to just get my money. I also looked into Animal Behavior College, which is almost all online and that’s roughly $5,000. I look forward to hearing from you. Well, great question, particularly for today, because we have just opened up our dog training professional program which I think might be a great fit for you, Melissa. It is a six month program. We have been running professional programs at School for the Dogs since 2017. And I believe about half of our trainers came through our professional program. Most of them knowing little or nothing about training before that. And now they are honestly some of the finest trainers I know. So for that reason, I’m pretty proud of this program. Full transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

This is a rebroadcast of a previous episode-- we're sharing it because shaping is today's challenge in our Dog Training in 21 Days Challenge on Instagram. Join the challenge! Tag us and use use hashtag #dt21days. Through the end of this month, use code DT21DAYS to get our full Dog Training In 21 Days Course for free at http://schoolforthedogs.com/dt21days.  Special announcements:  We are now taking applications to our Dog Training Professional Program, which is fully remote this year. If you're interested in becoming a dog trainer -- and maybe even working for School For The Dogs some day -- visit http://schoolforthedogs.com/professionalcourse. Applications are due May 1.  Also: Do you have pet insurance? Tell us about it and get $5 off your next purchase at http://storeforthedogs.com. Go to: https://www.schoolforthedogs.com/petinsurance About this episode:  "Shaping" is simply the process of breaking a behavior down to its smallest components and slowly raising your criteria in order to build new behaviors. By reinforcing successive approximations, it's possible to train dogs to do almost anything they are physically capable of doing! In this episode, Annie goes over some key things to think when shaping a new behavior, and describes how to shape a dog to go to a mat, or what she calls a "sticky spot." A dog who knows how to go to a mat will make an excellent guest at holiday dinners: You can "shape" a pup to have a specific spot where he will have learned to stay put and be calm, no matter how good that stuffing smells! Transcript and show notes at: https://www.schoolforthedogs.com/podcasts/episode-33-how-to-shape-your-dog-to-go-to-a-mat-and-to-be-a-polite-thanksgiving-guest/

We've been running a challenge on Instagram this month based on our Dog Training in 21 Days course! Day 17 is teaching stand. This is an often-overlooked behavior that is a great thing to teach both because it'll hone your training chops and also because it'll keep your dog from just guessing that after you ask for a sit you usually want a down, and vice versa. Sometimes... you're going to want a different stationary behavior! You might also want a dog to stand during grooming, or if you're ever doing any kind of commercial work or modeling with a dog, or if you're in the dog show world.  Jump in and join the challenge on Instagram! Tag @schoolforthedogs!  Get the full Dog Training in 21 Days course free through 4/30 at http://schoolforthedogs.com/dt21days. Use code DT21DAYS at checkout.  Like this podcast? Go to iTunes, rate us five stars, and leave a review! Thanks! --- Partial Transcript: Annie: So this guy goes to a dog trainer with a dog who he says has separation anxiety. And he says, the weird thing is when we leave, when he cries, it sounds like Toyota. And the trainer says, you know, that’s actually not that unusual. Tell me when you come home and he farts, what does that sound like? And the dog owner is like, actually, when we come home and he farts and it sounds like Ppppprius.  And the trainer says, well that is strange. Usually absence makes the fart go Honda. [Intro and music] Annie: Frequent listeners will know that we are in the middle of running our Dog Training in 21 days challenge on Instagram. It is based on our on demand Dog Training in 21 Days course, which you can get for free, the whole thing, either by following along on Instagram, through April 21st.  Or you can just get the whole course at once at schoolforthedogs.com/DT21days, use code DT21 days at checkout.  And you can get it for free, between now and the end of the month. And tomorrow’s challenge is teaching a stand.  And teaching stand is one of my favorite behaviors to teach for a few reasons. For one thing, dogs stand all the time.. Pretty much as often as they’re sitting or lying down, those are usually the three big stable, non-movement based behaviors dogs engage in.  And while it’s very common to teach sit and down, stand often gets left out, but it’s useful for so many reasons. Sometimes you need a dog to be standing for whatever reason.  Especially, you know, I’ve done a fair bit of commercial work, and that’s certainly a time when you might want a dog who not only knows how to stand, but can stand on a mark, can stand for a duration, whatever length of time you want the dog to stand for.  Like stand, stay. Certainly in the world of show dogs, quite important to have a dog who knows to stand and stay. Although in my experience, this is not usually a behavior that’s given any kind of specific verbal or visual cue by the human, but it certainly could be. Full transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

There are two types of conditioning we use in dog training: Operant (aka learning by consequence, or "Skinnerian Conditioning") and Classical (aka learning by association, or "Pavlovian Conditioning"). When we teach new behaviors, we tend to focus on Operant Conditioning. In this episode, Annie talks about the differences between these two kinds of teaching/learning, and reveals how, in many cases, Classical Conditioning can produce very reliable behaviors with little effort.  This is a rebroadcast of an episode that originally aired in 2018. We are sharing it as it relates to today's challenge in the Dog Training In 21 Days challenge we are running this month on Instagram. Join us, and tag us in your videos! Get access the entire 21 Days Course for free through the end of April at http://schoolforthedogs.com/dt21days; code DT21DAYS at checkout. Notes:  AnnieGrossman.com/podcast26  https://www.schoolforthedogs.com/teaching-come-and-drop-it-using-classical-conditioning/  Music: "Time Is On My Side" cover by Toast Garden Sponsor: Train your inbox using SANEBOX! Get $15 off at SchoolForTheDogs.com/Sane  Like this podcast? Leave a review on iTunes at SchoolForTheDogs.com/Listen  

In advance of School For The Dogs April 24th screening of Bob Bailey's short film, Patient Like The Chipmunks, Annie is reading aloud some works by Dr. Bailey and his late wife, Dr. Marian Breland-Bailey. Today she is reading from their 2001 article, The ABCs of Behavior, from The Trainer's Resource: The APDT Chronicle Of The Dog. The ABCs are Antecedent, Behavior, and Consequences.  Sign up for the screening at http://schoolforthedogs.com/bailey  Purchase The Dog Trainer's Resource by The APDT Chronicle Of The Dog - https://amzn.to/2Rv3ZsU --- Partial Transcript Annie: The Association of Professional Dog Trainers puts out a quarterly magazine which you can subscribe to digitally or in print. Or, you also get it if you become a member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.  It is called Chronicle of the Dog. And it contains some excellent essays about dog training, about learning theory, about the business of dog training. They have put out some, what do you call it? Like anthologies. Yeah, I guess anthologies. And I have one of them that’s called the Dog Trainer’s Resource. It’s from 2007, it’s a collection of their essays and there’s so much good stuff in here. I think they’ve put out three or four of these collections of essays that appeared in the magazines. And honestly, if you buy these collections on Amazon, you can find them used, I find, usually for like six or $7. So you could buy like all of their collections probably for the amount that you would pay for a single year of quarterly magazines from them. So word to the wise. But definitely look into becoming a member you can do so apdt.com. Fun, fun, little known fact , they actually kicked me out. I was a member. I paid my a hundred dollars a year or whatever it was. And they kicked me out and then lobbied me to come back. Although I must've just been on some lapsed membership list, lobbied me to come back or continue to lobby me and actually to come back every few months saying we miss you, which I always think is funny. Cause they kicked me out for reasons I'm not going to get into right now, but maybe one day in the future, I will. It had nothing to do with dog abuse or anything like that. Anyway today I wanted to read an essay from my copy of the dog trainer's resource, which I love.  The last few Mondays I've been doing these readings reading things that I've learned from that I'd like to share.  Last week, I read from Bob Bailey's website, and this week I'm also going to read something by Bob Bailey. And next week I'm going to read something again by Bob Bailey. This is because on April 24th, at 4:00 PM Eastern, we are going to be offering a screening of a short film he made on the history of operant conditioning called Patient Like the Chipmunks. And after that, I will be hosting a Q and A with him, pretty excited about this. He is something of a legend in the world of animal training, living legend. You can sign up at schoolforthedogs.com/Bailey. All of the proceeds will be going to the Marian Breland Bailey scholarship fund. Full transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Longtime East Villager Mike Wolf wondered into School For The Dogs a few years ago and... never left. Mike started out as a walker with us, and now leads puppy playtimes, School Yards, does Day School sessions with us and also does Day Training sessions with our clients. He was one of our first apprentices, and is currently completing our Professional Course. Interested in becoming a professional dog trainer? Our next Professional Course will be held entirely online! Interested? Fill out an application at http://schoolforthedogs.com/professionalcourse21 --- Partial Transcript: [intro and music] Annie: Glad to have you on School for the Dogs podcast, you have been a School for the Dogs employee and, et al, for a long time now. Mike: More than three years. Annie: Oh my goodness. Mike: I know. If we can still be measuring time, feels a little arbitrary, but. Annie: So, I know a little bit about how you came to us, but why don’t you share a little bit about how you ended up at School for the Dogs, and then we can talk about like the stuff that you’ve been doing work-wise. Mike: Okay. Well, I don’t consider it a very direct path. It’s either a third or a fourth career for me, depending upon what you consider a career. But I worked in the music industry for like 25 years and that led to a job in music journalism as a writer and editor. Annie: You worked at record stores, didn’t you? Mike: Oh I worked at record stores, that was a bit more recently actually.  But starting in the late nineties, I began writing professionally, which was a surprise to me because I had never gone to journalism school or anything like that. But I had a background in working in music. So I guess I just had a certain type of info or a certain type of a background. Annie: What were you doing in the world of music? Mike: In the world’s music. Well, let’s see, I started at college radio, which doesn’t sound too unique, but it quickly led to an internship at a record label. This was all in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  In the indie eighties, by the way. And so the internship at a record label led to a job at the record label.  That led to a part-time job at the record label next door, that led to also deejaying at a club downtown, that led to full-time work at one of the record labels, deejaying at a club.  DJing at radio city. Like I was doing, I was really lucky. I had a ton of really fun experiences in a fun, really fun music city, Minneapolis from like the mid eighties to the mid nineties. Then I had a two year detour in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, still doing music stuff, working for a record label that’s based in New Zealand. And then I made the move to New York and really tumbled into — like, I dunno, it’s definitely a function of my privilege, but I’ve recently just kind of stumbled from one job to the other and from one career to the next. I very suddenly with very little writing experience began working full-time at Time Out New York at the beginning of 2000.  Which was really a really cool and overwhelming time to be involved in media in New York.  And music was always kind of just like this overwhelming, engulfing experience.  To be a big music fan and to get to work in the music industry, I was very lucky. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

This is a bonus episode-- a rebroadcast of Episode 19. It covers how to teach a dog to sit using a bit of a lure and a novel cue: A snap. This exercise is today's challenge in the Dog Training in 21 Days challenge we're running right on Instagram! Join us there for instructions, demonstrations, and more. Get the full Dog Training in 21 Days course for free through the end of April at http://schoolforthedogs.com/dt21days; use code DT21DAYS at checkout.  This episode originally aired on August 6, 2018.  Newsflash: Your dog already knows how to sit! But he may not know the cue you want to associate with that behavior. Annie breaks down how to use the "capturing" technique to teach "sit" anew and to add a novel cue.  She covers: -The downsides of "luring" a behavior or "molding" it -The trap of trying to teach a behavior by asking for it repeatedly -The difference between a "cue" and a "command" -How to add a cue -The never-ending process of "shaping" a behavior -How to fade a lure and turn it into a cue --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Hi, this is a bonus episode that is a replay of an episode I recorded in the summer of 2018 on teaching a dog to sit using the cue of a finger snap. This is kind of my favorite way to quickly teach a sit and incorporate what is usually a novel cue into the equation early on. I tried to break it down clearly and quickly in this podcast episode. And I’m reposting it today because this is the assignment for today’s challenge. We are running our Dog Training in 21 days course as a 21 day challenge. Right now you can learn more on Instagram and hop on into the challenge. It’s all right if you didn’t start on day one, we would love to have you start today. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcasts/

Bonus episode! Annie reads some casually-written but oh-so-important training tips from the website belonging to Dr. Bob Bailey, behavior1.com. Annie will be showing Dr. Bailey's film on the history of his company, Animal Behavior Enterprises, and the history of operant conditioning, and then hosting a conversation with Dr. Bailey, on April 24th at 4PM Eastern. Sign up at http://schoolforthedogs.com/bailey  Dr. Bob Bailey is an animal trainer, inventor, designer, writer, teacher, diver, and photographer. He is the widower of B.F. Skinner's graduate student, Dr. Marian Breland Bailey. All proceeds from the screening will go to the Marian Breland Bailey Memorial Fund at Arkansas' Henderson State University.  About the Baileys http://www.behavior1.com/page8.html Page 9  http://www.behavior1.com/page9.html More about Patient Like The Chipmunks http://www.behavior1.com/page5.html Dr. Sophia Yin's video about Chicken Camp with Dr. Bob Bailey from 2000 https://archive.org/details/Chicken_Training_Camp_2000 --- Partial Transcript: Annie: Bob Bailey, or I should say Dr. Bob Bailey, is a trainer who lives in Arkansas, and I’m kind of obsessed with him. He was both business partner and husband to Marian Breland Bailey, also Dr. Marian Breland Bailey, who together with her first husband, Keller Breland and Bob Bailey who came to work with them before Keller’s untimely death in the early 1960s, the three of them built this company called Animal Behavior Enterprises, which did so many really unique things in the realm of animal training. They train animals mostly for commercial purposes to do things that we’re pretty incredible. One thing they did was create these kind of like, I guess maybe you call it like a diorama with moving parts in it for animals. And they train like over a hundred different species of animals, but like an animal in this Lucite, basically Skinner box, they would train these animals to do all kinds of crazy funny tricks, like play basketball, play baseball, dance, play tic-tac-toe. And I actually, and then they would ship these all around the world, and I actually grew up at, the arcade that I used to go to as a kid in Manhattan had a dancing chicken and a tic-tac-toe playing chicken that I was pretty obsessed with. Actually my whole family, we all loved the tic-tac-toe chicken and would discuss the tic-tac-toe chicken.  Never in my childhood did I think about where this chicken came from and whether the chicken was actually trained or how it was trained totally did not cross my mind. I guess if I thought about it, I would have thought the dancing chicken was like being electrocuted and that’s why it was jumping or something, although I was completely off base. Anyway, these amusements were part of what Animal Behavior Enterprises did among other things, which included training animals for the military, training animals for film. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Touchscreen devices can be used to teach a nose touch, which is a basic, building-block behavior that School For The Dogs' trainers teach almost every dog they work with. A nose touch can be taught with a person's hands and a dog's nose; the person clicks when the dog's nose touches the screen, and then the dog receives a reward. Using a touchscreen device and one of a handful of apps, you can take the clicker out of the equation and your dog's nose will register a sound when it makes contact with the screen, essentially doing the job of any good marker signal.  Annie discusses the origins of her use of touchscreens with dogs and talks about some of the more advanced work that can be done with screens, such as teaching a dog to read, teaching cue differentiation, and more. Episode on teaching touch:  https://www.schoolforthedogs.com/podcasts/episode-60-the-most-important-behavior-youll-ever-train/ More on using touch screens: Dogs Take Selfies Too - https://anniegrossman.com/2013/11/training/dogs-take-selfies-too-48370/8225/ Teaching Dogs to Use iPads in London - https://anniegrossman.com/2014/03/training/school-for-the-dogs-studies-abroad-teaching-dogs-to-use-ipads-in-london-80528/8330/ Teaching Pets to Use iPads in NYC - https://anniegrossman.com/2013/08/training/idog-teaching-pets-to-use-ipads-in-nyc-56551/8127/ The First App Made Specifically for Canines - https://anniegrossman.com/2013/09/science/app-for-dog-the-first-app-made-specifically-for-canines-79647/8190/ Three Apps Your Dog Can Use to Make Art - https://anniegrossman.com/2013/12/training/3-apps-your-dog-can-use-to-make-art-35313/8246/ Apps mentioned:  Doodle Buddy - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/doodle-buddy-paint-draw-app/id313232441 App for Dog - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/app-for-dog-free-puppy-painting-button-clicker-training/id968928583 Yes No App - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yes-no-from-i-can-do-apps/id635649909 --- Partial Transcript: [Intro and music] Annie: A few years ago, back when Kate and I were running School for the Dogs out of my living room, in 2013 I got a spate of prank phone calls. They might’ve all been from the same person. I don’t know. One was someone asking me if I could help them teach their dog to navigate the worldwide web, because right now he only knew how to do one thing online and it was to watch porn. Another caller asked if I could teach the dog to use the remote control. That one I actually, I thought was legit for, for half a second. I said, I guess I could teach a dog to use a TV remote, but why would you need to do that? And he said, well, I’d like it if he could change the channel when I’m masturbating. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast

Good Dog Trainers will refer to giving a "cue" vs giving a dog a "command." A cue implies an opportunity; a command implies a threat. It just occurred to Annie that it's sort of like the difference between getting a special offer you can take advantage of and getting a bill you have to pay: Both result in the behavior of you spending money, but in one case you're engaging in that behavior because of positive reinforcement, and in the other, negative reinforcement. This may be a useful way to help the uninitiated understand the difference between cues and commands. --- Partial Transcript: Annie: I was just answering a question from someone. It’s actually for a presentation I’m putting together and Bailey who I work with doing Petcademy, which offers online training to people who are adopting and fostering dogs from a number of shelters throughout the country. Anyway Bailey and I are doing a presentation for a company about Petcademy. And there was a question in the deck about understanding a cue versus understanding a command. And I just thought of a good analogy that I wanted to share. So, we as good dog trainers tend to use the word cue instead of the word command when we’re referring to telling a dog what something is called. If I am teaching my dog to sit, when I say, sit, then sit is the cue.  If I am teaching a dog to sit at the curb on the street, then the curb is the cue. And really there are cues all around us all the time, all around dogs all the time, indicating that it would be a good idea if you do X, Y, or Z. So cues are not just something that come from us human beings. But traditionally in dog training over the decades, the word command has been used.  When I first started at Karen Pryor Academy in 2010, I remember answering homework questions with referring to giving a command to a dog and was corrected that it was a cue. And I thought, I think at first I thought like, Oh, well, I guess it’s about being nice. Like, I kind of reduced it down to that.  Cue sounds nicer. But really a cue and a command are different things, because one is encouraging a behavior by saying, Hey, you, should you choose to engage in this behavior, something good is going to happen. Which is, you know, positive reinforcement, positively reinforcing behavior, adding something to the equation in order to encourage the behavior. And a command is saying, do this or else, negative reinforcement. If you don’t engage in this behavior, I’m going to take something away from you. Something bad is going to happen in the form of something desirable being taken away. And I was thinking, you know what it’s like, is like the difference between an offer and the bill. If you see a special offer for something, a sale for something you’re looking for, a deal, an ad that that results in you spending money, kind of like you responded to a cue.  You didn’t have to take the offer. You chose to take the offer. The result is that you spent money. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast