[caption id="attachment_113469" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Skinner in the lab[/caption] This blog is designed to be used as a resource. We have categorized the posts so that you can review what is important to you. Here are some past posts that I hope everyone considers every time they work with their dog. The most important blog posts […]

In a recent discussion by the AKC Detection Dog Task Force, the costs of raising a detection dog were brought up for consideration. I would first say that your return of investment is based on your effort. Your effort will be both your time and in having sufficient infrastructure to raise a dog. It brings […]

We discussed this before here- https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/training-science/behavioral-circuits-motor-patterns/ However, now that everyone is spending a good amount of time with your dogs on environmentally stability, we should revisit what we are trying to do. The goal is that the pup will negotiate an object “because it is there.” A dog that only negotiates the object with cues, […]

We had a long conversation with one of our participants last week. She told us “I’m overthinking it!” It got me to thinking about simplicity and complexity. If there were four blog posts I would ask everyone to refer to regularly, it would be these: https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/training-science/resilience-core-affect-space/ https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/training-science/behavioral-circuits-motor-patterns/ https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/puppy-development/possession-possession-possession/ https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/puppy-development/training-plans-development-overview/ 1. Your dog is only trying […]

We discussed this before here- https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/training-science/behavioral-circuits-motor-patterns/ However, now that everyone is spending a good amount of time with your dogs on environmentally stability, we should revisit what we are trying to do. The goal is that the pup will negotiate an object “because it is there.” A dog that only negotiates the object with cues, […]

We discussed this before here- https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/training-science/behavioral-circuits-motor-patterns/ However, now that everyone is spending a good amount of time with your dogs on environmentally stability, we should revisit what we are trying to do. The goal is that the pup will negotiate an object “because it is there.” A dog that only negotiates the object with cues, […]

Environmental Stability Independence/Self Discovery Play/Possession Additional Resources Watch Puppy Trip on YouTube! We're following Trip's training and development beginning at 7 weeks. Click below to watch the playlist on YouTube. Watch here! Independence/Self Discovery Early development of independent behavior Old video, but good content Comparing two puppies Here are two puppies placed in an environmentally […]

8 week old GSD scent discrimination Shaping odor recognition with a puppy. Use of food reward machines removes handler from the dog's natural search patterns. Two of the target containers have the same dog food in them as the dog is being fed from the food reward machines. Initial stages of food machine training A […]

Gregor Mendel, father of modern genetics, was a meticulous record keeper. “It was there that he grew 28,000 pea plants during the period from 1856 to 1863. He kept careful records of his crossbreeding experiments and recorded each individual plant’s height, pod shape, flower location and color, and seed shape and color.” The Patriotic Puppy Program opened […]

https://www.akc.org/akc-detection-dog-task-force/akc-pilot-detection-puppy-rearing-program/blogs/trainer-development/problem-training-plans/ In an earlier post I spoke of the problem with training plans. Currently we have three large groups of participants with specific breeds and a smaller group of other breeds not represented in the first few. Training a detection dog is a dynamic process. Specifically, it is not A to B to C to […]