An Overview of the AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Test

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2022-05-09T22:09:11-04:00September 29, 2016|Canine Good Citizen, Training|

Every September, the American Kennel Club sponsors Responsible Dog Ownership Days. On that note, I would like to discuss the Canine Good Citizen program, which rewards responsible dog owners across the country. As an approved AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator, I am often asked about the requirements for passing the test. What does it take to become a Canine Good Citizen?

Eligibility

First, the CGC test is open to dogs of any breed or mix of breeds. One of the most common […]

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Puppy Day School Success Story: Alice [VIDEO]

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-09-27T00:57:37-04:00September 27, 2016|Videos, Training|

Meet Alice! She is a 9-month-old Border Collie mix puppy. Her owner enrolled her in our Puppy Day School program to work on her socialization skills around other dogs.

Alice missed her critical socialization period while waiting to be adopted. Then, shortly after coming to her new home, she broke her leg and had to be kept quiet for several weeks. She was nervous of new places, unfamiliar people, and most other dogs.

This is a typical outcome when puppies are underexposed to the “real world.” As […]

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How to Chop Dog Treats in 5 Minutes or Less

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2017-12-30T03:42:59-05:00September 7, 2016|Tutorials and How-To Guides, Helpful Hints, Product Reviews|

In our Day School program, we go through a lot of dog treats! During our busiest weeks, it is not uncommon for us to use 10 pounds or more. We’re always looking for the fastest and most cost-effective ways to prepare and store this much food in our training studio.

When it comes to food rolls, we have this down to a science. We recommend and sell Happy Howie’s treat rolls. Happy Howie’s rolls are way less crumbly than other rolls on the market, which is why they are our favorite. These are 1- or 2-pound chubs of semi-soft dog treats which you can […]

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Product Review: The Honest Kitchen Proper Toppers

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-05-05T14:40:15-04:00May 5, 2016|Product Reviews|

It’s no secret that we are big fans of The Honest Kitchen, the only human-grade pet food company in the USA. A few months ago, we found out about their new product in the works: Proper Toppers, gently dehydrated “superfood clusters” you can add to your dog’s food. Or, better yet: you can give them as a treat! I knew I wanted to be first in line to test out this great new product. (Full disclosure: we received free product in exchange for a review.)

These Proper Toppers contain the five ingredients, pictured on the […]

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Capturing Your Dog’s Behavior: A How-To Guide

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-05-04T17:59:36-04:00May 4, 2016|Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

Over the last several weeks, I have written about shaping and luring here on Spring Forth Dog Blog. My next topic is capturing, which is a pretty simple, straightforward way to get behavior!

Clicker training allows you to capture a behavior, like this terrier’s adorable tilted head, so you can put it on cue in the future! (Photo Credit: Mike Weston)

Getting Started with Capturing

Simply put, capturing involves waiting for the dog to do the ENTIRE behavior you are looking for with no prompts from you, then clicking […]

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Product Review: Solid Gold Tiny Tots Lamb Jerky Dog Treats

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-03-23T19:24:11-04:00March 23, 2016|Product Reviews|

From time to time, we get an opportunity to test drive a new dog product. This time around, we were sent a bag of Solid Gold Tiny Tots, which are described by the manufacturer as a “lamb jerky” dog treat.

The first thing I noticed after opening the bag of Tiny Tots (which contains 10oz of treats – not bad!) was the smell. These treats have a very particular scent. I don’t know how to describe it, but it does not remind me of lamb at […]

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Luring Your Dog: A Primer

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-03-07T17:15:10-05:00March 10, 2016|Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

Last week I started off my series on “How to Get Behavior” with shaping. Now I’m going to explain a bit about luring and how to use a lure to teach behavior.

The term luring refers to the use of a desired reward to coax the dog into achieving the desired behavior. The “desired reward” is nearly always a food treat, but it is possible to lure with toys. Luring can be used to teach many behaviors, including sit, down, loose leash walking, and a lot of tricks.

How to Lure

I use food lures in my group training classes unless the owner […]

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Introduction to Dog Agility Class [VIDEO]

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2022-02-07T20:40:11-05:00March 4, 2016|Dog Agility, Dog Sports, Group Classes, Training, Videos|

It’s no secret that dog agility is my passion. 2016 is going to be my 12th consecutive year of competing in this great sport. For several years, I’ve taught beginner dog agility classes in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. I decided to put together a video showing what I teach in this introductory class to give prospective students an idea of what to expect.

So, welcome to our Introduction to Dog Agility class!

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA7o25KZ44g[/embedyt]

Who should take this class?

My focus with this class is introducing the basic skills of dog agility: over, under, around, through, and on – with a variety of objects. These items have […]

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How to Get Behavior: Shaping

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-02-29T14:23:27-05:00February 29, 2016|Training, Tutorials and How-To Guides|

Cricket has been taught to lie on her mat using shaping.

When it comes to positive reinforcement based clicker training, there are four major ways of getting behavior: shaping, luring, targeting, and capturing. There are other ways, including physical modeling, but they have limited applications and are rarely used by most force-free trainers. In this post, I’ll address shaping, and in the coming weeks, I’ll follow-up with the others.

Shaping

What is shaping? Shaping is a method of building behavior “from scratch” by clicking successive approximations […]

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Successful Dog Adoption – The First Week

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-02-23T21:04:59-05:00February 23, 2016|Training|

Adopting a new dog is a very exciting time for you and your new friend. The biggest mistake that new dog owners make is giving the dog too much freedom, too soon. By setting some ground rules as soon as you bring your dog home, you can prevent bad behaviors from starting in the first place.

Follow some simple guidelines when you bring your new dog home, and things will go much more smoothly. (Photo Credit: Ian Phillips)

Introduce the dog to the house slowly. Giving your dog complete access to […]

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Returning to the Westminster Kennel Club Masters Agility Championship

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-02-04T19:57:26-05:00February 5, 2016|Dog Agility, Dog Sports, My Dogs|

On Saturday, February 13th, Strata and I will be returning to the Westminster Kennel Club Masters Agility Championship in New York City!

We had a great time last year, earning two clean runs and finishing in 8th place in the highly competitive 16″ height class after the first two rounds. Because of the way the televised Finals round is structured, we did not get to move on because another Shetland Sheepdog had qualified ahead of Strata – but we knew the rules going into it, and had […]

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Choosing A Best Friend: What to Consider When Finding a New Dog

By Katherine Ostiguy, KPA CTP CPDT-KA|2016-02-02T15:34:26-05:00February 2, 2016|Helpful Hints, Puppies|

There are so many choices when it comes to adding a new dog to your household. There are hundreds of breeds to choose from, not to mention the thousands of wonderful dogs in shelters across the country. If you have never had a dog before, or haven’t had one since childhood, it can be overwhelming! Here are some things to consider when adding a dog to your family.

Not all dogs would be so tolerant of this child’s advances! (Photo Credit: Giulio Nepi)

Do you have children? Dogs weighing less than ten […]

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