Obedience & Marker Training Articles

I am often asked about the value of markers (conditioned reinforcers and conditioned punishers) in our training. Do we need markers to train dogs well? How do they work? What advantages might they give us over more traditional communication systems? How should we create and implement them into our training? This article will attempt to acquaint those of you who are unfamiliar with markers with their use, and perhaps give those of you who use markers a better understanding of their power, as well as some ideas on how you might expand their use in your training.

My philosophy of how to train dogs has been a journey that began when I was a boy in the 1950's and continues to this day. I get as excited today as I did 45 or 50 years ago when when I learn something new about training my dogs.

For me this journey began as a hobby and has evolved into a life's passion and work. It will end on the day I die.

The two most important things a new dog trainer can learn how to accomplish with their dogs are: 1) They need to learn how to get and maintain "ENGAGEMENT". 2) They need to teach "GENERALIZATION" as it relates to commands.

I am 65 years old. For the past 40 years dog training has been my passion. It's what I do, it's what I study and it's something I learn new things about every day. It's also something at which I have been lucky enough to make a living for my family.

Maybe it's my passion to find a better way that makes me want to share what I learn. Or maybe I am just trying to make up for all the bad training I did with my old dogs (who all deserved better than what I gave them) that makes me want to help people not make the mistakes I made along the way.

I will talk about the controversial topic of “the need for corrections in dog training.” I will tell you a little about my experience in dog training and why I feel the need to talk about this subject.

There are three types of all-positive trainers:

Today we are going to talk about how using food rewards can effect motivation while training your dog. Outside of normal feeding there are two applications for using food with dogs: 1) Reward or motivator during training or 2) Toys to pass time while the dog is alone

When we train with food rewards we will meet people who tell us how foolish we are for training with FOOD TREATS. We will be told that it is only a matter of time before we ask our dog to do something and we don't have food with us to reward the dog with and then what will you do?

A list of questions we've received through email on Competition. These questions are answered by Ed and Cindy.

A list of questions we've received through email on Marker Training. These questions are answered by Ed and Cindy.

A list of questions we've received through email on Basic Obedience Training. These questions are answered by Ed and Cindy.

I wrote this article back in 2001 and recently (2013) reviewed it. Considering the fact that I wrote this article I can take the liberty of saying that it's RUBBISH. It's old school dog training. I had not read it in 12 years and after my review I cringed. My first inclination was to immediately delete it off our web site. I thought it should have been gone a long time ago. But after a little thought I decided to leave it and add this disclaimer.