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Episodes
- S1 E1 - The Principles of Dog TrainingMarch 29, 201833minGet an introduction to the importance of training dogs, both for owners and the dogs themselves. Through some powerful analogies, Professor Donaldson will put you in the mindset of your dog to show you why certain training methods don't work and others do. Learn the three key principles of dog training that will provide the foundation for every lesson moving forward.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E2 - Getting the Behavior: Training MechanicsMarch 29, 201833minDig into the "software your dog comes bundled with" and discover how common psychological practices can help us train dogs to overcome their instinctual behaviors. Professor Donaldson defines terms you'll be using throughout the training such as prompting, capturing, and shaping. Master the first basic obedience commands: sit and down.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E3 - Getting the Behavior: Sit and DownMarch 29, 201834minProfessor Donaldson provides alternatives for dogs who have trouble with sit and down. She then continues with fundamental obedience through recall, or coming when called, using classical - or Pavlovian - conditioning. She'll also review the importance of choosing and using the appropriate verbal cues.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E4 - Getting the Behavior: Prompting and PremackMarch 29, 201830minGet some valuable reassurance and reinforcements about continuing your training in a consistent manner as you take on the challenge of getting your dog to go down from a sit, down from a stand, sit from a down, and sit from a stand. You'll also tackle station and watch and evolve your recall from Pavlovian (rewards) to Premack (positive reinforcement).Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E5 - Getting the Behavior: Verbal CuesMarch 29, 201834minReinforce the same obedience behaviors your dog has already learned but move from verbal cues to hand signals. Professor Donaldson will also introduce toggling to help your dog avoid getting stuck in a behavior pattern.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E6 - Understanding Your Dog's BehaviorMarch 29, 201829minProfessor Donaldson reveals the fascinating evolution of dogs that provides insight into why dogs do many of the things they do. This foundation gives you the background to help train, or un-train, certain actions. You'll uncover fight/flight instincts, canine social structure, courtship and reproductive behaviors, and the characteristics and styles of dog play.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E7 - Impulse Control: Leave It, Wait, Leash WalkingMarch 29, 201832minOne of the best ways to curb instincts in your dog is to instill impulse control. Professor Donaldson teaches you how to teach dogs to cool their jets with sit-stay, down-stay, leave it, wait, and loose leash walking. She'll also cover the three most important parameters in down-stay and sit-stay: distraction, distance, and duration.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E8 - Impulse Control: Increasing GeneralizationMarch 29, 201834minTake your first set of impulse control trainings to the next level by adding in distractions and increasing the distance or duration. Professor Donaldson also provides some alternatives if you find the loose leash walk to be challenging.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E9 - Impulse Control: Deepening ObedienceMarch 29, 201832minBuilding on the previous two lessons, expand the impulse control techniques even further with more difficult distraction, distance, and duration challenges.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E10 - Impulse Control: Cold Trials and FinishingMarch 29, 201830minBy now your dog is figuring out that "good things come to those who wait" and is starting to work on impulse control without being told. At this point in training, your dog has also figured out that obedience is the strategy to get what he wants. This empowering realization means your dog understands he can take charge and control the situation.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E11 - Fear and Aggression PreventionMarch 29, 201834minProfessor Donaldson defines fear or aggression versus just being upset and teaches you how to recognize these traits in dogs. She outlines the five mechanisms that drive fear and discusses a classification system that covers aggression to strangers, resource guarding, and intolerance of body handling, as well as suggestions for handling each behavior.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E12 - Proofing Behavior across ContextsMarch 29, 201831minStart the proofing process, which means your dog will be proving he knows behaviors even in different conditions or environments. Professor Donaldson demonstrates how taking the same training regimen on the road can have different results and what to do to get over obstacles such as competing motivation, distractions, or problems with generalization.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E13 - On The Road: Training in Public SpacesMarch 29, 201821minProfessor Donaldson shows various techniques out in the field as she puts the wait command to the test at a dog park. Watch and learn as she adds in distraction, distance, and duration for more of a challenge. She provides valuable tips to help transition practicing the same lessons in an unfamiliar environment.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E14 - Verbal Cues: Developing DiscriminationMarch 29, 201832minDespite our best endeavors, dogs don't understand our words - they guess. Learn how to overcome your dog's attempt to guess what you want in order to get treats by recognizing and leveraging aggregate or cumulative reinforcement, recency, the order of events, or his own preferred behaviors.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E15 - Tricks: Wave, Take a Bow, Spin, HeelMarch 29, 201832minExamine the difference between tricks and obedience. Explore why teaching tricks can be beneficial to your dog as you work through three types of trick training: non-transitive or simple actions, transitive, and behavior chains. By using the foundation of obedience training you've already established, you can teach old (and young) dogs new tricks.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E16 - Tricks: Distance Drop, Frisk, Sit PrettyMarch 29, 201834minProfessor Donaldson spends an entire lecture demonstrating how to train tricks, including distance drop, fugitive frisk, and sit pretty. She explains that, from here, you can string these tricks together to make a chain of tricks, or use the same principles to train your dog to do any trick he is physically capable of doing.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E17 - Building a Conditioned Emotional ResponseMarch 29, 201831minAfter a brief review of how respondent conditioning, also known as classical conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning, works, Professor Donaldson reveals tips for using this method to train your dog. She shares the rules for using conditioning and demonstrates how it works by conditioning a dog for having his teeth brushed.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E18 - Husbandry: Handling and Object ConditioningMarch 29, 201830minHusbandry refers to the physical care we give our dogs such as feeding, grooming, health monitoring, medical care, and more. Professor Donaldson shows you how to use training to prep your dog for some of the aspects of care that he may not enjoy.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E19 - Husbandry: Limb Handling and ToothbrushingMarch 29, 201833minProfessor Donaldson helps you prepare your dog for unpleasant care, such as ear drops and working with their feet. In addition to helping your dog remain calm and allowing someone to examine his sensitive areas, this sort of exercise helps your dog learn to trust you.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E20 - Puppies and Senior DogsMarch 29, 201830minContrary to the old cliché, you can teach old dogs new tricks - and new dogs old tricks. Professor Donaldson reviews the ages and stages of dog maturity and has tips for which training to start your puppies with and how to choose the right puppy socialization class. She provides insightful instructions on training older dogs as well, including how to consider any physical ailments they may have.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E21 - Housetraining, Chewing, and DiggingMarch 29, 201834minProfessor Donaldson debunks a common myth about dog behavior. She discusses in depth the reasons dogs may have accidents and provides several ways to train your dog out of this behavior. She covers a number of techniques to curb common bad habits such as chewing and digging with distraction or alternatives.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E22 - Crating and Alone TrainingMarch 29, 201834minThere are many benefits to using a crate. They can aid in separation anxiety and give your dogs a place of their own to feel safe. Professor Donaldson demonstrates the benefits and reviews the options for choosing a crate and for getting your dog accustomed to one.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E23 - Managing BarkingMarch 29, 201832minDid you know there are five kinds of barking? Professor Donaldson examines the reasons dogs bark and provides suggestions to train your dog out of this behavior. She also explains why this is one of the more frustrating areas to train, but by understanding the motivation for barking and applying consistent methods, you can more effectively and efficiently learn to work with ways to stop it.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E24 - Training Challenges and SolutionsMarch 29, 201829minProfessor Donaldson explains how to motivate a dog and adjust your rate of reinforcement for these and a number of other common obstacles that may stand in his way. She also provides tips for transitioning out of training mode and into integrating what your dog has learned into common behaviors.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
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