Training & Enrichment Resources
Everyone knows that training is a vital part of keeping a dog in a home. Its purpose is to teach the dog how we, as humans, want to co-exist with this beautiful creature we are inviting into our lives. Dogs have been domesticated to readily interpret cues given from humans. That doesn’t mean it is always easy. Some dog breeds have been bred for certain traits that make it a longer process. Training is a journey and we want you to be as successful as you can be
Positive Reinforcement Training
We at Underdogs Rescue believe that positive reinforcement training methods are the most humane and ethical forms of training. Positive reinforcement is the act of introducing a positive stimulus (food, toy, touch) to encourage a desirable behaviour to continue. It is about praising the good and mitigating, or ignoring, the bad behaviour. We only recommend positive reinforcement trainers in our rescue and any training resource will be positive reinforcement based. Many positive trainers use marker based training methods. You may have heard this referred to as clicker training. Below are some videos that introduce the topic of clicker training.
Introduction to clicker training
This is an older video but does a great job of discussing types of rewards and marker based training
How to start Clicker Training
Reality Dog Training
Watch a trainer use positive methods training a power breed dog from start to finish in this video series.
Enrichment
When we bring animals into our homes we are removing them from their “natural” environment. Training helps to make what we would consider an uncivilized being fit into our civilized world. Enrichment is the act of fulfilling the biological needs of the animal, that are usually met by their environment, by recreating situations where they can use natural behaviours. For dogs some of the enrichment ideas involve sniffing, licking, foraging, and even chewing. If these needs are not met in constructive ways dogs may take it upon themselves in destructive ways.