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Meet Rob from Guide Dogs

The training content for Good Dog! is directly from the expert Canine Training and
Behaviour Team at Guide Dogs.

Here’s what Robert Ellis from Guide Dogs told us:

How long have you worked for Guide Dogs and what do you do?

I have worked for Guide Dogs for nine years and am a Training and
Behaviour Consultant for the organisation supporting the South West
and Cymru.

What would be your number one tip to someone starting out on
positive reinforcement training?

Focus on rewarding generously what you want and you’ll see more of
that behaviour in the future.

What is your favourite behaviour to teach and why?

Husbandry behaviours, these are behaviours taught to improve the
dogs care. Training and enrichment are big parts of this and are both
of massive benefit to the dogs life. In Guide Dogs we teach cooperative

care behaviours where we empower the dog through choice to
participate in their daily care and veterinary treatment in behaviours
such as The Bucket Game designed by Chirag Patel and in our Good
Dog! material.

Why do you recommend a marker and not just my voice?

A click is more powerful for training than a spoken word because it
is not a sound heard by the dog in other circumstances. It means one
thing only - a reward is coming because of what you did when you

heard the click. It can be produced instantly and at the exact moment
behaviour occurs. Unlike our voices, the click sounds the same every
time it is heard, its meaning never varies.

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K9 NEWS DIGITAL / OCTOBER 2020