WELCOME TO NORTHWEST K9 READING ROOM Welcome to the NorthWest K9 Reading Room, where you'll find our archive of educational dog training, obedience and behavior articles of special interest to dog owners, trainers, handlers, and breeders. Links to Feature Articles Free Dog Training Tips by Moc Klinkam Online Dog Training Lessons Dog Information Links Free Dog Training Tips by Moc Klinkam NorthWest K9 Training Director Moc Klinkam has compiled her free dog training articles in the library of Free Dog Training Tips on the MyDogTrainer.com online dog training web site: How Much Dog Does a Dog Trainer Train? by Moc Klinkam addresses the importance of training the dog's owner before training the dog. Group Class or Private Lesson? Making the Best Choice for You and Your Dog by Moc Klinkam discusses the pros and cons of the group class format, and why you and your dog might achieve greater success with customized private training. Moc's Liver Treats and Bait -- a healthful dog treat recipe for introductory tracking and puppy obedience shaping. Building Focus Checklist by Moc Klinkam provides a helpful checklist of focus-building habits and activities that will motivate your pup's desire to focus on you and on the obedience training, with the ultimate goal of improved performance overall. HA!n Your Mark, Get Set, and GO! (Part I) by Moc Klinkam introduces the simple and highly effective alternative to fumbling with a cumbersome handheld clicker in your motivational training. Crate Training Basics by Moc Klinkam discusses why crate training should be at the forefront of training your puppy or dog, and shares helpful tips for selecting and using the best crate for you and your dog. Ultimate Sit by Moc Klinkam reviews the training fundamentals for shaping the reliable and intensely focused sit on command, an effective strategy for resolving unwanted misbehaviors. Is Your Dog a Veterinary Exam Terrorist? by Moc Klinkam addresses the importance of behavioral modification to resolve resistance to physical exam. Of Knuckleheads and Buttheads: The Reactive Dog by Moc Klinkam introduces the importance of incremental behavioral modification and training for both the owner and the dog to redirect and resolve the sometimes frightening and often embarrassing behavioral outbursts of the reactive dog. Mitigating the Potential for Dog-to-Dog Aggression by Moc Klinkam offers recommendations for evaluating, selecting, and stewarding the puppy and young dog to reduce the likelihood of aggressive behaviors toward other dogs. The Myth of the Four Month Meltdown by Moc Klinkam dispels the notion of a behavioral crisis at some set date after acquiring a new dog. Corrections by Moc Klinkam introduces the concept of making an appropriate correction for willful misbehavior. The Bitter Spray Lunacy by Moc Klinkam discusses the advice of some ill-informed trainers to spray a bitter irritant in the dog's face to correct misbehavior long after it occurs, a practice that is contrary to the most fundamental knowledge of how dogs learn. The Secret to Off-lead Obedience by Moc Klinkam reveals the strategies for creating reliable off-lead obedience. Canine Good Citizen Test Training and Handling Tips by Moc Klinkam Joint Stewardship by Moc Klinkam summarizes the practices in your daily routine with your dog that can help prevent joint and overall muscular-skeletal trauma and degeneration. Online Dog Training on MyDogTrainer.com The entire collection of dog obedience training tutorials and exercises that supplement private team dog training at NorthWest K9 Dog Training School is now available for subscribers to MyDogTrainer.com Online Dog Training: Standard Training Commands: Definitions and Applications Crate Training Tutorial details how to shape and teach the "Crate" and "Come Out" command behaviors and illustrates the steps for introducing the fundamental crate training commands, positively reinforcing the associated behaviors, and making a successful transition from luring to rewarding. Set Your Dog Up for Success illustrates how to take personal responsibility for making it possible for your dog to succeed each and every time. This is the art of setting your dog up for success. Training and Behavioral Progression features the summary checklist comparing training and handling strategies and the results when setting your dog up to succeed vs. setting your dog up to fail. Micromanagement Checklist ensures that we create countless opportunities during all the day-to-day interactions for the dog to succeed in behaving appropriately, subsequently providing us with the opportunity to continually reward those desired behaviors. The dog increasingly learns that performing the desired behaviors on command reaps the biggest rewards. The Obedient Handler teaches you how to create your dog's reliable and consistent obedience with our own reliable and consistent command presence. The Leadership Practice covers the key components to establishing your position as respected team leader through the practice of setting boundaries and granting privileges. Managing the Reactive Dog identifies the behavioral management strategies for redirecting formerly reactive behaviors to consistent reliable obedience. My Name is Trouble discusses the pitfalls of indiscriminate name calling. Putting a Stay on "Stay" by Moc Klinkam, on the misguided use of the "Stay" command. Rewards details the importance of well-timed and accurate rewards to build enthusiastic and highly-focused foundation obedience training. Once is Never Enough -- Or is It? by Moc Klinkam discusses when repeating a command is an acceptable training strategy, and when it's not. Verbal Do's and Don't's summarizes the components of successful verbal communications with your dog while in the early phases of teaching and training, including when and when not to verbally communicate with our dog. Leash Management instructs the dog handler in the critical leash management techniques and strategies that empower you to successfully teach your dog consistent and reliable obedience. Obedience Release Command details how to ensure that the "Break!" command is an explicit release from the prior obedience command, and that it is a significant reward in and of itself. Marking and Operant Conditioning identifies the critical components of successfully marking correct behaviors to first shape and then teach and advance your dog's obedience with duration, distance, and distraction. Black Tie or Casual? Teaching Formal and Informal Obedience discusses why and when we might teach one command for a more formal, stylized obedience, and another command for informal, less rigorous behaviors. When and How to Make a Correction discusses the appropriate timing, sequence, and strategies for an effective correction. Leave It teaches you how to successfully teach, train, and reinforce the "Leave it!" command. Retrieving Fundamentals illustrates how to positively teach a motivated retrieve and release.