Cheri believes training dogs (or any animal or human) should be fun and rewarding, for all species involved.
Positive reinforcement training means rewarding the behaviors you want, and they will naturally continue and using positive reinforcement is the most effective method.
Cheri has committed to force-free training methods and joined the Pet Professional Guild and the Force Free Trainers of Wisconsin. Both organizations are dedicated to educating the public about humane training methods.
Force, pain, fear, or intimidation techniques are not used by Cheri. There is no need to hurt or scare our dogs. Dolphins, whales, tigers, turtles, seals, mice, rats and fish have all been successfully trained using reward-based methods, so can our dogs.
Clicker/Marker Training, Luring, Shaping, and Targeting are all methods that Cheri has used to train her own dogs, and her students’ dogs with excellent results.
In behavior modification, desensitization and counter-conditioning are the primary tools to help change the way a dog thinks about things that may be causing them fear. Punishing behavior (for example, barking and lunging ) doesn’t address the underlying causes to the behavior, but rather suppresses symptoms than may take another, more dangerous form.
Cheri uses large doses of kindness, patience, clarity and rewards in training along with fun added in the mix! Don’t you like learning things that are fun?? Dogs like games too, and when training is enjoyable, they learn faster and can't wait to learn more!
Bagley learned in just a few minutes to put himself inside a box. Training kept him enriched and happy!
