Stevie's Week 3 Day Train | Stranger Reactivity, Clicker Training & Building Confidence

Stevie the Dachshund is continuing her third and final week of Day Train at Best Paw Forward Dog Training in Perkasie, PA! 🐾 Today, Stevie worked on reactivity toward a surprise person, navigating challenging environments, and introducing the clicker as a training tool! Since Stevie is here working on reactivity toward people and dogs, as well as polite greetings, it's important that we continue helping her build confidence and learn how to respond appropriately in situations that may make her uncomfortable or overwhelmed. In today's video, you'll see Stevie practicing: 🐾 Stranger Reactivity: Working through an unexpected encounter with a person while practicing appropriate responses and engagement with her handler. 🐾 Challenging Environments: Helping Stevie navigate locations with more distractions while continuing to build confidence and listening skills. 🐾 Charging the Clicker: Introducing the clicker by pairing its sound with a reward so Stevie learns that the click means she has done something correctly and a reward is coming. 🐾 Attention on Handler: Encouraging Stevie to redirect her focus away from distractions and back to her handler. 🐾 Building Confidence: Helping Stevie become more comfortable working through unfamiliar or challenging situations. Why are we introducing a clicker? Clicker training is a great tool for marking the exact moment a dog performs a desired behavior. The click provides a quick, consistent signal that helps the dog understand what they did correctly. Before using the clicker to mark behaviors, we first need to "charge" the clicker by repeatedly pairing the clicking sound with a reward. Once Stevie understands that the click predicts something positive, we can begin using it during training to communicate more clearly and reinforce the behaviors we want to see. Working through challenging environments is another important part of reactivity training! A dog may perform well in a familiar, quiet setting but struggle when introduced to new people, sounds, or distractions. That's why we gradually work in different locations while adjusting the difficulty to help each dog succeed. Reactivity training takes patience, consistency, and plenty of practice. Our goal is to give Stevie and her owners the tools they need to continue making progress long after her Day Train program is complete. We're excited to see Stevie continuing to develop her skills during her final week with us! 📍 Best Paw Forward Dog Training proudly serves Perkasie, Bucks County, PA, and surrounding areas. We offer professional dog training programs, including Day Train, Board & Train, Puppy School, and Private Lessons. Follow along to watch Stevie's training journey and learn more about reactive dog training, clicker training, and building confidence around distractions! bestpawforwardinc.com