Every dog has different needs. They were historically bred for various specific tasks, and later interbred with basically unpredictable results, and on top of that they have their individual life experiences and feelings. Our mission is to help you find out what types of work will best suit your dog’s genetic and personal traits, to satisfy their inherent needs, and get you both working together as a team.
The first job for a dog is simple training. Each new skill, cue, or trick your pet learns is “work” for them, both in the learning and in the practice. The more we train, the more it exercises their brains, and this is actually quite tiring for dogs. It also puts them in a mindset of working with you: they come to expect that you will reward them for engaging with you, and performing tasks, as a communicating partnership.
To get there we love the Pattern Games developed by Leslie McDevitt. They use movement and repetition in a way that helps a dog know what to expect, and how to focus in different situations. Pattern games are most commonly used to help reduce reactivity, but they also do a great job of building teamwork and the dog’s attention to you. For the same reasons we train a sport called rally. In rally the dog and their handler follow a mapped course, where each station along the way directs you to do a specific coordinated movement together, like turn left or walk backwards.
We also teach K9 Nose Work, sometimes called scent work. K9 Nose Work is an organized sport based around dogs’ innate desire to hunt and exercise their exceptional noses. It builds independence, curiosity, problem solving, self-confidence, and environmental resilience. K9NW holds formal events, but you can play the game and do the work anywhere, at any time, with minimal supplies. Click here to read more and get started!
There are many other sports for dogs, such as agility, treibball, barn hunt, or flyball. However, participating in organized dog sports can often mean long drives out of town, long wait lists to get into classes, difficulty finding the right teacher, and committing to various organizations and their timetables. Good Work Dog is focused on giving you the ability to work with your dog in a more accessible format, including in your own home. We want everyone, especially beginners and people who “have no free time”, to benefit from this sort of activity. If you want to get into a dedicated or competitive program for a specific dog sport, we will refer you to specialized instructors at other facilities. We can also help hone your dog sports skills in between trips out to those larger barns and sporting rings.
How do we teach all this? We use positive reinforcement in shaping and other non-forced, fear-free learning models. Positive reinforcement means when they do an action we like, we pay them for it, in a way that will lead to them repeating the desired behavior. The reward can be a food treat, but it can also be playtime, affection, or whatever the dog likes best. Shaping means we set up a circumstance where the dog is likely to try to do the thing we want, and we reward them each time they get closer to success. We use structured games to identify and build the right toolbox of “jobs” for your dog. Practicing these skills together is called enrichment because it meets their inherent needs, and increases the satisfaction they get from living with you, typically leading to better behavior at home. Good work, dog!
