Clicker Training Tips

Posted on: July 4th, 2011 by Mark Arabia No Comments

Clicker training is a method of positive reinforcement dog training. You use a small device called a clicker which you press to make a clicking sound. The clicking sound is used to mark a behavior that you like. For instance, if you tell your dog “sit,” you click the clicker the minute his rear end hits the floor. Then you give him a treat.

If you are just getting started with clicker training, or if you are not getting the results you hoped for from clicker training, the following tips can help:

A Click Equals a Treat

When you click your clicker to mark a behavior, you must give your dog a treat. You need to teach your dog that the sound of the click is an extremely reliable predictor that he is about to get a treat. If you don’t always give a treat after you click, the clicker begins to lose some of its effectiveness. You don’t always have to use a clicker when you train your dog, but if you click, you must give a treat.

Give the Treat as Quickly as Possible After You Click

If you click your clicker and then take more than a second or two to give your dog a treat, your dog may not understand that there is any connection between the sound of the click and getting a treat. When this happens, the click loses its meaning, and your dog can become confused about what you are asking him to do.

Timing is Everything

It’s important that you click the clicker at the exact moment your dog performs a behavior. If you aren’t precise with your clicker, you might end up reinforcing the wrong behavior. For instance, if you ask your dog to sit, and he does it, you should click the minute his rear end hits the floor. If you wait even a few seconds too long, your dog might start getting up, and the behavior you mark is him raising his bottom a few inches from the floor. You are not reinforcing the behavior you want. Be sure that you are clicking to mark the exact behavior you want.

Keep Your Clicker Handy to Capture Behaviors

Capturing behaviors is a great way to teach your dog new behaviors with very little effort on your part. Keep your clicker and a handful of treats handy, and whenever you catch your dog doing something you like, simply click and treat. You will be amazed at how quickly your dog can learn new behaviors this way.

Go Back a Step

It can be frustrating when your dog seems to know a command, and then begins to make repeated mistakes. Your dog is not misbehaving. You probably moved ahead a little too quickly, and now your dog is confused about what you want him to do. Instead of scolding him, go back a step or two in the training process, and then begin to move ahead more slowly. For example, if you are teaching your dog to stay, he may do fine when you have him hold the stay for 5 seconds, but when you try to get him to stay for 20 seconds, he just can’t do it. Try going back to having him hold the stay for 5 seconds, and then click and treat. Practice a few times, and then add a few more seconds to the stay. If your dog is making mistakes, chances are you moved ahead too quickly for him.

Keep it Clicker Training Positive

Remember that clicker training is supposed to be fun for you and your dog. If you find yourself getting frustrated, end the training sessions. You can go back later and start fresh. Keep training sessions short (no more than 10 minutes), and try to end each one on a positive note!

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Keep Your Dog Healthy !

Posted on: June 28th, 2011 by Mark Arabia No Comments

All good dog owners want to keep their dogs healthy. You love your dog, and you want her to be healthy and happy. Help keep your dog on the path to wellness with these dog health guidelines.

Expert Veterinary Care

High-quality veterinary care sets the foundation for your dog’s overall health. Find a veterinarian you can trust and visit regularly. Ideally, routine wellness examinations should be performed by your vet twice a year. Puppies and senior dogs should be seen even more frequently. If your dog has special needs, a chronic health condition or other illness, comply with your vet’s recommendations. Because your dog ages at a faster rate than you, many subtle changes can develop over a six to twelve month period. Routine visits allow your vet to closely monitor changes before your dog’s health gets out of control. Learn how to effectively communicate with your vet and you can expect the same in return. If you can develop a good connection with your vet, it can lead to long-term benefit for you and your dog.

Optimum Nutrition

Proper nutrition is a fundamental for keeping all dogs healthy. Diet directly affects your dog’s skin and coat, weight, energy level, and gastrointestinal function. If a problem occurs in one of these areas, it may be linked to improper diet. Choose a high-quality dog food made by a reputable company, or learn about homemade diets. Once you find the right food for your dog, use that food consistently. Watch your dog’s response to the diet over 4-8 weeks. How does her coat look? It should be shiny and free of flakes, but not greasy. Have you noticed a change in her energy level? A decrease in energy could indicate a problem. Has she lost or gained weight? Obesity in dogs is a very common problem which can often be reversed with proper diet and exercise. Excess weight loss may occur if your dog does not find the food palatable. If her response to the diet is poor, it may be time to look into other foods. A sudden change in dog foods can cause gastrointestinal upset, so switch over gradually unless otherwise directed by your vet.

Routine Exercise

Many dog owners underestimate their dogs’ exercise needs in relation to keeping their dog healthy. Destructive behavior may lead to a diagnosis of separation anxiety or other behavioral problems. While these conditions truly exist, in many cases the behavior is actually the result of an energy surplus. If you feed your dog a healthy diet, it should give her plenty of energy. However, if your dog can’t release that energy with exercise, it may be released on your furniture, carpet, doorways, or even your prized collection of rare books. Before you blame your dog for the damage, ask yourself if she’s getting enough exercise. In general, dogs need at least 1-2 hours of exercise per day, but this varies by breed, size and age. Over time, determine the ideal exercise regimen for your dog and establish a routine. You might even notice an improvement in your own health in the meantime.

Dental Care

It can be all too easy to forget about your dog’s teeth until you get a whiff of bad breath. Plaque and tartar build-up can lead to serious health problems. Don’t wait until dental disease is present – start focusing on dental care right now, if you nave not already. You can brush your dog’s teeth, use oral rinses, feed dental treats, or all of the above – just do something. And don’t forget to talk to your vet about your dog’s teeth. Professional cleanings may be necessary from time to time.

Regular Grooming

Grooming is not just for “fancy” dogs. All dogs need some degree of basic physical upkeep. In general, your dog’s grooming needs will be based on her breed. However, your dog may have special needs due to health conditions such as allergies. The average short-haired dog will benefit from a monthly nail trim, bath and brushing. Long-haired dogs should be brushed out daily. Dogs with continuously growing hair may need a haircut every week or two. Once you determine your dog’s grooming needs, decide if you will be doing it yourself, or if you need to hire a professional. Either way, schedule grooming sessions for your dog on a regular basis.

Watch for Warning Signs

Because our dogs cannot speak in words, we must rely on the signs they give us when it comes to analyzing our dog’s health. Your dog may exhibit a variety of signs that indicate a health problem. Just like you, your dog can develop a mild illness that resolves on its own, so not all signs are cause for alarm. However, many dogs will instinctively try to conceal signs of serious illness. Learn what to watch for and how to act appropriately before the illness becomes out of control. If your dog is displaying signs of illness, contact your vet right away.

 

Courtesy: About.com

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Why Your Corals Change Colors ?

Posted on: June 28th, 2011 by Mark Arabia No Comments

In the wild, there are a number of environmental factors which cause coral bleaching (loss of color). In home reef aquariums however, the usual cause of fading coral colors is a change in lighting. Most frequently, reef keepers observe coral bleaching with newly obtained corals.

Color Changes in New Corals

Changes in the coloration of newly introduced corals are not always due to sick corals. They are most likely due to changes in lighting. Corals endure a lot of stress during shipping. Even a short trip from one environment to another, where the water and lighting are, in all likelihood quite different, can provoke the coral into ejecting zooxanthellae cells or changing their chlorophyll content.

There are several ways in which light affects the appearance of corals.

Light Spectrum (Kelvin Rating)

The light spectrum (Kelvin Rating) of light affects the color of corals:

  • Lower Kelvin (more yellow light), warmer color.
  • “Daylight” (6500K) fluorescent bulbs produce light equivalent to noon at the equator.
  • Higher Kelvin produces more white to blue light.
  • Actinic (higher in the spectrum) lights produce more colors.

Light Intensity

Photosynthetic corals obtain their food and colors from the resident zooxanthellae cells on their surfaces. Corals can increase or decrease the number of zooxanthellae cells in response to the amount of light which reaches the coral. Zooxanthellae cells produce chlorophyll, which reacts with light to produce food for the coral and pigment for protection.

A byproduct of chlorophyll’s reaction to light is oxygen. While corals require oxygen to live, too much O2 is toxic so they adjust the number of Zooxanthellae cells. Zooxanthellae cells are yellow to brown in color, so more light produces browner corals.

UV Light

Corals are very sensitive to UV-A & UV-B light, which can destroy their DNA and RNA. Corals produce colored pigments (blue, purple, pink) in their zooxanthellae cells for protection from the UV light.

In nature, UV rays are filtered out by ocean water. The deeper the water, the more UV rays are filtered out of the spectrum. Since corals produce these colorful pigments as a protection from the UV rays striking them, shallow water corals have more colors: More UV, more color; Less UV, less color.

MH lights are high in UV light, which is why they are best used over glass aquarium canopies, which filter out most of the harmful UV light rays.

Acclimating New Corals

New corals do best if they are slowly acclimated to their new lighting. Placing the new coral in an area of less light for a time, then gradually moving it to more light will allow the corals to adjust their zooxanthellae cell density and their production of chlorophyll.

 

Courtesy Of About.com

 

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