Our Training Philosophy

At Stokeshire, we raise our puppies much like we raise our children and that starts with unconditional love.  While that may sound strange, we now know that dogs form attachments to their human caregivers in much the same way that toddlers form attachments to their primary parents, and the security of that attachment has a tremendous influence on behavior. Dogs, like humans, experience an increase in oxytocin—popularly known as the “bonding hormone”-- when they interact with loved ones. These surging oxytocin levels unlock a kind of social genius in dogs, increasing their ability to read and understand humans. Our puppies are held from the time they enter the world. Their environment & genetics (nature) coupled their experience (nurture) all contribute to the overall character, intelligence and health of your puppy.

We begin a dog’s education through the use of rewards, which often come in the form of treats, physical affection, and praise. Dogs learn new behaviors through goal-driven learning that is both enjoyable and effective, reinforcing positive behaviors using hand signals and simple vocal cues. 

Our doodle puppies are allowed to gain an understanding of the training exercises without concern about making a mistake. If and when more reliability is needed, strong verbal correction are used.

Most commonly we do this first with a leash. The dog learns various situations in which pressure may be applied, and the various behaviors that they can rely on to remove that pressure, and this is all done with a low intensity so the dog has the opportunity to learn about the tools without a great deal of stress. We believe that focusing on developing a strong bond with your puppy before doing anything else, secure in the knowledge that appropriate behavior is a by-product of unconditional love. 

What is R+ training?

R+ training stands for positive reinforcement, but it is known by lots of other names such as reward-based training, force-free, science-based training, or pain-free training.
Positive reinforcement is the idea that your dog learns those good things happen to him/her when he/she does the thing you like and therefore is more likely to repeat that behavior. Conversely, if you ignore unwanted behaviors or use positive training to redirect a dog, they are more likely to decrease those behaviors. We teach our dogs to do a less desirable behavior for the opportunity to do a more desirable behavior. We are often the reward.

What positive reinforcement training promotes:

• it helps you learn to connect with your dog and strengthens your relationship by building trust and affection

• it helps you work through the problems in a humane way

• it allows you to lessen a dog’s fears, anxieties and stressors by addressing them

• it establishes the behaviors that you want to see in your dog

  
  

Dogs have an intra-species relationship and a pattern of behaviors with their human family members that are driven by a variety of motivations, including genetics, socialization, available resources, fear, conflicts, learning, behavioral pathology, and disease.” — Dr. Debra Horwitz and Dr. Gary Landsberg

We want to empower our dogs to decide what is most reinforcing in that moment and honor that. Whether it’s food, physical affection, sniffing friends, marking the trees, digging in his dig-box, going for runs, playing fetch, or anything else he likes to do. 

The biggest misconception about positive training is that there's no discipline. You just shove treats down a dog's throat and tell him 'good boy,'

This is incorrect.

Humane discipline is a key part of positive training and part of our balanced approach. But that discipline involves teaching a dog to make the right choices by giving them alternatives, not constantly 'correcting' them. We have to give these highly intelligent, emotional animals the opportunity to think and learn. Learning the word “NO” or “OFF” is an important part of the learning process. The intent of correction is not to punish the dog, but rather to change the dog’s behavior through controlled stimulus and pressures. When applied, the pressure delivers just enough information to interrupt the dog’s train of thought and bring the focus back to you. Pressure does not equal pain. A mother will apply pressure with her mouth on a puppy's ear. Correction often looks like:

1. First Step: Interruption

2. Second Step: Redirection

3. Third Step: Walk Away (You)

4. Fourth Step: Removal (Time Out)  
   

We encourage our puppies to develop new skills, such as the ability to understand and communicate yes and no when asked questions, finding things using their amazing sense of smell, and learning the meaning of human words. We place them in new and challenging situations with people and other dogs.