Training Philosophy and Musings | Journey Dog Training

Are You Counterconditioning or Masking Your Dog’s Reactions?

Living with and training a reactive dog is not easy. As I work through my puppy Niffler’s stranger danger, I have found myself wondering if I’m masking his reactions to …

Seeing The Forest for the Trees

I went to a conference for wildlife conservation last weekend. And I had a good reminder of seeing the forest for the trees. Barley was our demonstration/ambassador dog for the …

Do Shock Collars Hurt Dogs? The Answer: Yes, or They Wouldn’t Work.

One of the main questions, when people are considering using a shock collar, is whether or not these training collars will hurt their dogs. Modern shock collars often have up …

Are Shock Collars Safe for Puppies?

Let’s face it: puppies and teenage dogs can be a huge pain in the butt. It can be tempting to want to just reach for a remote that could stop …

Training a Conservation Detection Dog: Week 1

I recently accepted a position at Working Dogs for Conservation. I’m going to be the Communications and Outreach Coordinator there. WD4C trains some of the world’s best conservation detection dogs. …

Yes, It’s OK To Leave A Dog In A Car

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve spent the last year of my life (April 2018-March 2019) driving from Denver to Memphis to Wisconsin to Vancouver to Los Angeles …

Shaping a Behavior: Dog Training Using Successive Approximations

Dog training using successive approximations, commonly called shaping, is my favorite way to teach dogs a new behavior. This training method was pioneered by B.F. Skinner, and it’s one of …

Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive Training

I try my very best to follow the Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive training framework when working with my dog, the shelter dogs I worked with, and my foster dogs. I …

A Dog Walks Into a Shelter and Growls at the Staff – Why?

Jack was a big, black Shepherd/Husky mix (or at least that was our best guess). He growled when the intake staff at the shelter moved him from the overnight kennels …

Are Dog Treats Bribery? Do Treats Make My Dog Beg or Only Listen When I’ve Got Food?

There is a common misconception that if you use treats to train your dog, that you are just using bribery. Or, that your dog will ONLY do what is asked …

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Kayla Fratt, CDBC

Kayla founded Journey Dog Training in 2013 to provide high-quality and affordable dog behavior advice. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant who’s worked with hundreds of private clients, thousands of shelter dogs, and dozens of working detection dogs. Kayla’s dog and cat behavior advice has been featured in NPR, the Chicago Tribune, and Pet MD. She’s an avid adventurer who is currently doing #vanlife on the Pan-American Highway with her two border collies and a cat. Aside from running Journey Dog Training, Kayla also runs the nonprofit K9 Conservationists, where she and the dogs work as conservation detection dog teams. You can get 1:1 advice with a Journey Dog Training team member here.

kaylafratt.com