text:
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, Packed
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
3 cups soft red or white whole wheat flour
Makes 2 Dozen
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix butter with both sugars (Optional reduce sugars to ¾ cup for each) until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, beating well to combine.
4. Keep mixing for 1 more minute and add chocolate chips and nuts (Optional). Mix until well combined.
5. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
6. Shape your cookies on prepared cookie sheets. Bake until golden brown on the edges.
Approximately 9 minutes.
7. Let them cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes and enjoy!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"Bill was wonderful. We had an awesome first-time experience hiking . . . " ;0 "
Daniella R. from Toronto
What We Do!
Hike mountains in Maine! See spectacular views you have never seen before!
I love Maine and want to share its natural beauty, plants, animals, and wild places with you. It can be hard to go to a new place and try new adventures. McClellan's Maine Guided Trips is here to provide you with the best guided hiking and camping trips in Maine's natural, unspoiled wilderness. You will be impressed and amazed with all the natural beauty Maine has to offer! Whatever your comfort level, I will be happy to tailor a trip to meet your abilities. I take hikers through Camden Hills State park, Acadia, and other Maine mountains like Double Top or Tumbledown. Or, go the the challenge of Maine's tallest peak, Katahdin!
Bill's History
I fell in love with outdoor adventures as a young man walking all over the three hundred sixty acre campus of the Lawrenceville School, designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead, and attended by the famed environmentalist, Aldo Leopold. My summers were spent on the side of Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire with summer backpacking camp experiences in the White Mountains, Green Mountains, and Adirondacks. In 1996 I became a Hurricane Island Outward Bound Sailing instructor and in 2016 became a registered Maine Guide. I am also a Maine Guide for Maine Sport in Rockport, leading trips out of their Rockport location. I became a Maine Master Naturalist Volunteer in 2014, completing a rigorous one year, hands-on course in plant and animal identification. In the off season, I teach middle school. I live in Rockport, Maine, a short walk to the harbor, where I have been living with my family for the past 27 years. I love Maine. It is a large state with plenty to explore. I hope we get the chance to explore it together!
And by the way, Bill is a trained chef, so food on the trail will be tasty, nutritional, and filling!


text: Good faith in English law What does it mean? Recent cases dealing with good faith provisions in contracts have important ramifications for the construction industry What is good faith? Many countries have good faith as a concept in their civil code such that it applies to all contracts (whether expressly included in a contract or not). For example, the European Court of Justice has referred to good faith as a "principle of civil law"1 and the proposed Common European Sales Law includes a definition of "good faith and fair dealing" as "a standard of conduct characterised by honesty, openness and consideration for the interests of the other party to the transaction or relationship in question"2. In France, the Civil Code relating to contract implementation includes good faith provisions. This extends to the duty of the contractor to advise the employer, the obligation being of different magnitude depending on the strength of the parties' knowledge3. This is not exclusive to Europe; in Japan, one of the Fundamental Principles of the Civil Code is that "The exercise of rights and performance of duties must be done in good faith"4. However, English law is a common law system, and is not based on a civil code. This means that the position is far less clear in English law and is dependent on precedent. In recent years the issue of good faith has been under the spotlight and this article examines what good faith means in English law in light of recent case law. 1 2 3 4 C-489/07 Messner v Krüuger [2009] E.C.R. I-7315 Article 2 of the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Common European Sales Law Com/2011/0635final-2011/0284 (COD) Page 81, FIDIC, An analysis of International Construction Contracts, edited by Robert Knutson (2005) http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/ccr/CCR_00001.html In English law, good faith has been summarised as not simply meaning that the parties "should not deceive each other, a principle which any legal system must recognise; its effect is perhaps most aptly conveyed by such metaphorical colloquialisms as 'playing fair', 'coming clean' or 'putting one's cards face upwards on the table'. It is in essence a principle of fair open dealing..."5 At least until recently, there has been no established general concept of good faith in English law and the concept of good faith is usually considered only applicable to limited categories of contracts such as partnership agreements and agreements outlining a fiduciary duty such as insurance contracts. As a result, English lawyers have commonly advised that an argument based on breach of either an express or implied good faith principle would be very unlikely to succeed – whilst a good faith provision in a contract may be nice to have, it has often been considered to be a toothless provision. However, in recent years the English Courts' views on good faith have been developing and, where good faith provisions have been "deliberately and expressly" agreed by the parties, they have been held to be enforceable and relate to future conduct under that contract6. English Courts have also found that good faith can be implied into the contract – though only in certain very limited cases. Set out below is an analysis of the recent case law in England on the effect of both express and implied good faith provisions. 5 6 Interfoto Picture Library Ltd v Stiletto Visual Programmes Ltd [1989] See Longmore J's obiter comments in Petromec Inc v Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras (No. 3) (2005) where he stated that to hold the provision in a professionally drafted contract would "defeat the reasonable expectations of honest men". However, the Petromec decision was made on other grounds and the general rule remains unchanged. Express obligations to act in good faith The cases below seem to indicate a pattern that English courts will give effect to express good faith provisions in contracts as long as they relate to actual performance of some obligation. The extent to which they have been upheld has varied depending on the exact wording of the clause, so it is helpful to look at some examples: Berkeley Community Villages Ltd v F Pullen [2007] EWHC 1330 (Ch) CPC Group Limited v Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company [2010] EWHC 1535 (Ch) Gold Group Properties Limited v BDW Trading Limited (formerly known as Barratt Homes Limited) [2010] "In all matters relating to this agreement the parties will act with the utmost good faith towards one another and will act reasonably and prudently at all times" This was held to be an obligation "to observe reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing in accordance with their actions which related to the Agreement and also requiring faithfulness to the agreed common purpose and consistency with the [party's] justified expectations." The parties "shall both act in the utmost good faith towards each other in relation to the matters set out in this Deed" and "use all reasonable but commercially prudent endeavours to enable the achievement of the various threshold events and Payment Dates". This was interpreted as an obligation to: The agreement required the parties to "observe and perform their respective obligations" and "at all times act in good faith" for all transactions entered into between the parties. The court held that "whilst requiring the parties to act in a way that will allow both parties to enjoy the anticipated benefits of the contract, [the good faith obligation] does not require either party to give up a freely negotiated financial advantage clearly embedded in the contract". • adhere to the spirit of the contract; • observe reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing; • be faithful to the agreed common purpose; and • act consistently with the parties' justified expectations. The claimant was found not to be in breach of the good faith obligation in refusing to accept or even negotiate proposals which were of no financial interest to it. EWHC 1632 (TCC) Had it refused to negotiate where it was unaffected financially by the changes and where the negotiations were necessary to permit the agreement to be performed as envisaged, it might well have been in breach of the obligation. Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust v Compass Group UK and Ireland Ltd (t/a Medirest) [2013] EWCA Civ 200 "The Trust and the Contractor will co-operate with each other in good faith and will take all reasonable action as is necessary for the efficient transmission of information and instructions and to enable the Trust or, as the case may be, any Beneficiary to derive the full benefit of the Contract." Overturning the High Court decision, the Court of Appeal held that, although the good faith clause was valid and the demanded payments were excessive, the obligation did not stretch to all conduct under the contract and did not constrain the operation of the payment mechanism. Instead, it was an obligation to work together honestly endeavouring to achieve the two stated purposes. The judgment concluded: "care must be taken not to construe a general and potentially open-ended obligation such as an obligation to "co-operate" or "to act in good faith" as covering the same ground as other, more specific, provisions, lest it cut across those more specific provisions and any limitations in them." *As a Court of Appeal case, this is the leading case on good faith obligations in English law. TSG Building Services plc v South Anglia Housing Limited [2013] EWHC 1151 (TCC) Fujitsu Services Limited v IBM United Kingdom Limited [2014] EWHC 752 (TCC) "The Partnering Team members shall work together and individually in the spirit of trust, fairness and mutual co-operation for the benefit of the Term Programme, within the scope of their agreed roles, expertise and responsibilities as stated in the Partnering Documents, and all their respective obligations under the Partnering Contract shall be construed within the scope of such roles, expertise and responsibilities". The court found that the good faith clause did not extend to acting reasonably when terminating the contract; the good faith obligation was restricted to those expressly listed actions. Cooperation was required for the performance of the contract, not its termination and the good faith obligation did not cut across the unqualified and unconditional express right to terminate. Schedule 2 to the parties' contract required them to have regard to the partnering principles in carrying out their obligations under the contract which noted that all dealings should be "open, honest, clear and reliable" and that the parties should "Work together to achieve a relationship of mutual respect and trust" The court held that there was no express duty of good faith in the clauses relied upon by Fujitsu and that the partnering principles lacked contractual certainty. The parties agreed only to "have regard to" those principles, which the court considered were "aspirational and motivational". The parties appeared to have chosen deliberately to avoid an express agreement that they would owe a duty of good faith and that choice should be respected. Accordingly, when seeking to determine the effect of an express good faith (or similar) obligation, the English Courts will closely examine the wording in the agreement and will only hold that the wording binds the parties to those expressly stated obligations, not to the whole contractual relationship and not to limit other contractual rights or entitlements. Generic wide ranging provisions may be considered ineffective because of uncertainty. Implied good faith obligations? Traditionally, for the reasons outlined above it has been very difficult to argue that a duty of good faith could or should be implied into an English law contract. However, whilst the difficulty with such an argument almost certainly remains, a number of recent cases have indicated that, in certain circumstances, an implied duty of good faith can exist in English law contracts. In the recent case of Yam Seng PTE Ltd v International Trade Corporation Limited [2013] EWHC 111 (QB), the judge outlined that honesty, fidelity to the parties' bargain, cooperation and observance of common commercial standards have all already been generally accepted as possible implied terms in English Courts if the circumstances surrounding a contract demand it (looking at the shared values and norms of behaviour) and these distinct implied terms could cumulatively be seen as amounting to an implied duty of "good faith". The judge in Yam Seng said such obligations could be implied into a contract where the contract is a "relational contract", noting that such contracts "may require a high degree of communication, cooperation and predictable performance based on mutual trust and confidence and involve expectations of loyalty which are not legislated for in the express terms of the contract but are implicit in the parties' understanding and necessary to give business efficacy to the arrangements." This case therefore provides authority that a duty of good faith can be implied into "relational" contracts; into which category certain construction and engineering contracts could fall (for example, on long term framework contracts or major projects where the form of contract used requires regular, frequent and open communication). In the Medirest case (referred to above), the Court of Appeal considered Yam Seng when deciding whether there was an implied term in Medirest that the employer would not act in an arbitrary, irrational or capricious manner in assessing the contractor's performance. However, the Court of Appeal reiterated that "there is no general doctrine of good faith in English contract law […] If the parties wish to impose such a duty they must do so expressly". The Court of Appeal did not, however, overrule Yam Seng as being bad law. This could be due to the distinct differences between the cases in terms of the complexity of the contracts and the alleged implied terms. The contract in Medirest was a "complicated contract" split over four documents. In Mid Essex, the Court of Appeal focused on the extent of discretion that could be exercised by the employer and concluded that there was no justification for an implied term of "good faith" due to the limited nature of the discretion; there were precise rules as to how the deductions should be made and the employer's decision was limited to whether or not to exercise its absolute contractual right. On the other hand, Yam Seng involved a "skeletal document"; in Yam Seng the court noted that it would be harder to imply terms into a detailed and professionally drafted contract. When considering whether there was an implied term that the parties would deal with each other in good faith, the court looked at two more specific terms: a duty not to give false information, which could not be implied, and a duty not to undercut duty free prices, which could be implied as the parties would have expected that their obligations would reflect the industry assumption. Thus, the conclusion in Yam Seng was specific to the facts of that particular arrangement. More recently, in Greencloase Limited v National Westminster Bank plc [2014] EWHC 1156 (Ch) it was noted that the more discretion afforded to a party, the more readily the court will imply an obligation that the discretion should not be exercised in bad faith or in an arbitrary or capricious manner, although it would be heavily dependent on context. Further, in Bristol Groundschool Ltd v Intelligent Data Capture Ltd and others [2014] EWHC 2145 (Ch), one of the issues before the court was whether there was an implied duty of good faith in the contract and, if so, whether the claimant had breached that duty by downloading materials from the defendants' IT systems without authorisation. The defendants argued that the agreement between the parties was a hybrid between a joint venture and product distribution agreement such that it was sufficient to import an implied duty of good faith following Yam Seng. The judge agreed that the parties' agreement was a "relational" contract" of the kind referred to in Yam Seng and that the agreement contained an implied duty of good faith. When referring to the Court of Appeal decision in Medirest, the court noted that there had been "no element of disapproval" of Yam Seng. This case therefore demonstrates that the courts are willing to imply a good faith obligation into a contract. However, again the court was not dealing with a complex contract. In the case of Bluewater Energy Services BV v Mercon Steel Structures BV, Mercon Holding BV, Mercon Groep BV [2014] EWHC 2132 (TCC), the English Technology and Construction Court considered a complex project relating to the construction of a mooring system for an offshore oil field. Clause 33.1 of the contract required the parties to "uphold the highest standards of business ethics in the performance of the contract. Honesty, fairness and integrity shall be paramount principles in the dealings between the parties". Two of the issues under consideration were whether the claimant was entitled to reject the defendants' requests for variations for failure to comply with the notice requirements and whether the claimant had validly terminated the contract in light of the discretion afforded to it under the contract. The court decided that there was an implied limitation on the claimant's ability as decision maker "by reference to concepts of honesty, good faith, and genuineness, and the need for the absence of arbitrariness, capriciousness, perversity and irrationality". That implied limitation was consistent with clause 33.1 of the contract but existed even without those express words. On the facts, the court held that the variations were valid (notwithstanding any failure to comply with the notice requirements) and that the contract had been validly terminated. Consequently, it does appear possible (albeit in limited and special circumstances) to successfully argue that a duty of good faith can be implied into an English law contract. However, under the precedent system Medirest, as Court of Appeal authority, takes precedence over the High Court decisions in Yam Seng, Bristol Groundschool and Bluewater. The starting position for all English law contracts therefore remains that there is no general doctrine of good faith in English contract law. The implication of such a term can only be in very particular circumstances, which are unlikely to arise in construction/engineering contracts (though note the Bluewater case indicating there may be exceptions to the general rules). Why is this relevant to the construction and engineering industry? Construction/engineering projects are often governed by "relational contracts" into which good faith obligations might be implied following Yam Seng, Bristol Groundschool and Bluewater, though they are often extremely extensive and detailed contracts not dissimilar to those in Medirest. If the contract contains no express reference to good faith, following the leading Court of Appeal authority of Medirest, attempts to rely on implied duties of good faith will remain very difficult (but not impossible). The complexity of a contract will need to be balanced against the "relational" nature of the contract in order to determine whether or not an implied term is really a necessity. Nonetheless, there are a number of standard form English law contracts (which are also used internationally) with express good faith-style obligations such as acting "in a spirit of mutual trust and co-operation"7 or working "in a co-operative and collaborative manner in good faith and in the spirit of trust and respect."8 Further, good faith-style obligations are quite common in bespoke English law construction/engineering contracts in certain sectors, though the wording varies significantly between industries. The wording of each provision needs to be construed carefully to determine true meaning. Consider if the following situations are subject to a good faith obligation: • a quotation for a variation or further works is issued which does not appear to be a genuine commercial offer • a quotation or a programme is rejected for lack of inessential details 7 8 NEC3 standard form of contract JCT CECPTA, 2011 In the first instance the unrealistic offer might not be a breach of good faith as it is unlikely that a court will find there is an implied positive obligation on a party to subordinate its own commercial interests to those of the other party9. In CPC Group (referred to above), the court did not consider bad faith to be a pre-requisite of evidence of a breach of good faith, but noted that it would be difficult to find such a breach without bad faith or at least ill-will. In Yam Seng, the court highlighted that this was an objective test: would the conduct be regarded as commercially unacceptable by reasonable and honest people? In that context, the second example may be a breach of good faith particularly further to Bluewater, in which the court noted that any discretion should be exercised with the implied limitation of honesty, good faith and genuineness and an absence of arbitrariness, capriciousness, perversity and irrationality. It is worth noting that the Bluewater case noted above may provide limited support to arguments against the application of time bar/notice provisions now commonly found in international construction contracts (but again, the wording of the contract will be crucial). In Bluewater, the court noted that mere reliance on a notice clause which gives one party 9 Hamsard 3147 Ltds (t/a Mini Mode Childrenswear) v Boots UK Ltd [2013] EWHC 3251 (Pat) a discretion to allow or disallow a claim is not sufficient. There must be an impact on that party resulting from the late provision of, or incomplete, information; otherwise it would be an abuse by that party. In conclusion, if you agree to a good faith obligation in a contract, it should be clearly stated and only relate to the specific obligations to which the parties intend it to relate. Careful drafters will include clear wording particularly when dealing with key issues such as management of change. Parties should always comply with and be entitled to enforce those provisions, notwithstanding any good faith obligation. The English Courts consider the parties' agreement to be of primary importance and wider duties will not lightly be implied, particularly where they contradict express terms. For more information, please contact: Paul Giles Partner T: 0845 497 8680 @: [email protected] Emily Walling Associate T: 0845 497 8682 @: [email protected] Global Construction and Engineering team contacts Simon Oats Dermot McEvoy Partner, Head of Construction & Engineering Partner United Kingdom T: 0845 497 4750 @: [email protected] Ireland T: +353 1 6644 238 @: [email protected] Paul Giles Jurjen de Korte Partner Partner United Kingdom T: 0845 497 8680 @: [email protected] Netherlands T: +31 20 5600 664 @: [email protected] Richard Ward Steven Cannon Partner Principal Associate Qatar/UAE T: +97 44 49 67 44 4 @: [email protected] UK/Singapore T: 0845 494 5575 @: [email protected] Claudius Triebold Steven Gibson Partner Associate Switzerland T: +41 44 204 90 90 @: [email protected] Singapore T: +65 65 72 55 87 @: [email protected] www.eversheds.com ©EVERSHEDS LLP 2014. Eversheds LLP is a limited liability partnership. DT03839_08/14


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VÁRADI Balázs
research fellow
courses: public economics, political economics
research interest: public economics, political economics
Balázs Váradi is one of the founders of ELTEcon. After his undergraduate studies at Karl Marx (now Corvinus) University, he worked for one year at the Economics Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; after which he was admitted to the graduate Economics program at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (USA), where he received an M.A., and, in 2001 a PhD degree.
Between 1999 and 2005 he taught at the Political Science department of Central European University in Budapest. In the 2005/2006 academic year he was a visiting professor at Smolny College in St Petersburg, Russia. In 2007-2008 he was a senior adviser to the prime minister of Hungary, in charge of a policy portfolio including health and education policy. Since 2008, in addition to his teaching duties he has been one of the founding partners and senior researchers of the Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis, an independent think tank. His most recent English scholarly article, co-authored with Péter Elek and Márton Varga, is entitled "Effects of geographical accessibility on the use of outpatient care services: quasi-experimental evidence from panel count data" and was published in the journal Health Economics. At Eltecon prof. Váradi teaches courses on Political Economy, Public Economics and Public Policy.


text:
This content is from: Portfolio
Why the U.K.'s Once-Hot Student Housing Sector May Be Cooling Off
Investors and market observers say a shifting supply and demand dynamic, coupled with a recent drop in new university students, means the real estate niche may not be the sure thing it once was.
Student housing in the U.K. has been a popular niche for real estate investors in recent years, thanks to a sharp increase in the student population coupled with a housing shortage. But some market observers say the party may be over soon and are cutting their rental growth forecasts amid expectations that yields on some student properties will fall.
Over the past decade, the U.K.'s higher education sector has been growing fast — and as student numbers have swollen, demand for accommodation has also grown. Years ago, universities put up students in their own housing stock, or in purpose-built dwellings that they owned. But the sharp increase in student numbers meant universities could no longer offer accommodation for all of their new undergraduates, and specialist student accommodation providers stepped in to fill the void.
The number of institutions offering degree programs has expanded in recent years, with some former higher education institutions becoming universities and obtaining their own degree-awarding powers and established universities opening new campuses or lending out their name to independent colleges so degrees can be taught in their name.
The result has been an explosion in student numbers, populated by increased domestic and international interest. Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that the number of students enrolled in a university course between 2013 and 2016 rose by more than 40,000.
For investors, student accommodation has been hugely popular. The lack of supply meant that student apartment blocks could be easily filled, providing a predictable yield, funded by the rent-paying scholars.
According to data from the Association of Real Estate Funds, in the five years to the end of June 2017, the £2.3 billion($3.02 billion) Unite UK Student Accommodation real estate investment trust has delivered an annualized return of 14.4 percent each year when net income was reinvested. According to the Savills' UK Student Housing report, £5.3 billion was forecast to be invested in the U.K. student property market in 2017.
Egbert Nijmeijer, senior portfolio manager at Dutch investment group Kempen Asset Management, explains that he has been invested in the Unite Group for the past six years and says he loves the sector.
"Student housing in the U.K. is a well-developed sector and the influx of international students into the U.K., especially from Asia, has grown significantly," he explains.
However, investors such as Nijmeijer have revised down their rental growth forecasts this year and are predicting that the net initial yields on some student properties will fall.
The reasons are two-fold. First, the supply/demand dynamic that has long favored investors in the sector is shifting. An explosion of investor interest has resulted in lots of new developments.
The second issue is that the number of students joining university has dropped for the first time in recent years. UCAS figures show that the 2017 intake had a dip in the number of placed applicants, from 511,980 in 2016 to 505,680 in 2017.
Despite these potential challenges there is no data, as yet, to suggest that the sector will falter. But investors may now want to temper their predictions for future yields, due to increased competition and the potential for a lower student population in the longer term.


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Get the celebrity treatment with world-class service at Pousada Palacio de Estoi – Small Luxury Hotels of the World One of our top picks in Estói. Pousada Palacio de Estoi is located in the town of Estoi, just 6.2 miles from Faro, on the grounds of a beautiful 19th-century palace. The air-conditioned rooms feature a contemporary design and are equipped with private bathrooms with bath and shower. Some rooms include wall-mounted flat-screen TVs. Pousada Palacio de Estoi features gardens and tea pavilions. Its architecture includes many original elements such as wall paintings and antique furnishings. Other relaxation options include swimming in the indoor and outdoor pools or visiting the sauna. Nearby leisure activities are cycling and hiking. A complimentary breakfast is served at Pousada Palacio de Estoi's restaurant. Specialties from the Algarve, including freshly caught fish and seafood are served in the evening. End the meal with Algarvian sweets made from locally grown almonds and figs.Booking.com
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text:
Gift-buying Guide for your Dog
By: Sierra Hampl
As you celebrate this holiday season don't forget about that special something for Fido!
And Fido, there's a special list for you. Don't forget to shop for that special human in your life!
Motivation is Key
By Kevin Duggan
The first step to getting your dog to do the things you'd like is to figure out how to motivate him. Food is an easy way to motivate. Other things that can be used are access to people that he likes, access to dogs that he likes, getting to go outside and getting to sniff things on a walk. Really, if you think about every behavior that your dog does that you dislike, the thing that is causing the unwanted behavior can be used as leverage for a behavior you'd like instead.
If your dog is jumping on guests when they enter your home then your dog is motivated to greet the person. All we need to do is teach the behavior that we'd like instead and manage the situation carefully to ensure that he doesn't get any reinforcement for doing the unwanted behavior. If you're very consistent with this he will learn that sitting gets him the thing he wants instead of jumping.
If your dog is pulling on leash when out on a walk then he is motivated to go in that direction to smell what's over there, or to pee on the tree that is over there, or to greet the dog that he sees etc. This is one that gets reinforced all the time which leads to more pulling on leash. This one takes some patience but can be pretty easy to solve. We need to take what he wants and teach him that he can have it as long as the leash remains loose. The use of a front attaching harness or a head halter can make this even easier.
Everything that has been mentioned so far hasn't included the use of pain or fear. This is because you don't need to use pain or fear to get the behaviors you're looking for. Pain and fear are motivators. Our recommendation is to avoid using these types of motivators because they can hurt the dog, they're not needed and they can lead to building negative associations which can cause aggression.
Tis the Season for Holiday Guests
By Sierra Hampl
I know everyone in Northeast Ohio is saying this, but I truly "can't believe it's November"! With the holiday season upon us, whether you're traveling or not, let's take a moment and consider how our dogs fit into the Thanksgiving plans.
Managing an excited dog and having guests over is a common conundrum for pet owners; however, it is possible to spend quality time with your guests while managing your dog's behavior. In this post you'll find tips to help you prepare your dog for guests, and also ways to manage your dog's behavior after the company arrives. This is sure to help you and your dog get the most out of the holidays.
Preparing for guests:
By Kevin Duggan
As a reward based trainer, a question that often comes up is "when can the treats be faded?" I'm not positive where the motivation behind this question comes from. I feel that some people may think their dog should just listen to them because of an alleged intrinsic desire to please. I feel that others may just want their hard work to pay off and for them that means that once they've taught their dog the desired behaviors they shouldn't have to continue to reward them. Who knows for sure though? Everyone could have a different reason.
Let's cut to the chase. Lack of motivation is a huge reason why our dogs aren't doing what we'd like them to do. No living-breathing animal does something for no reason. Why do we watch football? Because it brings us joy. Why do we go to work? Because it provides us with a paycheck. If your paycheck were to be removed would you keep going to work? What if we take away the reason why our dog is doing the behavior? Should he continue to do the behavior? The answer is no. Without that motivation there is no behavior.
I like to compare pet dogs to animals in zoos. I like to do this because I feel that since we share our homes with dogs, we place them on a pedestal. For some reason this has made us feel like the rules of learning are different for them than other animals. No one refers to a bear or a giraffe as "stubborn." Did you know that they have taught bears in zoos to voluntarily stick their leg through a hole in a fence to do husbandry procedures? This was accomplished because the bear learned that the behavior of sticking his foot through the hole in the fence provided tasty food rewards. If they asked the bear to continue to stick his foot through the hole but stopped providing the food rewards the bear would see that the behavior no longer predicts food and would stop doing the behavior. Does this now make the bear stubborn? My friend Kathy Sdao was the first zoo trainer to teach a Walrus to allow blood to be taken voluntarily. An adult walrus weighs roughly 2,200 pounds. This was taught with incremental steps using food as motivator/reward. Once again, if that food were to be removed, that walrus would stop doing the behaviors that allowed the blood to be drawn.
If you want your dog to continue to do the behaviors you've taught him to do then you must continue to reward those behaviors. As soon as you stop you'll see a decrease in those behaviors and then the behavior will stop all together. You can obviously use food as the reward for behaviors, and depending on the situation you can also use affection, praise, access to smells, access to other dogs, access to people and the list goes on. Your dog decides what is motivating and reinforcing and if the behavior sticks around, you're reinforcing it. Your best bet is to have a treat bag on when you're out and about and to have treat jars placed strategically throughout your home for the rest of your dog's life.
Now that we've got Sit, Down and Stay under our belts, we're ready for the second set of foundation behaviors. We are going to be covering, "Leave it," "Touch," and "Go to your bed." These are a lot of fun to teach and you'd be surprised at how quickly your dog will pick up on them.
Step for Hand Targeting
Steps for Go To Mat
Steps for Leave It
"I can barely walk in the door my dog is jumping so much!"
These are all complaints we've heard from clients and I'd like to help you lay the foundation to decrease your dog's jumping. Most often, a dog jumps because it is excited and is seeking attention. Of course you want to give your dog attention, and the people who visit your home most likely want to pet your dog, but a dog scratching arms and legs and acting like a bouncy ball isn't a pleasant greeting, nor does it incite compassion from a human. More often, owners are compelled to yell at the dog, "no! Get down! Stop doing that!" or even push the dog down. Without realizing it, these are all forms of reinforcement for the jumping. If you've taken any of our classes, you will notice that we ignore all jumping or ask for alternative behaviors (like a 'sit' for example) and that is that what this post will help you learn to do at home.
In dog training we have two basic tools: management and training.
For our jumpers, we do have management options:
However, most people want their dog to participate in all activities. After all, they are part of the family, too! This is where training and management can work together. For most of these activities, you can have your dog on leash. If you incorporate mat work with polite greetings, we do recommend that your dog is on leash when visitors arrive. Let's dig in to our training tools.
Mat Work – Jumpers need a space to settle. To signify to our dog that it's time to hold a down-stay for duration, we use a mat. This can be a very inexpensive bath or kitchen mat or even the yoga mat that's buried in your basement (not that mine is buried in my basement or anything like that). Here are the steps you will follow.
To see Kevin demonstrate this, check out this video:
Go Say Hi - We teach this in most of our classes and with consistency and repetition, your dog will begin to generalize that four paws on the floor equals a pet and a food reward. Try practicing this with as many people as possible. If you have several family members, rotate the handler and the greeter this way the dog has practice greeting several different people. When you're out and about with your dog, get in the habit of every time someone asks to pet your dog, you cue your dog, "Spot, Go say hi!". Most people are willing participants when told a dog or puppy is in training. Kids especially love to help out and give treats, so don't be shy about telling the people you encounter that your dog is in training and they could really help you out by asking for a sit and rewarding, or at the very least, waiting until you have your dog in a sit. It may be that your dog is extremely social, and in this case it will help to have a very high value food item in your treat pouch this way the dog is motivated by the food you have in hand, more than the chance to jump on the stranger. Recruit a helper to practice the following:·
Check out a demonstration of Go Say Hi:
Sit-Stay No Matter What - This a great way to proof your dog's sit-stay. You never know how someone will approach your dog. Someone may walk up with a cane, a child may bounce or run toward your dog, so this activity helps train your dog to hold their sit no matter what!
Airplane Game - If you've ever fed a six month old, you may have pretended the spoon was an airplane landing in the mouth with something yummy on the end. This is a similar idea, except we are training impulse control. The dog must stay in a sit to earn the treat. Here's what you should do:
Touch or Hand Targeting - this is a wonderful tool for moving your dog through space. If you see your dog is about to jump on someone, you can cue a touch and move the dog's body and attention back toward you. Touch is incredibly easy to teach your dog and you guys can have a lot of fun with this little trick.
Check out this video by Kelly Duggan:
We understand how frustrating it is to have a dog who is prone to jumping. With these training tools and a little bit of management, you will be well on your way to training alternative behaviors to jumping. Dogs are social beings and want to be with us, and near us. In fact, they jump to get closer to faces, but it's important to respect the fact that not everyone enjoys having a dog jump on them and maybe you're just fed up with your dog jumping on you. So grab some treats and start practicing these tools to implement the next time you have a guest or meet someone on a walk. Let us know how it goes and if you have any questions!
To live harmoniously with dogs and babies under one roof, it is imperative that the dog has a solid foundation of basic obedience behaviors such as sit, down, stay. Even if your dog has practiced these behaviors before, I recommend that you work through the steps as a refresher. Later in this series, we'll incorporate all the basics into more challenging contexts (like holding a down-stay while your baby plays with his toys on the ground, for example). But for now, let's start from the beginning.
Here are the steps:
Here's how to teach it:
distractions are in play. From there, I'll show you how to walk around your dog while he stays. I will then add distance and finally duration. All of these steps will come together to inform real life scenarios.
Here's how to teach it:
And here's Episode 1:
A Beard, A Baby, and Three Dogs. A Video Series On How To Live Harmoniously With Dogs And Babies.
We are excited to announce a video series that is designed to help new parents who are bringing a baby into their house with one or more dogs! This series will also be very helpful if you have a newborn or a toddler!
As a new parent, saying my world has completely changed is definitely an understatement. For dogs, this change is equally as confusing and challenging. This is why we have decided to develop a video series to help!
We will be covering topics such as:
Check out the intro video below!
It's time to go and your dog will not budge. You're out by the car and your dog has its emergency brake on. Is this you? What do you end up doing? Do you pick your dog up? Do you try to entice him with treats and he just looks at you like your crazy?
If you have a dog that is either too big to pick up, doesn't like being picked up and will bite or you just want to make your dog more comfortable with getting in the car then this is for you. It all starts off with hand targeting. (Pardon the old video.) Once your dog can successfully and reliably target your hand then you're ready to start the process of getting him comfortable with jumping in the car.
Step 1: Get him comfortable with being around the car
Practice hand targets around the car. Be very unpredictable with these targets so he doesn't catch on to a pattern. Flirt with the line that he will not cross. Always let him vote with his feet and don't try to get him to cross that line until he is ready. Make sure that leash is loose!
Step 2: Get that line closer to the car
As he continues to get more comfortable he will target your hand closer and closer to the car. Do this and as always allow him to vote with his feet. Keep your hand still once you've presented it and happy talk him if he's contemplating whether or not to do it.
Step 3: Place your hand above the bumper
Once he is comfortable and not showing any stress signs when you're asking him to approach the car you're ready to place your hand above the bumper so he has to target it partially within the car. Keep the same pattern going. Some in this position, some away from the car. You should see him get more and more comfortable with this.
Step 4: Place your hand in the car so he has to step up
Get splitty here if needed. Keep your target hand steady and reward him if he touches it. If he is struggling a bit with this, look for any small version of the behavior you can reward. Do that and then invite him away. Repeat until he is stepping up onto the car for the target/reward. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Step 5: Ask him to get all the way in
There is no rule for how long each step will take. And there may be splits in between these steps that you'll need to add in. But the final step is getting your dog to jump all the way in to target and then giving a jackpot of food rewards. It helps to get a little momentum like I show towards the end of the video.
Remember to be patient, have fun and let your dog vote with his feet. Sometimes this takes 10 minutes to accomplish while other times it takes multiple hour long sessions. Also, make sure your car rides aren't always a predictor of something your dog dislikes. Getting in the car and going to the drive through once per week for a snack will help keep your dog happy about getting in the car. Below is the video!
Every day a child gets bitten by a dog. Most of the bites aren't going to end up in the news because the damage isn't that severe, but they're still happening. Being bitten is no fun; I'll be the first to tell you. And no kid should have to learn the hard way. Let's take a deeper look into why kids are often the victims of dog bites.
Kids aren't as predictable as adults
The average kid is running, screaming, falling, throwing stuff, trying to approach the dog etc. These behaviors can make a dog uneasy. This is especially true if these behaviors are all happening at once. Trigger stacking is when multiple things that stress a dog happen at the same time. The result of too many triggers being stacked on is typically a bite.
Warning signs go unnoticed
When something stresses a dog the response from the dog is a change in body language. Most frequently you will see him start to pant, look away, lick his lips, yawn, stare, furrow his brow, freeze, growl, show his teeth and then bite. Not every dog is going to do all of those behaviors. This is just a list of behaviors that often occur when a dog is stressed. From the videos I see posted online it is easy to tell that a lot of people don't recognize these behaviors as precursors to a bite.
Children are allowed to do inappropriate behaviors to their own dogs
Children are often allowed and even encouraged to climb on the family dog. The mentality behind this is that the dog should be fine with it. This is the main reason why children get bitten. This isn't the child's fault. We need to coach and teach our children how to interact appropriately with a dog.
Another similar way that children get bitten is by their friends' dogs. Those dogs don't know your child. And if you've taught your child that climbing on your dog is okay, they're most likely going to try climbing on strange dogs too. Strange dogs are a lot less likely to tolerate the behavior from a strange child and often times a bite occurs.
Children approach dogs
This goes hand in hand with the previous section. Children should never be allowed to approach dogs. It should always be the other way around. If a dog is in a position to be approached, he probably doesn't want to be messed with. He is either relaxing, eating, drinking, working on a bone or sleeping. If you don't enjoy being touched or climbed on when you're doing something, your dog probably doesn't either. You can communicate this though with your voice. A dog can only communicate this with body language and some little vocalizations. As we discussed above, those often go unnoticed or are downplayed and then a bite occurs.
The overall theme here is that children are innocent. It's our job to teach and coach them on how to interact with animals. We obviously don't want our children to get hurt by an animal so we need to ensure that we're not unintentionally putting them in a position for it to happen.
Do you have to reach all the way to the ground in order for your dog to lie down? While this isn't the end of the world, it's actually quite easy to teach a dog to lie down with you standing up straight. Your back will definitely thank you!
This method being used here is taught by Jean Donaldson, found of The Academy for Dog Trainers. The overall idea is to break it down into 3 steps. If your dog is doing the first step 4 out of 5 or 5 out of 5 times, you're ready to increase the difficulty and move to the next step. This is explained more in the video. The end goal is for your dog to lie down for a hand signal while you're standing up straight.
Want to get this on a verbal cue? Teach this sequence and once your dog can do it for the small hand signal, add the verbal cue in just before. You can read more about that here.
Video below!
Old Dog, New Tricks?
Last week one of my students brought a friend to class and as they were leaving, the friend pulled me aside and asked if her three year old dog was too old to take a class. I can't even tell you how happy I was to answer this question because the fact is, your dog is never too old to learn new tricks or refresh the basics. This woman sat through class interested and engaged in our teaching methods and left excited with the idea of bringing her own dog to a class.
After my husband and I rescued our dog, Stella, we took her to a basic obedience class and she was always a fine dog with some frustrating quirks but nothing too terrible. She is definitely an opportunist—meaning that anything left on the counter will be snatched when we aren't looking, but any snatching is ultimately our fault due to lack of management. After we had children Stella's walks became almost nonexistent because she would lunge and growl at other dogs and I couldn't manage a toddler, a baby, and my crazy looking dog! Eventually I realized I was doing a disservice to Stella, so I starting reading books on dog training and attempted to implement what I learned. I did many things wrong, but I was also convinced there had to be a way to take an enjoyable walk with my dog. It wasn't until I took Stella to Kevin's Reactive Dog class that I began to truly understand my dog. That was just a few years ago when Stella was nine years old.
We spend a lot of time talking about puppies because it is imperative they experience proper socialization and also for the owners to have support in managing puppy behaviors, but our older dogs are just as important. If, for example, you engage in a hobby but set it aside for several months or even years, when you become interested in it again you will probably need to relearn bits and pieces. The same is true with dogs. Just because you taught them to hold a sit-stay as a puppy, doesn't mean a few years later they'll be able to hold a reliable sit-stay (unless of course you practice it regularly).
A refresher of the basics is a wonderful way to understand and communicate with your dog. If you have kids and they think your older dog is boring it's a great opportunity to get them involved in training, and a renewed sense of ownership of the family dog.
Unless you have a dog that is reactive to other dogs or people, our Basics 1 class is the perfect option for any dog six months and older. In Basics 1 we cover loose leash walking, sit, down, stay, leave it, watch, and more. Many people seem indignant that they should re-teach their dog to 'sit' or 'down,' however, we have a very specific method for training reliable behaviors and we ask that all students do their best to follow along and enjoy the process because after all, we're working toward the same goal of having fun while training, and training behaviors that we can not only achieve in the home, but also when out and about. We encourage our students to trust the process as they will surely enjoy the results at the end of the five week class.
If you do have a reactive dog, our Reactive 1 class is the perfect class for dogs of any age. Not only will you have a refresher of the basics, but you'll learn how to navigate tricky situations. Whether you sign up for Basics 1 or Reactive 1, not only can your "old" dog learn a few new tricks, but you can, too!
My Dog Never Listens!
Spot! Spot! Come here, Spot! Treats! Come get a treat! Spot, get in here already!
If you've attended any of the classes at All Dogs Go to Kevin, you are aware that we spend a great deal of time focusing on Come When Called. A reliable recall is important for two main reasons:
The above example of the dog named Spot, may be what you experience every day with your dog. We have a specific way of training a consistent and reliable recall. First, an important tip to remember in the early stages, is that whatever word you choose as your recall word--here or come—should only be used during training sessions. This provides complete accuracy in building a reinforcement history with the verbal cue. Secondly, we also suggest that if you have already been using a word like 'come' with little success, it would be best to start over and choose a new word for your dog's recall. In this case we would tell you to use 'here' as your new recall cue.
We want whatever word we use for coming when called to always be relevant to the dog. If he has had a history of ignoring the word you've chosen, it's already beginning to lose its relevance.
Let's use Spot as our training example. Spot never listens when he's having a great time in the yard. And why should he? It's reinforcing to bark at squirrels and he does not have a reinforcement history of coming to his owner and being rewarded, so why bother? At this point, coming to his owner simply means the fun will end and he'll be stuck inside, away from those fun squirrels.
Teach Spot the new verbal cue (in our example we will use the word 'here') for his recall. As we are doing this, we are also simultaneously teaching Spot that really good things happen when he responds to that cue. You will load up your hand with tasty treats - something that Spot doesn't get on a regular basis, like real meat or cheese. Spot will likely be very excited and stare at your hand. Wait (and wait, and wait!) for Spot to lose interest. This may take forever, but be patient.
Waiting for Spot to disengage from the food in your hand is a very important part of the process. If you skip this step, you will have a dog with a perfect recall when he knows that you have a hand full of food, but not in any other situation.
When at last he finally disengages, say, "Spot! Here!" and then throw the pile of treats on the floor. Practice this inside in a low-distraction environment, when Spot is only a few feet away from you to start. Please note, the recall word, in this case, here, is only said one time. After many repetitions, Spot is ready for the next step.
Enlist a friend or family member to hold Spot's leash and stand about eight feet away from you. Just as you did in the previous step you will say, "Spot! Here!" and reward Spot as soon as he reaches your feet.
What if Spot doesn't listen and just stares at my friend? It's tempting to continue chanting the verbal cue to Spot however, if we do this, 'here' will become just as meaningless as the verbal cue you used before you started training Spot for a reliable recall. For this reason, we coach our students to pat their legs, whistle, stomp the floor, clap, anything they need to do to get Spot's attention and come to your feet without repeating, "here". As soon as Spot reaches your feet you will give him that big handful of treats you have ready for him.
What if Spot comes to me, but then runs right back to my friend? We coach all of our students to employ a "collar grab" as soon as their dog reaches them. This accomplishes a couple of tasks:
Spot is ready for an added distraction. Have your friend load up their fist with treats. They will not be feeding Spot, rather their yummy smelling hand will act as a distraction (i.e. squirrel or good smell outside) while you call Spot. As Spot is happily sniffing your friend's closed hand you will say, "Spot, here!". 90% of the time on the first few trials, Spot will continue sniffing and ignore you. Your job is to ignore the fact that you want to keep shouting, "HERE! SPOT, HERE!"
Instead, you will engage Spot in other ways: clapping, stomping, whistling, etc. As soon as Spot responds and run to you, grab his collar, and your friend will throw that fist full of treats at your feet for Spot to enjoy. Repeat this step until your dog runs over the instant you call him with no delay. Soon you will be able to apply this out in the yard and successfully train your dog to have a reliable recall.
How can I practice this if I don't have another person to help?
We encourage our students not to rush through any of these steps and to contact us with any questions. Soon enough, just like Spot, your dog will be ready to practice this behavior in more distracting environments.
The Good Dog Myth
By Kevin Duggan, CPDT-KA
From time to time you'll come across a dog that just seems to listen to its owner without receiving any rewards. Those dogs are often labeled as "good dogs." But what if I told you that those dogs are actually a bit afraid and that's why they're doing what is asked of them? The owner may not be very harsh but the dog is just "soft."
More often than not dog owners would prefer for their dogs to just listen to them without doling out any consequences. Unforunately it doesn't work this way. A dog's life is all about consequences. Behaviors that lead to consequences that a dog likes will happen more frequently. When a dog figures out that jumping on the counter equals getting food, this doesn't make him a bad dog, it simply makes him a dog.
A dog doesn't have any desire to be good or bad. All a dog wants is to obtain things it enjoys and to avoid things that it finds aversive. We as humans throw out these labels as if a dog has a moral compass. We also are under the belief that good dogs are eager to please us and bad dogs are not. Humans really just overcomplicate things.
If we want to have a well-behaved dog ("a good dog") then there are things we need to do to make that happen.
1. Reward behaviors you want to see more of.
We have treat jars placed strategically throughout our home. This allows us to never miss a moment to reward a behavior that we like. You can wait for the behavior to happen and then reward it or you can ask your dog to do a behavior you like and then reward it. A down-stay on a mat or a bed is a fantastic behavior to reward. If your dog is holding a down-stay then they're not doing any bad behaviors. Our dogs are around eight years old and they still get rewarded with food. Because they've had a lot of training we can deliver our rewards a lot less frequently. With a young impulsive dog you'll have to reward much more frequently. But as mentioned, with strategic training you can spread the rewards out.
2. Manage so that your dog is unable to rehearse behaviors you don't like.
It's important to reward the "good" behaviors but it's equally as important to prevent the "bad" behaviors from happening. Gates, keeping counters clear, leashes and securing your garbage are all examples of managing the evironment so that your dog can't rehearse the unwanted behavior. Two of our dogs don't really care much about the things on the counters or the garbage but V is an opportunist. His mission of finding every ounce of food in the house beings the moment we leave. We can't train him not to do it when we aren't there, but we manage by putting up gates and babylocking the garbage in the cupboard.
3. Exercise.
It's no secret that a tired dog is a "good dog." Exercise is a way for the dog to get rid of excess energy. You can do walks or hire a dog walker, find a dog daycare or do 10-15 minutes of training. Another great way is a "work to eat" toy. Instead of giving your dog its entire meal from the dog bowl put it into a toy that makes your dog have to work to get the kibble out. There are a lot of different options out there. The right difficulty level will take your dog 10-20 minutes to consume its meal. During this time your dog is working its brain and its body (mental and physical exercise).
In closing, there is no such thing as a dog that is just "good." They're either a bit on the soft side, or they receive training and have their environments managed to assure they're staying out of trouble. Soft dogs are responding because they're a bit afraid and dogs that aren't soft aren't responding because they need training and their environments managed.
A "How To" On How To Give A Cue
A cue is a signal that is used to get a behavior to happen. Cues are a way that we communicate with our dogs and get them to do the things that we like. They can be done verbally or signaled. Some examples of verbal cues are "sit," "down," "come," "stay" and "leave it." Signaled cues for us are palm up for sit, palm down for down, and palm straight out for stay.
How to teach your dog a cue
The first thing you need to do is select the behavior you'd like to teach. For most behaviors it is easy to get it started with a food lure. A food lure is a piece of food that your dog gets to lick and nibble on while you get him to do the behavior you'd like. Once he does the behavior, he gets the food lure. Once he is doing this reliable we can start to add in the cue. If we were using "sit" as the example, we could have started with the dog in a stand (on all fours) and we would have had him follow the food lure as we brought it over his head and towards his rear. This should have caused him to fall into a sitting position. As soon as he is doing this reliably (4/5 attempts) we could add in the cue. Our cue for this is lifting our empty hand palm up over the dog's head. The recommendation is to just hold it there and wait for the dog to sit. Once he does, reward him with a treat from your other hand. If we wanted to go a step further and get the dog to do the behavior for a verbal cue then we would want to make sure the dog is doing the behavior reliably for the hand signaled cue. If he can do it for the hand signal 4/5 times then we can add it in. The way to do this is to say your verbal cue first, wait a few seconds and then follow with that hand signal. This will take several repetitions for the dog to get it. The point is to get the dog to see that the verbal cue actually predicts the hand signal. Once he gets it he will start to do the behavior before you have the chance to give him the hand signal.
How to ensure your cue is reliable
Once you've got your behavior on cue there are a couple things you want to do. The first thing is you want to make sure that the behavior cued always gets rewarded. If the behavior is not rewarded it will stop happening. This is because behaviors happen because of the consequence that comes from the behavior. You can reward the behaviors a few different ways. You can use food, toys, attention or other environmental reinforcers. Depending on the situation one will work better than the other.
The second thing you want to do is make sure that you only give the cue one time. Once you've got your dog responding to a verbal cue, say it once and see what happens. If the behavior doesn't happen, instead of repeating the cue, give the hand signal that you worked on prior to the verbal cue. This will increase the probability that the behavior will happen without losing the value of the verbal cue. Once again, make sure you reward the behavior. The point of only giving the cue once is because the more you give it without getting the response, the less value the cue has. This means that when you need it to happen, it probably won't. It's the same for a hand signal. If you repeat your hand signal over and over your dog will start to tune it out.
What to do if it just isn't working
If your dog was responding to your cues and all of the sudden stops it could be for a couple reasons.
One reason is because the environment may be too distracting. Distractions are competing motivators. This means that your dog finds those distractions appealing and wants to investigate them further. The best way to get your dog to respond when they are around is to practice your cues with them far away. A good way to do this is to introduce the cues in your home. Once they are happening reliably, go outside to the least distracting part of your yard and practice them. If you need to, go back to the beginning and lure a few. If you do have to go back to a lure to start, try to quickly get back to the hand signal. We don't want our dogs to be "lure dependent." (Lure dependency basically means that a dog will not do the behavior unless food is in sight.) Once your dog is doing the cues reliably, go to another part of your yard where the distractions may be a bit more intense. Follow the same pattern as mentioned above.
Another reason may be because your rate of reinforcement is too low. This basically means that you're moving a little too slow and not giving your dog enough reinforcement to continue with the behaviors. This typically happens when there are competing motivators. The best way to get your dog to respond to the cues is to ask for a behavior, reward it and repeat. This will increase the chances that your dog is staying focused on you and responding to your cues.
In closing
Your dog will never respond to your cues with 100% reliability, so don't expect it. Remember that they are animals and they have their own minds. The best way to get it to happen is to use a high rate of reinforcement, proof it in different environments with a variety of distractions and to go to the previous step if the first cue doesn't work. (Verbal, Hand Signal and then Food Lure) By always rewarding the behaviors you ensure that the chances of them happening again in the future are high. To set yourself up to always reward the behaviors it's a good idea to have a treat bag on you and treat jars throughout your home. Also remember that you can always leverage the thing that your dog is motivated to have. If you follow these guidelines you will have a dog that responds reliably to your cues.
The age old question, should you feed your dog from the table? What happens if you feed your dog from the table? Will this create begging? Let's take a deeper look.
Dogs do what works. This means that if hanging out by the table results in getting food scraps a dog will do it. This is what humans refer to as begging. Quite frankly, if what you have smells good, a dog is probably going to be interested which will equals begging too.
At this point you're probably assuming that feeding your dog from the table is bad. But what if we told you that you can feed your dog from the table and it won't result in having your dog's nose in your meal? The answer is to reward your dog while he is far away from the table. If you're consistent with this, your dog will develop a bias towards being away from the table instead of being near it.
A great way to make this happen is to teach your dog how to "lie down" and stay on cue. You can take those skills and cue him to stay and wait for his table scrap from there. (Side note: Not all table scraps are safe for dogs. Additionally instead of using table scraps you can use dog treats.)
In conclusion, by following what is mentioned here, you are allowed to feed your dog from the table as long as you feed him while he isn't right next to it. Regardless if you want to give table scraps or not, to decrease begging you should teach a down-stay and implement it at mealtime. During this implementation you'll want to use rewards to reinforce the behavior making it more likely to happen again in the future.
Here's a video on the subject
The first time I experience something new it can really stick out. This is the same for everyone. We all know how important first impressions are to us. But what about our dogs? Do they remember when they come across something new? Are they even paying attention? Let's look a little deeper.
Animals are always learning. They are either learning from the consequences of their behaviors or they're learning by way of association. I think we all understand consequences to behaviors. If you comb the beach for buried treasure and find some, you're likely to keep looking for more. This is because you like the consequence of looking for treasure. The consequence of finding the buried treasure is actually going to help build an association too. You're very likely now to love beaches. Imagine if this was your very first time at a beach?
Associations happen when something predicts something. If a beach predicts buried treasure, you're going to like beaches. If a dog hears a bell prior to receiving food, the dog is going to like the sound of a bell. Associations are always being built. The strongest association that happens for dog or human is the very first impression of something new. If a dog walks into our training center and is given lots of tasty treats, that dog is going to see that the training center predicts tasty treats and is going to build a positive association especially because of that first impression. If a dog is walking down the street and a bus goes by making a very loud startling noise, the dog is going to be afraid of buses because they predict loud noises which are scary.
It's extremely important to set our dogs up to see that new stimuli (people, places, noises, surfaces etc.) predict awesome stuff. This is especially important because that first experience is so salient. It's what is remembered most. Having a behaviorally sound adult dog is contingent upon those first impressions.
To set yourself and your dog up to succeed it's very wise to have tasty treats on you in a treat bag. The goal is to give your dog lots of great stuff a few seconds after it is experiencing something new. Scary bus goes by and your dog alerts to it, give him lots of good stuff. This will show him that buses going by predict awesome stuff. Once again, this is extremely important the very first time your dog experiences that thing.
Another way to set your dog up for success is to make sure that you aren't using a training device that causes any pain or discomfort. Choke chains, prong collars and shock collars all work via pain or discomfort. This is the easiest way to teach your dog that things in its environment predict things that the dog doesn't like. If you're currently using a device that works via pain or discomfort, take a look at this for alternate devices that will give you control and won't have any side effects.
Remember, first impressions matter to us and they matter to your dog. Take advantage of them. If you have a young dog, you're going to come across a lot of "firsts." Have your treats ready and build some positive associations.
Secrets From A Dog Trainer
Dog owners have questions, and dog trainers have answers. Most of the questions that dog owners have are due to the fact that their dog is doing behaviors that they dislike. That is where the answers from the trainer comes in handy. One thing that must be mentioned before continuing on here is that the dog training industry is unregulated. This means that anyone can call himself or herself a dog trainer and can give any type of answer without any proof that it will work or no mention of any side effects that could come from the advice given. So do your research before hiring a dog trainer. Click here for more information on that topic.
So lets get into some secrets to a happy, healthy, relatively stress free life with your dog.
1. Consistency is Everything
What does it mean to be consistent? It means providing things your dog enjoys after it does behaviors you enjoy and ensuring that your dog doesn't get anything it enjoys for doing behaviors that you don't enjoy. Getting good stuff for behaviors will most likely lead to reinforcement of those behaviors which means they will continue to happen in the future. So if you're providing good stuff for when your dog is lying on its bed instead of standing underfoot in the kitchen, you'll see more lying on the bed in the future and less underfoot in the kitchen.
If you're consistent about consequences you'll find that your dog is doing less to aggravate you. Be consistent about ensuing your dog isn't able to get into stuff when left alone. This can be done by utilizing a crate, a gate, or a dog daycare that is properly staffed and understands dogs.
Dogs also benefit from routines. If you're consistent about when they eat, train, and exercise things are much easier. If you're dealing with a dog that is eliminating in the house, one of the first things to do is get him on a strict schedule. If you live in a home with multiple people, ensure that everyone is being consistent.
2. Exercise is a Must
A lot of issues that people deal with on a daily basis are the result of a dog that hasn't had its needs met. It is a must to provide an outlet for your dog's energy. If you do not, your dog will find an outlet and it's going to result in frustration on your part. Yep, there goes your shoes, your wall, your socks... You'll end up chasing your dog around the house trying to catch him so he'll drop that forbidden object. A questions we get often as trainers is how to prevent the game of keep away. Well, with a young dog, it's inevitable that it will happen from time to time if there are management fails, but the best offense here is a good defense. That defense is helping your dog release its energy in an appropriate fashion.
You can provide exercise in multiple ways. One is to work the your dog's brain. This can be accomplished by doing 10-15 minute training sessions where you either working on regular obedience behaviors or you can even get fancy with it and teach tricks. Teaching tricks is a great way to improve your training skills as well. Click here to learn more about teaching tricks.
The other more obvious way is to do physical exercise. Walks, fetch, jogging, tug... There are so many ways to do it and a lot of it will get you exercise too. At least an hour of physical exercise for a young dog is a must. You've probably already caught on, but if you don't you'll regret it later.
3. Training is a Must
If you want to live in harmony with your dog then it's highly recommended to teach them skills like sit, down, stay, leave it, and come. Stay is one of the most valuable behaviors especially when you have multiple dogs. We use stay often when we are trying to get one dog outside and we don't want the other two to follow. Instead of getting into a power struggle trying to body block or overpower the other two, we ask them to go to their beds and remain there while the other dog goes outside. In return for this behavior they get a small food reward.
"Leave it" comes in handy in so many ways. We use the behavior of "leave it" in place of the word "no." Anytime that we would say "no" to our dogs we ask them to "leave it" instead because this is a behavior we have taught them. This behavior means to give up, or back off. "No" to a dog means nothing and the human ends up repeating it until they're voice gets louder and it startles the dog so it stops the behavior. This falls under the power struggle that we work to avoid.
4. Rewarding Behaviors is a Must
Food is usually the easiest reward that can be given. We recommend having small treat jars placed strategically throughout your home so you always have access to a reward to give at the opportune moment. This comes in very handy when you're having your dog stay, or come. The goal with rewarding behaviors is that it is going to serve as reinforcement which means the behavior will happen more frequently in the future. If behaviors that you like happen more frequently in the future, then you're going to be happy because if your dog is doing wanted behaviors, it isn't doing unwanted behaviors.
Different situations call for different rewards. If your dog likes to bolt out of the door, you can teach him to wait and if he does, the reward can be going outside. If your dog is very motivated to greet a person, that person serves as the reward at that moment. If your dog is pulling on leash to get to a fire hydrant, that hydrant could be the reward. All we need to do is teach/ask for behaviors and then provide access to the thing the dog wants when done correctly.
5. Socialization is a Must
A dog that is sequestered in a home all day everyday is very likely to develop issues when he finally gets to experience the world outside the home. Socialization is about building positive associations with the things that the dog comes across. If you're walking your dog and he sees a person, you can provide a piece of food for your dog noticing the person. With repetition, your dog will start to associate people it sees with stuff it likes. This is just a quick example. Ultimately though, it is extremely important to get your dog out so it can see the world and build positive experiences.
One of the mistakes people make is thinking that a dog will build the association all on its just be experiencing this stuff. It will most likely not work that way for your dog. And if you're using "training equipment" like shock collars, choke or pinch collars you could be helping your dog build negative associations. You can learn more about that here.
Take a look at this video for a real world example of socialization:
What is a bored dog?
A bored dog is an under stimulated dog that has not had his physical or mental needs met. A bored dog has lots of energy that needs to be released. When a human does not meet the needs of their dog, the dog finds a way to meet it's own needs. When a dog meets its own needs, it's typically happening in a way that annoys the human. Some examples are digging, barking, barking, barking, jumping on counters, getting in the garbage etc.
How to prevent boredom
Preventing boredom is a little labor intensive. Every dog is different so their individual needs are different. Generally speaking though about an hour of physical exercise is a good rule of thumb. This can be all done at once, or it can happen over multiple exercises. You can meet their physical exercise needs by going for walks, jogs, playing fetch, lure coursing, agility etc. This will keep their body active and obviously helps release energy.
If you think about it, most dogs spend 23+ hours inside the house each day. This is an animal that would probably be spending 20+ hours per day searching for food. Their bodies are designed to be active. Even for the dogs that get a lot of outside time in their yards, it's still pretty boring because it's the same old environment. Here in NE Ohio a lot of electronic containment systems have been popping up in residential areas. In most cases these dogs are being left outside by themselves. These dogs get bored pretty fast generally speaking and end up barking at everything that passes by. In those cases people are wondering why their dog is bored. Unless you have a huge property, most dogs don't find it very enjoyable to be out in a yard surrounded by an invisible line that produces a shock if they get too close. This actually causes a lot of frustration which leads to more barking. In that case too, whenever adding in aversives, negative associations can and will be built. So a dog that is bored at first and barking at things passing by, gets frustrated because it can't get to the things that are passing by. From there, at some point the dog will get too close to the line when the thing passes by and then the dog receives a shock. In the dog's mind the thing passing by caused him to get shocked and then the association is built. The dog now really dislikes when things go by and the barking increases.
That is just one example of how a bored dog leads to more unwanted behaviors that annoy their humans.
Another downfall of a bored dog finding it's own things to do is that your dog will probably be reinforcing it's own behaviors. If your dog is bored and gets into the trash, and in the trash is a bunch of tasty stuff, there is very good chance that in the future your dog will get into the trash. This means the behavior has been reinforced. This is just one example. But any behavior that a dog does to relieve boredom, it's very likely that the behavior will happen more and more which will get very annoying for you as the owner.
Another important way to prevent boredom is to provide mental stimulation for your dog. For starters, throw away that traditional food bowl. The easiest thing to do that isn't labor intensive at all for the human is to give the dog an interactive food toy. This means that your dog will have to work for its food. This will actually provide mental and physical stimulation. There are a lot of different options out there for interactive food toys. We actually sell some at our training center. Interactive food toys are beneficial because it makes the dog work for its food. If your dog is currently eating out of a bowl, the meal probably lasts less than 5 minutes. Using an interactive toy can take anywhere between 5-20 minutes to consume a meal. During that time your dog is using its brain to get the food. Additionally, a recent study showed that animals prefer to work for their food. It's a win-win.
Other ways to work your dog's brain include 10-15 minute training sessions, hiding food around the house and cueing your dog to find it, teaching tricks, playing hide and seek, chewing bones etc.
They say that 10 minutes of mental stimulation is equivalent to about 30 minutes of physical exercise. That isn't going to be true for every dog, but what we have found is that when you seriously work a dog's brain, it really tires them out. Dogs will even start panting from a mental workout.
In conclusion
While it may be a little labor intensive to meet your dog's needs, it needs to be done if you want to have a relatively stress free life with your dog. If you put the work in, your dog is less likely to go around looking for things to get into. You'll also see a huge decrease in the amount of barking your dog does. With some training, management, and ensuring your dog's needs are met, you will have a very happy life with your dog.
Do you ever go for hikes with your dog(s)? Hiking is a fantastic form of enrichment for most dogs. Here in NE Ohio we are very lucky to have the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that has a ton of different trails. We also have the Metro Parks which have a ton of trails.
Hiking is a great form of enrichment because there is so much to take in. All the sights and smells provide mental stimulation for your dog. Obviously as well, hiking is a great form of physical exercise. Depending on where you live you may have flat trails to choose from or even trails with many ups and downs to get you and your dog's heart rate going. Hiking for Kelly and I serves as a great way to just shut off our brains from all the day to day stuff that we deal with.
Hiking Etiquette
There are some rules to follow when hiking. Here in Ohio all of the trails that we know of have leash laws. Leash laws are in place for a reason. The biggest reason for us as dog owners is because a lot of us have dogs that do not enjoy the presence of all other dogs. Especially when approached in a very enthusiastic way. So it is nice to be able to hike with our dogs with the piece of mind that other dogs will not bombard us.
Another rule is to clean up your dog's waste. People really appreciate walking on a trail that isn't littered with dog feces. Okay, enough with the rules, let's move on.
What to bring
- Leash
- Anti-pull gear (Front hook harness or Head Halter)
- Water
- Poop Bags
- Spray Shield
- Treats
- Hiking boots really make a big difference
- Depending on where you're going you may want to bring some snacks
- Cell phone (put it away unless you're taking photos or have an emergency)
All of these things listed are important. Spray shield is something that we always carry just incase someone isn't following the rules and lets their off leash dog run up to our leashed dogs. (In general it is a bad idea to let your dog meet other dogs while on leash. This can create a lot of frustration and things can go south.) Anti-pull gear is super important. This can really make your hike enjoyable because your dog won't be yanking your arm off the entire time. If you're looking for ideas in this department we sell some at the training center. Hiking boots for us are really important too because we are going over different terrain which includes walking through streams. It feels good to have dry feet!
If you're new to hiking, try to find an easy trail to start. The CVNP for example has all the trails mapped out with the elevation changes and the distance. See if where you're planning on going has something similar. Be prepared to have some fun!
November 2019


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Opened 2016
Guest Rooms 149
Suites 12
King Rooms 98
Check in 3:00 PM
Check out 1:00 PM
Smoking rooms No
Pets allowed No
Self parking Free
Seasonal Rates: High Low Shoulder
Number of Meeting Rooms 6
Ideal Group Size 80
Max Group Size 80
Resort Fee N/A
Room Tax N/A
Sales Tax N/A
Airport Proximity
Del Bajio International Airport
10 min 5 miles (9 km)
HS HOTSSON Hotel Silao, an ideal meeting choice for small to large sized special events, accommodating up to 450 people in 3,962 sq. ft., the HS HOTSSON Hotel Silao is conveniently located, close to Puerto interior.
Offering flexible meeting spaces, state of the art technology, amenities and experienced planning professionals to ensure a successful meeting or gathering, HS HOTSSON Hotel Silao is an excellent choice for conferences, board meetings, planning sessions or special events. Whether you are planning a conference, banquet or a training session, the HS HOTSSON Hotel Silao professional planning staff is at your service taking care of each and every aspect of your special event or occasion.
Excellent breakout and social event areas are available. Meeting rooms offer 110/120 and 220/240-volt electrical systems, air conditioning, individual lighting controls and high-speed cable or wireless internet. Trust your next event to the professional team of HS HOTSSON Hotel Silao.
HS HOTSSON Hotel Silao, conveniently located near the airport, Cristo Rey and Guanajuato City, featuring spectacular architecture, superb facilities and upscale hotel amenities. Either if you travel for business or leisure, our service and excellent location near Puerto Interior, businesses and popular local attractions, we are the perfect option for you.
view in meters
Largest Meeting Room 3,961 ft²
Indoor Meeting Space 7,136 ft²
Indoor/Outdoor Meeting Space 7,136 ft²
Posted April 16, 2018
El día 16 de Abril, 2018 en el marco del Tianguis Turístico celebrado en la ciudad de Mazatlan Sinaloa, se hizo entrega al Grupo HOTSSON del reconocimiento, por su cumplimiento a las normas oficiales Mexicanas Turísticas, entro otros estándares legales obligatorios y opcionales, en favor de la calidad, la seguridad del turista y la profesionalización de los servicios, para hacer de México un destino de clase mundial.


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Confront yourself! Your father and I believe you can save yourself.
~Ji Sang's mother
Even if you have everything, it doesn't mean you can do everything you want. There's a lot more in the world that you can't do.
You don't believe in the present to change anything, you believe in it to survive.
~Park Ji Sang
You should go ahead and feel anger, sadness and pain.
When you get into the habit of hiding your feelings, on the days you want to vent, it's difficult to do so it's frustrating.
~Yoo Ri Ta
I can create the equality. Why must people who deserve to live longer die?
I just remembered that receiving a blessing in this world is never guaranteed.
I have become the devil to change the world and not allow myself to change because of the world.
~Lee Jae Wook
Nothing in life is guaranteed. However, you have started to expect too many to be guaranteed for you. You are not the doctor I know anymore.
~Min Ga Yeon
Category Archives: Blood
Korean Drama Review Blood
Blood (2015) 血
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Medical, Action, Vampire
Enjoyment: 8/10 (due to the ending) Pace: 9/10 No. of times I watched it: 1
starring Ahn Jae Hyun as Park Ji Sang, Baek Seung Hwan as Ji Sang (young), Koo Hye Sun as Yoo Ri Ta, Ji Jin Hee as Lee Jae Wook, Jung Hae in as as Joo Hyun Woo and Son Soo Hyun as Min Ga Yun.
This drama makes it such that vampires are just infected people. Liked the drama at the start when he tries to hide his identity of being a vampire while working at the hospital. He seems like a person without feelings when showing his cold-hearted side. He bluntly tells the patient how long they can live and treats them with scientific reasoning without any care. While humans want to live forever by becoming vampires, Ji Sang on the other hand actually wants to become human.
It is fun to watch when Ri Ta gets closer and closer to finding out about him. Ri Ta even misunderstands him as having some psychological illness like panic attack when he drops the scalpel during surgery as his medicine was exchanged for a fake one. Besides that, she is worried for Ji Sang whom she thinks has a deadly illness when all his measurements such a blood pressure are abnormal. In addition, she thinks that she is crazy after seeing Ji Sang's wound healing by itself. The scene filled with flowers where Ri Ta tries to make Ji Sang sweet-talk is extremely funny. Ji Sang's bed really looks like a coffin. Haha. It was sweet when Ri Ta wears winter clothes in order to be with Ji Sang in that cold coffin-like bed.
Liked Hyun Woo a lot in this drama. He is Ji Sang's friend, partner and caretaker. He is a brilliant researcher and discovers that there are indeed vampires in the world (which no one believes). Because of that, Ji Sang depends on him to find a cure for him to become human. He has a very cheerful personality and cares a lot for Ji Sang. Enjoyed how his robot Luuvy adds humour to the drama, especially when communicating with Hyun Woo. The robot even saves Hyun Woo's life once.
There is a twist which shocked me and perhaps kept me going in this drama. Really surprised by how Ga Yun is actually a vampire helping the vampire chief. Son Soo Hyun acted very well as the innocent-looking trainee and changed completely when it is known that she has an evil side when following orders and dealing with Ji Sang behind his back. Glad to see that the vampires also have feelings. Towards the end, they start to feel that what their leader is doing is wrong and oppose him.
Disliked the ending a lot, especially when Hyun Woo is killed. It would have been better if Ji Sang's team is able to find a cure to treat those people under the vampire chief's research and if there is more conflict about Ji Sang being human or not+ Ri Ta's possibility of getting the heredity deadly illness.
Click here to watch.
Favourite MVs+ osts: Only One by Tiffany Blood ost ig post
Click here for more Korean Drama reviews.


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Ear cuff with silver balls
Sterling silver ear cuff with balls.
* For hygiene, this product does not accept changes or returns.
**Very rigid structure, it can be adjusted but not overtighten it.
Marta Carriedo: "I also wanted to make some more basic ear cuffs to be able to wear daily. And they are these! … Also they match with our big hoops with balls to be able to take both together. I love the combination of both! These designs fit perfectly to the ear because they have a very small space between tip and tip, so you can be sure that you will never lose them."


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It's funny the things you think about when you are on the road full-time. Recently I found myself having a discussion with a vendor at the Tampa RV SuperShow. He was representing an RV resort in South Haven, Michigan and I joked with him that his resort looked very nice but that we had stayed at some "resorts" that didn't even deserve to be called "campgrounds." I even went so far as to suggest that there needed to be some government oversight in this matter.
I wasn't serious (but maybe I should have been?) because it would be nice if there was a way to tell if something truly was a resort. For example, the last "resort" we were at in Goodlettsville, TN had this view…
and no amenities to speak of and now we are staying at a place in Destin that doesn't bother to call itself a resort and it's the nicest place we've ever been.
I guess this is what Google reviews are for and we do look at those but sometimes you are in the middle of nowhere and there aren't tons of choices. This is further complicated by the differences in the things people are looking for as I think a pretty spot with a view is a requirement for a resort experience, but others may want a pool and fishing or miniature golf. And, it can be argued that some of the prettiest and nicest spots aren't in resorts at all but in state or national parks.
As sometimes happens in these blogs, I'm not sure there's a point to this but I feel better having got it off my chest! 😊


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Appointment was brief but unpleasant this morning.
Frau Doktor had to yank out the old spring as the gap it had produced wasn't wide enough. She inserted a new, stronger one – which should increase the gap significantly – and that involved some rather strenuous pushing and pulling. I felt the teeth straining in my upper jaw. It was quite unpleasant and she did apologize.
I hadn't realised why it was so necessary though until she explained: Mr Surgeon needs enough space between the roots, not the teeth themselves, to saw through. If there isn't enough space, he could damage my root canals. If she hadn't inserted this new, stronger spring, it would be necessary to remove my brackets and start again with the braces. No way José!
There is already a little aching, which always happens after everything gets yanked around. Thank God for painkillers and understanding, practical, good-at-cooking-and-reading-bedtime stories spouses! The Three ???
When I started this procedure, Mum was still alive and she promised me that she would come over to support me during the post-op time. I was also assuming (yes, I am making an ass of you and me!) that she would be on hand with wise, kind and soothing words for me. Now she isn't and I am feeling rather sorry for myself today.
Let's change the subject -sigh.
BD – bless her! – has constructed a swing for Nellie, Saffie and Trixie. The idea is to get them excited before the penthouse opens. Construction is underway and if I can get a copy of the blueprints, I'll post it on here. This is the swing:
So, enough for tonight. Night night, sleep tight, in the morning comes the light.


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"THE SECRET AND THE BUTTERFLY contains explicit instances of marital and relationship cheating, child abuse and an instance of hypnosis that leads to the suicide and murder of a woman and her children. If you have a fragile psyche or suicidal tendencies you are strongly discouraged from reading this book."
I'm reclusive by choice. I live near the edge of a wilderness area and my best friends are the forest animals. I love watching them go about their lives. I like to disappear into the wild for several days or a week at a time to get my best ideas and do my thinking. I have one house pet, a big tabby cat named Bud.
Momma Hellmouth's Review
The Secret and The Butterfly by Rosemary Ness-Bitner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My Review of The Secret and the Butterfly by Rosemary Lightfoot Ness-Bitner
My Rating 4 stars
What a Read! This is a very intense story and it was very different from what I'm used to reading. I enjoyed the different elements and the psychological behaviors that each character shows us. The erotic elements are very hot, this is not a read for anyone who may have triggers when reading. The story was well written and refreshing from what I'm used to. I look forward to more from this author so I can see where she takes our minds next!
*Reviewed for Hellmouth's Bookblog & Reviews