RESOURCES
Dog Training, Translated.
When you bring your dog to Partners Dog School, you are coming to the largest and highest-rated dog facility in the Southwest. Whether you want to stop problem behaviors, improve your dog's manners, take a few classes, socialize your dog in daycare, or just get a bit of exercise in agility; we have a number of programs to suit all of your interests and goals. If you don't know where to start, take the quiz below, or schedule a call with one of our amazing support team. That way we can find the best program for you and your dog!
A
- AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC)
- A 10-skill behavior evaluation from the American Kennel Club that certifies a dog as a polite, reliable companion in public. See our CGC program →
- Aggression
- Threat or harm behavior (growling, snapping, biting, lunging) directed at people, dogs, or resources. Almost always rooted in fear, frustration, or guarding — not 'dominance.' Behavior Camp →
- Aversive
- Anything the dog finds unpleasant and works to avoid. The label gets weaponized in training debates — aversive does not automatically mean harmful. A properly conditioned e-collar tap, a well-fitted prong collar, or a leash pressure cue can all be aversive in the technical sense and still be safe, clear, and humane in skilled hands.
- Anxiety
- A sustained state of worry or hypervigilance — not just a one-time scare. Often shows up as pacing, panting, whining, destructive chewing, or shadowing the owner. Separation Anxiety →
B
- BAT (Behavior Adjustment Training)
- A protocol developed by Grisha Stewart that uses controlled distance and the dog's natural choice to teach calmer responses to triggers (reactive dogs, fearful dogs). Behavior Camp →
- Baseline
- How your dog behaves on a normal, unstressed day. Knowing the baseline makes it obvious when something is off — earlier intervention, better outcomes.
- Bite Inhibition
- A dog's learned control over how hard they use their mouth. Healthy bite inhibition means a startled or play-bitey dog leaves no mark — a critical safety skill puppies build with littermates and during socialization.
- Bonding
- The relationship of mutual trust and engagement between dog and handler. Built through clear communication, fair leadership, and shared positive experiences — not treats alone.
C
- Counter Conditioning
- Pairing a trigger (the thing the dog reacts to) with something the dog loves, repeatedly, until the trigger predicts good things instead of bad. Core tool for reactivity and fear work. Private Lessons →
- Crate Training
- Teaching the dog the crate is a calm, safe den — not a punishment. Essential for housebreaking, travel, vet rest, and giving the dog a place to decompress.
- Capturing
- Marking and rewarding a behavior the dog offers on their own (lying down, looking at you), so it happens more often. The lazy-genius of dog training.
D
- Desensitization
- Gradually exposing the dog to a trigger at an intensity low enough that they stay relaxed, then slowly raising intensity. Usually paired with counter conditioning.
- Default Behavior
- What the dog does without being asked. We want defaults like 'sit when the doorbell rings' or 'check in with handler off-leash' — not jumping or pulling.
- Differential Reinforcement
- Reinforcing one behavior while withholding reinforcement for another (e.g., reward four-on-the-floor, ignore jumping). Cleaner than punishment, faster than waiting it out.
- Door-Bolting
- Charging out of an open door before being released. A safety problem first, a manners problem second — fixed with a strong threshold and 'wait' cue. Door-Bolting →
- Drive
- A dog's motivation for a specific category of reward — food drive, prey drive, play drive, social drive. Good trainers shape and channel drive instead of suppressing it.
E
- e-Collar
- A modern remote training collar that delivers a low-level vibration or static stim. At the level a properly conditioned dog perceives, it functions as a tap on the shoulder — clear communication at distance and off-leash. We use e-collars routinely in advanced recall, snake-avoidance, and Transform Camp work. The trainer's skill is what determines whether the tool builds confidence or breaks it. Train with our team →
- Engagement
- The dog actively choosing to focus on the handler, even with distractions present. Engagement is the floor — without it, no other skill is reliable.
- Enrichment
- Activities that satisfy a dog's mental and species-specific needs — sniffing, chewing, problem-solving, foraging. Bored dogs make their own enrichment, and you usually won't like their choices.
- Extinction
- Stopping a behavior by removing the reinforcement that maintained it. Often involves an 'extinction burst' — the behavior gets worse before it disappears.
F
- Fear-Free
- A certified approach (Fear Free Pets) focused on reducing fear, anxiety, and stress during vet, grooming, and training experiences.
- Flooding (Don't Use)
- Forcing a dog to face a trigger at full intensity until they 'give up' reacting. Outdated, often traumatic, and not used at Partners Dogs — desensitization is the safer, more durable path.
- Focus
- A learned skill where the dog locks attention on the handler on cue. Different from engagement — focus is specifically the eye contact and orientation.
- Foundation
- The core obedience and life-skills layer every dog needs before specialty work — sit, down, place, recall, loose leash, settle. The slab under the house. Foundation Training Camp →
G
- Generalization
- The dog performing a behavior reliably across new locations, distractions, handlers, and surfaces — not just in the kitchen where they learned it.
- Group Class
- A weekly class with multiple dog-handler teams, used to build skills around real-world distractions while a trainer coaches you. Group Classes →
H
- Habituation
- The dog stops reacting to a repeated, non-threatening stimulus (e.g., the AC kicking on). Different from training — it's just the brain filtering normal background noise.
- Heeling
- Walking in position next to the handler with attention and pace matched to yours. Different from loose-leash walking — heeling is a precision skill. Training Camp →
- High-Value Reward
- Something the dog REALLY wants — boiled chicken, freeze-dried liver, a favorite tug toy. Reserved for hard environments and new skills.
I
- Impulse Control
- The dog choosing to wait, settle, or hold position instead of grabbing the steak / chasing the rabbit / bolting the door. The foundation of every reliable cue.
- Imprinting
- The early developmental window (roughly 3–14 weeks) when puppies form lifelong impressions of people, dogs, surfaces, sounds, and environments.
L
- LIMA (Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive)
- A framework that asks the trainer to choose what fits the dog, the situation, and the handler — not the dogma. We respect the principle but we are not bound by purist interpretations of it. The right tool is the one that produces a confident, well-mannered dog and a sustainable result for the family.
- Loose-Leash Walking
- The dog walks without putting tension on the leash — they can sniff, look around, change pace, as long as the leash stays slack. Not the same as heeling. Leash Pulling →
- Luring
- Using food or a toy to guide the dog into a position (e.g., lifting a treat over the head to get a sit). A starting tool — fade the lure fast or it becomes a bribe.
M
- Marker Training
- Using a precise sound (clicker, 'yes', whistle) to mark the exact moment a dog does the right thing, then reward. Sharpens learning by closing the gap between behavior and feedback.
- Modification (Behavior)
- Changing an established behavior pattern — fear, reactivity, resource guarding — rather than teaching a new obedience cue. Slower, more nuanced work. Private Lessons →
N
- Negative Punishment
- Removing something the dog wants to decrease a behavior (e.g., ending the play session when puppy bites too hard). The 'P-' quadrant of operant conditioning.
- Negative Reinforcement
- Removing something the dog dislikes to increase a behavior (e.g., releasing leash pressure when they yield). The 'R-' quadrant — often misunderstood; not the same as punishment.
O
- Obedience
- The dog responding promptly and reliably to known cues — sit, down, come, heel, place — in real-world conditions.
- Off-Leash Reliability
- The dog holds cues — especially recall and heel — without a leash, around distractions. The end-state of foundation training. Training Camp →
- Operant Conditioning
- Learning by consequence — the behavior's outcome (good or bad) shapes whether it happens again. The framework behind the four quadrants (R+, R-, P+, P-).
- Overstimulation
- The dog has tipped past their ability to think — too much arousal, too many triggers stacked. Looks like zoomies, barking, frantic mouthing, or shutting down.
P
- Pack Walk
- A structured group walk with multiple dogs, used to build neutrality, calm leash skills, and social manners in a controlled setting.
- Place Command
- The dog goes to a specific bed, cot, or mat and stays there in a relaxed down/sit until released. The Swiss Army knife of household manners — solves jumping, door-bolting, begging, and chaos. Training Camp →
- Positive Punishment
- Adding something the dog wants to avoid to decrease a behavior (e.g., a leash correction or an e-collar tap). The 'P+' quadrant. Used at Partners Dogs when it is the right communication for the dog — always after conditioning, always with proper timing. Skill, not avoidance, is what makes this quadrant work.
- Adding something the dog dislikes to decrease a behavior (e.g., a leash correction). 'P+' quadrant — used sparingly and only with skill at Partners Dogs.
- Positive Reinforcement
- Adding something the dog wants to increase a behavior (food, praise, play, access). 'R+' quadrant — the workhorse of skill-building.
- Premack Principle
- 'Grandma's rule' — the dog must do a less-preferred behavior (sit) to access a more-preferred one (go sniff). A clean way to teach manners without bribery.
- Prong Collar
- A martingale-style collar with blunt metal prongs that distribute leash pressure evenly. A communication tool — not a torture device — when fitted correctly and used by a trained handler.
Q
- Quadrants of Operant Conditioning
- The four ways behavior is shaped: positive reinforcement (R+), negative reinforcement (R-), positive punishment (P+), negative punishment (P-). Every interaction with your dog uses one of them — usually without you realizing.
R
- Reactivity
- Over-the-top responses (barking, lunging, spinning) to specific triggers — other dogs, strangers, bikes, cars. Usually fear or frustration in a leash, not 'aggression.' Behavior Camp →
- Recall
- The dog comes when called, every time, regardless of distractions. The most important safety skill a dog can have.
- Reinforcement
- Anything that makes a behavior more likely to happen again. Food, play, praise, freedom, access — reinforcement is in the dog's eye, not yours.
- Resource Guarding
- The dog protects food, toys, beds, or people with growls, freezes, or bites. Common, treatable — and dangerous to 'correct out' instead of modify. Resource Guarding →
S
- Settle Cue
- A learned 'go calm' signal — the dog lies down, exhales, and downshifts arousal on cue. The off-switch most pet dogs never get taught.
- Shaping
- Building a complex behavior by reinforcing successively closer approximations. How dogs learn to ring a bell, fetch the leash, or weave through legs.
- Socialization
- Structured, positive exposure to people, dogs, environments, surfaces, sounds, and handling. Not 'let your puppy play with every dog' — that's how reactivity is made. Group Classes →
- Socialization Window
- Roughly 3–14 weeks old, the developmental period when puppies most easily form positive associations. What they meet now shapes who they become.
- Stimulus Control
- A behavior happens on cue, only on cue, and reliably on cue. The mark of a finished skill.
T
- Targeting
- Teaching the dog to touch a target (hand, stick, mat) with their nose or paw. The building block of many tricks, husbandry skills, and service-dog tasks.
- Threshold
- The line between 'dog can think' and 'dog has flipped.' Under threshold — they can learn. Over threshold — they can only react. Training happens under threshold.
- Trigger Stacking
- When multiple stressors pile up faster than the dog can recover — vet visit, then mailman, then guest. The reaction looks 'out of nowhere' but the math was building all day.
V
- Variable Reinforcement Schedule
- Rewarding behavior intermittently (not every time) once it's learned. Maintains durability — same principle that makes slot machines addictive.
W
- Watch Cue
- On cue, the dog locks eyes with the handler. A reset button for when the world gets noisy.
- Working Drive
- A dog's appetite for purposeful task — herding, retrieving, scent work, protection. High-drive dogs need a job; without one, they invent one.
Y
- Yielding
- The dog softens to gentle leash pressure and moves WITH the leash instead of bracing against it. Foundational for loose-leash walking and handling.
Have a term we missed?
If a trainer, vet, or behaviorist used a word and you're still wondering what it means — send it over. We'll add it to the glossary and answer your question directly.
Keep Going
The glossary defines the words. These pages put them in context.