While many trainers and pet owners use the Treat&Train® for training their pets, one unique use occurs at Ontario ARC (OARC), a facility whose mission is to “create great opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” Their Pet Connections Program uses Animal Assisted Interventions to encourage individuals with various disabilities to improve their range of motion, work on strength and endurance, and to enhance their social interactions with others. The program headed by Program Manager, Gail Furst, CPDT-KA, in conjunction with the Occupational Therapist, Brenda Burton, uses the Treat&Train® for individuals who are unable to deliver the treat to the dog using their

Howdy Ya’ll! Like I promised, today I’m going to demonstrate how you to can perform one of the death defying stunts as seen on my Christmas Video: A Jack Russell Christmas.  Actually I’ll start with a potentially delicate one that can also be used for household clean-up tasks. You saw in the video where I put a toy and tissue paper back into a bag. This trick is just a variation of my daily chore of cleaning up my toys. Here’s how I learned the trick. First of all, I already knew fetch so the part about picking up an object and

        But even if you’re not a black belt in karate, you can still learn a basic karate kick. Here’s how I learned it. The key to this trick for me was figuring out that I was supposed to lift a hind leg. A clicker or some marker word that means a treat is coming is essential. My human had to click while I was lifting a hind leg, but the trick was that I had to be aware that I was lifting my hind leg. Otherwise I couldn’t perceive that the click was associated with that

Howdy Ya’ll. Today is part 3 of my wonderful tricks and stunts class. Today, you’ll see how I learned how to pull a tissue out of a bag. This was the easiest trick of the Christmas video. Back as a wee young-un, I learned how to pull Kleenex® out of a box in response to a “sneeze” cue.  But how did I learn the Kleenex® trick? First off, I already knew to fetch. If you don’t know how to fetch yet, go here to see how your human can help teach you. In that video, she uses a Treat&Train® but you could just use

Now that you’ve seen my Christmas special and are in complete awe, I’ll give you a little recap of my death-defying stunts. Then in the next 3 blogs I’ll actually show you step-by-step how I learned some of them.      Jonesy      First of all, remember how I was practicing my jumping skills? That’s because leaping was very important. I had to leap on and off the bed.      Jonesy      Leap onto a cat tree (and then down in order to get off!)        Jonesy        And then leap onto and off of

It’s a two-day countdown to my Christmas special video and I know my fans have lots of questions about it and about how to become a superstar actor.  First, I have to tell you, it’s not for everyone. Acting is very demanding. Our recent shoot lasted 10 grueling hours. Here are some of the activities I had to endure.       Jonesy         For one, I had to do a bunch of tricks to earn treats (most of which was my regular kibble!). I think I ate enough for full day and a half! Do I look