The Magic Button - Every Dog Has One.

There have been times that we all wish there was a magic button we could push to turn our beloved pet off when a situation arose that caused the dog to become very excited and noisy and almost uncontrollable! Well there is such a button!!! Not a physical button, but a word that when spoken by you causes the dog to become calm, quiet, still, controllable, paying attention, doing what you want it to do rather than acting crazy, and uncontrollable.
The magic word is YES! When spoken by you, your dog will listen to you and act in a calm, serene, tranquil, peaceful, placid manner! How do you get this to work on you dog? You just say the word YES as you give the dog a piece of food. I use small pieces of chicken hot dogs. My dogs love hot dogs, but you can use any piece of food your dog likes so long as you can give it in small pieces as you say the word - YES-! I just have the dog stand or sit in front of me and give it pieces of chicken hot dog as I say YES until I give it the whole hot dog. [Remember to do at least twenty repetitions.] Cut the hot dog lengthwise into quarters and each quarter into 12 or 13 pieces.
Why does this magic button word work so well on the dog. Well, what you are doing is establishing a conditioned reflex on the part of the dog to the word YES. You are causing the dog to think of food every time you say YES. It is a physical fact that the dogs body produces the least amount of Adrenaline when it is eating. When thinking of food, the dogs body goes into a set pattern where the blood goes to the stomach and other processes go into effect. Instead of producing Adrenaline, the dog's body produces Serotonin, natures equivalent to the drug, Prozac. The main thing is, the dog becomes calm when thinking of food! That enables YOU to control the dog, give it a CUE that will bring about desired behavior. YES gets the dog to pay attention to you, acts as a calming agent for the dog, is a method of telling the dog that all is well. YES is never a command, is never correctable! ES gives you instant control!
After you have taught the dog to respond correctly to YES, you are then ready to teach your dog any other behavior you desire!
An ancillary effect of the training to establish the Magic Button with your dog is the reduction of the strength of the dogs Visual - Oral Reflex. In the wild, the young dog has to have a very strong Visual - Oral Reflex in order to enable it to catch prey for food. The young dog sees an object move and grabs at it with its mouth. If successful, the dog gets to eat. If unsuccessful, the prey escapes and the dog does not eat. This sight - bite reflex is usually strong in puppies. The young animal grabs at every thing it sees moving, including hands, feet and clothing. When young children are part of the dogs pack, the quick movements of the children cause the pup to grab at them causing problems due to the needle-like teeth of the puppy.
The training of the dog with the piece of hot dog being placed in the dogs mouth, causes the dog a pleasurable experience each and every time it sees a hand moving towards it. The dog learns to open its mouth in expectation of the food being placed in its mouth, and this, coupled with the food being presented in an overhand method ( dominant ) as apposed to a an underhand (submissive ) presentation, teaches the dog to inhibit the bite reflex. As the training continues, the dog's learning to inhibit this reflex can lead to the eventual extinction of the Visual - Oral Reflex.
I always have my clients give the food with their left hand and work the dog on the left side. The reason for this method of presentation is that the dog is left brain dominant. That means that the right side of the dogs body is the dominant side. Hence, working with the left hand enables you to work in a mirroring fashion, using the right side [dominant] of the dog, thus making it easier for the dog to learn.
If you use your left hand and move it in a very slow fashion, the dog will be able to focus on your hand and hence better able to develop concentration. Using the dogs right side to instruct is the natural way for the dog to learn, enabling it to learn easier, retain it longer and execute the behavior with greater exactitude.