7 Terms Every Pup Parent Should Know
One happy puppy
After a day of playing in the yard, Maggie is ready to chill on the porch with us. What a happy puppy she is!

Jake helping me paint!
The pups are with me no matter what I’m doing. On this day I was getting ready to paint a table and Jake was right by my side 🙂

TERM #1- RECALL
Recall is interchangeable with ‘come when called’. So basically, recall refers to your dog’s ability to come back to you when you call him/her. Recall is one of the most important behaviors you can teach your dog! Make sure you use high quality treats while training your pup on Recall. This will show them at coming back to you when called can be very delicious 🙂
TERM #2- MARKING/CLICKER
So for example, if you are teaching your dog to sit you would ‘mark’ that behavior the instant your dog’s butt hits the ground.
Marking can be done by using a ‘marker word’ like “yes” or “good” or by using a training clicker. A clicker is a simple tool that gives a distinct “click” noise when pressed.
By using a marker word or clicker while training, you can more clearly help your dog identify the exact moment they did a behavior correctly. And when they understand the timing of when they did something right, the more likely they’ll be to do it again in the future!
TERM #3- ZOOMIES
The zoomies are essentially when your pup gets a burst of energy and runs wildly around. It can involve running back and forth, spinning in circles, overall just acting a little wild.
It often happens right before your dog is getting ready for bed, when you come home, and/or after a bath.
The only cure for the zoomies is letting your dog zoom around 😅
Jake...you are never gonna catch me! Love, Maggie!
At 5 years old these two still get the “zoomies”. They love playing in our shrubs. On this day we were trimming and mulching and the dogs enjoyed a game of hide, seek, and chase!

Bite inhibition is best learned by doing proper training when your pup bites.
But the most effective way to teach bite inhibition is by having your puppy play with other dogs. Dogs have a natural way of letting other dogs know when bites are too hard and painful.
Don’t skip out on puppy play dates! This is where we went wrong with Jake And Maggie. They were sick when we got them due to a poor breeding. Yes, we saved them from a very bad situation. So having them around other animals was not safe. We also spent too much time training them with just the four of us and not taking them around other puppies their age. We learned our lesson and quickly made the necessary changes in our training to help acclimate them to new environments.
TERM #5- CAPTURING
Capturing is simply a technique of ‘marking’ a behavior your dog naturally does.
For example, if you’re trying to teach your dog to lie down you might wait for them to lie down on their own and then ‘mark’ and reward that behavior. After doing that a few times, you can start adding a cue word (lie down) so your dog pairs the behavior with a term.
Capturing is a very effective way to turn natural behaviors into behaviors you can ask for on cue!
TERM #6- JACKPOTTING
Jackpotting is simply giving your dog a better reward (think real steak vs normal treats) or giving your dog more of their normal reward.
For example, instead of just giving one or two treats like you normally would you could give 4-5 treats when your dog does something you really want from them.
Jackpotting is a great way to more strongly reinforce behaviors!
TERM #7- INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT
Similar to the above, keeping your dog guessing can be a very valuable tool when training!
Intermittent reinforcement is simply giving your dog rewards at a random interval.
So, instead of giving a treat every time your dog does a trick, you only give a reward/treat every 2 or 3 times. Of course, at the beginning of teaching a new behavior, you’ll want to reward each time.
But as your dog progresses with that behavior, you can start to randomize the reward interval to help keep your pup guessing and wanting to listen!
Playing ball is Maggie's favorite activity!
I say the word “ball” and Maggie’s face lights up!

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