Lauren Girard is a blogger and the owner and trainer of the popular internet star, Paige the border collie. Lauren has produced numerous trick videos of Paige which have been posted to YouTube. Slowly but surely, she has developed a large fan base. Her popular videos have given rise to large media opportunities such as being published in Reader’s Digest, appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman, and gaining national spotlight in many commercials such as the 1800-PetMed advertisements
Lauren brought Paige home when she was only 10 weeks old, and since that day their bond has only grown stronger. Paige is a dutiful workaholic that can quickly familiarize herself with any new trick. She has limitless energy and always has a smile on her face! Despite her silly antics, dog training has become one of Lauren’s most favorite hobbies and strongest passions; something she never thought she would enjoy this much before she got Paige. Along with tricks, Lauren and Paige also spend much of their time together training and participating in competitive dog sports, such as obedience, agility, flyball, and even canine freestyle…they love it all!
When training, Lauren uses positive reinforcement along with clicker training. Positive reinforcement entails rewarding a dog for desired behavior with food, toys or even the environment. Clicker training uses a clicker to mark a specific moment of a desired behavior. The clicker is a perfect tool to mark behavior because it has a very distinguishable sound. The sound signifies a treat will be given and helps to reinforce appropriate actions. This method of training allows dogs to think about and process their behavior as opposed to them being forced into certain actions. By using this method, Paige has flourished.
Find Lauren and Paige at their blog, http://snuggliepuppy.wordpress.com.
Follow their adventures also on YouTube at youtube.com/snuggliepuppy, on Facebook at facebook.com/PaigetheBorderCollie, and on Twitter @PaigetheBC.