Send us a textConnection is our base behavior. It is where learning begins. What are base behaviors and why go through the process of teaching them?"It’s about teaching the dog to move to the platform as a choice, or to move the foot as a choice, or to lower their head as a choice, not necessarily about where they just got the reinforcer.  The base position becomes a place where the dog chooses to go to, when they are not sure what to do," says Kay Laurence of Learning About Dogs.In this episode, Sue McGuire and Kay Laurence dive into the value of teaching our dogs the concept of base behaviors as a path of communication and engagement.Courses: Kay Laurence will be conducting an eight-week online  course on Clean Training,  through Learning About Dogs. "This course will focus on examining the component skills that develop really clear communication between two different species with training and teaching that leaves no doubts, no confusion and no uncertainty." This course starts August 14th.Sue McGuire will be teaching a six-week in person course at the Humane Society of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, California on "Living with Dogs. "This dog-centered approach embraces that dogs are dogs and understanding their innate behaviors opens a world of possibilities of learning for human and dog. The focus is helping people develop the kind of world in which their dogs succeed. This course starts August 17th. A second session will start October 5th.