| How to Train a German Shepherd Posted: 05 Feb 2017 04:00 PM PST Few canines display the grace and majesty of the German Shepherd. In addition to being one of the most loyal dog breeds, they are also working dogs that generally enjoy learning. Because German Shepherds have all these traits, being extremely smart, athletic, and eager to please, they are very versatile and trainable animals. EditTraining a German Shepherd Puppy - Begin your training attempts at around eight weeks old. Although any German Shepherd dog is trainable, they are very strong and powerful animals. If you start out with a puppy, you have the opportunity to shape and mold its personality and develop your relationship early.
- If you happen to get an older dog, adult dogs can still be trained effectively.
- German Shepherds can be very protective of their family members, so you want to socialize your puppy early in puppyhood. This will get them used to interacting well with a wide variety of people and animals, which is essential.
- Start gently handling your puppy's paws, ears, tail, etc. This will be a big dog, and you want to prepare the dog when they are young and small for future grooming and veterinary visits. They may need nail trimming, ear cleaning, temperature taking and other procedures. These procedures will be difficult to accomplish should your full-sized adult German Shepherd dog object.
- Begin training your puppy with basic commands. You will need to train them to sit, stay, and heel, in addition to house training them. Your puppy will not understand your commands immediately. Have patience with your dog when they don't do exactly what you ask right away.
- Use food treats and praise to reinforce your commands. German Shepherds love to learn and they are highly motivated to follow your commands it they are rewarded with treats.
- Prevent feed bowl aggression. Pet your puppy while they're eating, as long as they do not stiffen and stop eating when you are petting the puppy. If the puppy stiffens, stops eating or growls, you have to deal with this aggressive response immediately.
- Teach your puppy that people are not a threat to the food bowl by adding food to the bowl while they are eating. Start with a few kibbles (or whatever type of food you normally feed) in the bowl and add food so the puppy associates good things with people near the food bowl.
- Address food aggression. Do this by removing the food bowl and feeding the dog by hand.[1] The puppy needs to earn each and every piece of food from you with a "sit" or some other command. There is no bowl to guard.
 - Once the puppy is more confident and compliant around food, you can bring out a plate or bowl and continue your hand feeding routine in the presence of the bowl or plate, but don't feed directly on the plate yet.
- Make the bowl no big deal. If a piece of food is dropped inside, let the puppy take it and praise them. Then feed nearby again. The bowl will not always have food inside. Gradually increase the amount of food you drop in the bowl as you stand or sit there with the puppy. It won't take long before the puppy realizes that you near the bowl means food and good things and it is not something to guard.
- You can also add high value treats like roasted chicken breast into the bowl if your puppy seems to need more reassurance that you bring goodness to the food bowl.
- If, at any time, you feel that you are in danger. STOP. Get a professional trainer involved immediately to prevent harm to yourself or another family member, particularly a child. Resource guarding can be a very serious symptom of fear aggression and, if you are seeing this in a puppy, it needs to be addressed ASAP so it does not escalate.
- Use feeding time as a training time. You can gradually ask the puppy to look at you to get more food, then sit and wait for more food, etc.. The humans controls the resource of food and rewards the puppy for good behavior.
- Wean your puppy off of treats for performance. After your puppy has mastered a command, start treating intermittently so that you don't have a dog that will only perform for food. You still praise your dog, just not offer a treat each time. If you are working to modify a command to create a faster response, add in treats again to shape the behavior until they have it down. Then start using treats to reward truly outstanding performance.
- Do not create fear in your puppy. Do not yell at your pet. Learn to recognize when you are losing patience and stop the training session on a happy note. Your dog can sense your frustration in your body language and tone of voice. Try another day when you are both fresh.
- If you continue to have problems, get a professional trainer involved.
- Enroll your German Shepherd puppy in a basic or puppy obedience class. Typically, as puppies are first learning commands, one adult family member will be responsible for training. Later, when the puppy is consistent and understands the basics, other members of the family can participate in formal training. It is important for the dog to understand that not only one person in the household is to be obeyed.
- Your puppy should be 8-10 weeks old and started on their vaccine series for this first class. There are puppy preschools designed for puppies who have not yet finished receiving all of their vaccines. The school will have certain requirements for enrollment and you will likely have to provide proof of vaccination.
EditTraining an Adult German Shepherd - Begin with dog training basics. German Shepherds are not necessarily any different than other dogs when it comes to training. If your dog does not know simple commands, such as sit and heel, then start with those.
- It is important to begin training by building trust between you and your dog. Keep training sessions happy and short and give the dog a break in between lessons for play and a drink.
- Use food, praise, and toys as motivators. Food is a powerful motivator for most dogs. Other dogs, particularly those with a high prey drive, respond well to toys as a reward. Either way, praise, in addition to a reward that is valuable to your dog, is used to communicate to your dog that they have performed well.
 - The timing of the reward is extremely important. Your praise and reward will need to come within two to three seconds of the behavior you are reinforcing. If the dog does something else in between the desired behavior and the reward, you are rewarding the last thing that the dog performed. For instance, if you want to teach the "sit" command, the praise and treat should be delivered when the dog is sitting with all feet on the ground. If you deliver the praise/treat with one paw up or as the dog starts getting up, you have just rewarded the dog for that most recent behavior.
- Treats should be small and tasty. Consider three types: Low, medium and high value treats. Keep these in your arsenal to help your dog learn commands. When they first learn a new command, you may need medium or high value to treats to start them off and treat for every success. As they understand the command more, start adding in lower value treats intermittently. You can always go back to high value treats at any time you want to let the dog know they did something exceptionally great and you want them to remember that so you get that behavior again and again.
- Gradually, you will phase out any treat and do more praise reward as the dog gets more consistent. You don't want to create a dog that will only work for food and ignore you the rest of the time. That could become a dangerous situation.
- Consider clicker training. Clicker training is a method where the dog learns to associate the sound of the clicker as a positive "marker" for behavior.[3] You start by clicking the device while feeding a high value treat over and over again so that the dog learns that the clicker sound means "very good." After that association is made in the dog's mind, you can create, or "shape," behaviors by clicking as the dog performs a behavior you like. You can click faster than you can praise or treat, so by clicking you reward the dog instantly and then follow up the click with a treat. Clicker training is an incredible way to train dogs because they learn so fast with such immediate feedback.
- Spend no more than 20 minutes per training session without a break. Spend even less time (5 to 10 minutes) for younger pups. Multiple shorter training session are generally more effective than one long one, particularly for puppies under 6 months of age. Their attention span is short and puppies get tired; your patience will be worn thin trying to train an over tired puppy. Training has to be upbeat and happy in order to get the maximum response from the dog. Play with the puppy in between and help them understand that people are fun and not all about "school" all the time.
EditUnderstanding Dog Training - Learn about dog training in general. Educate yourself so you can teach your puppy properly and avoid common training mistakes. There are many methods of dog training and some will work better for you and your pet than others. Each dog is unique, as is the trainer, so learning the basics of dog behavior and basic dog training will provide you with the proper foundation for understanding the process of training your pet. No one method is "perfect," so your research will help you decide what approach to start. There methods of dog training based on only positive training techniques, versus techniques which balance positive and negative reinforcement. You may even try a method and find that you are not getting the results you want and decide to try another. An experienced dog trainer will be able to help you troubleshoot roadblocks.
- Read dog training books. Some good training books to consider are "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor, "Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs" by Karen Pryor, "The Power of Positive Dog Training" by Pat Miller, "25 Stupid Mistakes Dog Owners Make" by Janine Adams, and "The Mentally Sound Dog: How to Shape, Train and Change Canine Behavior" by Gail I. Clark.
- Watch videos of training techniques. There are a lot of dog training videos on the internet, so make sure that the videos you choose are made by experts in dog training.
- Learn about the unique attributes of the German Shepherd breed. Know what will be required of you before adopting a German Shepherd. While there are many similarities in how to care for dogs in general, German Shepherds are working dogs, which means they need a lot of exercise and mental stimulation.[2] Understand that having a German Shepherd will require a lot of your time and patience.
- Talk to German Shepherd owners and trainers. Go to dog shows and watch how owners and trainers interact with their dogs, as well as paying attention to how German Shepherds respond to stimuli and commands.
- Visit dog trainers and ask if you can watch a few classes. You will learn a lot watching other people when you don't have a dog of your own.
- See if you like the way the trainer works with the people and the dogs. You and your dog will learn better if you have a good learning relationship with your trainer. The Association of Professional Dog Trainers website is an excellent reference and place to start looking for a dog trainer to coach you and your pup.
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| How to Protect Your Ideas Without a Patent Posted: 05 Feb 2017 08:00 AM PST The United States Constitution allows inventors to obtain patent protection for scientific and technical inventions.[1] Having a patent on an invention means an inventor can exclude others from making, using, or selling that invention for a limited time.[2] But what if you have an idea and you're not sure getting a patent is the right way to proceed? Fortunately, there are other options available for protecting ideas and inventions, including holding information as a trade secret. Often companies or individuals consider this option if the invention may have a long term impact or value since patents have a finite life and the knowledge thereafter becomes public domain.[3] EditDeciding How Best to Protect Your Idea - Identify the subject matter of your idea. Not every idea is protectable under the law, and you should know exactly what you're trying to protect before you decide how to proceed. For example, is your idea to open a donut shop? That idea will not be protectable under the law, though you can certainly take steps to keep it secret from your competitors by not telling anyone about your plans. On the other hand, is your idea a specific formula for a new kind of donut icing? That's the kind of idea that can be protected under the law.[4]
- Determine the extent to which you need to protect your idea. Do you plan to keep your idea secret from everyone else in the world? Or, as in the donut icing example, are you hoping to keep the secret just from your business competitors? Do you want your idea to stay secret forever, or would a limited time suit your needs? These are important considerations in deciding what kind of protection you want to pursue.
- Patent your invention. Under the U.S. patent laws, any person who "invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent." [5] Ideas alone cannot be patented: one of the requirements for obtaining a patent is to provide a complete description and diagramming of the process, machine, etc. sought to be patented. [6]
- If your invention qualifies for patent protection, you can file an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).[7]
- A PTO employee (known as an examiner) will consider your application to determine whether your invention is new and non-obvious as compared to prior inventions.
- If the examiner determines that you should receive a patent, you will have the exclusive right to make, use, or sell the invention for 20 years from the date you filed the application.
- You can then sue others in federal court for patent infringement if you discover they are making use of your patented invention without your permission.
- File a provisional patent application. This is a much less detailed filing with a much lower filing fee ($260 as of December 2014). The provisional application is good for up to 12 months, or until you file a formal (or non-provisional) application to replace it. A provisional application allows you to "hold" the date of your invention while you decide whether you want to formally apply for a patent. [8]
- If you do eventually file a formal application and there is any question as to the date of invention (if the examiner suspects someone else came up with the invention before you), the invention date will "relate back" to the provisional application, which may be as much as a year earlier.
- You cannot renew a provisional application after the 12-month period expires. If you decide not to proceed with a formal patent application, the provisional application will be considered "abandoned" after the 12-month period.
- Determine whether your idea qualifies for trade secret protection. If you decide that your invention does not qualify for patent protection (or you elect not to apply for a patent for any other reason), your idea or invention may still be protectable under trade secret law.
- Trade secrets cover a much broader spectrum of inventions than patents. They can include formulas, patterns, compilations, programs, devices, methods, techniques, and processes. [9]
- The most well-known example of a trade secret is Coca-Cola's formula. For the past ninety years, Coca-Cola has kept its formula top secret. It has never patented its formula, because that would mean the formula would have been made public after a number of years. Coca-Cola maintains a competitive advantage by keeping its formula secret.[10]
- Consider the advantages and disadvantages of patent protection. Both types of intellectual property provide certain potential benefits and drawbacks, so be sure to consider all the information before deciding which route to take. Advantages and disadvantages of patents include:[11]
- A patent gives you the ability to exclude others from making, using, or selling your invention for 20 years.
- Anyone seeking to use your invention during that time must get your permission, and this often includes entering into a license agreement for which the other party will pay you. The prospect of lucrative license agreements may be very attractive to other companies that wish to merge or acquire your company.
- The patent application process often takes a long time (often several years).
- Many patent applications are never granted.
- Patent application fees are substantial, and you will likely need to pay a patent attorney to properly prepare your application, which must include a detailed description and diagrams of your invention.
- With few exceptions, patent applications are required to be published 18 months after they are filed. [12]
- After 20 years, the patent expires, which means anyone can make, use, or sell the invention.
- Compare the advantages and disadvantages of trade secret protection. Once you consider the potential benefits or shortfalls of patent protection, think about the advantages and disadvantages of trade secrets. These include:[13]
- You don't have to file any documents or pay any money to acquire trade secret protection.
- Trade secret protection takes effect immediately, and it never expires (unless the information is disclosed to the public).
- You can sue a wrongdoer for trade secret misappropriation, and that suit can be brought in state court, which often moves faster than federal court.
- You have no exclusive rights to the secret information. Another person can independently develop the idea or reverse engineer your product, and they cannot be held accountable under the law.
- If you later decide to patent the invention, you must apply for the patent within one year of coming up with the complete idea. Therefore, you cannot hold information as trade secret for longer than a year if you intend to eventually patent it [14]
EditTaking Precautionary Measures - Limit the number of people who know the secret. If you decide to pursue trade secret protection, you should carefully assess how many people other than you already know the secret, and figure out how many more will need to know it. The more people who know the secret, the more likely it is that one or more of them might disclose it to others. Also make sure that those who already have the secret information (and those you plan to give it to) know the importance of keeping the information secret.[15]
- Forbid public use of your idea. Allowing the public to use or add to your idea before you patent the invention may preclude you from getting a patent, if you eventually decide to go that route. It may also prevent you from claiming the idea is a trade secret. [16]
- Require confidentiality agreements in employment contracts. If your business involves a trade secret, you should require new employees who will have access to the secret information to sign a confidentiality agreement as part of their employment contract. An attorney can assist you with crafting the proper language. [17]
- Sign non-disclosure agreements with business partners. If you will need to disclose the trade secret information during discussions with other companies, you should require those companies to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) before the disclosure. These contracts are standard in business, and while the other company may ask to negotiate the terms, few companies will refuse outright to sign them. NDAs tend to expire after a certain time period, so make sure you are comfortable with that. Again, an attorney can help you draft the NDA and may help you negotiate them with the other company. [18]
- If another company does refuse to sign an NDA, you should obtain another form of protection for your trade secret (such as a provisional patent application) before disclosing the information. Unfortunately, if you disclose the trade secret information without any protection in place, the other company can use that information, and may even apply for its own patent on that information.
- Secure trade secret information under lock and key. This includes both written documents and documents kept electronically. Keep written documents secured and limit the number of copies that may be made. Limit access to electronic documents to those with appropriate login credentials. [19] [20]
EditEnforcing Your Trade Secret Rights - Investigate possible trade secret misappropriation. If you hear of a competitor who appears to be using your trade secret information, you should gather as much information about that use as you can. Going back to the donut icing example, if you hear of a rival donut shop making a new icing, you can buy one of their donuts and attempt to reverse engineer their icing to determine if they appear to be using your formula.
- Ensure your idea qualifies as a trade secret under the law. If you determine that the rival donut shop is making an icing identical to your icing and you want to enforce your trade secret rights against that shop, the first thing you'll need to prove is that your icing is, in fact, a trade secret. Factors considered by courts include the following: [21]
- The extent to which the information is known outside of your company.
- The extent to which the information is known by your employees and others in your business.
- Measures you took to guard secrecy.
- The value of the information to you and your competitors.
- The amount of effort or money you expended to develop the information.
- How easily the information could be acquired or duplicated by others.
- Prove all the elements of a trade secret claim. Once you've determined that your information qualifies as a trade secret, you also need to show the court that you took reasonable precautions to protect the information from disclosure, and that the information was misappropriated. [22]
- Under the law, misappropriation generally means someone acquired the information through improper means or an employee breached his/her confidentiality obligation. Using the donut shop example, the rival shop could be held liable for trade secret misappropriation if you could show that the rival owner broke into your shop after hours and stole the written formula from your locked filing cabinet.
- Misappropriation does not apply in certain situations
- Where a trade secret is inadvertently disclosed (if your donut icing recipe fell out of your pocket and your competitor picked it up)
- If a competitor reverse engineers a trade secret (if your competitor bought one of your donuts and attempted to recreate your icing by tasting your product)
- If a competitor makes an independent discovery (if your competitor coincidentally managed to stumble on a donut icing recipe that is identical to yours).
- Bring legal action. Typically, you should talk to your competitor and see if you can resolve your differences informally before involving the courts. But if you decide you need to file suit to enforce your trade secret rights, you can consider bringing the following claims:
- 47 states and the District of Columbia (New York, North Carolina, and Massachusetts are the exceptions) follow the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). UTSA is a standardized statute spelling out the law of trade secret misappropriation. That means formulating a misappropriation claim depends less on your own state's law and more on the facts of your specific case. [23]
- Depending on your situation and your state of residence, you may be able to include claims for breach of contract (if one of your employees breached their confidentiality agreement by providing the donut icing recipe to a competitor, for example), unfair competition (if your donut shop rival advertised that his shop is the only one selling donuts with the unique icing), etc. [24]
- Weigh the risks and benefits of a lawsuit. If you prevail on a misappropriation claim, you may be entitled to an injunction (preventing your competitor from continuing to use the trade secret information), a gag order (preventing the defendant from disclosing the trade secret information), monetary damages, court costs, and attorney's fees. [25]
- However, If you do not prevail, the court may require you to pay the other side's costs and fees, along with your own. [26]
- Attorney's fees for taking a trade secret misappropriation case to trial can take years and cost tens of thousands of dollars or more.
- Consult with an attorney before deciding to file a lawsuit. Intellectual property law is complicated and ever-changing. An attorney can help you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your case before you invest too much time or money.
- Remember that you cannot patent a nebulous idea. Patents cover inventions only. If you have an idea but have not yet developed it to the extent that you can describe it as an invention in great detail in a patent application, you are not ready to seek patent protection.
- While it is not possible to have a patent and a trade secret on the same invention (since a patent requires full disclosure of an invention, which means it is freely available to the public to view), consider filing a provisional patent application (which does not require the same level of detail as a formal patent application) and keeping the detailed information as a trade secret while you decide which avenue to pursue.
- Designs or intellectual property that are used in conjunction with a brand can be trademarked. A trademark application is less expensive to file than a patent application; however, you should obtain the services of a lawyer for most trademark registrations. If you find someone is using your trademark without permission, you can file a trademark infringement suit in federal court. [27]
- Ideas that are authored, such as music, books, software and paintings or other art are protected under copyrights. Unlike patents, copyrighted material is protected for 70 years, instead of 20 years, in the United States. If you find someone is using your copyrighted material without permission, you can file a copyright infringement action in federal court. [28]
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| How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles Posted: 05 Feb 2017 12:00 AM PST Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles are sweet, small rolled balls of chocolate chip cookie dough covered with melted chocolate. These truffles are mouthwatering desserts that aren't too hard to prepare. EditIngredients - ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- 1½ pounds dark chocolate candy coating, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Pour in the vanilla extract.
- Fold in the flour and add the milk. Blend on low speed until the cookie dough holds together and there are no flour streaks.
- Add in the chocolate chips and walnuts if desired.
- Form the balls. Grab a piece of the cookie dough and shape it into a 1 inch ball. Place it on the baking sheet. Repeat until there is no more cookie dough.
- Let the cookie dough balls chill for about 1-2 hours until they are firm.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate candy coating. Every thirty seconds, mix the chocolate with a spoon to prevent it from scorching. Repeat until the chocolate fully melts and is smooth.
- Allow the melted chocolate to cool for about 5 minutes.
- Dip the cookie balls into the melted chocolate until fully coated. Drop the cookie dough balls into the bowl and roll it around with a spoon. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off from the truffles.
- Place the truffles on the baking sheet.
- Chill the truffles for about 15 minutes, until the chocolate hardens and the truffles are firm.
- Serve. Remove the truffles from the fridge and place them on a serving plate. Serve with a glass of milk if desired. Enjoy!
- For a sweeter taste, you can dip extra melted chocolate over the truffles and allow them to chill again.
- Drizzle melted white chocolate over the truffles for a twist to the truffles.
- Switch the chocolate chips to peanut butter chips for a nutty taste.
- For a sweeter flavor, add a teaspoon of maple flavoring into the cookie dough.
- If the cookie dough is too dry, add an extra two tablespoons of milk.
- Take caution not to scorch the chocolate. Stir it every thirty seconds to avoid it from scorching or burning.
- Ensure the truffles are given enough time to chill or the chocolate will crack.
EditThings You'll Need - Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Spoon
- Microwave-safe bowl
- Fridge
- Microwave
- Electric blender
- Mixing bowl
- Serving plate
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