In the contest of who dislikes the thought of putting a muzzle on my dog, I’d come in a close second to the dog who has to wear it. That is unless I think about the alternatives to not wearing ...
Play or a contest of dominance? The last few weeks have left millions of dogs feeling the way I’d feel with my parents at a dinner party where other parents were talking about their kids gettin...
By the looks of Sunny’s half-hearted feints at whatever was in the leaf litter that had caught his attention, I was guessing snake, or toad. I am a fan of amphibians and have no grudges with reptiles...
Creating positive associations with water in a safe place When I was a young child and our family visited a body of water to swim in my parents instituted the the belly button rule. The older, more p...
I realize it’s a simplistic way of looking at a brain’s reward system, and that’s because of my limitations, not yours dear readers. But if we can sneak our way into our dog’s...
People often think of a dog’s behavior in much the same way as they think about a sandwich. It’s usually the meat in the middle that they are most concerned with. But behavior, like a sandwich has mo...
Dogs trainers are veterans when it comes to hearing- “I tried that, it didn’t work.” This is often spoken by a client or potential client who after finally contacting a rewards base...
The clip art I could find to illustrate gladiators were of bulky men slaying bowling balls. Go figure. Understanding the physiological effects of fear on a dog’s autonomic nervous system (ANS) ...
Professional dog trainers often seem like a touchy bunch. There’s little we don’t have an opinion on, and a strong one at that. When someone seeks advice on the best way to market themsel...
People like rituals. We have holiday rituals and religious rituals, seasonal rituals and daily hygiene rituals (hopefully). If my dogs are representative of the species in general, I’d say dogs...
Meditation has never been a complete success or bust for me. I usually come away from attempts at it with a grocery list and the recollection of where I put those papers I need for filing taxes. Alth...
So yes, Nibbles in now my dog. I didn’t want a 4th dog, I didn’t want Nibbles, but when the head of the rescue group responsible for him (legally that is) told me they were going to send ...
A common misunderstanding about ways to work with dogs who are fearful is that we can show them that they don’t have any reason to be afraid of something. We think of it like this (you can repl...
Standard- an accepted or approved example of something against which others are judged or measured. I was recently contacted by someone who was starting a rescue group for dogs with mild to moderate ...
When I was growing up it was likely you’d find a box of wooden ‘strike anywhere’ matches in any household. For kids these matches provided hours of recreation and skill building. Fi...
I have the opportunity to talk to many people about their fearful dogs. One thing almost all of them have in common is that they waited too long to get help for themselves and their dog. I’m no...
For those of you who got numerous notices about a blog post please accept my apologies! Not sure what happened as I hadn’t even intended to publish the post, it was an as yet unedited morning r...
In many ways the field of dog training is still like the wild west. Anyone can ride into town, grab a badge and and call themselves sheriff. Some who choose to do this may indeed make fine lawmen or ...
Apparently irony is lost on Sunny’s hoarder Tammy Hanson. She is suing the sheriff’s department and others for cruel and unusual conditions she claims she was subjected to while in prison...
For over a decade I worked at a summer camp in New Hampshire. They were blissful summers, as summer is often remembered by New Englanders who get too little warmth and sunshine the rest of the year. ...
Given the recent news about antidepressants and the ‘placebo effect’ I thought I’d go there first before folks get themselves all in a lather about those medications and their usefu...
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