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Yes Your Dog Probably Does Need Obedience Training

By |2022-01-17T22:28:47-05:00February 1st, 2019|Categories: Training|Tags: , , , , , |

There is a backlash among some in the dog training community to what is commonly called obedience training. There's a good reason for the backlash. Obedience training in many minds brings up images of dogs being physically manipulated, verbal corrections & leash pops abound. There is a do it or else mentality to the process. On the flip side there are trainers who after discovering ...

The Bad News About Fearful Dogs

By |2017-03-11T11:23:48-05:00March 11th, 2017|Categories: Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

I am contacted regularly by people who have found themselves living with a fearful dog and looking for help. They are to a person, kind, compassionate, caring folks looking for answers. And I have them. But I routinely have to tell people things they do not want to hear. When I mention that veterinarians and vet behaviorists can prescribe medications to help dogs who are ...

Losing Your Audience

By |2014-01-06T10:40:59-05:00January 6th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I enjoy reading nonfiction and watching documentaries. But there are some books and videos I will avoid watching or stop watching, they are too upsetting to me. It won't matter how important someone tells me the information I'd be gaining is or how artfully it is presented. There are award-winning films I have not watched because I know how they end; me feeling bad. Berate ...

Just Do It!

By |2013-11-24T10:53:34-05:00November 24th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

At a large dog event I watched with some disgust and much dismay, as people who probably really care about their dogs handled them with all I can label was "disrespect." Dogs were being dragged around on leashes, being reprimanded and jerked for spending too much time (typically measurable in seconds) looking at or sniffing something, not responding to cues fast enough and being left ...

Use Protection

By |2013-11-16T09:20:27-05:00November 16th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I returned home yesterday from a multi-day workshop on training birds at Natural Encounters in Florida. Watching and learning from the best bird trainers on the planet (and that is not hyperbole) was inspirational along with educational. One of the take-aways for me was new language to use when talking about training, any animal. Many of the participants at the workshop were zoo keepers. People ...

Fostering Success

By |2013-09-18T12:10:36-04:00September 18th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Giving a dog an interim home while they are in the rescue system is a kind and generous act. Few who do it seem to realize how important the role they play is. It goes beyond providing a safe and comfortable place for a dog to reside while a permanent home is sought for them. Though they are not pack animals, dogs are social animals. ...

Summertime

By |2013-07-26T09:58:26-04:00July 26th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

The neighbor kid has enjoyed learning how to train dogs For the past two summers I've been staying with my mum near Cape Cod. I know that having her youngest, and least fastidious daughter come and stay along with her four dogs is a challenge for her, but it's a trade-off she's had to make. Despite needing to spray the couch with Febreeze ...

Good Enough?

By |2013-06-05T21:47:30-04:00June 5th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Childhood milestones in my life could be measured by learning how to swim. There are grainy, black and white home movies showing me leaping up, wiping the hair out of my eyes after demonstrating the newly gained skill of putting my face in the water at our lakeside cottage. I remember learning the "deadman's float" and pretending to swim in the shallow water, my hands ...

It’s A Shame

By |2013-05-25T08:40:59-04:00May 25th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Imagine creating a website where pet owners could commiserate about their sick dogs. They could post pictures of their dogs to share with others who were also dealing with life with a sick dog. Now imagine that people were also sharing advice about illness in dogs (you don't have to imagine it, just go online) and someone posted in response to an image with the ...

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