When I was a kid I had piano lessons. It was obvious I was no prodigy, and my enthusiasm at the keyboard was in seeing how fast I could play Love Story, but I don't think the lessons were a complete waste of time and money, even though I convinced my parents that they were. Before I succeeded in ending the lessons I had a ...
Yes, yes I know, people use too many drugs. People think drugs are the solution to everything. Drugs have side effects. I won't dispute any of those statements, but at the same time drugs can save lives and the side effects of some conditions are worse than the possible side effects of some drugs. Being scared is no way to live. The reasoning ...
In the dog training world, which has a number of difference sects, stone tossing between them is a common occurrence. I confess I've lobbed a few myself. Some of the criticisms voiced are valid and important, others less so. In many cases there is a fundamental agreement between camps, with differing implementations. The number of unwanted dogs killed daily in shelters around the country is ...
Play time with other dogs can be a perk at a boarding facility. Living with a dog with fear based behavior challenges impacts our lives in many ways and the freedom to be away from home for more than 8 hours can be among them. A couple of the options available for our dogs' care when we need to be away are; someone ...
There are some things I take for granted, things that have become part of the fabric of my life with dogs, that I forget that at one time they were new ideas to me. Creating conditioned reinforcers to use in a variety of ways with my dogs is one of them. Here's a quick primer on what conditioned reinforcers are, how you create them and ...
Ray Coppinger studies the world's population of free-ranging dogs. These are the domesticated dog (as opposed to wild dogs) who are not under the reproductive control of humans. There are millions of them and they represent over 80% of the world's population of dogs. He has looked at how dogs end up living as pets. The most common thing that happens is that dogs adopt ...
Photo by DVGRR I love this. Flat out love it. At the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue in Pennsylvania adult survivors of puppy mills are provided with skills to make the transition to being pets. Not only does DVGRR accept mill survivors they actively seek them out and make relinquishing these dogs easy. Their no questions asked acceptance policy means that more dogs will ...
Language is important. The words we use to convey ideas matter. Times change and language changes with it. It is helpful to know that when someone is describing something as fat, they mean it's phat. There's nothing wrong with being gay and happy, or gay and homosexual, but using the word gay as an insult, as in that's so gay, should be discouraged, even if ...
The term 'red zone' dog has come into vogue to describe aggressive dogs. There is the connotation that these dogs are different in some fundamental way from other dogs. The term is often used to justify the use of severe punishment in order to train them. It's as though, unlike every other dog on the planet, they are only able to learn if punishment is ...
One of the most cited reasons for the use of a shock collar is to get reliable recalls from a dog. It can be very challenging to come up with an alternative for a dog which is as, or more reinforcing, than doing whatever it is the dog is choosing to do rather than return when called. So people quickly choose to use other options ...
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