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The 3 Steps To Helping Fearful Dogs

By |2018-05-15T13:10:06-04:00May 15th, 2018|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs, Medications for fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

It has been over a decade since my fearful dog Sunny came to live with us from a rescue camp set up to help care for the animals impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I met him at Camp Katrina where I went to volunteer several weeks after the hurricanes hit. As much as I thought I knew about dogs and dog behavior, training and ...

Between A Rock & A Hard Place

By |2018-05-04T07:50:35-04:00May 4th, 2018|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , |

Sometimes we have to do something because it needs to be done. If we grab someone about to fall off a cliff we can worry about having to apologize later for having touched them without their permission. But we need to be careful not to use the excuse that needing to get something done absolves us from understanding what it is we are doing. If ever ...

Clean-up On Aisle Dog

By |2018-01-30T08:57:28-05:00January 30th, 2018|Categories: Alternative treatments for fearful dogs, Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Photo courtesy of Olathe Animal Hospital If you happen to be privy to the chatter that goes on between dog trainers, what I am going to say will not be new to you. Daily, dog trainers are contacted to help an owner with a dog, a normal, healthy, fully functioning dog, whose behavior has become untenable or even dangerous. Sometimes we're contacted within ...

Food Is Not A Problem

By |2015-08-04T13:24:56-04:00August 4th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

This morning my mother was having her breakfast and on the TV was an early morning cooking show.  She remarked, "I don't know why I watch these shows, I don't even like to cook." Food is a primary reinforcer. Looking at it feels good, thinking about it feels good. Mmmm..hand churned ice cream with fresh peaches, sweet corn on the grill, garden fresh salsa with just ...

Training Fearful Dogs: Why You Shouldn't Make Them Do It

By |2015-01-07T09:30:11-05:00January 7th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

In the Fearful Dog Group that I started on Facebook I have established guidelines regarding the methods, techniques or ideologies that are appropriate for sharing with group members. A common, and often hotly debated piece of advice is to encourage people to be better leaders. Though seemingly a benign suggestion it is ambiguous enough for both the giver and the receiver of the advice to ...

You’ve Got The Ball: Dogs in the 21st Century

By |2014-04-07T10:00:45-04:00April 7th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

I suspect that those of us who work with dogs in any capacity, love them, respect them and want them to have the best lives possible. Yet I can't help but be surprised and disappointed when I hear and read information about dogs being shared that does more harm than good, or opportunities to educate the pet owning population are missed. Research on the social ...

Dog Displaying Fear or Aggression? Don’t Make Them Repeat Themselves

By |2014-03-31T10:25:55-04:00March 31st, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Go on Sunny, there's fun ahead. When a dog performs a fearful or aggressive behavior it's as though they are saying, "I don't have the skills to behave in any other way in this situation." Why would you want to make them repeat themselves? If you were to drop a kid into a pool that was just deep enough they didn't feel completely safe ...

Time To Raise The Bar

By |2014-03-21T09:15:10-04:00March 21st, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

There are few fields in which having grown up either performing a task or with the student, is enough to qualify one as a professional and justifies charging for one's services. Unless of course we are talking about dog trainers. I grew up reading and might be able to teach plenty of kids to read but if your kid has dyslexia it would be wiser ...

Getting It Our Way

By |2014-03-17T09:57:33-04:00March 17th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

I was having a conversation recently with parents about hitting small children as a disciplinary action. These were by almost anyone's definition good parents. They loved their children, took great care of them, fed them well, played with them, read stories, and did all the things we would recommend parents do with their children. They also happened to think it was ok to hit them, ...

Ducks Don’t Need Quacks Either

By |2014-02-14T09:00:36-05:00February 14th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

There is a science to behavior change in animals. That most pet owners are unaware of that is not surprising. That there are dog trainers out there who are unaware of it is disastrous. I know just enough about my car and computer to turn them on and use them, when all is going according to plan. When problems arise, even if my cursing and ...

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