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Old News

By |2013-04-24T10:16:28-04:00April 24th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

After years of flipping through the magazines strategically placed at the check-out in grocery stores, it was impossible not to notice that generations of young women are being schooled on how to apply mascara, bake a no-fail chocolate cake, and on what turns men off, assuming any of this matters to them. The faces on the covers have changed, but the information hasn't since any ...

There Are No Secrets To Dog Training

By |2013-04-08T12:55:44-04:00April 8th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

There are no secrets to dog training, or weight loss, despite the endless amount of spam trying to sell both. Good dog trainers who understand how to train dogs are like bad poker players grinning like fools and showing their hand with all the aces to the people sitting beside them. We want people to know how to change their dog's behavior and can't keep ...

Bite Me!

By |2013-03-18T10:11:55-04:00March 18th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

I recently had the unfortunate, albeit educational experience of being on a radio show with three other dog trainers. When asked if we'd ever been bitten I recounted the story of being bitten when I was a kid, another trainer spoke of his experience with sharp puppy teeth and his nose, but it was the last trainer whose response was most disturbing. This self-proclaimed dog ...

Relationship Capital

By |2013-03-16T20:10:50-04:00March 16th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

When I was in my 20’s I worked as a guide on the Wanganui River in NZ. One day during a hike, one of the participants on the trip, a woman in her 60’s commented to me that she thought I “weighed too much for a girl my age” and went on to give me dietary advice which consisted primarily of switching from butter to ...

In The Zone

By |2013-03-11T12:46:12-04:00March 11th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Have you ever exited the highway and entered a curve that changes the direction you were heading? A well designed curve requires very little steering. Once you adjust for it there are no sharp changes that require you to make abrupt movements of the steering wheel, you hold your position and wind along with the curve. In the industry of outdoor recreation improvements are always ...

Competing Motivators

By |2013-01-29T09:43:30-05:00January 29th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

Motivation. Everyone talks about it. Did you make a New Year's resolution to go to the gym? There are blogs devoted to helping you stay motivated enough to actually do it. Sometimes getting out of bed in the morning requires a level of motivation we may question whether we have or not. Some motivators are very powerful, while others lag behind, yet even if that ...

Sew Buttons On Your Underwear.

By |2013-01-21T09:39:39-05:00January 21st, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Anyone who has spent time with prepubescent or adolescent humans has had or heard a conversation that goes something like this after an adult makes a statement or request- Kid: "So?" Adult: "It's important." Kid: "So?" Adult: "I feel insulted when you talk to me that way." Kid: "So?" Adult: "That's a rude thing to say." Kid: "So?" Adult: "I'm losing my patience when you say ...

Creating Harmony

By |2013-01-14T10:21:24-05:00January 14th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

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 ...

Freedom To Try

By |2012-11-01T15:12:11-04:00November 1st, 2012|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Dogs who come from puppy mills or who have lived on chains or confined with limited opportunity to interact with a varied environment, are lacking in many skills. I'm not sure if 'trying' is considered a skill or not, but it's not unusual for a dog who suffered deprivation in their early life, to 'give up' easily. When faced with a challenge, a partially closed ...

Think Like A Human

By |2012-10-17T11:49:03-04:00October 17th, 2012|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Pet owners are often encouraged to think like a dog when faced with behavior challenges. I can’t help but feel a twinge of discomfort when I hear it. Attempts to think like a dog are often accompanied by fables of why a dog is behaving as they are. They’re jealous or angry, we need to be their leader, or treat them as a mother dog ...

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