Anticipatory Grief: Loving While Knowing Goodbye Is Coming
Anticipatory grief is the mourning that begins before your dog dies. If you're loving a dog through illness or decline, read this.
Anticipatory Grief: Loving While Knowing Goodbye Is Coming
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The Hidden Toll of Living With a Reactive or Anxious Dog
The Hidden Toll of Living With a Reactive or Anxious Dog
If you share your life with a hard dog, whether they're reactive, fearful, anxious, aging, or struggling to with strangers or your child, there's a version of your life you've quietly let go of. Maybe you stopped having people over because your dog can't handle it,...
The Dog Sanctuary Myth
The Dog Sanctuary Myth
As a trainer who specializes in fear and aggression cases, I'm regularly asked by private clients and rescue organizations about sending dogs off to a "sanctuary," and I want to be clear about how I'm using that term here. I'm referring specifically to facilities...
Sometimes Rehoming Your Dog Is The Right Decision
Sometimes Rehoming Your Dog Is The Right Decision
As a behavior consultant who specializes in fear, aggression, reactivity, and separation anxiety, my primary goal is to help families work through their dog's behavior challenges. I've helped thousands of dogs and their people navigate issues that felt...
When Your Senior Dog Suddenly Has Separation Anxiety
When Your Senior Dog Suddenly Has Separation Anxiety
When people think about separation anxiety, they usually picture a young dog, maybe a newly adopted rescue still decompressing, or a pandemic puppy who never learned to be alone. Separation anxiety as a senior dog problem doesn't come up nearly as often. But...
The Losses Nobody Talks About After Your Pet Dies
The Losses Nobody Talks About After Your Pet Dies
When your pet dies, you don't just lose them. You lose your routine, your identity, and your community too. These secondary losses are real.
From The Archives: 6 Risks Of Kids Walking Dogs Alone
From The Archives: 6 Risks Of Kids Walking Dogs Alone
It's that time of year again. School is out, kids want to earn a little money and community social media groups are filling with posts from parents offering their child as a dog walker. It makes me cringe honestly. So it's a great time to revisit this post. During...
Confinement Anxiety or Separation Anxiety: Is Your Dog Afraid of the Crate or of Being Alone?
Confinement Anxiety or Separation Anxiety: Is Your Dog Afraid of the Crate or of Being Alone?
One of the most common things I hear from new clients is some version of this: "My dog has separation anxiety. He freaks out every time I put him in his crate." I understand why those two things feel connected. In many homes, confinement and being left alone...
When Relief and Grief Live in the Same Breath
When Relief and Grief Live in the Same Breath
Feeling relieved after a behavioral euthanasia doesn't mean you didn't love your dog. It means you carried something heavy for a long time.
What I’ve Learned After Working With Over 3,000 Dog Training Clients
What I’ve Learned After Working With Over 3,000 Dog Training Clients
Three thousand clients. I've been eyeing that 3000 number for a while and when I updated my master client log earlier last month I sat trying to figure out how to write about it and commemorate it without it sounding like a humble brag. It's something I'm very...
Even Trainers Make Mistakes | Rescued By Training
Even Trainers Make Mistakes | Rescued By Training
Let me tell you about one of the most humbling (embarrassing?) moments of my dog training career. It involved a Halloween costume, a jack o'lantern, and Gertie making a break for it while I stood there in my front yard yelling something I thought I'd never...
Don’t Wait and See: Why Puppy Behavioral Issues Need Early Attention
Don’t Wait and See: Why Puppy Behavioral Issues Need Early Attention
We have a tendency to give puppies a pass. They're young, cute, still learning and "just being a puppy." And yes, some puppy behavior is completely normal and does settle with age, consistent training, and appropriate socialization. But some of it doesn't....