Understanding how to read your dog's communication is the single most important thing you can to improve your relationship with your dog. This is probably why one of my most popular free downloads is my infographic on dog communication. If you missed it, you can...
Let me first start this post with my standard disclaimer: I AM NOT A VET. But as a trainer who specializes in fear, aggression, reactivity and separation anxiety, I always ask clients about their dog's medical history and I'm always scanning for red flags...
Over the years I've had clients come to me sheepishly asking for help because their dog doesn't like when they are getting intimate or showing affection like handshakes, hugging or kissing with other humans. And kudos for them being brave enough to ask for...
I've written about the importance of enrichment how giving your dog outlets for normal dog behavior like sniffing is important and how enrichment isn't optional. But, let's face it. We all have busy lives. And sometimes the weather may not cooperate with...
I've written about the importance of enrichment how giving your dog outlets for normal dog behavior like sniffing is important and how enrichment isn't optional. Often we overlook social interaction as part of our enrichment plan. Remember, dogs are social...
People mean well. I know they do, but there's many old ways of interacting with dogs that we were once thought to be the right way, but aren't. One of these myths is that when we meet a dog we should present our hand "for them to sniff." And, I have a...
Full disclosure, I have a strong bias against big dogs playing with and living with small dogs. There, I said it. Sure, many big and small dogs successfully do play or live together, but for me, the risk of something going wrong, just isn't worth it. Many...
This is my next installment in my Back To Basics series. The first post on housetraining can be found here. Did you know that puppy biting and mouthing is completely normal dog behavior? Puppies explore their worlds with their mouths (and noses) so picking...
As someone who focuses on fear cases, I have a disproportionate amount of people who view their dog's fear issues as behavior "problems" that need "fixing" instead of recognizing that fear is not disobedience. The more I was thinking about this, the more I...
Discovering your dog has separation anxiety can cut to your soul. Even more than so many other behavioral issues, the inability to leave your dog alone without the dog panicking has grave quality of life issues, both for the dog and the human. It's is a behavior...
Much like the lack of transparency in dog training, there's also a lack of transparency in sheltering and rescue organizations. In 2018 eight prominent animal welfare organizations and foundations released a joint mission statement regarding accountability...
While crate training has its place in some areas of dog training - house training, management and medical recovery come to the top of my mind, crating for separation anxiety is not one of those applications. This does get complicated if we have a dog who is...