by Kate LaSala | Jan 6, 2025 | Dog Training, Fear, Aggression and Reactivity, Rescue Dogs, Separation Anxiety
Happy New Year! With the start of the new year, I thought it would be a good reminder to help get you started off with some things to implement for 2025 to set your dog (and you!) up for success. Stop using punishment based methods and aversive tools like...
by Kate LaSala | Dec 30, 2024 | Dog Training
2024 was the most challenging year I’ve had in many ways, with most challenges stemming from the devastating loss of my heart dog, my muse, my love, my BooBoo. When she died in April, I sunk into a deep depression, unable to work and just needing time to...
by Kate LaSala | Nov 11, 2024 | Dog Training, Fear, Aggression and Reactivity
Can dogs be racist? This is a question I get from clients when they sheepishly bring this up in consults and sort of whisper “I think my dog is a racist.” I assure them, first, that they’re not alone and second, that as embarrassing as this...
by Kate LaSala | Nov 4, 2024 | Dog Training, Dogs and Babies and Kids, Pet Loss & Grieving, Rescue Dogs
Navigating the loss of a beloved animal is never easy but it can be even harder when there are children in the family. Often the death of a pet is the first loss a child will experience and as an end-of-life death doula for animals, my strong belief is that the...
by Kate LaSala | Oct 28, 2024 | Dog Training, Puppy Training, Resource Guarding
If your dog growls, freezes, eats faster or tries to bite if you approach him when he’s eating, then it’s possible he’s guarding his food. Food guarding is a completely normal and very common dog behavior but it understandably upsets owners...
by Kate LaSala | Oct 21, 2024 | Dog Training, Fear, Aggression and Reactivity, Rescue Dogs
Turid Rugaas, a Norwegian dog trainer, came up with the term “calming signals” to refer to the appeasement behaviors dogs do. People will often coin these as submissive or deference behaviors. Many dogs will use this body language signs to...
by Kate LaSala | Sep 30, 2024 | Dog Training, Fear, Aggression and Reactivity, Rescue Dogs
If I asked most dog guardians if they liked their dog, they’d quickly reply something like “Of course, I love my dog!” But loving your dog isn’t the same as liking your dog. Love and like are different psychological experiences, so...
by Kate LaSala | Sep 23, 2024 | Dog Training, Dog Training Regulation, Fear, Aggression and Reactivity, Rescue Dogs
If you have a new dog and are online, you’ve no doubt come across the 3-3-3 rule for new dogs. This idea and various graphics of it circulate often, making the rounds on social media. I am unsure of the origin of this rule, but I suspect it started in the...
by Kate LaSala | Sep 16, 2024 | Dog Training, Dog Training Regulation, Fear, Aggression and Reactivity, Pet Loss & Grieving, Rescue Dogs, Separation Anxiety
While this may not be a happy, joyful post, it’s a necessary one. Please, bookmark this post for when you need it. I hope you don’t need it any time soon, but when you do, come back here. And, be sure to share this post with friends who need it now. I am a...
by Kate LaSala | Sep 9, 2024 | Dog Training, Puppy Training, Rescue Dogs
Since BooBoo passed away 5 months ago, we’ve been dipping our toes back into fostering. When Barbo and BooBoo were both alive, we did a lot of fostering. As a family, we fostered over 50 dogs and puppies, many of which were fearful. It was early in my dog...
