Category: Dog Behavior & Rehabilitation
How do you feel when you see your puppy dealing with stress? Do you immediately step in and “rescue” them from anything uncomfortable? What if I told you that stress and dogs can go together to create beneficial experiences? When a young Weimaraner recently joined my board-and-train program, I informed his owner that his life was about to change. He’d be living under some new rules, including crate training at night, learning to walk politely on a leash, and participating in […]
There are numerous ways to add dog enrichment activities into your daily routine, even when you don’t have a lot of free time available. One solution is to simply take advantage of your dog’s feeding schedule. Feeding the dog is a once or twice a day routine (more often for young puppies). Why not use that time effectively? Rather than just dropping food in a bowl and walking away, meals can do double duty as an enrichment activity. Feeding time […]
One thing you can do to help solve your dogs behavior problems.
1. Exercise – Because a dog’s naughty behavior is often the result of pent up frustration It is important to remember that dogs have descended from wolves, predators that were on the move for many miles each day. Today’s companion dog no longer needs to hunt to survive, but they still need movement. Unfortunately, far too many dogs are lucky if they get even a short walk around the block each day. Lack of exercise is one of the most […]
I’ve been helping people train their dogs for many years. When someone is new to training there is a lot to learn, which means I’ve heard some questions pretty routinely. One of the common ones is, “What should I say?” This question comes up when people want to stop the dog from displaying an undesirable behavior, but they aren’t certain what to say. If the dog spots a squirrel and tries to chase it. or darts for the edge of […]
Pet dog trainer, field dog trainer, working k9 handler, service dog trainer, competitive bite sports decoy, competition obedience master. The list of areas of expertise is long. Many areas overlap and intersect – but sometimes important nuances don’t.
I’d like you to answer the following question with the FIRST response that comes to mind. Do you have a stubborn dog? Over the years, it has been my experience that many people respond with an affirmative, yes. Many times, the yes is accompanied by either a sigh of frustration or a defeated sense of acceptance. I celebrated my birthday recently and it got me contemplating the mindset we have about personalities that are “stubborn”. A friend of mine wished […]
Dog Camp 2016 If you love spending time playing with and training your dog, then this Dog Camp is for you. For some time, I have wanted to create a diversified training event geared solely toward the needs of pet dog owners. The goal was to come up with a curriculum that addressed multiple aspects of dog ownership. That intention gave birth to the Dog Camp concept. This camp does not just focus on training but takes a look at the […]
Dog Behavior Problems and Solutions. Will You Choose Reasons or Results? I recently wrote about 5 ways to mess up your dog. The list included obvious mistakes in dog ownership like not providing enough exercise or structure, but it also mentioned, “letting sympathy rein” regarding how we often view shelter dogs or dogs with anxiety issues. To make my point about how useless sympathy is in helping rehabilitate dogs that have behavioral issues, allow me to share with you a bit of my […]
5 Ways to Mess Up Your Dog Most of the time, dog trainers invest effort trying to teach dog owners what to do to have a well- mannered, well-adjusted companion. But sometimes it is helpful to look at things from another angle so let me share a few thoughts on how you can wreak havoc with your dog’s mental health and have a negative impact on their behavior. These are some of the top ways that you can mess up […]