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Do your emotions impact your dog training?
How sensitive is your dog to your emotions? Can your dog tell when you’re happy, sad, anxious or angry? Certainly some dogs are more sensitive than others. I have several clients right now whose dogs [...]
Do we expect too much from our adolescent dogs?
While most of the books I read are about dogs, I also do a lot of reading about human behavior. Why? Because while I am a dog trainer and behavior consultant, much of my work [...]
Romeo earned his Advanced Trick Dog Title (August 2012)
For any of you living with smart, high energy dogs, you know it can be a challenge to keep their seemingly limitless brain power and physical energy directed toward constructive activities. If you’ve seen my [...]
Is your dog a model citizen?
My Canine Good Citizen Class just wrapped up this past Sunday. Most of the dogs will be taking the CGC Test this coming Sunday. More than likely, some will pass and some will not. Does [...]
Are your dog training goals setting you up for failure?
Most of us do have goals in mind when we start training our dogs. Perhaps it’s the desire to have a dog who displays the best skills of Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, Benji, and The [...]
Real life tests of off-leash reliability
Does your dog’s reaction toward bunnies or other animals appears so over-the-top that getting it under control seems about as possible as your one day walking on Mars? When I tell clients that it truly [...]
Building trust with your dog
In my post, Does your dog trust you?, I discussed the importance of developing trust to most effectively train your dog. If you want your dog to do as you ask, no matter what, your best [...]
Does your dog trust you?
One of the biggest points I try to get across to people is that training dogs effectively is really about creating a partnership, learning to work together, and learning to communicate effectively with each other. [...]
Dealing with difficult distractions – wildlife version
When I ask clients about their biggest difficulties in training their dogs, one of the most common answers I get is “distractions.” Their dogs might be doing great at home or in places with very [...]
What percentage of the time is your dog well-behaved?
During my recent Sunday evening Polite Pooches in Public Class, we met at Clement Park in Littleton and walked around the lake trail. This gave us plenty of opportunities for our dogs to practice dealing [...]
How my Juvenile Delinquent Dogs book came to be
Prior to my Vizlsa, Romeo, all of our dogs have been adult dogs adopted through breed rescue groups. I’m a big believer in helping homeless dogs find their forever homes, and helping dogs remain in [...]
Happy birthday Romeo! Our Vizsla turns 3 (June 2012)
Hard to believe our Vizlsa, Romeo, turns 3 years old on June 8 (2012)! We brought him home on August 1, 2009, just two days shy of 8 weeks old. I had been visiting his [...]
Changing our dogs’ bad habits – and ours
If you’ve ever tried to change or stop a bad habit, you know it’s not easy. Well-ingrained habits are difficult to change because we do them without thinking. Habits are the most effective way for [...]
I have an article published in the APDT Chronicle of the Dog
The Association of Pet Dog Trainers is a professional organization with over 6,000 members worldwide and is focused on educating trainers. Their annual conference draws around 1,500 attendees along with other educational opportunities such as webinars and [...]
A letter to Cancer
Dear Cancer, I am normally not so forthright in my disdain for others, but I feel it is important for me to be honest with you. I wish you did not exist. I despise you. [...]
Saying goodbye to my beloved Greyhound, Jahzara (May 2012)
On Saturday, May 19th, 2012 we said goodbye to our Greyhound, Jahzara. She had cancer in her shoulder and mobility had become more and more difficult. Even the morphine did not seem to make her [...]
Troubleshooting: when your dog training isn’t working
Every dog trainer has heard it: “This isn’t working.” In some cases, the fact is that what is being done really is not working and will not be effective. Sometimes, we just need to move [...]
Help, my dog’s jumping is getting worse!
I work with clients every week who want their dogs to stop jumping on people. In the past week, I spoke with two clients who have been working on this but say the behavior is [...]
Preventing possessiveness or resource guarding with puppies
“I can take anything away from my dog.” I’ve heard it many times. While I’m glad that these people are able to take things away from their dogs, they are often missing one important piece [...]
Practice with your dog makes perfect – or at least more pleasant!
One of the things I miss about being in the suburbs (perhaps the only thing!) is the variety of dog-walking routes we had available. Although we had some favorites routes, I tried to make sure [...]