For those who follow us on Facebook, you know I promised to share some of what I heard at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers Annual Conference that I attended in mid-October. Here is my first in a series of reports on that conference. The topic: dog parks. Dog parks are all the rage these [...]
Group training classes can be fun and a great learning experience. In fact, ideally, they should be fun for everyone. However, they can also be a great source of frustration for others. Group classes are a great learning opportunity for some dogs and some people. But they are not the best learning environment for everyone. [...]
Some dogs get along with pretty much everyone. We all wish our dogs were those “happy-go-lucky” dogs who rarely seemed to be bothered or upset by anything. I’ve met a few people like that too. I am not one of them. And neither is my dog. In our society, it seems we expect our dogs [...]
Dog trainers, myself included, often tell clients that their dogs need a job to do. I recommend this often, especially with highly energetic and/or smart dogs. These dogs were mostly bred for specific jobs – herding livestock, catching rodents, retrieving birds, and others – but are often these days household companions without their intended jobs [...]
If you’re thinking there’s a typo in the subject of my post, you did read it correctly. And yes, that is what I intended to say! We tend to be very quick to get upset or frustrated when our dogs “know” what we’re telling them to do and they seem to deliberately disobey us. I [...]
