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 few distractions, but as soon as the dogs are distracted by something else, all that training seems to go out [...]
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 with distractions such as walkers, dogs being walked, bicyclists, skateboarders, prairie dogs, trash on the trail, and various other distractions. [...]
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 their homes so they don’t end up homeless. But more than that, I am a big believer in helping dogs [...]
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 litter since they were two weeks of age. I took pictures for the breeder to send to the other families [...]
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 our brains to conserve energy. Our dogs have many habits ingrained in their routines as well. Unfortunately, some of them [...]
