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 [...]
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 earlier posts, you know Romeo passed his AKC Canine Good Citizen. We have also been attending Freestyle classes (and are getting ready to [...]
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 is possible to help our dogs learn to use self control and respond to us despite these monstrous distractions, some [...]
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 bet at success is to have earned a strong degree of trust from your dog. But how do you do [...]
