This is the perfect story of why training helps a dog be a good dog and makes life easier for them. I received a call from a woman who said she needed help with her six-month-old Malamute. Read more!
establishing communication with your dog
Should You Be Thinking About Puppy Behavior Training Differently?
What do You Expect from Your Puppy? In your mind, you paint a picture of all the things you’d like to do with your dog, the way your dog is…
Communicate rather than worry about what should be learned first!
Traditionally speaking the pillars of “basic obedience” are: Sit, sit/stay, down, down/stay, walk in heel position and come when called. Very often the first and sometimes the only thing a dog is…
Rewarding versus Bribing
One of the most common arguments I hear from people who have heard of “positive” training but clearly have no understanding of it, is a definition that sounds somewhat like…
My dog knows SIT…..Really?
Recently in an elevator I was sharing the ride with a tall man and his French Bulldog puppy. The puppy was jumping up and excited and the tall man yelled at…
The problem with the word “positive”
Whatever “well behaved” means to you, your dog will learn which behaviors are acceptable and which are not. After all, as much as we love them, as close as they…
Summer update
This is “Gus”. He is about 5 months old now and has been living with his family for 7 or 8 weeks. I was told that he got very aroused…
Fixing and correcting are not synonymous
My old violin teacher who wasn’t exactly a positive person had a favorite saying: If you have a bad habit you cannot get rid of it by “doing it less”.…
Highly questionable ethics
Hero FBI dog, killed by upstate N.Y. gunman, to be commemorated at agency headquarters Ape, the 2-year-old Czech German Shepherd, was the first to enter the abandoned bar where madman…