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Tips for Ensuring Safe and Happy Holidays for People and Dogs
With the holidays approaching, it’s time for planning family gatherings. However, for many dogs, family gatherings are stressful, and the result could be a bite to a child or an adult. This article provides tips for your clients on how to read dog body language, respect dogs’ boundaries and keep everyone safe and happy during holiday gatherings.

PPG Inclusivity Division Meetup – Celebrating LGBT History Month & World Mental Health Day
Join hosts Niki Tudge and Lorena Patti of PPG's Inclusivity Division as they celebrate LGBT History Month and World Mental Health Day (Oct. 10)!
Featured guests are Lottie Bennett, Valarie Ross, ...

The Lost Art of Disagreeing Without Being Disagreeable – An Urgent Need
By Niki Tudge
As business owners, one of our fundamental responsibilities to our clients, our employees and our stakeholders is to ensure that we provide a workplace where civility is ...
Latest Articles

The Art, Science and Ethics of Using Decoy Dogs
By Yvette Van Veen
Learning to work with a reactive, anxious or fearful dog is a challenging process. Dog owners especially struggle. They must learn new skills and execute them correctly, while working with a difficult, if not dangerous, dog. In such situations, owners are often robbed of ...

BARKS Podcast with Cynophobia Specialist Stefani Cohen: January 21, 2022
Join Niki Tudge and PPG Canine Committee chair Judy Luther as they Chat and Chuckle with licensed clinical social worker Stefani Cohen, about cynophobia, aka fear of dogs.
Stefani helps dog lovers and dog trainers understand more about the fear of dogs, as well as how to help both others ...

The Rollercoaster of Reactivity
By Mary Jean Alsina
Leash reactivity can be one of the most common (and embarrassing) problems dog owners deal with on a daily basis. It is also one of the most requested behavioral issues I work on with clients. Disapproving glances from passersby, the constant feeling of being out of ...

BARKS Podcast with Dr. Karen Becker, Author of ‘The Forever Dog’: January 14, 2022
Join Niki Tudge and PPG Canine Committee chair Judy Luther for a very special Chat and Chuckle with Dr. Karen Becker.
Dr. Becker is discussing her New York Times bestseller, The Forever Dog - Surprising New Science to Help Your Canine Companion Live Younger, Healthier, and Longer!, co-authored ...

The Art and Science of Consent Testing
By Angelica Steinker
Consent testing is the process of observing a dog’s body language to see if he is fine with whatever environmental change has been presented to him. It can be used informally or formally. Informal use would be during play or social interactions, when two dogs or a dog ...

The Art of Teamwork
By Gail Radtke
In a previous article I wrote about how my dog, Lanie, became a St. John Ambulance (SJA) therapy dog in British Columbia, Canada (see The Miracle Mutt, BARKS from the Guild, October 2014, pp. 36-39).
Lanie was a year old at the time and had a beautiful, friendly temperament. ...

Animals: The Greatest Teachers of All
BARKS features Anna Francesca Bradley of Perfect Pawz Training and Behaviour Practice in Hexham, UK

Knowledge for Life
Don Hanson reviews Puppy Socialization: What It Is and How to Do It by Marge Rogers and Eileen Anderson

Reinforcing Foraging
Sheila S. Blanchette sets out the steps she used to train Cricket, the lone quail, to step on the scale for weighing, and how she later applied the same protocol for training chickens and roosters