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PPG Advocacy Panel: Making Education More Accessible
By Susan Nilson
The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) Advocacy Panel was launched in August and has already held its first three sessions, where the panel discussed How To Best Advocate for Positive Reinforcement Methods, How to Reach and Work with Your Local Veterinarians, Your PPG Advocacy ...
The One Thing No Amount of Studying Can Teach You about Dogs
By Michelle Underwood
*This post is a selected entry from the Pet Professional Guild Writers’ Competition for Geek Week 2020*
Observing dogs, particularly my own, is one of my favorite ...
Maintaining a Rewarding Relationship with Your Dog
By Tiff Shao
*This post is a selected entry from the Pet Professional Guild Writers’ Competition for Geek Week 2020 *
The aquamarine waters looked extra enticing as we approached the river ...
Latest Articles
Ten Questions to Ask Your Dog Training Professional – Before You Hire Them!
Ten Questions to Ask Your Dog Training Professional - Before You Hire Them!
What dog training equipment do you use when training a dog or do you recommend I use?
A force-free professional trainer will recommend using equipment that has been designed with a dog's safety in mind. While ...
PPG Responds to American Kennel Club’s Backtracking on the Use of Shock in Dog Training
In the light of a recent study stating that – unsurprisingly - electronic training collars present a welfare risk to pet dogs, The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) was delighted to hear American Kennel Club Vice President Gina Dinardo speak out in favor of positive reinforcement training methods ...
I Have a Dog. What Do I Do Now?
Now and then over the years I’ve tried my hand at painting. Portraits — human and canine — baffled me time and time again. No matter how painstakingly I tried to capture a likeness, the finally product warped. A nose was too long. The eyes weren’t quite right. Or, if I faithfully nailed the ...
These Snoots Were Made for Walking
Walking a dog is good exercise. True or False?
Wait! Before you answer, realize this question actually has a couple questions buried beneath its surface. One is, what KIND of exercise? Are you fixated on the physical aspect and overlooking the mental part? Another is, exercise for WHOM? Whose ...
“Trick” is a Very Powerful Word!
Why do I like doing “dog tricks” with my dogs Tessa and Jambo and why do I think everyone should do them with their dogs?
Reason no.1: Doing dog tricks is my way of “training” my two dogs, Jambo and Tessa. It’s simple really, I like “training” to be fun and doing dog tricks is definitely a ...
Electronic Pet Fences: What You Need to Know
Electronic fences, e-fences, radio fences, Invisible Fences™, pet containment fences: they all amount to the same thing. A system where your dog wears a radio controlled electronic collar that shocks him whenever he crosses a certain perimeter, sometimes marked (at least at first) with ...
Life Is a Numbers Game
On August 13, 2013, I forced myself to say goodbye to my senior Jack Russell rescue Minnie Winnie. She had developed intestinal lymphoma that my vet had diagnosed the previous September. I was thankful to have an anonymous sponsor pay for the surgery that re-sectioned her colon and removed her ...
Drill-Sergeants Not Needed
I’ll never forget the first (and only) time I ended up in a law suit. It was many years ago and I was young and terrified. I had given my landlord a 28 day notice to vacate my apartment, but a 30 day notice was the law. In his complaint, the landlord additionally sited me for tossing out a ...
Get the Best From Your Pet
I read a great quote the other day from a book titled Bringing Out the Best in People by Aubrey Daniels. Here he is talking about positive and negative reinforcement: "It is important to know the difference, because the characteristics of performance generated by each are very different. ...