The magazine for force-free pet professionals

No results found.

Visit our pet owner publication!

New Content

BARKS Podcast with Molly Kelsey of The Cat Counsellor: December 10, 2021

BARKS Podcast with Molly Kelsey of The Cat Counsellor: December 10, 2021

Join Niki Tudge as she chats with Molly Kelsey of The Cat Counsellor about feline enrichment and socialization...and much more!  Listen to the Podcast here on a choice of platforms. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. About Molly Kelsey CVn ISFM AdvCertFB Since a young age, Molly has loved, and ...
My Service Dog Changed My Life – And I Didn’t Even Want Her

My Service Dog Changed My Life – And I Didn’t Even Want Her

By Aida Garcia *This post is a selected entry from the Pet Professional Guild Writers’ Competition for Geek Week 2020 * I am a disabled combat veteran. At one time, I lived and breathed the ...
How Good Are You at Assessing Your Animal’s Emotional State?

How Good Are You at Assessing Your Animal’s Emotional State?

By Karolina Westlund Ph.D. of PPG corporate partner Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting I recently did a little experiment on Facebook. First, my friends and followers helped me name the ...

Latest Articles

Positive Reinforcement Training and a “Strong” Dog

You have a “strong” dog so you must need to use lots of force to control them, right?   Wrong. Using positive reinforcement is not only based on science, it is also a fast, effective and fun way of teaching your dog new behaviors. It establishes a pattern of learning and trust allowing you to ...

The Importance of Mental as well as Physical Stimulation

People, no matter how much they love their dog, sometimes don't consider how desperately bored and unfulfilled some dogs get if they have little exercise or outlet for his/her breed instincts. People in particular who have not lived with dogs before simply may not realise. It's not that ...

Choke Is No Joke

Recently there was a great blog posted to the Pet Professional Guild called Why Prong Is Wrong. I am a big fan of the author, Diane Garrod. Diane is an awesome positive dog trainer, behavior consultant and one of the most passionate people I know about getting truthful information out to dog ...

Why Prong Is Wrong – Physically and Psychologically

A man's best friend deserves better Prong collars are used to decrease behavior and involve waiting for the dog to do something wrong, like pulling, and then jerking the dog. Used "correctly" they ride high up on the neck. Starting with a play on words, replace the P in Prong with a W and, ...

Which Puppy Would You Pick?

By Bob McMillan Whether you’re making the selection yourself or your breeder picks a puppy for you, what can you tell looking at an eight-week-old puppy? Other than it’s heartbreakingly cute and you wonder how many you can make it out the door with before anyone notices? Luckily, there’s a ...

Teaching My Hound NOT To Hunt

Shhhh. Can you keep a secret? I used to HATE walking my dog. Why? Because my neighborhood is full of squirrels, and every time my dog saw one, she went freak-show crazy. Airborne. Yowling, lunging, sometimes even pulling me off my feet and dragging me along the sidewalk. People literally ...

What is Really Happening?

Making things up to control the environment is a large part of how the brain functions for animals and humans. Research into both animal and human cognition has shown that when there is stress in the environment that may lead to harm or has a fearful component, or perhaps you just need to get ...

It’s Not Painful. It’s Not Scary. It Just Gets the Dog’s Attention!

Some dog trainers who use tools such as shock, prong, or slip collars, or startle the dog with thrown objects or loud noises, claim that these things are done only to “get the dog’s attention.” They may further insist that the dog is not hurt, bothered, or scared. This sounds like the Holy ...

If Marketing Is Not Sales – What Is Marketing?

by Niki Tudge   What Is Marketing? The purpose of a business is to create and maintain satisfied and profitable customers. Customers are attracted and retained when their needs are met. This is a function of marketing. Marketing is often confused with the simple act of selling or ...