Latest Articles
Predictive Detective Work
I often hear my clients say they don’t understand why their dog is doing this or that, or that there’s no reason or cause for the behavior at all. But of course, there is always a cause for a dog to behave in a certain way, no matter how perplexing it may ...
Resource Guarding or Rule Setting?
In my experience, it appears that for dogs, possession is truly 9/10ths of the canine “MINE!” law, i.e. if it’s in your possession, you have the right to retain possession. These seem to be the details of what constitutes “mine” in the dog world:
• You can hold it in your mouth.
More Articles
Cooperative Care: It’s Not Just for Dogs!
Horses, as a species, are prey animals. They are often space conscious and uniquely aware of their surroundings and sensitive to the elements within them. Physically large and robust animals, horses easily dwarf their trainers or handlers ...
A “Spoiled” Dog or a Frustrated Dog?
Respond to behavior, not the dog’s history. Imagine that you just found this dog in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot with no information available. What would you know? You'd know what the dog shows you in his behavior. Start there. Do not ...
Testament to Targeting
Training is not a luxury, but a key component to good animal care,” states Ramirez (qtd. in Gordon, 2012). Working with an animal on a targeting behavior helps to build a solid foundation for a positive relationship; because it does not ...
Trigger Warning!
We’re all familiar with the term “threshold,” the magical line where, when kept under it, our dogs can focus and learn. During behavior consultations, the concept of a threshold and how to stay under it are, in my opinion, a trainer’s best ...
Training Horses with Positive Reinforcement: Taking Cues from the Dog World
...horses in the wild do not have a strict dominance hierarchy, and your horse is not trying to dominate you if he does something you don't want him to. Horses do not like physical pain any more than we do. This is not a good way to teach ...
What’s Shocking about Shock?
By Don Hanson
The Shock-Free Coalition did not come to its conclusion that using shock for the training, care, and management of pets was unnecessary and harmful out of the blue. Its position is based on the careful review of ...
The Escape Artist Dog
By Beth Napolitano
According to PAWS (2019), we are justified in worrying about our dogs’ safety when we are out with them in public places: “Escaping is a serious problem for both you and your dog, as it can have tragic ...
A Better Awareness of Overarousal
By Anna Bradley
When mentioning “arousal” or “overarousal,” dog owners may have some idea as to their definition, but in my experience the consensus seems to be that the terms generally refer to negative ...