Latest Articles
Itchy Dog or Stressed Dog?
The relationship between stress, behavior and animal health is complex and varied. Chronic, long-term stress interacts in various ways with personality type, behavior and immune health in both people and nonhuman animals. It’s not often straightforward to decipher which causes which when we ...
Reducing Fear – and the Importance of Choice
Counterconditioning is one of the most important techniques in animal training (arguably top five). Simply put, ‘conditioning’ means ‘learning’ and ‘counter’ means ‘opposite.’ Relearning might be another way of putting it. Practically speaking, it’s about changing someone’s learned ...
More Articles
Busting the Muzzle Myth
By Rachel Brix
Walking the busy streets of our small tourist town with my dog, the looks on people's faces range from confusion, to disgust, to laughter, to disapproval, to openmouthed, wide-eyed shock. The ...
From Zero to Hero
By Ariel Baber
A lot of people may get annoyed when a dog wakes them up, particularly if they are woken up by him pawing at their chest and licking their face. To be honest, I’m no different. I had no idea ...
The Journey of a Crossover Trainer
By Nichola Marshall
My dogs are livestock guardian dogs and some people will tell you that they cannot be trained to be “obedient.” My old girl was trained “old school.” She is a very good girl and now I ...
Canine Aggression: The Public Perception
By Hannah Blumenfeld
I have spent a lot of time watching how people interact with dogs they don't know. A handsome boxer was tied up outside a shop, and a woman went right up to him, got in his face, like ...
Putting the Social in Socialization
By Anna Bradley
The goal of puppy socialization is to “convince the amygdala, that part of the puppy’s brain that reacts emotionally to his world that, in general, the best/most appropriate emotional ...
Helping Owners, Helping Dogs
By Veronica Sanchez
How many times have you nearly walked right into a tree while training a dog? Multitasking is hard even when you do not have a limitation. Keep in mind that for someone with a mobility ...
Lessons from Bogie
By Shannon Finch
Later, my client told me what had happened that weekend. They had had guests, and Bogie had been whining and crying in his crate, so her husband used a shock collar to keep him quiet. Things ...
Addressing Aggression, the Force-Free Way
By Diane Garrod
Reactivity is by no means necessarily an intent to do harm; the dog who hides shivering behind her owner or the dog who lashes out with growling and lunging are both experiencing the same ...