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Impulse Control

Obsessive Compulsive Behavior in Dogs

Owners of herding and sporting breeds – Border Collies, Aussies, Kelpies, Labradors, Goldens, and others – often cheerfully talk about their dogs' obsession" with tennis balls. What they really mean is that their dogs are very reinforced by the opportunity to chase a ball. That kind of intense interest in a ball or toy can be useful for training and management purposes

Walking An Excited Dog

You contemplate taking your dog for a walk with mixed emotions. You love the idea of going for a companionable stroll through the neighborhood together, but it's a major hassle to get out the door. When you pick up his leash he becomes the Tasmanian Devil – body slamming you, racing around the foyer, and bouncing off the plate glass door with such intensity you're afraid he'll crash right through it.

Help Your Dog Learn Self Control

so the behavior never gets rewarded or reinforced.üDoes your dog jump

Solutions for a Dog Who Digs the Yard

The perfect storm, canine edition: Combine one dog who is accustomed to and prefers spending time outdoors; a spate of hot, dry weather; a lush, productive garden full of herbs and tomato plants growing in raised boxes full of expensive, loamy soil and moistened three times daily by an automatic drip system. What do you get? Holes dug in the garden and an irate husband! Our new dog, Otto, nearly made himself quite unwelcome on his second day in our home. Every time I turned around, I'd find him digging in any place we'd recently watered, including the lawn, a flowerbed in front of the house, underneath a gorgeous hydrangea bush that's already hard-pressed to survive our hot summers, and, most seriously, the vegetable beds in back. Can't you train this dog not to dig?" my husband implored. But this wasn't a training issue; I've been trained enough by Pat Miller and our other contributing trainer/writers to recognize a management situation when I see it!"

How To Stop the Dog from Chasing Children

Dogs and kids can be the best of playmates. Sometimes they develop this relationship all on their own, and sometimes they need some outside assistance to become fast friends. It's not uncommon for the basic dog-kid foundation to be solid, with just a few rough edges that need smoothing. One of the common rough spots is when your excited dog wants to chase after and nip your excited children. Here are five things you can do if your canine youngster wants to play a little too roughly with your human youngsters.

Understanding Canine Compulsive Disorder

Also called compulsive behavior disorder, this is a mental health disorder characterized by the excessive performance of repetitive behaviors that don't serve any apparent purpose

Five Things to do When Your Dog Grabs the Leash and Doesn’t Want to...

The game of leash-tug is encouraged by some agility competitors, as a reinforcer for their dogs at the end of an agility run. However, many dog owners (myself included), find it an annoying and sometimes even dangerous behavior. Here are five things you can do if you're in the latter group and would like to get your dog to stop playing leash tug:

Dogs and Cats Living Together

You've no doubt heard the phrase fighting like cats and dogs." The media likes to play up stories about personality differences between "cat lovers" and "dog lovers

Living with a Difficult Dog

By your own standards, your dog’s life may not seem all that stressful – after all, he doesn’t have bills to pay, does he? But when you apply the more scientific definition of the word – anything that alarms or excites him, triggering his sympathetic nervous system into action and flooding him with the “fight or flight” chemicals adrenaline and noradrenaline – you may be able to see how many seemingly unrelated things in his environment actually contribute to his “misbehavior.”

5 Things to Do the Next Time Your Dog Grabs Your Stuff and Runs

Your dog grabs your stuff and runs away either because she knows you're going to take it from her and she doesn't want you to, or she's inviting you to join in her a fun game of Catch me if you can." In either case

Door Darting Management

or securely enclose your porch or deck."

Your Dog’s Behavior: When to Manage, When to Train

How do I stop my dog from stealing food? How do I get my dog to stop drinking toilet water? Why does my dog run off all the time? These are just a few of the countless things dogs do that make their guardians run to professional trainers for help. The reality of dog behavior modification is that often the solution to a dog's bad habit is not through training the dog, but through carefully managing every opportunity the dog has to practice unwanted behaviors.

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Parallels between Force-Free Training and Gentle Parenting

Both gentle parenting and force-free training emphasize empathy for the living being you're responsible for, and patience with their behavior as their core tenet.