Behavior

but thousands of owners count on them to calm their thunder-phobic dogs."

his paw) to your hand or a target stick.üTrill

After about six weeks of living with Trill, Dr. Sharp knew that the frightened, anxious dog needed something more. The training and behavior protocols were working in the sense that the dog was cooperative, but Trill still had a panicked look in her eyes much of the time. Sharp was concerned: No animal should have to live with that much fear, she thought.

One of the most irritating – and common – phone calls I receive in my capacity as a professional dog trainer is when dog owners urgently ask me to help solve their dog's behavior problem immediately – even though, as it often turns out, the problem has actually existed for years. Sometimes, it's even phrased as, If we can't get this fixed now

Recently, on the drive home from our annual vacation in Maine, our 11-year-old Brittany, Vinny, suddenly and inexplicably awoke from a sound sleep, and began to tremble, pant, pace, and obsessively lick at the sides of his travel crate. When I crawled back over the seat to find out what was wrong, I observed that Vinny's eyes were squinty

Can a highly stressful environment during pregnancy affect how puppies turn out? Imagine this: A young dog goes stray and lives on urban streets for two months, in almost constant fear. Kids chase her down a street, throwing rocks at her; she is attacked by another dog; and she struggles every day to scavenge enough to eat. At last she is apprehended by an animal control officer and brought to a shelter. Here she finally gets enough to eat, but she's still not able to relax; the shelter is full of strange smells and loud noises, her run is small, and the floor is hard. After she's been at the shelter for a few weeks, a shelter staff member realizes that she is pregnant and due very soon. The shelter puts her on the waiting list for a foster home, knowing that puppies don't do well when they grow up in shelters.

I can still remember the day, more than a decade ago, when I first realized with horror that our Scottish Terrier, Dubhy (pronounced Duffy")

or gradually becomes uncharacteristically undesirable."

If you've never had to deal with that alarming moment when your beloved dog snaps at a guest in your home, you are fortunate. I hope you never do. But just in case, it's good to know that, first, you're not alone – lots of dogs have snapped at guests in their homes (or worse!). Second, it's not the end of the world; it doesn't mean you need to euthanize your dog and it doesn't mean your dog will inevitably maul someone. It is, however, an important heads-up for you. How you handle the situation can often determine if your dog's aggression toward visitors escalates or diminishes. So if it happens, here's what you need to do:

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

but most will send an officer right away if the dog is contained."

It's important to be able to ask your dog to give something to you, especially something he is not supposed to have, and especially if you're frequenting public places where he might pick something that belongs to someone else or that might be harmful to him. If you only take things away that are forbidden to him, he'll learn to play the keep-away game, or worse, he may learn to resource-guard. The trade" game will help you avoid these problems."