Lifestyle

Once upon a time, a harness was the last thing you wanted to use for a dog who pulled, because they were designed to make pulling comfortable. By distributing pressure evenly across the chest they removed pressure from the throat, where damage could be done to a dog's trachea – sometimes even to the point of tracheal collapse. Harnesses are better for the dog from a health perspective, but from a training viewpoint, a standard harness actually encourages pulling. There's a reason sled dogs wear harnesses! Head halters were introduced in the late 1990s as a gentle control tool. While they did, indeed, work well to control a dog's head (and where the head goes, the body follows), some trainers noticed that a significant number of dogs found head halters to be fairly aversive, requiring, in many cases, extensive conditioning to convince the dog to accept them.

How to exercise yourself at the same time you exercise your dog was the subject of Fitness Together" in the April 2013 issue of WDJ. But there are many reasons the human half of the equation may not be up for much physical exercise

Here are some of our favorite brain activities to help you and your dog survive the coronavirus shutdown.

Life with any dog has its moments of agony and ecstasy. The ecstasy happens when our dogs' behaviors are top notch, and all systems seem to run smoothly. The agony happens when our dogs have an oops" moment

WDJ now available in dog-related businesses.

Friendly wolves, pet heroes, canine yoga, dogs underwater, puppies shaking - and so much more! Check out Whole Dog Journal's January book recommendations. Last month, we listed just a few of our favorite dog reads. There are so many great books out there, we had to do it again!

you can direct her out of your way by having her follow your hand with her nose.üStart teaching Off" with a tossed-treat lure; then

We have four dogs and two cats. Pet hair is omnipresent in our lives, especially since housecleaning never seems to get very high on our list of priorities. However, we know enough other dog owners to know that we are not alone. With the possible exceptions of the short list of “non-shedding” breeds, anyone who allows dogs in the house (which is where, in our opinion, dogs belong!) has to deal with dog hair. We vacuum. We sweep. We brush. We cringe in embarrassment when we glance at our clothes in public and see the plethora of hairs that our clothes brushes missed.

Due to his or her familiarity with the issues that are likely to arise, an attorney with experience in dog-related issues may be able to help resolve a dog-related matter in a more efficient (thus, more cost-effective) manner than an attorney without such experience.

There isn’t a valid one-size-fits-all recommendation for the distance or amount of time that you should walk your dog. There are factors specific to each individual dog’s health and needs that determine how often you should walk your dog

the family doesn't get split in pieces with different people pulling for different dogs

In past articles in WDJ, I have advised people who are thinking about adopting a new dog to develop a list of attributes that they must have, would like to have, would prefer not to have, and really do not want at all – and then to use these lists as search criteria. And yet, here we were, not really sure of what we were looking for. Another herding breed? We already have a Kelpie, so maybe, or maybe not. A Bonnie-type terrier-mix? Maybe, but they didn't seem easy to come by.