Training

I’ve always talked to dogs – as I’m sure you do – engaging them with the usual cues, the names of favorite things and...

There’s a behavior that we never used to teach in old-fashioned training classes that is now one of my absolute favorites; I can’t wait...

Those of you who have just emerged from your first-ever group dog obedience training class have my sympathies. For the unprepared, that experience can...

A stand-up paddleboard (SUP) is similar to a surfboard, though one paddles a SUP while standing. As a former avid whitewater kayaker, when I first saw photos of people on SUPs, I thought, Why in the world would anyone want to do that?" Where was the excitement? The adrenaline?"

Not long ago, I got to take a weekend off in San Diego. On the first day, quite by accident, I ended up at...

Professional human athletes never skip a proper warmup. That's because research has proven, repeatedly, that preparing your muscles for upcoming physical activity reduces the risk of physical injury. And for them, an injury could impact their wallet with down time.

Walking politely at your side doesn’t seem like it should be so difficult to teach a dog, but it often proves to be the most challenging behavior for dog owners to achieve. Dogs who are letter-perfect with their sits and downs, targeting, and “leave it” exercises in the training center happily drag their owners across the parking lot to and from their cars before and after class.

People have many questions when it comes to dog training: Lure-reward training or clicker training? Group classes or private lessons? Basic obedience or beyond? What type of trainer is best for dealing with your dog's behavior challenges? Finding the right trainer is an important piece of the training puzzle. Dog training is an unregulated industry; anyone can hang up a sign and instantly become a dog trainer. If you mix some decent Web-authoring skills with a college-level book on public relations, even yesterday's Fed-Ex clerk can have the Web presence of a seasoned dog training professional.

Teaching your dog to focus on you (on cue!) is a vitally useful skill – and not that difficult if you follow our step-by-step directions.

Classical conditioning, quite simply, is learning by association. It is when a person or animal associates one stimulus with something that was not previously associated.

If competition isn’t your thing, you can do a simpler activity at home with your dog that we call Nose Games. You can do...

Mat training – teaching your dog to go lie down on her mat on cue, and stay there – sounds pretty simple, and in...