Training

Scent work is a natural way for dogs to enjoy a game and be enriched.

Rob was one of the inmates in the Pen Pals program when I spoke there several years ago. It was a delightful surprise to see him at the Pet Professional Guild trainer conference in Tampa, Florida, last fall and have a chance to chat. It is clear from his comments that the program contributed to his successful reintroduction into society. Rob is currently working with a mentor trainer to gain additional experience and knowledge in the field of dog training and behavior.

When I was a kid, nobody talked about “socializing” their dogs, and most of the dogs we knew were just fine with kids. What’s the big deal? At risk of sounding old, when I was a kid, it was a different world. The only dogs I knew who weren’t free to run around my rural neighborhood were either hunting dogs or watchdogs; kids knew not to fool around with any of those dogs. And all the ones running loose in the neighborhood were extremely “good with kids.” That’s because they were constantly exposed to kids! I want my dog to be as rock-solid with kids – and every other type of person – as he is at resisting the urge to chase cats. So we’re going to have to practice.

Roll Over is a crowd-pleasing trick that’s especially amusing to teach to fun and flexible puppies.

Keeping your dog well-exercised has a variety of benefits. Not only will you keep them at a healthy weight and their muscles limber, you can also use exercise as a way to bond with your dog and provide them with mental enrichment.

Before you begin an exercise routine with your dog, there’s a lot to know. We chatted with canine physical therapist Dr. Courtney Wheeler, PT, CCRT, from Walking Paws Rehab in Boulder, Colorado, and canine conditioning coach, Kirsten Belinsky, CPDT-KA, CSCC, from Canine Athletics Training Center in Longmont, Colorado about all things dog exercise.

I’ve been teaching my Rough Collie, Dashi, tricks and obedience skills since she came home at 10 weeks old. She began learning agility foundations...

The behavior has several different names (inhibitory self-control, emotional self-control, self-regulation), but the term “impulse control” is used frequently in dog training. It means...

In a perfect world, the lion really would lie down with the lamb (or the wolf with the rabbit), but our world isn’t perfect,...

The sport of American Kennel Club (AKC) tracking started out as a stepchild to its competition obedience Utility Dog (UD) title. Although you needed to pass a separate tracking test to earn your UD title between 1936 and 1946, tracking garnered a one-paragraph description in the rules and regulations of the time. Fans of tracking pushed for changes in the rules as a result of increased understanding of scent work and, in 1947, tracking became a separate class. The Tracking Dog (TD) title was the only tracking title available until 1980 when the Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) title was added.

I first used a crate as a canine management tool in the early 1980s. I was a little skeptical of the concept (Put my dog in a box? What?")

The arguments against bait bags are not so obvious. The most compelling is that the presence of a bait bag is like a flashing neon sign - an obvious cue to your dog that it's training time and treats are handy. I stand firmly in the middle of the bait bag debate. I shop for lots of lightweight, loose-fitting jackets with large pockets so I can stash my bags of treats comfortably on my person without turning on the neon sign. Of course, my dogs know that I have treats in my pockets, but I always have treats in my pockets, so the presence of treats is not the cue that training is happening.

It's really not natural for dogs to offer direct and prolonged eye contact. In the dog world, direct eye contact is a threat, and the appropriate response to a direct stare is to look away as a deference or appeasement behavior (I'm not challenging you/please don't hurt me!"). In many human cultures