Training

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...

give the cue

Hang around with enough dog owners, and inevitably you will hear someone say to their distracted or recalcitrant dog, “Sit! Sit! Sit! SIT!” I’m...

Most people, unwittingly or intentionally, use a lot of physical force when raising and training their dogs. The purposeful ones have a whole variety of reasons. Some may have read about behavioral theories regarding dominance and “the importance of showing the dog who’s boss.” Fans of these theories may advocate imitations of canine behavior such as “scruff shakes” or “Alpha rolls” to convince the dog he’s at the bottom of the family hierarchy. Others may have been influenced by advocates of traditional, military-style training – think of yanking collar ‘corrections’ or using the leash leveraged under their foot to forcibly pull a dog into a Down.

with all sorts of distractions. The "check in" contributes to his staying in touch with you

Does your dog understand what behavior you wish her to perform when you use verbal cues alone, with absolutely no hand gestures or suggestive...

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:

Scent work for dogs makes use of olfaction (the sense of smell), a dog’s primary sense for interacting with the world. Scent training for dogs is just building on what they already do by instinct from a young age.

No matter what you want to teach your dog at home, the first thing to figure out is what your dog wants for a reward.

Fluency and generalization training methods prepare your dog to respond and behave correctly in ANY situation. In dog training, generalization means that your dog can apply a concept to many situations; he knows that Sit!" means he should sit whether he's home

Chewing on wood furniture is not uncommon for puppies. Even a few adult dogs will sometimes chew non-edible items, like wood furniture. The reasons...

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.