Dog Training for Kids and Other Beginners
The level of your children’s participation in your dog’s training program will vary based on the age and abilities of the children.
What’s a Therapy Dog?
Do you and your dog absolutely love people? If so, this rewarding volunteer activity might be for you. Here’s how to prepare yourself and your canine partner for providing comfort to people in need.
The Dog’s Mind
Dr. Hare opened the Duke Canine Cognition Center (DCCC) in the fall of 2009. With his wife and co-author Vanessa Woods (a research scientist at DCCC, as well as an award-winning journalist and author of Bonobo Handshake), Hare wrote the book to provide a comprehensive review of what they’ve been studying at the DCCC – everything about dog cognition or, as they call it, “dognition.” Their goal was to bring historical and current information about canine cognition to the general public. In the not-too-distant past, if you heard the word “dog” and “mind” in the same sentence, someone was probably talking about obedience, as in: “My dog minds pretty well.” Or, “You’d better mind me, or else!” Today, if you hear those two words in relation to each other, you are at least as likely to be listening to someone talking about canine cognition – the fascinating possibility that dogs are far more able to process thoughts and grasp concepts than previously given credit for.
Teaching a Reliable Recall
The recall response seems to come naturally to some dogs. For others, it’s a hard-won behavior. The Miller pack has some of both.
The Four Principles of Operant Conditioning for Dogs
The dog's behavior makes something good happen. Positive
Teaching Fetch and The Best Fetch Toys
There is no such thing as the one best fetch toy. The best fetch object is something that your dog really likes. So when Whole Dog Journal asked me to review fetch toys, I was at a little bit of a loss. For one thing, if you walk into a large pet supply store or look in a catalog there are a bazillion choices – from various flying discs to flavored tennis balls to bumpers to squeaky toys. There’s no way I could review them all. For another, my test dogs’ favorite fetch toys may well be very different from your dog’s favorite fetch toy.
Possible Barriers to Training Walks
Dogs who struggle to focus on their owners when away from home usually do so for one of two reasons either the dog is too distracted by the environment, or he's under the influence of anxiety or fear. With anxiety and fear, the dog's body language tells a powerful story. His posture might be slinky head low, tail tucked, ears pinned back. His pupils might be dilated, with the whites of his eyes visible.
Utilize Feeding Time as Training Time
You may think of it simply as a convenient vessel, useful for keeping your dog's food gathered in one place, off the floor. Your dog probably has a very different perspective. For him, the bowl is likely to be a high value object of great import, especially if he's a hearty eater. In this magical dish, one or more times a day FOOD appears.
Why E-Collar Dog Training Is Not Recommended
E-collars are dog-training devices used to deliver several stimuli to the dog wearing the collar, including auditory, vibration, and electric shock. There are several...
Whole Dog Journal’s 2019 Gear of the Year
If there is one thing that drives us crazy, it’s spending our hard-earned money on something that looks useful for our dogs – but...
Are Canines Cognitive?
therefore I am." This became a shortened summation of his proposition that there must be a thinking entity in order for there to be a thought. Who can doubt that dogs and other non-human animals think?üAssign consistent names to the things your dog plays with
Disc Dog Competitions
The cattle dog-mix races across the turf, his claws digging into the ground, pushing hard into his next stride, building momentum, faster, faster, faster. With a final turbo blast powered by his rear legs, he pushes off the ground and vaults into the air, seemingly weightless as he stretches his neck into the sky. A sudden twist of shoulders propels his torso and hips 180 degrees as he changes direction midair and snatches the prize from the air - a simple, round plastic disc. Eyes alight with the thrill of the chase and the kill (catch), he lands nimbly and races back to his handler. Can we do it again? Can we, can we? Yeah, we can. This is the sport of disc dog. It's been around since Frisbees became popular in the early 1970s and the players' dogs chased the players' errant tosses. When a bad toss resulted in a disc rolling on its side, that was fine by Fido.