Training

When you see a little puppy, the most natural thing in the world is to run over and swoop her into your arms for...

Service dogs for people with diabetes are the “tattletales” of the dog world, according to Rita Martinez, co-author of a new book, Training Your Diabetic Alert Dog. The job for these special dogs is to notice a change in a person’s blood glucose level, and then tell that person about it. If that person doesn’t “listen” to the dog or isn’t able to respond, then a diabetic alert dog may tell someone else!

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.

By now, if you're into dogs, you've probably heard about agility. Maybe you've even seen it in action or tried it with your dog. Agility is one of the fastest growing dog sports in the world, and with good reason – it's fun! Of all of the dog things I've done

With this “leave it” training method, the thing you want your dog to leave alone or stop obsessing over becomes the cue for him to look at you.

Remember when you were a kid and your mom would catch you doing something you weren’t supposed to be doing, even though she wasn’t...

Some dogs can’t really help but urinate when they are frightened, anxious, or excited. What can you do to prevent this untimely submissive urination?

Silent cues are useful in any situation where your dog can't hear you, whether he's across a field from you, with you at a parade, if he's deaf, or suffering age-related hearing loss. There are two philosophies about training dogs with hand signals. Some people like to use small, subtle signals, barely visible to the human eye. A tiny finger movement cues the dog to lie down. Another elicits a sit. A small wave sends the dog into heel position. Impressive – it appears that the dog is mind-reading!

however.üMany small dogs reflexively resist being picked up

Be sure to reinforce both/all dogs for calm, appropriate behavior in each other's presence. Your reinforcers should be calming: treats, massage, and verbal praise are good choices; tug and fetch are not. You can use tethers, if necessary, to create calm, and follow Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas' suggestions to have dogs approach each other in a curving line rather than directly, allowing them to sniff the ground and do other displacement and appeasement behaviors such as looking away, as they choose.

A whole lot of dog owners are working from home now, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Lots of dogs are loving it – and...

Training your dog to “leave it” and “drop it”.