House Rules & Good Manners

Training a dog to "drop it!" is extremely useful, but what about when you're dealing with a resource-guarding dog, or a dog who insists...

These days, thanks to coronavirus, more and more restaurants are offering outdoor dining, and many are allowing dogs to accompany their humans, as some...

between three and six months of age. While the baby teeth are shedding and the adult teeth are erupting

she probably shouldn't be in public until she's had some remedial "downtown hound" lessons.üTeach your dog "leave it

passing by humans and/or dogs without fussing or pulling. Don't expect this to happen without practicing and rewarding your dog for the behavior you want!üThanks to Ally Padgett and Rosi Garcia (above)

When they fill out their evaluation forms at the end of a six-week course, my clients frequently name the Off" exercise as one of the most useful behaviors they have taught their dogs in class. "Off" means "Whatever you are paying attention to right now

you are in for a lot more of the same."

Each month, I stand in the middle of my training center during the second session of my newest Level One class and introduce my...

You're contemplating the addition of another canine family member to your pack. You've thought it through and are convinced that it's the right time. However, if you already have dogs in your home, you'll need to prepare for the potentially stressful process known as new dog introduction." There are a number of factors to keep in mind that can increase the likelihood of a positive outcome when introducing a new dog into your home. A peaceful first introduction sets the stage for long term relationships. The more heavily you can weigh the odds in your favor for that first encounter

The holidays can be a happy time for you and your dogs if you are careful to make it so.

The perfect storm, canine edition: Combine one dog who is accustomed to and prefers spending time outdoors; a spate of hot, dry weather; a lush, productive garden full of herbs and tomato plants growing in raised boxes full of expensive, loamy soil and moistened three times daily by an automatic drip system. What do you get? Holes dug in the garden and an irate husband! Our new dog, Otto, nearly made himself quite unwelcome on his second day in our home. Every time I turned around, I'd find him digging in any place we'd recently watered, including the lawn, a flowerbed in front of the house, underneath a gorgeous hydrangea bush that's already hard-pressed to survive our hot summers, and, most seriously, the vegetable beds in back. Can't you train this dog not to dig?" my husband implored. But this wasn't a training issue; I've been trained enough by Pat Miller and our other contributing trainer/writers to recognize a management situation when I see it!"

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