My Journal.

Loose Leash Walking. Almost every client who walks through my training building door has a “leash-walking” problem. There are a couple of reasons for this.The primary reason is that the owner and dog do not have a good system of communication.The dog is much more...

  Lead the way! Before working with any animal it is important to understand the species. Every species has its own operating system. Horses are prey animals. They are potential dinner for other animals! They are social animals, which means that they prefer to...

Dog Bite Safety. Many of my clients have dogs who have “bite histories”. Their dog has bitten a person or another dog in the past. We work together to help change the dog’s negative associations to the triggers that initiate the bite. But I also teach my clients how...

Training for the sport of Obedience Competition means training under every possible distraction, in every possible place and with unexpected events. You have to do it so much that distractions and novelty become normal to the dog and they expect it. My criteria is...

I thought I would share this video of Lakota’s first lesson. He is a 4.5 month old pure bred Malamute. He went home late, at 4 months old and in all likelihood was not socialized during those critical months between 8 and 20 weeks old. The owners are having problems...

It is very “human” of us to want to see our own dog happily romping around with other dogs while we stand by and think..”how cute”!  We want to chat with other dog owners while they do the same…aren’t they cute”!  But is this realistic?  Is it realistic for all dogs...

Having the right equipment for walking your dog can make this valuable and enriching time more pleasant for both of you. While it is always important to teach a dog to walk on a loose lead regardless of equipment, this can take time.  In the mean time, try changing up...

Humans are “lumpers”.  We to want to find commonalities in groups to determine whether they fall in the dangerous column or the not dangerous column.  We are animals to.  This can lead to the often confusing “Correlation versus Causation” question and humans often get...

I don’t recommend allowing domestic dogs to get up on furniture in the house…unless they are invited up….and asked to get down.  These are necessary rule structures that dogs need regarding any location in the home that gives them height. Height matters to dogs. ...

Fallout from Aversive Training Methods. Why punishment is not longer used by educated trainers. What is an “aversive” when used in the context of dog training?  An aversive is something unpleasant that is applied to the dog “to stop or suppress a particular...