Surviving Adoption
Ray Coppinger studies the world's population of free-ranging dogs. These are the domesticated dog (as opposed to wild dogs) who are not under the reproductive control of humans. There are millions of them and they represent over 80% of the world's population of dogs. He has looked at how dogs end up living as pets. ...
Choosing To Use Medications For Fearful Dogs
Does My Dog Need Prozac? is the title of the second book I am working on. It is a collection of posts culled from the early years of this blog. The answer to the book's title, in the case of my dog Sunny, is yes, yes my dog does need Prozac or in his case ...
Project Home Life
Photo by DVGRR I love this. Flat out love it. At the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue in Pennsylvania adult survivors of puppy mills are provided with skills to make the transition to being pets. Not only does DVGRR accept mill survivors they actively seek them out and make relinquishing these dogs easy. Their ...
Take Me To Your Provider Of Consequences
Language is important. The words we use to convey ideas matter. Times change and language changes with it. It is helpful to know that when someone is describing something as fat, they mean it's phat. There's nothing wrong with being gay and happy, or gay and homosexual, but using the word gay as an insult, ...
The Recipe for Red Zone Dogs
The term 'red zone' dog has come into vogue to describe aggressive dogs. There is the connotation that these dogs are different in some fundamental way from other dogs. The term is often used to justify the use of severe punishment in order to train them. It's as though, unlike every other dog on the ...
Get Back Here You Brat
One of the most cited reasons for the use of a shock collar is to get reliable recalls from a dog. It can be very challenging to come up with an alternative for a dog which is as, or more reinforcing, than doing whatever it is the dog is choosing to do rather than return ...
Freedom To Try
Dogs who come from puppy mills or who have lived on chains or confined with limited opportunity to interact with a varied environment, are lacking in many skills. I'm not sure if 'trying' is considered a skill or not, but it's not unusual for a dog who suffered deprivation in their early life, to 'give ...
Force-Free Trainers! Just Keep Talking!
There are plenty of professionals who are routinely frustrated by the beliefs held by their clients or potential clients. Researchers studying climate change are likely among them. Humans are complicated creatures. On one hand we seem to be capable of stunning thoughts. Whether in the arts or sciences, we can come up with remarkable ideas. ...
It’s My Party, No Need To Bring Your Own Kool-Aid
A year or two back I posted a blog about Cesar Millan and discovered that there is a group of Dog Whisperer Ambassadors. They are either a fan club or a social media marketing arm of somebody invested in Mr. Millan's success. They sniff out comments and articles criticizing him and go to work explaining ...
