Fostering Dogs

Got Change?

By |2014-02-25T08:27:18-05:00February 25th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Nothing to worry about here! When we are training our fearful dogs we are facilitating a change in how they respond to events or objects (including us and other animals) they are exposed to. There is likely an endless array of ways we can come up with to do this, but ultimately what we are doing is making the scary stuff either neutral ...

Folk Healers

By |2014-01-30T08:23:00-05:00January 30th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , |

We have a long, rich history of folk healing. In modern times many of the remedies people still rely on either include or refer back to cures used before people understood the cause of disease. "Hair of the dog," the term used to suggest that having a drink to help ease the effects of a hangover may go back to a time when the hair ...

Good Enough Maybe Isn’t

By |2014-01-23T11:02:30-05:00January 23rd, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Dogs are remarkable. They are so adept at figuring out what we want that we are often led to believe that we know what we're going. Enough dogs figured out how to change their behavior when faced with Cesar Millan's alpha rolling, tssking, and neck pokes that people came to believe that they knew how to be leaders and how dogs need to be handled. ...

Say Thank You

By |2014-01-21T07:25:40-05:00January 21st, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Thanks for sticking around during a walk in the woods If your kids bring you breakfast in bed it's best not to respond, "I hope you didn't leave me a mess in the kitchen to clean-up!" Or accept a gift and explain why it's not something you'd ever use. You could I suppose but not if you want to see either of these ...

Surviving in the Wilderness

By |2014-01-15T09:18:39-05:00January 15th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

When I was younger I trained to be an "outdoor leader" so I could take people into the mountains or on rivers, for days at a time. I studied wilderness first aid and carried a knife to cut ropes, wore a helmet and PFD on rivers, enjoyed shopping for clothes and shoes designed using the latest technology and fabric for keeping me warm and dry, ...

Losing Your Audience

By |2014-01-06T10:40:59-05:00January 6th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I enjoy reading nonfiction and watching documentaries. But there are some books and videos I will avoid watching or stop watching, they are too upsetting to me. It won't matter how important someone tells me the information I'd be gaining is or how artfully it is presented. There are award-winning films I have not watched because I know how they end; me feeling bad. Berate ...

Suffering the Consequences

By |2013-12-16T09:46:33-05:00December 16th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I heard an interesting piece on NPR's This American Life radio show. The topic was institutionalized, racial segregation in housing in America. During the 1960's when people protested, often violently, against this practice a comment made by then President Nixon went something like this, if the demands were met (end policies that perpetuated segregation in housing) the protesters would be rewarded for protesting or rioting, ...

Trust Counts

By |2013-12-10T08:52:51-05:00December 10th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

Trust is a central theme of soap operas, TV dramas and political relationships. It's lauded as being the keystone of good marriages and partnerships. Teenagers are reminded that they will not be allowed to stay home on their own, or out late, or have the keys to the car until they can be trusted. For many people the realization that trust has been "broken" can lead ...

Staying At The Party

By |2013-12-06T10:13:03-05:00December 6th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs, Medications for fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

I received this message on Facebook. I thought I'd share it and my response. "And while I was writing this in response to someone's question ... I was booted from that group ..lol nice Let me tell you what happens every time I state something I believe... I'm abused. I'll be part of a discussion and before you know it I'm getting bombarded with nasty ...

Just Do It!

By |2013-11-24T10:53:34-05:00November 24th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

At a large dog event I watched with some disgust and much dismay, as people who probably really care about their dogs handled them with all I can label was "disrespect." Dogs were being dragged around on leashes, being reprimanded and jerked for spending too much time (typically measurable in seconds) looking at or sniffing something, not responding to cues fast enough and being left ...

Go to Top