dog training

Be the Voice for the Vulnerable

By |2017-02-14T10:26:20-05:00February 14th, 2017|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , |

My first career as a younger adult was in the outdoor recreation industry. It was fun and there was a certain caché to being paid, as minimal as it may have been, to do something others paid to do. Though there was no obligation to do so, many of us felt the need to advocate for the wild places, the rivers, mountains, deserts and oceans ...

The Real Reason You Should Never Hit Your Dog

By |2016-10-17T17:10:17-04:00October 17th, 2016|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , |

What is that hand going to do to me? Hitting a dog is a bad idea. Even one of those "Oh it didn't hurt them," swats is a bad idea. And here's why. Dogs notice what things predict. If a hand has ever predicted getting grabbed, scruffed, swatted or worse, the dog learns that sometimes hands do unpleasant things to them. Puppies will ...

Things Professional Trainers Never Say

By |2022-02-23T12:51:33-05:00June 15th, 2016|Categories: Dog training, Medications for fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Don't expect to hear any of these comments from a professional animal trainer. "I don’t feed the dolphins fish when they jump through the hoop, they should do it because they respect me." "We never use food to train our lions to stand for injections, that would only make them think they’ll get food every time they did it for us." "The seals at our facility ...

Dog Trainers Are Behavioral Mechanics

By |2015-06-01T09:16:06-04:00June 1st, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , |

Frank Swanton was driving down Route 53 when the car he’d had for a year started making a loud clanking noise and was pulling hard to the right whenever he stepped on the brake. He had noticed that there were some problems early on after he bought the car but they didn’t seem too bad so he didn’t bother to have them checked. But today ...

Dog Owners Should Stand Up For Their Rights

By |2015-03-10T09:34:40-04:00March 10th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Dog trainers are a notoriously passionate bunch, and I will not deny that I am among them. However what is going on in the dog training industry extends beyond personal passion for the subject and crosses over into what pet owners should expect when they pay for a service. What they should expect is solid advice and guidance based on the best information available to ...

What Every Pet Owner Needs To Know About Dog Trainers

By |2015-02-05T11:38:15-05:00February 5th, 2015|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , |

1. Dog training is an unregulated industry. This means ANYONE can tap themselves on the shoulder with a sword and anoint themselves a; trainer, behaviorist, whisperer, dog psychologist, rehabilitator, nanny, etc. 2. Dog training is an unregulated industry. This means anyone can anoint themselves as the certifier of; trainers, behaviorists, whisperers, dog psychologists, rehabilitators, nannies, etc. 3. Dog training is an unregulated industry. This means ...

Doing What Comes Naturally

By |2015-01-28T08:49:53-05:00January 28th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs, Puppy mills|Tags: , , , , , , , |

We live with animals and it's easy to lose sight of the fact. When it comes to dogs we are living with animals who are designed with varying degrees of proficiency or intensity to; hunt, chase, catch, kill, chew, shred, mark and bark. They also breed and poop, and often at times and places we'd rather they didn't. We've brought these animals into our homes ...

Training Fearful Dogs: Why You Shouldn't Make Them Do It

By |2015-01-07T09:30:11-05:00January 7th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

In the Fearful Dog Group that I started on Facebook I have established guidelines regarding the methods, techniques or ideologies that are appropriate for sharing with group members. A common, and often hotly debated piece of advice is to encourage people to be better leaders. Though seemingly a benign suggestion it is ambiguous enough for both the giver and the receiver of the advice to ...

Who’s Going To Land This Plane?

By |2014-11-30T16:47:31-05:00November 30th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , |

I imagine being a dog trainer is like being the air traffic controller back in the tower trying to talk a stewardess through a landing after the pilot has a heart attack or is killed by Nicolas Cage. As attractive and savvy the stewardess may be, this might be her first day on the job, or she was sick the day they went over flying ...

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