dog training

Too Sensitive?

By |2013-05-02T17:48:19-04:00May 2nd, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

It wouldn’t be the first time someone has used my discomfort with something they said or did, to turn the tables and make it my problem, but it was happening and for some reason I couldn’t let it go. One of the skills we all need to practice in this day and age of instant communication is to push ourselves away from the keyboard. Just ...

Old News

By |2013-04-24T10:16:28-04:00April 24th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

After years of flipping through the magazines strategically placed at the check-out in grocery stores, it was impossible not to notice that generations of young women are being schooled on how to apply mascara, bake a no-fail chocolate cake, and on what turns men off, assuming any of this matters to them. The faces on the covers have changed, but the information hasn't since any ...

There Are No Secrets To Dog Training

By |2013-04-08T12:55:44-04:00April 8th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

There are no secrets to dog training, or weight loss, despite the endless amount of spam trying to sell both. Good dog trainers who understand how to train dogs are like bad poker players grinning like fools and showing their hand with all the aces to the people sitting beside them. We want people to know how to change their dog's behavior and can't keep ...

Support Systems

By |2013-03-30T09:34:19-04:00March 30th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

There is so much progress that needs to be made in regard to how people "think" about animal behavior and training that it can seem overwhelming. But seven years ago I had to seek out and search for information regarding the most humane and effective ways to help dogs with fear based behavior challenges, whereas today it streams on my Facebook page and twitter account. ...

Save Your Breath

By |2013-03-29T16:33:58-04:00March 29th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Every now and then a Cesar Millan fan will find my blog and do their darndest to convince me of the error of my ways and assessment of his. I have to give them credit for their efforts. They are right to accuse me of moderating many of their comments. I didn't always but I decided that he has gotten enough airtime without my blog ...

Relationship Capital

By |2013-03-16T20:10:50-04:00March 16th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

When I was in my 20’s I worked as a guide on the Wanganui River in NZ. One day during a hike, one of the participants on the trip, a woman in her 60’s commented to me that she thought I “weighed too much for a girl my age” and went on to give me dietary advice which consisted primarily of switching from butter to ...

In The Zone

By |2013-03-11T12:46:12-04:00March 11th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Have you ever exited the highway and entered a curve that changes the direction you were heading? A well designed curve requires very little steering. Once you adjust for it there are no sharp changes that require you to make abrupt movements of the steering wheel, you hold your position and wind along with the curve. In the industry of outdoor recreation improvements are always ...

Attach Away!

By |2013-02-28T10:11:10-05:00February 28th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

There is no shortage of things said or believed about dogs to make me, and others, cringe. Though I can understand "why" people believe the things they do, it doesn't change the fact that I wish they didn't. I understand why people would think the earth was flat, the sun revolved around us and because dogs are closely related to wolves they live in packs ...

Feeling is Believing

By |2013-02-24T15:13:22-05:00February 24th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

During our daily woods walk I spied a piece of birch bark rolled up and lying on the snow. Nibbles also saw it and tentatively stretched his nose toward it for a sniff. I felt myself experience a small hit of adrenalin that often accompanies events that scare or startle me. Other than it being the same size and dimensions of a belly-up grey squirrel, and ...

Snooper Sleuth

By |2013-02-02T09:13:12-05:00February 2nd, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , |

Anyone who has lived with and cared about a dog has experienced moments when they are looking at a dog and wondering what the heck is going on. A trainer friend shared a story with me about a client's dog who had started barking, at seemingly random times, at the refrigerator. We had been griping about the reasons some vets or trainers come up with ...

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