shelter dogs

Is Your Dog Trainer A Professional?

By |2016-02-07T15:56:25-05:00February 7th, 2016|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

For the majority of my adult working life I was involved in the travel and outdoor recreation industry. Early in my career I was introduced to the reality of legal liability. I make no claims about my depth of understanding of negligence vs. gross negligence or how they would be argued in a court of law, I do understand that providers of goods or services have ...

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 ...

Random Acts of Cruelty

By |2014-07-27T08:43:07-04:00July 27th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

In the same way that fast food has provided us with the opportunity to over consume sugars, fats and chemical additives that may be contributing to, if not outright causing, many of the diseases prevalent in the western world, the "balanced" field of dog training has provided us with the opportunities and excuses to be cruel to our dogs, the implications of which are ignored ...

Changing The Faces of Dog Training

By |2014-04-04T10:29:27-04:00April 4th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

In May I'll be traveling to the islands of Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques with a group to contribute our energy to the cause of changing how people handle and train their dogs. No doubt there will be people who will embrace the information we'll be sharing about force-free and coercion-free training with the enthusiasm of someone who has been adrift at sea waiting for the ...

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 ...

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 ...

Use Protection

By |2013-11-16T09:20:27-05:00November 16th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I returned home yesterday from a multi-day workshop on training birds at Natural Encounters in Florida. Watching and learning from the best bird trainers on the planet (and that is not hyperbole) was inspirational along with educational. One of the take-aways for me was new language to use when talking about training, any animal. Many of the participants at the workshop were zoo keepers. People ...

History Matters

By |2013-11-06T08:31:24-05:00November 6th, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

I'll be at my vet's office tonight running a class called "Vet Ready!" to help owners and dogs feel more comfortable coming to the clinic. Few things are as clear as how they respond to handling to give you an idea of what they have learned to expect from you. For some owners the way their dog responds is....well....history. The dog has learned that visits to ...

Fostering Success: Do No Harm

By |2013-09-21T12:16:37-04:00September 21st, 2013|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Food toys are a great way to show a dog a good time The most important role a foster caregiver can play in the life of a dog in transition is to ensure that the dog, at the very minimum, does not develop new fears, concerns or reasons to distrust people. Every dog in the rescue system would have a unique tale to ...

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