training dogs

Put That Finger Away

By |2024-01-21T09:54:47-05:00January 21st, 2024|Categories: Training|Tags: , , , , , |

I often say to owners who come to me for help that they are part of a club no one wants to be a member of, the challenging dog club. But they are not alone. In social media, with its easily shared and amplified gifs and memes the message is, it's your dog and your problem. Your dog isn't behaving the right way so you ...

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 ...

People Can Be Amazing!

By |2016-03-28T11:53:43-04:00March 28th, 2016|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , |

Somehow last week, while walking between the kitchen and living room I managed to misplace my wallet. After spending hours looking, clearly not everyplace, I gave up and cancelled the credit cars and headed off this morning to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a new license. It was during this early morning drive that I passed a couple walking a young cattle dog. As ...

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 ...

Food Is Not A Problem

By |2015-08-04T13:24:56-04:00August 4th, 2015|Categories: Dog training, Fostering Dogs, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

This morning my mother was having her breakfast and on the TV was an early morning cooking show.  She remarked, "I don't know why I watch these shows, I don't even like to cook." Food is a primary reinforcer. Looking at it feels good, thinking about it feels good. Mmmm..hand churned ice cream with fresh peaches, sweet corn on the grill, garden fresh salsa with just ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The Tragedy of Dog Training

By |2014-10-14T10:20:21-04:00October 14th, 2014|Categories: Dog training, Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

It is not difficult to make a name for one's self in this industry, and I say that speaking from experience. Come up with an idea or rehash an old one, package it well and people will buy it. It's not always a bad thing. I like to think that my focus on the sciences of learning and animal behavior for coming up with solutions ...

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 ...

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