Dog Training Articles

As a parent we learn the lesson (hopefully) that there isn't such a thing really as "quality time". The magical things, the true teaching moments, just happen when they happen. That doesn't mean we are constantly laboring to entertain, appease, and interact with our...

My favorite instructional dog training video is the movie Nanny McPhee. It wasn’t meant to be a dog training video but I find so much useful information there that resonated with me. Let me explain a bit. If you haven’t seen the movie it’s about a family of...

Remember when you just got your dog or puppy? You kind of had them on "double secret probation"at first, they were crated more, watched closer, maybe kept on leash in the house, and not allowed to stray out of sight too much. As you grew to trust them more they got...

People have some weird ideas about play for dogs. They assume that dogs that won't play aren't happy or fulfilled, and dogs that frantically play all the time must be in total bliss. Time for a brief session of Tod Ruins Everything (blatantly stolen from TV show of a...

Three things I always try to do to make my training better. They can be hard but committing to do these things before you start will turn into a better session. 1. Never be in a hurry. I will break the simplest things down into even simpler pieces if the dog seems...

This one is largely for people who add an adult dog to their household, but it does have some puppy applications. Most homeowners are familiar with transplant shock, if we plant a tree in the yard it takes it quite a while to get over that shock and get back to the...

I'm already getting lots of calls from families that got a new puppy over the holidays. A LOT of calls. They want help, they already are stressed, and they can't understand why their cute little dog is doing what it is doing. Let me give you some (not all) of the...