the Dog Blog

It’s Time for a Road Trip! “Load up Buddy, letʼs hit the road!” My dog jumps right into his crate and settles on his bed, gnawing away at his bully stick. His crate takes up a good chunk of cargo…

Training with Puzzles When clients invite me into their home for training, they usually have specific behaviors they’d like to work on. Maybe it’s jumping, or mouthing, or even walking doggy on a leash without being pulled down the street….

We all live busy lives. Even when things are not busy, we want to enjoy that and not fill our days with things-to-do. I fall into this line of thinking as well: when I am busy, I do not feel…

For many of us who own dogs, rattlesnakes are a real concern. We may feel like we can avoid them ourselves, but feel less certain that our dogs can do the same. In addition to training our dogs to avoid…

There’s a popular saying that really bothers me: “Fake it ’til you make it.” I disagree with the concept and fail to find that to be good advice. What does it mean? It seems to mean that when a person…

So, this is not a pleasant topic. No one likes to think they won’t be able to experience some of life’s great events. But we also know it’s a truth that we won’t be around forever. Due to that inevitability,…

Finding a good dog trainer is both simple and complex. It’s simple in that it just requires research. It’s complex in that it can be difficult to distinguish if a trainer will be helpful or harmful. Here’s a short list…

Our adventure began when my husband and I adopted our fearful American Staffordshire Terrier from a San Diego shelter. People sometimes call this breed of dog an Am Staff, or staffie, or pittie, or pibble. Even more people call it…

Watching the evacuations and rescues of Hurricane Harvey on TV, it’s easy to judge. It’s easy to say, “Shoulda, coulda, woulda.” We all want to believe we are prepared for a disaster, but the reality is that most of us…

I teach a class for reactive dogs. A reactive dog is one who overreacts to environmental stimuli.  Usually, it’s other dogs. Most dogs do not get along with strange dogs and really have no interest in meeting them. Sometimes, dogs…

I love my comfort zones, as most people do. There are a few times in my life I’ve stepped out of it: when I took a ride in a hot air balloon in Botswana (I won’t do that again), or…

When we say someone has “hands-on” experience, it means that he or she has personal interaction with or planning of a subject. Training a dog is a “hands-on” activity, meaning that there is detailed managing and decision-making in teaching the…