Yea! For Clearing the Shelters, But Now …
You’ve done an awesome thing saving a dog’s life! Life isn’t all fun and games tho, now the work starts. Here’s a few tips to help him stay home with his new family: Rules and Boundaries: Love alone won`t keep him home. Set your rules from day one! Many dogs… Continue reading
“Positive Reinforcement Only” Training is a Human Thing, Not a Dog Thing
Humans and dogs learn similarly. Rewards for merit, we work harder. Consequence/punishment for doing wrong, we less frequently or stop that wrong action (hopefully). You can research the four quadrants of learning yourself, if you don’t know (I’m not going thru all the work it takes to attach links). What… Continue reading
Discipline is Such the Dirty Word
Being disciplined is difficult these days. It’s work, and after working you sure don’t want to get home and do more work, right? City buses are rarely on time anymore, & half the time the drivers could care less. Every kid gets a participation trophy, you don’t have to be… Continue reading
A Tool is a Tool
“…what do you think if we just put one of them shock collars on him so he knows to come back when he gets away?” There are so many tools available to us dog trainers/owners/lovers. Above is a typical thought, born out the best interest of the dog, but is… Continue reading
The Path is Straightening Out For One L’il Bud
Raider’s path to my family is definitely not as tough as a lot of other dog’s lives, but it is more difficult than it needed to be. His only 8 month journey in life so far could have been easier if people would’ve done just a little more, whether physically… Continue reading
Today is Payday!
How excited do you get when you say “today is payday”?! A common question of new clients is “when do you think we’ll be able to stop (feeding as) reinforcement?”. It’s understandable, I mean we don’t want to have to give a treat every time we ask something of our… Continue reading
Training Is What You Want & What You Want Might Change
When we got Willie years ago, I didn’t know much about dogs. We just wanted one. We didn’t really want much from him. He was to be our well-behaved buddy inside, & go on good walks with us. Well, life changes. We adapt, luckily dog’s are good at that too,… Continue reading
Equipment is Your Friend, Not Your Savior
Harnesses are everywhere! What a bunch of junk. Don’t rely strictly on your equipment some company tells you their product will “fix your walk”. Before becoming a trainer, I could never figure out why Willie (my golden/husky/lab) wouldn’t stop pulling on our walks! Harness after different harness I tried. “Why… Continue reading
Keep Cool, Fool! What Would You Do?
I had a situation while walking Willie today. An off-leash pup came running full-speed at us from about 20-25 YARDS away. What would you do? If you would freak/tense-up/get anxious, you would fit in with probably 90% of dog owners – & thats ok, it’s normal human response. But if… Continue reading
