Blog Archives

We just can’t resist puppies! Why?

Puppies are like gremlins. They bite everything in sight, including our hands, pant legs and favorite shoes. They pee all the time, chase after every moving object, and just like human toddlers are a ton of work! Yet, for some

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Resource, science

The joy of shaping

There are few things more exciting for a trainer than working with a dog on shaping a new behavior through clicker training. From teaching the dog to lie down on his bed, to retrieving objects, or flipping a light switch

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science

Easy Potty-Training Instead of Housebreaking.

Teaching a dog good potty habits as well as house manners in general, is about making sure he’ll develop the habits of behavior that we’re looking for(the opposite approach of ‘housebreaking’ uses punishment). Building strong habits is no different than

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science

Smart breeding – increasing the dog’s chances to a good life

Behavior issues are the primary reason why owners give up their pets. We’re all talking about the latest behavior modification technique, and often blame poor handling or inexperience, but at the core of many behavior problems lies a basic genetic

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, science

E-collars – why I never want to use them again

No matter where we stand on the training spectrum, from purely positive, to balanced or traditional, we all want the same thing: enhancing the behaviors that we want and decreasing those that we deem problematic, for the benefit of both

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science

Spatial navigation – how dogs find their way

  Vanessa Woods and Brian Hare surprised me the other day with the drawing they had published in their book ‘The Genius of Dogs’, about one of the experiments I had worked on with the Geneva University in Switzerland (fig.1). I wanted to write about those experiments for

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Resource, science

Human and Dog – a Bond of True Love

All over the world, extraordinary stories of dogs are reported in the news. In Scotland, an Akita jumped into freezing water to save his owner from drowning, in Australia, a dog laid next to his owner, trapped under his vehicle,

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Posted in Dog behavior, Educational, Positive Animal Training

Dog psychology trumps intuition and myth

So you’ve just come back from work, walked through your front door, and immediately notice the smell; this awful, yet familiar smell that unequivocally informs you that a dirty deed has been committed. Buster has relieved himself on the new

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, Technology

The Genius of Dogs: Heralds New Era in Dog Cognition Research

I just finished reading Brian Hare’s and Vanessa Woods’ book, The Genius of Dogs. I was anxious to get my hands on this book and was looking forward to learning about the latest studies on dog cognition. I had also

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource

Our Dogs Need Trainers and Vets Collaborating

According to Fatzò & al. (2006), when faced with behavior issues with Rex or Fido, most owners will first and above all, talk to their veterinarian during routine visits. Veterinarians are often the first pet professional to hear about the

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational
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