Blog Archives

The 10 best ways to get bit by a dog

Dog bites hurt! Even when they don’t break skin, the mere pressure of the canine jaws is enough to inflict serious pain. Many of us have experienced at least one traumatic chomp. The speed and brutality of the act often

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog/human relationship, emotions, Fear, Roughhousing

Dog barking: different types and treatments

Barking is loud, obnoxious, irritating and is very hard to tolerate. It’s meant to be! When a baby cries, we feel an insurmountable urge to do something about it. In the same way, when our dog barks, we’re compelled to

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, emotions, Fear, Misc, Psychology, Separation anxiety

Reactivity and Aggression in dogs – Managing and Treating

It’s hard to enjoy a walk in the park, when we know our beloved companion can suddenly turn into Cujo at the first sight of a strange dog or a jogger. Not only do we have to face the challenge

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, emotions, Fear, Positive Animal Training, Psychology

Learning theory basics – Part 2: Operant conditioning: if it works do it again!

Just waking up from a nap, the 2 month old puppy is now replenished and full of energy. Since he’s locked up in a crate, little Jake starts vocalizing and scratching at the door. Thankfully, Coleen, hearing her pup in

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Posted in Bob Bailey, Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Learning theory, Psychology, science

How Do Dogs Think? The Scientific Revolution in Dog Intelligence

When I first started to study dogs from a scientific perspective, finding research on canine behavior was a long and difficult task. It wasn’t just because at the time we didn’t have Internet and most of the publications had to

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog/human relationship, Educational, Psychology, Resource, science

Learning theory basics, part 1- Classical conditioning in dogs: beyond the training session

Most of us have heard of classical conditioning. Pavlov demonstrated how a neutral stimulus could become meaningful to a dog when followed by something that elicits a natural response. So when a bell, meaningless in itself, is consistently followed with

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Posted in Bob Bailey, Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, Learning theory

Training ‘Do As I Do’: Fun and Efficient!

Through interactions with the world, animals learn that certain actions lead to pleasant or unpleasant consequences. Most of our training theory revolves around our ability to manipulate the animals’ environment to reinforce certain behaviors rather than others. However, not all

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Positive Animal Training, science, Training tools

Dominance and pack leadership in dogs – Controversial and still misunderstood

If there is one subject that has been beat to death in the dog world, it’s certainly the notion of pack hierarchy in dogs! For the longest time everything was about leadership. Most dog behavior problems were interpreted as a

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog/human relationship, Psychology, science

Enrichment – 8 easy ways to increase your dog’s quality of life

When we compare the lives of wild animals to that of our pets, there is a striking difference in their activity levels. Dogs, cats, birds, hamsters and gerbils of all sorts, spend a large part of their days just lying

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog/human relationship, Psychology, Resource, Technology, Training tools

Social referencing: we influence how our dog sees the world

When we’re unsure about a novel situation, our first response is to look around and check how others are reacting. This behavior is easy to spot when watching hidden camera TV shows where a person faced with an ambiguous situation

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog/human relationship, emotions, Fear, Psychology, science
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