Beginner
Your Dog’s Doo-doo: It’s Your Job
For some time, people were allowed to walk their dogs inside Rosedale Mall on Sunday mornings. How great was that? It gave people a place to exercise and socialize their dogs no matter the weather – an invaluable perk in the land of subzero temps and windchills. Unfortunately, this opportunity came to an end recently […]
Have You Trained Your Dog Today?
My husband and his three-year-old GSD are heavily and happily involved in search and rescue. They have passed several national certification evaluations for land and shoreline HRD (human remains detection – cadaver), and they now are upping their game, working on FEMA disaster search standards with their local team, Minnesota K9 Search Specialists, whose lofty […]
Why Tricks?
If you’ve never taught your dog tricks, you are missing out on some serious fun. While it’s true that we often refer to the good manners behaviors (sit, down, come, etc.) as tricks, that’s just the beginning. There are so many more clever and entertaining behaviors your dog can learn – and for good reason. […]
Heel Position – Does Your Dog Understand It?
Heel position. It’s one of the first things I teach my puppy. Being in heel position, for my puppy – or dog, means to be next to me on my left side with her neck/shoulder area in line with the seam of my pants. If I’m standing still, my dog will sit calmly to me, […]
Dogs Obey You and Their Instincts – You Decide Which
As pack animals, dogs like to contribute to the survival and the success of their pack. They like to have jobs, they take direction well, and they are programmed to obey a leader – you, assuming you have taught them what to do and have earned their respect. However, absent a good leader – someone […]
Have You Taught Your Dog Not To Jump?
A student recently expressed frustration over the bad habit his dog has developed of jumping on people – especially at the dog park. He is annoyed that people don’t mind when his dog jumps on them, and they even allow it instead of pushing his dog away. A couple of thoughts came to mind immediately. […]
Dogs Dig Digging
I get asked a lot about digging. More specifically the question is “How do I get my dog to stop digging?” There is no simple answer to this question and, sadly, no real solution to the problem of digging. The truth is that some dogs could care less about digging so they either never start […]
Tugging With Your Dog
Years ago, tugging with your dog was frowned upon by most every pet dog trainer. People were told NEVER tug with your dog! It will make him aggressive; it will make him wild and crazy and out of control; it will make him think he’s in charge; it will make him not listen to […]
A Well-Socialized Dog
Everyone wants a well-socialized dog. But what does that mean? To most owners it’s a dog that plays nicely with and gets along well with any and every other dog it meets. That’s it. End of definition. But, is that the best definition of a well-socialized dog? And is that really what you want? A […]