It’s been a little over a year since I received shoulder surgery to repair my loose right shoulder. There’s nothing as perplexing as reaching for something out of your book bag in the back seat of the car and dislocating a shoulder. This experience of dislocation happened several times. All unexpected and all while doing normal everyday activities. I didn’t anticipate it… it just happened out of the blue. And each time it happened, my shoulder got more and more loose, and the likelihood of experiencing another dislocation got greater and greater over time How does this all relate to dog training? Whereas there’s no physical surgery that can magically repair our dog’s worst behaviors, such as aggression or separation anxiety, “rehabilitation time,” or the time it takes to modify behaviors can be long and slow. Say, for example, that you have a dog that is reactive to other dogs. … Read More
So You’re Thinking About Getting a Dog
It’s summer. The kids are out of school, the weather is nice, there’s a certain welcome laziness in the air. All of a sudden, you stop mid-porch swing and think to yourself… “This is nice. We should get a dog.” And just like you should finish the other half of that swing, you should finish the other half of that thought before someone gets hurt! In all seriousness, getting a new dog is a wonderful idea (rescuing a new dog is an even better idea), but only for some people and in certain situations. There are many things to consider before getting a dog, whether from a breeder, a shelter or a rescue group. Here are a few things to think about before you hop on the Internet or over to the closest shelter to find your next dog: Consider why you want a new dog – Is it for the … Read More
Old Dog, New Tricks?
Who ever said that an old dog can’t learn new tricks? It turns out that an English author by the name of Ebenezer Cobham Brewer was the first to reference the saying “Old dogs will not learn new tricks” in his 1894 publication Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, a compilation of popular idioms and proverbs of the time. Leave it to someone named Ebenezer to dwell on the negative, yes? Well, it turns out that this old folklore was referring to human behavior and had nothing to do with the canine species at all. And as you might guess, of course, both humans and dogs alike can definitely learn new behaviors. It’s certainly true that a puppy between 8 weeks and 16 weeks, in what is known as the socialization period, can soak up new behavioral information (both good and bad) like a sponge. Unless there are physical or … Read More
Giving Up on Perfect
There was a time early on in my dog training career when I wanted to be perfect. And I wanted a perfect dog, too. At the time, I was volunteering at a service dog organization, and was obsessed in my interactions with service dogs who were bred and born to be working dogs. They started training at 8 weeks old, were trained every single day, attended class once a week for 18 months with their puppy raisers and then had another 6 months of dedicated training by advanced trainers. Whew! That’s a lot of training… And these amazing dogs, seemingly, were perfect. They never barked in public, they never bothered anyone, and no noise, distraction, crowded mall or cramped space seemed to phase them ever. (Of course, as you might wonder, they did have the opportunity just to run and play and “be dogs” when they weren’t working, too.) But … Read More
Why You Should Invest the Extra 20 Bucks: Collars and Harnesses
Halters and collars and gentle leaders, oh my! There are so many positive training equipment options out there right now, it can make your head spin, and the selection grows each and every day. The enhanced selection that you can now find in big box pet stores and online stores alike is a very positive thing… and a positive step in the right direction towards exposing dog owners to less aversive equipment options, and thus less aversive training methods. But I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but we’re sort of in a recession. (Okay, not technically, but we all feel like we’re broke… so there.) And some of the recommended items of dog training and management equipment, like Freedom harnesses and Sense-ation harnesses, can sometimes be expensive, not to mention the amount of money that could be spent on training treats can rack up at an accelerated rate. … Read More