Teaching Your Dog to Take Food Gently

Taking food gently out of your hand is a skill all dogs should learn. For many dogs, taking a portion of their owner’s finger, along with a morsel of food, is a sure-fire way to make sure they actually get the treat from owners whom make a habit of pulling their hands away as soon as they feel... 

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Teaching Your Dog to Give Things Back Willingly

You never know what your dog might decide to investigate and chew on, or possibly even eat. Having the ability to get things out of his mouth quickly is very important no matter how old he is. When you begin teaching this, your first training lesson shouldn’t be after the dog has already latched... 

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Dangers with House Plants

Just as there are hidden dangers in our dog’s environment from the foods we eat, there are also dangers in many of the plants we keep to decorate our homes and property. The following list is taken from ASPCA’s website and is not a complete list of the plants that could potentially be hazardous... 

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Hidden Dangers in People Food

The fact that dogs love to eat is no great mystery. They especially love “people” food. Our food is full of all sorts of great flavors and smells that most dogs usually go crazy for, and would rather eat than their normal, daily canine cuisine. Many people love giving their dog an extra-special,... 

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Close Encounters of the Aggressive Kind – Part 2

Aggressive Encounters – Review of Part 1 In Part 1 of our series on aggressive dog encounters, we discussed several different safety protocols to follow in order to help keep yourself and your loved ones safe from possible aggressive or fear-related attacks by dogs you may not know very well,... 

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Close Encounters of the Aggressive Kind – Part 1

Being confronted by a large, unfamiliar dog, whether it’s the neighborhood “Houdini” whom manages to pull a vanishing act on his owners from time to time, a friend or family member’s new “home-guardian”, or that massive barking ball-of-fur standing in between you and... 

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Clickers and Conditioned Reinforcers

Introduction The clicker is a great tool to teach your dog new behaviors. It has a very distinctive sound that dogs can easily identify with and pay very special attention to. Another benefit of using the clicker is that, unlike the sound of your voice, which can vary slightly depending on a number... 

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Canine Behavior Problem Solving – Part 2

In part 1 of Canine Behavior Problem Solving, we explained the need for gathering valuable information from a number of different places to help determine the possible root cause of problem behaviors. Those places included, the dog’s environment (environmental), his relationship with his family... 

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Canine Behavior Problem Solving – Part 1

Defining Canine Behavior Problems Canine behavior problems are any pattern of behaviors that sufficiently stray from the owner’s preconceived notion of what acceptable behavior is. In a nutshell, whatever the owner believes to be normal behavior, according to his or her own system of values is... 

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Watch Your Dog for Signs of Stress

Reading Your Dog’s Body Language Although dogs can’t communicate with us in our conventional manner, they do let us know, quite often, what they’re feeling and thinking about doing in a given situation. They do this through the use of body postures and facial expressions. These gestures... 

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