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Latest Behavior Articles

Playing It Safe

Playing It Safe

By Andrea Carne “Play with your cat more – and give him a meaty diet…” I wouldn’t be surprised if variations on this kind of advice has been given by vets and cat behavior consultants over the eons. And indeed, in addition to being supportive of feline well-being in general, a new study ...
Play vs. Aggression

Play vs. Aggression

By Maureen Tay As a trainer, the issue of aggression is raised a lot. Indeed, it is the most commonly reported behavior issue by dog owners (Overall, 2013). One owner who contacted me recently had adopted a new dog and called me to say that the new dog and the resident dog were now ...

More Articles

Portland Blog Competition: Tips to Reduce Leash Reactivity

By Michelle Wieser  When a leashed dog barks, pulls or lunges at other dogs (or wildlife, skateboards, kids, bikers, etc.), it is known as leash reactivity. Dogs may feel trapped and restricted by the leash and, unfortunately, given that ...

Road Trip with Your Dog | Dog Travel Tips

Hitting the open road with a dog can be a great adventure. There are so many great dog-friendly destinations you can explore, but traveling with dogs can be a challenge if you aren't prepared. To get you and Fido ready for your next vacation ...

Career Aptitude Testing … for Dogs

What if there were a test that could tell you whether a dog would make a good assistance dog or detection dog or search & rescue dog ... or whatever career you hoped the dog would choose? Researchers Evan MacLean and Brian Hare are working ...

Dogs and ‘Digging In’

I work with many owners of rescue or re-homed dogs and one topic I've thought about many times, sometimes raised by owners themselves and possibly a little controversial, is do we sometimes give up on our dogs too easily? Of course, an ...

Portland Blog Competition: Canine Aggression – The Public Perception

By Hannah Blumenfeld  “Not a nice dog,” says the woman on the sidewalk. Lucy and I had just walked past her, and although I was shoving treats in Lucy's mouth, the woman locked eyes with my beautiful beast. This scares the bejeezus out of ...

My Dog Is Afraid of the Clicker. What Should I Do?

I wrote this article especially for people who are either new to using a clicker or have not dealt extensively with a fearful dog. If your dog is scared by the noise of the clicker, slow down. Switch to a verbal marker for now. Don’t ...

Managing Dog-Dog Greetings

Recently I attended a dog event and observed about 30 dogs and their handlers come and go in the course of three hours. Most of the dogs were taken to one another for greetings. Call it the curse of knowledge, but I see such interactions ...

Litter Box Victory

By Jennifer Van Valkenburg In this post, I am going to talk about a very basic feline need – going to the litter box. Cat owners may wonder, when there is a perfectly good litter box, why does their cat think it is preferable to use the ...