Six Myths about Positive Reinforcement-Based Training
Positive reinforcement-based training is subject to a lot of misunderstanding and misrepresentation. Many people ...
Socializing a Formerly Feral Dog
When I started this blog, I assumed that I would write a lot about Clara’s training. Clara burst into my life as a ...
What Dog Training Really Taught Me
Image credit: Yvette Van Veen of Awesome Dogs. Please see full credit and sharing info at the bottom of the ...
Ground Scratching: Why Does My Dog Do It?
Why do some dogs scratch with their paws after they eliminate?
I recently read a discussion on Facebook about the ...
Helping a Fearful Dog Feel Safe
If you have a fearful dog, you probably read all sorts of conflicting advice about what to do about that. ...
Eight Common Dog Training Errors: Cautionary Tales
As the great trainer Bob Bailey says, training is simple but not easy. The principles are very simple and ...
Seven Effects of Punishment
Here are seven documented possible side effects of the use of punishment, negative reinforcement, and of aversives ...
Electronic Pet Fences: What You Need to Know
Electronic fences, e-fences, radio fences, Invisible Fences™, pet containment fences: they all amount to the ...
It’s Not Painful. It’s Not Scary. It Just Gets the Dog’s Attention!
Some dog trainers who use tools such as shock, prong, or slip collars, or startle the dog with thrown objects or ...
Does Your Dog REALLY Want to Be Petted?
Newsflash. Not all dogs want to be petted. But you wouldn’t know it from watching videos on YouTube.
What you can ...
It’s Okay to Comfort Your Dog!
U.S. folks and Canadians, get ready for the fireworks!
This is partially a re-post from 2013, but I’ve added ...
Is That “Smiling” Dog Happy?
Maybe, but maybe not!
We humans tend to get warm and fuzzy feelings when we see dogs “smile.”
It’s true that ...