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For The Curious – Your Questions on Deaf, Blind Dogs Answered

By Debbie Bauer Thank you to everyone who contributed questions and wonderings for this blog post, and for what will probably be several more to come!  (I received a lot of questions!)  Here are a few to get you started:   What kind of cues can you teach a dog that cannot see or hear? How ...

BARKS Podcast with Jean Donaldson: November 8, 2018

Guest: Jean Donaldson, Founder and Principle Instructor of The Academy for Dog Trainers Topic: Upcoming PPG Webinar "It's Mine!" - Object Guarder Cases Studies: Two DSCC and a DRI.in which Jean will present three case studies of resource guarders.  Two resolved using desensitisation and ...

Portland Blog Competition: Lessons from Bogie

By Shannon Finch  I want to warn you at the outset, Bogie's story doesn't have a happy ending. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for this dog, with mistakes compounded by more mistakes. It's been over 15 years since I worked with Bogie, but I clearly remember every detail about ...

Halloween and Pet Welfare

I confess that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I enjoy the creative costumes, haunted house attractions and horror films.  For me, the creepy nature of the holiday is fun. Behaviorally healthy dogs may accept Halloween activities like trick-or-treat visitors in costume as just another ...

A Lure By Any Name is Still a Lure

By Yvette Van Veen Luring a dog towards something he fears is a problematic practice most recognize. Regardless of whether you use aversives in training or not, it’s an issue because it can create a slew of problems. From the dog’s perspective, luring into scary is a 'gotcha.' The first ...

Five Rules for Humans Living in Catlandia

By Daniel “DQ” Quagliozzi Humans and cats have been trying to peacefully coexist for centuries, and for the most part, we are doing okay…with a little room for improvement.  Our relationship with cats has definitely changed over time, with technology allowing us to connect with the masses ...

Pet Tutor…My Hero

By Smart Animal Training (A letter from Malena DeMartini-Price CTC CDBC) Dear Wes & Amanda at Smart Animal Training, I wanted to tell you about a client that I have been working with for a little while now that has been absolutely wonderful and of course, the Pet Tutor was my hero in ...

BARKS Podcast with Jane Bowers: October 2, 2018

Guest: Jane Bowers of Dogs of Distinction Canine Training in Vancouver, British Columbia. Topic: Bowers' article in BARKS, Reducing Conflict, and Assessing and Interpreting Dog Behaviour, a training course hosted by the Canadian Police Knowledge Network for law enforcement personnel and ...