New Content

I Pushed My Friend off the Sofa! Whoops… [How to deal with undesirable guest/animal interactions]

By Ryan Cartlidge I’m not proud of it, but recently I pushed a friend – who was staying at our house – off our sofa! Find out why below (as well as how to avoid doing it yourself) … This happened during the festive season, and if you are like us, you probably have lots of ...

A New Trend in Dog Boarding

By BARKS from the Guild

By Rachel Brix Pioneered by Dr. Hal Markowitz in the 1960s, enrichment originated from a focus on zoo animals. He called zoos “concrete wastelands” (Bender & Strong, 2019) and was ...

BARKS Podcast: Expert Panel Discusses Sales in the Pet Industry

By BARKS from the Guild

Join pet industry experts (above, left to right) Niki Tudge, founder and president of the Pet Professional Guild and DogNostics Career Center, Gina Phairas, founder, consultant lead, ...

Pet Professionals: Keeping It Objective

A dog’s behavior can many times cause the owner to experience feelings of embarrassment or even failure. Such feelings can be detrimental in the trainer/behavior consultant-client relationship and can certainly adversely affect the outcome of any training protocols that are put into place. ...

What Does Citronella Really Do to a Dog?

My 'Paws for Thoughts' blogs are just what they say - thoughts. I don't profess to be an expert on my subject matter or feel that we should believe everything we read, but it should always make one think. This train of thought started with an email I received the other morning from a man ...

Confession of a Professional Dog Trainer

My name is Daniel H. Antolec. I am a professional certified force-free trainer…and I own a shock collar. Not only do I own a shock collar, but it is among my most prized possessions and is proudly displayed in my library of 45 books and 25 DVDs on training and behavior. You see, once upon a ...

The Impact of Using Shock to Train Recall

This series of blog posts recounts topics drawn from a recent guest segment by Linda Michaels on the Pet Professional Guild Radio Show. Question: Can you tell us if you think training an emergency recall with P+ (positive punishment such as a shock collar) could, in any way, be preferable to ...

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT REGARDING THE USE OF SHOCK IN DOG TRAINING

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT REGARDING THE USE OF SHOCK IN DOG TRAINING To download this as a PDF Click here The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) believes unequivocally that the pet-owning general public needs - and deserves - to have increased access to better ...

Shaping without a Clicker

Most trainers agree that if there is one thing that the tool called a clicker is useful for in particular, it is for shaping behavior. Shaping consists of marking and reinforcing successive approximations towards a goal behavior. When shaping, the trainer can find herself needing to mark very ...

Learning by Observation

This is a really exciting time to be a canine professional. Dogs have come to the forefront in research, giving us new information about how they learn as well as their cognitive abilities. This new data allows trainers and behaviorists to influence canine learning and explain behavior using ...

Hello, May I Have Your Attention?

We’ve all been there, sitting in the audience waiting for the guest speaker to come on stage. Or it could be at a wedding or even a classroom. The crowd is talking, laughing in a collective rumble, when suddenly someone notices that the speaker is on stage, waiting patiently for everyone to ...

Six Ways to Prepare Your Dog for Fireworks

Oh no. Noisy holiday rolling around again, and your dog is scared of fireworks? Even though it’s just a few days before the holiday, you can make a plan and take action to help your dog be a bit less afraid of the unpredictable scary sounds of fireworks, firecrackers, whistles, and even ...