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Latest Training Articles
The Essence of a Dog: A Free Education from a Free Choice Walk
By Kristi Benson
One cold day last spring, snow still clinging to the ground and ceding to the warm sun only on the tips of south-facing hillocks, I decided to do something new.
I wouldn’t walk my dogs; nor would I walk with my dogs. I would instead be walked by my dogs. I decided to ...
A Safe Escape
By Dr. Lisel O’Dwyer
The Adelaide Hills, South Australia have recently faced severe brushfires, an unfortunate situation that has prompted the discussion of the logistical differences between evacuating and housing horses versus dogs and other small domestic pets in the face of natural ...
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Animal Abuse Harms People Too
If you are reading this blog then I may safely assume you are an animal lover, but sometimes love is not enough. Sometimes advocacy through direction action is required.
I post this as an urgent call to action to help pass animal abuse ...
Higher-Order Conditioning: Did it Happen To My Dog?
The other day I was sitting in my bedroom with Clara and Zani and the doorbell rang. And there was dead silence. This pierced my heart. If you follow the blog, you know that I lost my dear dog Summer suddenly in August. She was wonderful ...
Thunderphobia in Dogs
Thunderphobia is the fear of thunderstorms and it can be severe enough to make a dog’s life miserable. It may be more common than you know.
At least 20% of dogs suffer noise phobias including thunderphobia, according to ethologist Dr. ...
The Science of Force-Free Learning: How Our Pets Learn!
Introduction
Here at the Pet Professional Guild (PPG), we like to focus on building relationships with our pets by using positive reinforcement to train new skills, and to build new behaviors as replacements for problematic ones. Because the ...
Clicker Training for Cats (4/6)
By Paula Garber and Francine Miller
Clicker Training for Behavioral Problems:
Clawing Furniture/Destructive Furniture Scratching
Destructive furniture scratching is a commonly reported problem in cats, and one of the many unwanted ...
A Change in Routine Can Be a Shock to the System for Dogs too
By Julie Naismith
Dogs and novelty don’t always mix. Although many dogs breeze through change, anxious dogs can be thrown by it. If it could talk, the stressed dog would probably say: “Ok, I was feeling good about everything, but I worry ...
Teach Old Dogs New Games
A team of researchers at the Clever Dog Lab (oh, how I'd love to work there ...) at the Messerli Research Institute in Vienna suggest teaching older dogs to play brain games on touchscreen computers and tablets.
The articles describing the ...
Give Me a Break!
A little too often I think we may demand too much of our dogs. It's about expectations. If we push too much, we may ultimately push too far, and this is not good with an animal who soaks up what we give him like a sponge and internalizes ...