Tips for Cutting Your Dog’s Nails
It can be tough as nails to give that mani-pedi to our dogs! Many dogs dislike nail trimming, and dogs who are truly tolerant are in the minority. Nail length, however, contributes to overall health and wellness. Ideally, you won’t be able to hear that tell tell click on the floor as your dog comes […]
When Tough Love Isn’t Tough at All…
Do you have a dog who is fearful around strangers, children, or other dogs? If you believe in the tough love approach, you may introduce your dog repeatedly to strange people or to children — even if your dog continues to back away, try to avoid them, or display fearful body language. Perhaps you […]
Alfresco Dining and Your Dog
Summer is in full swing… a great time to grab a meal or drink with family and friends. Add our sunny weather and your dog and it’s just about perfect! What can make it less than perfect? Your dog acting rowdy or rude on the restaurant patio. So what does your dog need to be a great mealtime companion? – A […]
Dogs and Cats Living Together!?!
Do you remember how Bill Murray described the world coming to an end in Ghostbusters (circa 1984)? “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!” As always, Bill Murray delivers the line with perfect comedic timing, but is it that unlikely that dogs and cats can live together? Are you more likely to see a ghoul or zombie than […]
Are Dog Parks Right for Your Dog?
Thinking about taking your new puppy or just adopted adult dog to the dog park? Already visiting dog parks on the regular? Here are some tips for keeping the dog park safe, fun, and beneficial for your dog when it’s a good fit, and when to pack it up and go home. Consider the Age of […]
How to Safely Expose Your Dog to Children
Hope that you’re at the beginning of a terrific weekend, and in the middle of a wonderful summer! Your puppy or dog may be interacting with more people than usual including kids this time of year. Keep reading for dog and kid training suggestions! Support Your Dog! Safely Expose Your Puppy or Dog to Children… […]
Teach Your Dog to Heel
This week we’re offering up tips to teach formal heeling. What is heeling exactly? – Heeling is the most formal and precise way to walk a dog, and requires the most attention from our dogs. It’s incredibly useful when walking your dog through crowds or down busy streets, or when you’d like your dog to […]
Get Your Gear for Great Walks
Dog walks are not always as peaceful as the sweet image above! Training collars and harnesses are just that — training equipment not forever equipment — but they can give us a break from intense pulling and lunging. Training equipment can also give us some behavioral traction with dogs who are intensely excited about meeting […]
From Pulling to Polite
We’re not living in a one size fits all world, and dogs and dog training are no exception. To that end, I’ve listed several methods below as well as a few training tips and pointers: Right From the Start One of the best ways to make your life easier and impact the quality of the walk […]
Teach Your Dog to Relax!
We are really really good at training our dogs to perform specific skills, but what about training the ultimate non-performance skill? Simply hanging out in a content and relaxed way? How are we at training that? Let’s call this the skill of doing nothing. Below I’ve detailed one skill and one concept that can get your […]
On the Loss of Our Dogs – How to Help Ourselves and Each Other When We Lose a Dog
“Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog, it merely expands the heart. If you have loved many dogs your heart is very big.” – Erica Jong Consider this post a love letter to everyone out there who has […]
The Long List of Ways to Use a Long Line
In this week’s 5 Paw Friday, we’re chatting about the many uses and benefits of using a long training lead or long line especially for working on the cue “come.” I often use my long line with dogs a few times a day, and frequently hear “Wow! That’s a really long leash!” from passerbys. So why on […]
The Perfect Canine Host
Having a Dog Who is Enjoyable to Guests, and Enjoys Guests Too! We feel your pain! We often talk to clients about the stress of having people over, and wanting your dog to be the perfect host, able to greet politely when friends and fam come to the door, allowing guests to nosh without bothering […]
