Pet Care on a Budget
Many households are on a tight budget when it comes to things like food and health care costs, while the same can be true for our four-legged family members. While we do treat our companion animals like family, sometimes the cost for caring for them can get a little pricey, depending on the ...
Dog Training: It’s Not Just Semantics
Stop press! Have you heard? You don’t need to be a military commander to train a dog! You don't need to yell or shout. You don’t need to use threats or physical punishment. You don’t need to know a single command. You don’t need to be the dog’s “master” or “pack leader”. The dog does not ...
The Arrogance of Punishment
As a professional force-free dog trainer I often hear dog owners use the term “punishment” and understand it from their perspective as a word in common use.
Webster’s dictionary: 1 the act of punishing; 2 a. a suffering of pain or loss that serves as retribution; 2 b. a penalty inflicted upon ...
But It Worked for My Dog!!
What happens when someone shares a “success” story about training with aversives? Here’s my response to a commenter who did so on one of my previous posts.
A Parable
Once there was a woman named Reva who had a serious health condition that needed intervention. Her intexagog was inflamed and ...
The Prodigal Dog
It is so hard not to be cross when Rex runs off. You call him, and without even a backward glance he keeps on running towards something he would rather be doing than keeping you company.
I think of the parable of the prodigal son where in essence the younger son is a waster who leaves home ...
Why is Empathic Practice Important?
While historically empathy has perhaps been seen as a fluffy, feel good emotion with little relevance to science, or science based practice, our lack of empathy has, arguably, led us into the dangerous territory we entered in decades gone by. Those beliefs include the view that animals are ...
Free-Feeding From A Bowl Can Be Costly!
Food is sustenance; it keeps us alive, it fuels our activities, but for most of us it is emotional comfort. Food can trigger wonderful memories of family gatherings, or console us when we’re sick or upset, so no wonder we want to show our love for our pets with food. And it behoves ...
How To Train Your Dog to Stand Using Capturing
When people consider how to teach a dog to stand, they usually envision the action of standing up. They focus on getting the dog up on their feet from a sit or a down. But that’s the hard way to start, especially since by the time most people get to training stand, they have ...