The magazine for force-free pet professionals

No results found.

Visit our pet owner publication!

Choose Professional Development Conferences Wisely, or the Return on Your Investment May Disappoint You!

We all have limited time and resources so choosing which conference to attend each year is an important decision for all professionals. There are several things to consider when making your choice to ensure we make the most efficient and effective use of our precious time and resources. The ...

When Day Care Is Bad for Your Dog

By Danette Johnston If your dog currently attends dog day care or you are thinking about starting, here is some food for thought… I have owned and operated a dog day care and training facility for over 18 years now. I have a lot of experience in this arena, have learned a ton (thank ...

Litter Box Victory

By Jennifer Van Valkenburg In this post, I am going to talk about a very basic feline need – going to the litter box. Cat owners may wonder, when there is a perfectly good litter box, why does their cat think it is preferable to use the floor, the laundry basket or maybe even the bed to do ...

Portland Blog Competition: Aggression by Any Other Name

By Stephanie Peters “Help, my dog is aggressive!” This is often the first thing that I hear from potential clients when they contact me for a training or behavior consultation. They may be troubled by certain behaviors their dog is demonstrating, and are either panicked that they have ...

Dogs Are Exceptional, Despite Attempts to Argue Otherwise

Headlines like this really bother me: Dog intelligence 'not exceptional.' Compared with what? How are you defining 'intelligence'? Seeking answers to these questions, I downloaded and read the full study, which is available for free. It's 20 pages, plus 8 pages of references. It's primarily ...

Spice Up Your Walks!

Long explorations in the country, splashing around in the sea, trekking up hills, they're the reasons we love having our dogs and enjoy their companionship.  From time to time though, sometimes things become just a little bit 'samey'! We can use this special time together as an opportunity ...

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 ...