Blog
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Ooo goodie, a Former Foster Update! With Pics!!
Well, I woke up yesterday morning to an excellent email from Chase's new family and I figured you may like to hear an update and see some great photos! I'm excited to announce that Chase's new family is absolutely smitten with him. He has settled in beautifully and is...
5 MORE Tips to Train Like A Pro
A while back I posted 5 tips to help you train more effectively-- 5 Ways To Train Like a Pro. I talked about timing, rate of reinforcement, quiet hands, not repeating cues, and precision placement of rewards. These are definitely things I'm regularly mentioning to my...
Gotta Practice In the Real World
"He does great in here but as soon as we step outside he's a raging lunatic on the leash! I just don't understand!" The trainer answer is that dogs do not generalize well. Basically this means that dogs do not automatically understand that the rules in one place (say...
Best Behaviors for Parties
With the start of Hanukkah tonight (Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish pals out there!), comes the start of the holiday family party season. Along with the awkward family party photos can come some awkward family apologies for inappropriate canine behavior. I once heard a...
Why I Don't Have Friends
I am a big gift giver in general but it's definitely heightened during the holiday season. Now, finances prevent me from doing all the things I'd like to do (and giving all the things I'd like to give) but here's a list of some of the *awesome things I've given to...
A nice freebie from Through a Dog's Ear
I know I have mentioned it before, but I am a huge fan of Through A Dog's Ear music. I think it can be a really important piece to reducing anxiety, working through fear issues, or just creating a nice and calm environment for dogs. I use TADE as one of the first...
Bon Voyage Chase!
On Sunday I took foster dog extraordinaire on the first leg of his journey to his new furever home! Chase stole the hearts of a family who had adopted from our rescue previously. Their previous dog had recently crossed the bridge and they were not actually looking...
Reassurance isn't the same as reinforcement
I am absolutely terrified of spiders... I once came home at 5:30am after a night of... trouble making (this is a total lie, I was a huge nerd and was out playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends). I parked my car in the garage and walked toward the door to get...
It's been one of those weeks…
It's been a really long week. Bandit got me up at 7am three days this week because he had tummy troubles (which wouldn't be a big deal except I'm normally up working until 2:30 or 3 am) . I think that because I've been so tired, I've had trouble falling asleep and I...
One dog can really change the dynamics
Holy cow. Add one dog or take one dog away and the dynamics in this room change so drastically! Rio and Chase are really so very poorly matched. They are SO similar and those similarities really get them in trouble with each other. They bug each other and steal...