By Mary Jean Alsina A leash gives a dog no option to escape, leaving him little recourse but to behave aggressively in an attempt to keep the perceived threat at bay © Can Stock Photo / hannadarzy Leash reactivity can be one of the most common (and embarrassing) problems dog…
By Morag Heirs Shep’s owners were too busy for an energetic, intelligent border collie. His deafness was only part of the issue © Can Stock Photo/cynoclub Within my day to day life as a canine professional, I am regularly asked for advice on cases where standard training approaches seem to…
By Angelica Steinker Counterconditioning can only be successful when a dog feels safe and relaxed © Can Stock Photo/damedeeso A common criticism of counterconditioning is that it does not work. While there can be many reasons why a behavior modification protocol based on counterconditioning fails, it is, in fact, almost…
By Sheila S. Blanchette Building trust: the human-avian relationship goal should be creating a mutual trusting partnership © Can Stock Photo / Vividrange Anthropomorphism is quite a mouthful of a word, defined by Lexico (2021) as “the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object.” Anthropomorphism…
By Veronica Sanchez Author Veronica Sanchez with her service dog, Mr. Sulu: Service dogs are trained to do specific tasks to assist their person, e.g. to alert a deaf person to a door knock, or to pick up dropped objects © Veronica Sanchez The service dog industry is ever growing…
By Lisa Waggoner The Rescued Program is 12 weeks in length and comprises eight to 10 detainees working with six to eight dogs selected by two shelter partners © Lisa Waggoner “The rehabilitation of inmates requires a willing state of mind, a helpful attitude which insists upon finding something of…
By Vicki Conroy The ponies started their tracking training with food on flat polymer discs on the ground, then proceeded to targeting the treat-loaded socks, and then following the trail by scent © Vicki Conroy A while ago I hosted a tracking workshop for dogs at my hobby farm in…
OFFICIAL PPG NEWS RELEASE: LECANTO, Fla. – Aug. 23, 2021 – PRLog — The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has announced a new corporate partnership with Zigzag, an all-in-one puppy training app designed to help puppy parents teach their pups core life skills using positive reinforcement-based methodology. The app will be available to the public starting August 30, 2021.…
By Fiona De Rosa and Fiona Warton Elderly people may find themselves having to give up their pets when they move into a care facility © Grant Nowell Photography As the aging population of the western world increases, more people are finding themselves moving from their own homes and into…
By Kathy Wolff “The most important skill we need to teach our dogs isn’t found in ‘obedience’ rhetoric, but rather in finding peace in the day-to-day living of life” – Kathy Wolff, with Cree © Kathy Wolff According to Wikipedia (2021), empathy is the “capacity to understand or feel what…