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The Story Doesn’t Matter
He was beaten. She was abused. He was neglected. She was unloved. The stories dog owners tell themselves about their dogs is never ending. And while it is true that some dogs have been abused in their past, this is certainly not true for a majority of dogs in shelters and rescues. Most of the dogs that pass through those kennels were dumped their by their loving owners and families after they became “too much dog” to handle. Without the necessary structure, expectations, and balance, the dogs became destructive, possessive, and reactive. So off to the shelter or rescue they go. There – in the hopes of appealing to humanity’s…
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Are Service Dogs Sad?
“Why is she sad/not happy?” is something I hear often from the public while I’m out with Bugatti. When they coo to Bugatti, and she ignores them, they assume something must be wrong with her. She must be unhappy. But here’s the thing – she’s actually quite content doing her job, which mainly consists of ignoring the public in order to better help me. All the public sees is her “serious, professional” side. They don’t see her bounding around at home like the silly puppy she is enjoying her toys and playtime. Let’s look at it this way: when you go to work (typically at an office), you don’t show…
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“Train Without Tools”
Let’s talk training tools. You’ve probably heard people go on about how they “train without tools” or that their dogs “don’t need tools to work.” Are training tools a bad thing? Well to answer that, let’s get to the bottom of what training tools actually are. Put simply, training tools are any device or extension that allows (dog and handler) to communicate and better understand each other. Typically when we think of tools, it is clickers, prong collars, and gentle leaders that come to mind – and you would be correct in assuming they all are. But you might be surprised to know that training tools can come in a…
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Socialization By Ignorant Tolerance
When most people “socialize” their dogs, they have puppy playdates and take them to dog parks. This practice is rarely successful, though. Why? Because dogs are not human. Canines do not process socialization the same way as humans do. So to attempt to socialize them as you would a human child can actually be quite counter-productive. Consider a pack of wolves – they grow up around their family members and close friends. Packs do not get along with other wolf packs. This is why they set up clear territorial boundaries to warn other packs to keep away. They do not force their pups to go meet strangers; the Morning Moon…
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Place Is Not A Dog Bed
If your dog already knows how to “Stay” or loves laying on their bed – that’s great! Just be aware – that’s not “Place.” One of the staples of my training methodology is the Place command. When I first bring up the subject of Place, many of my clients assume that Place means either simply the Stay command or that it refers to the dog laying on their bed for hours at a time. Neither of these are examples of Place, and here is why: Place is a command that changes the dog’s mental state. Its an automatic turn-off switch; a way to stop negative behaviors by bringing down the…
