Getting training advice from other owners is a bad idea
This one may make some people angry, but it needs to be said 🤷🏼‍♀️ Because of my involvement with rescue, I am a member of countless Facebook groups for new dog owners. Looking at any of them almost always causes me to feel despair. A lot of owners post asking for behavioural and training help. […]
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover
One of these dogs has a severe bite history and was left by their owner at the vet to be PTS at just 18 months old after biting everyone in the household. Why did this happen? They were bought by a family who didn’t take the time to understand the genetic predispositions of the breed. […]
How to build you dog’s confidence
I do a lot of work with rescue adopters. One thing I see a lot of owners asking is how long they need to wait until their dog is confident enough for this or that milestone. It is extremely important to allow a new dog to settle and get familiar with a new environment without […]
Say less to mean more
Stop talking to your dog like they understand you. Our dogs have no understanding of our language, and so the things we say to them are merely perceived as sounds. If you want your dog to understand the meaning of a particular sound, you have to associate that sound with a behaviour, item, or outcome […]
Stop giving your dog a vote
Dogs have the mental capacity of a toddler. There is a very good reason we don’t let toddlers decide the shopping list, use a credit card, or plan their family’s daily schedule. If that were the case, you’d likely have three bouncy castles delivered from Amazon by noon and be eating ice cream all day! […]
How to pick a good dog trainer
You wouldn’t pay for cooking lessons from someone who cannot cook well. You wouldn’t pay for driving lessons from someone who cannot drive well. So why pay for dog training lessons from someone who cannot train a dog well?? I recently saw a post on a dog training-related Facebook page that stated it is a […]
Dog’s are terrible at generalising – why it matters
If you only ever practice “sit” with your dog inside the house, don’t be surprised if they have no idea what “sit” means when outside of your house. If you only ever practice lead walking on your street walk, don’t be surprised if they have no idea what “heel” means when you’re in a park. […]
How to get reliable training results
One of the most common mistakes I see owners make is inconsistency in training, which confuses the dog and leads to inconsistent results. This can manifest in a few different ways: 1 – Changing the commands used. For example, “down” and “lay down” are not the same to a dog. 2 – Being inconsistent with […]
Pulling on lead – how to fix it
If your dog is pulling out at the end of the lead, you have already lost the battle. Pulling them back and restraining them at this point will not help – it’ll only engage their opposition reflex and make them pull harder! A dog at the end of the lead does not understand leash pressure […]
Don’t rely on exhausting your dog to make them settle
I’ve finally been caught by covid, and it’s been 3 days since Ava had a walk. And she’s fine. Why? Because in our training, I have heavily focused on settling within the house. We also use other forms of enrichment to keep her mind and body occupied while stuck indoors – training sessions, food games, […]
