I am going through my morning routine. The dogs have been fed and now I am hustling a bit to get ready myself. John is with us and he is going back and forth from his home office and the kitchen. The dogs, meanwhile, do what they do most mornings once they have had their…
It is unfortunate that the idea that we can reinforce fear in our pets is still so prevalent. Frankly, nothing can be further from the truth. Think about this: Fear is an emotion, involuntary for the subject feeling it, so how then can we make a dent on it by consoling our pet? This is…
Life is really an ongoing set of evaluations and negotiations affecting those that are part of our lives, be it a child, friend, parent, and even our pets. If reaching a consensus where all parties get something they want or need is difficult, imagine when there is one silent partner “sitting at the negotiation table.”…
Resource guarding of anything that a dog considers valuable is normal dog behavior. It goes back to- you guess it, evolution. Dogs are opportunistic feeders and scavengers. In other words, in the wild, dogs do not know when their next meal will appear so they eat when food becomes available. In addition, they are scavengers…
When it comes to any behavior including dog bites, looking at the context surrounding the episode will give us some very much-needed information. What I am saying is that not all bites are the same. Even sometimes people cannot even agree on what they call a bite. This is the typical example of a herding…
Hello Pet Guardians, Going, going, gone! If you are thinking about joining the Playing and Teaching Boundary Games dog training class, do so now! Registration closes soon and there are only a few spots left! Watch the video on YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umxjhRm9gKU Learn more here: https://chacodogtraining.com/event/playing-and-teaching-boundary-games/?instance_id=5667&fbclid=IwAR3mcEF_Om1_RtBe4w8iRxWr0zg53-GZb6cePaV2sfBpqUOaX08GnO_F-pU What do your dogs do when the doorbell rings? Or…
For some dogs impulse control at the front door is literally mission impossible. Rio is one of those dogs! Her impulse control in other circumstances such as waiting to be released to go after a toy is superb. The reason behind the lack of impulse control at the front door could be for a myriad…
Dogs notoriously make sense of their environment by predominantly using their sense of smell and sight. Their top priority always being the one of safety – of being safe. Their world is basically divided into two categories: safe and unsafe. After the dog has decided that a certain thing, person, etc. is safe, their next…
A while back I was working with a couple and their very aggressive dog. His displays of fear and aggression which constitutes barking, growling, and lunging are quite sobering, and I really take them seriously. De-escalating the situation is part of what I need to do as well as making sure I don’t get bitten….
When we’re slowing down, it has many benefits. It permits us to enjoy what is in front of us- begging for our undivided attention. It allows us to make better decisions, it calms frail nerves and it splendidly reminds us that while the clock is ticking we can choose to show up to live our…