Perhaps you have read somewhere about a few studies conducted regarding what is called laterality which is defined as the predominance of one side of the body over the other. Laterality has been observed in many species among them in dogs. Dogs do have preference as to which side of their body they use in…
Author: Almudena Ortiz Cue
Oh my, thunder!
It is the rainy season here in New Mexico (yes, we do get rain in the high desert) and with rain often comes thunder. Deuce has always been afraid of noises such as thunder, gun shots, fireworks and the like. This is actually very typical especially for working breeds. The reason is frankly not really…
Good Lad, Deuce Good Lad! When dogs chase cars
Living with a Border collie is frankly a lot of fun! There is so much about the breed that I enjoy. I personally love dogs that are intense in focus and great team players. Of course, like any breed, they also come with their challenges such as their possibly obsessive disposition for toys & balls…
Is your dog a barker?
A dog barking is one of the most (normal) dog behaviors for most people. Part of it is because of how stressful noise is in general and in part frankly because we fail to understand what barking is all about. Barking is not simply just noise coming from our dogs or embedded with one significance….
Is a dog bite just a bite
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…
Teaching your dog to walk on a loose leash using this simple technique
**NOTE: 1 SPOT LEFT** I don’t know about you, but I really do not like to walk dogs that pull on leash. I find that when this happens the walk just lost its relaxing quality. Perhaps other people do not feel the same about their dogs walking on a loose leash. Dogs pulling on a…
Should your dog attend doggy daycare
The rave these days is for dogs to have about the same amount of extra-curriculum activities as kids of affluent families. Don’t get me wrong, providing engagement to our dog is a very good thing. However, this is where one size does not fit all. I am discussing with some folks their dog’s daily schedule. …
When is resource guarding between dogs not a good thing
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…
Why don’t you play tug with your boy?
We are on our regular walk with the dogs. One of the things that we do while hiking with them is practicing coming when called. If we want reliability, we must practice. If we want reliability, we must also pay the dog. Deuce is really, really reliable at recall, and that makes me smile with…
Dog centric training
I am working with a soft-spoken gentleman and his spunky over-the-top Border collie mix. I am called because his dog is chasing the chickens when they are let out of their fancy coop to meander and peck here and there. When I ask him, he in informs me that he wants the dog to stop…