One of the fun things about living with more than one dog is that you get to experience their different personalities (or should I say dognalities) and in some way experience life from their unique perspective. In my case, my dogs could not be more different. Rio, with her bigger-than-life attitude, which I love. Yes, I…
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Upcoming Course! Safe and Fun Hiking with Your Off-Leash Dog
Join me for “Safe and Fun Hiking with Your Off-Leash Dog” course which starts this fall. Imagine opening your gate with your dog next to you, ready for a nice off-leash walk. As your dog exits the gate, it turns towards you. You acknowledge your dog looking at you and release your pup to trot ahead…
Build Resilience
It is early afternoon, which means prime nap-time for both dogs. I am going about my business when I hear a fly buzzing around me. I am one of those people that have a very low tolerance for noise. And a fly buzzing around is more than I can handle. I reach for the flyswatter…
C.H.A.C.O.’s Puppy Services
If you’re lucky to have a puppy in your life, now is the time to get her some much needed training! I’ve specially designed three puppy services so that you and your pup can get the support and guidance throughout the critical puppyhood stage. Here are my three services that can be booked at anytime:…
Have a Cheerful & Relaxed Attitude
I have been working with Mocha and her “mom” in helping Mocha feel more comfortable around large dogs in her home. We have done quite a few sessions with four dogs that vary in size, color, and personality. However, all these dogs are dog savvy and dog friendly which is important in order to keep…
Counter conditioning
I’m trying to get Deuce ready to go sheepherding and I know that if I do not leave in a few minutes I will be late. I have Deuce on a leash as we step outside the front door. He puts on the breaks. Darn! The car issue is becoming worse. For some reason Deuce has…
Is your dog confident?
Even in the world of training, it is easy to throw around concepts with the implication that everyone else knows and agrees with the definition of said concept. But do we? When it comes to training and setting behavior goals, it is so much easier to be as specific as one can be. It really…
Good homes for dogs being purely based on love
I have a beef with rescue organizations when they equate a good home for a dog just purely based on love. Yes, really. So, my rumination begs the question: How does our love translate in our daily life with our pets? Let me explain my position above. Not long ago I had a client who…
How to keep the peace at home and resolve conflicts between your dogs
As I stated in the previous blog post, the dominance model does very little in really helping us understand dog social stratification. More importantly, it does not help us in keeping harmony in the home within our dog population or resolve problems when they arise. Instead, consider the following suggestions to keep the peace at…
How our relationship with our dogs should be
By now most everyone that lives with a pet has heard about the “dominance” theory also known in the popular literature as being the “alpha of the ‘pack’”- which frankly is very unfortunate. Unfortunate because this watered-down premise does very little to advance our day- to-day relations with our pets and does much harm in…