Recently I received an email with the following information from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT). As you will read below, the time has come for organizations such as CCPDT to recognize the urgent need to pass legislation in order to regulate the now unregulated profession of pet dog training. It is mind-blowing…
Category: Fear
Conversation with Katie
This post is the second installment on the work I have been doing with Katie. Katie is an under-socialized and very fearful Chihuahua. She especially fears meeting people at her home. As I mentioned on the previous post, the ultimate goal is for Katie to be so comfortable with my presence first, followed by being…
Katie, the Journey of a Fearful Dog
Katie was adopted as a puppy by one of my clients. When I met her, she was already a fearful dog. She did not like to be held by anyone other than her “mom” and struggled to be in attendance in one of my small classes. Fast forward to today, even though she has accepted…
Stop Talking AT Me
As its ringing, I pick up the phone almost mindlessly only to hear a female voice speaking at a 1,000 miles an hour with little room for an intervention on my part. I try to interject now that I realize this is a telemarketing type of call by saying that I am not interested in…
Should I get a shelter dog or buy from a breeder?
I am having a phone conversation and this is the question that is being posed to me. Well, I said: “I am bias to rescuing dogs versus getting a dog from a breeder.” In my mind, the only exception to my bias is when for whatever reason a person is really keen on a particular…
Protocols for living with fearful dogs, part 2
As I was describing in part 1, living with fearful dogs is not an easy task. It requires constant management of some kind, and constantly assessing how comfortable the dog is at a given moment when presented with the scary stimulus. There is so much that one can do (and I would argue should do)…
Protocols for living with fearful dogs, part 1
Living with a dog that is afraid, especially of people, is very hard. It is very hard for the people, and of course, a living hell for the dog. While every case is unique, there are certain things people can do to make everyone’s life better. I am working with a couple who have a…
When fear strikes, distract
It is unfortunately 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…
What can we learn from lateral (right or left) tail wagging in our dogs?
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…
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…