We walk, think, and dream dog...

Seems our dog brains rarely power down, and there has to be a depository for all our musings. We hope you enjoy this ongoing collection of our training thoughts, with a bit of CNC news thrown in here and there.

Strange New Things Part 3 – Helping Mercy Love the Weave Poles

I’ve recently written about using classical conditioning to help your dog be comfortable around strange new things. The previous two articles were about helping my dog, Mercy, learn to interact with a big long blue tunnel. I’ve wanted to do Agility for Fun, so we’re training for that enjoyable activity.

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Stubborn Dog?

Would you be comfortable if your child’s math teacher described her as headstrong or stubborn because she wasn’t doing well in class?  Would you assume the teacher is right and your child is willfully choosing not to learn her multiplication tables?  Or, would you consider that your child may not

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Are You Forcing Socialization?

Perhaps you’ve heard it’s vitally important to socialize your new dog or puppy to help set them up to be confident, well-adjusted dogs. However, simply increasing exposure to scary or threatening things is not “socialization.” If your dog doesn’t enjoy other dogs, taking him to a dog park or dropping

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Strange New Things – Helping Your Dog Learn to Love Them

When introducing new things into a dog’s environment it’s important to consider how a dog will perceive the new object.  Dogs, like people, learn through association (classical conditioning) and develop a positive, negative or neutral emotional response to new people, places or things. Any new first interaction and experience needs

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Thinking of a Puppy for Christmas? Think again.

There’s nothing that evokes the “Normal Rockwell Christmas Experience” like the picture of a family with a soft, cuddly puppy next to a Christmas tree.  My sincere hope is that the family was wise and did their homework in order to be well prepared before bringing the sweet puppy home. 

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Darn Dog, I need to get this fixed!

  “I need to get this fixed and as soon as possible!” This is a statement we hear often from a prospective client when their dog has some sort of behavioral issue. They want their dog to behave differently but just don’t know where to start.  We understand, we were

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Does Your Dog Think You’re Management Material?

When you hear the word management, I bet you aren’t thinking about your dog. But I and many of my training colleagues work hard every day to change that. Most people think of management as planning, organizing, leading and directing. Every one of these words describes the type of management

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