The first twelve to eighteen months of a puppy’s life are incredibly important. He is a little sponge that is constantly absorbing new information about the people, places, animals, and things around him. Most of us know that we need to socialise our puppies if…

For many years, describing dogs as “alpha” and “dominant” have been a big part of dog training culture. Dogs that are difficult to handle or that don’t get along with other dogs or people are labeled with one or both of those adjectives as a…

A dog’s eyes are naturally expressive. Small changes in the shape and size of his eyes or the direction and intensity of his gaze can tell you if your dog is feeling happy, excited, nervous, or scared. Knowing how to interpret the changes in eye…

Dog training is meant to be fun! It’s an activity that you and your dog can do together that will improve your dog’s behaviour, as well as improve the bond between the two of you. However, it can also be very frustrating to work with…

In the realm of dog training, two distinct camps exists, namely the ‘Traditional” and the “Positive Reinforcement” camps. “Traditional” dog training has been around for decades, possibly even centuries whereas training based on Positive Reinforcement and canine behavioural science is relatively new and has only gotten exposure and…

Barking is a normal part of dog behaviour and one of many forms of vocal communication. Sometimes barking works in our favour; many dog owners are happy when their dogs bark at strangers that approach their home or to let them know that they need…

Cesar Millan is one of the most popular and controversial characters in modern dog training. He is a great entertainer – he is charismatic, quick witted, and appears to do amazing things with the dogs that he works with. However, he is a big proponent…

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to training pet dogs: Reinforcement-Based methodologies and Aversive-Based methodologies. Training plans that are based in positive reinforcement are designed to set the dog up to make good choices, which gives trainers the opportunity to reward…

I Promise that He Can Do It at Home! One of the best things about working with clients in dog training classes is seeing how excited they are to show me the progress that they have made with training their dog in between classes. It’s…

When we ask our dog to “drop” something, we are expecting him to let go of whatever he is holding in his mouth. Sometimes we’d like our dog to let go of a toy that we are playing with to keep him from getting overly excited. Other times,…

There is an old saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” If you have an older dog, you will be relieved to know that this just isn’t true. Older dogs are more than capable of learning new behaviours, and it’s never too…