My Service Dog Changed My Life – And I Didn’t Even Want Her
By Aida Garcia *This post is a selected entry from the Pet Professional Guild Writers’ Competition for Geek Week 2020 * I am a disabled combat veteran. At one time, I lived and breathed the Marine Corps. From the day I stepped foot on the yellow footprints, I had no doubt this was what I wanted to do with my life. But after 12 years in, my career came to an end – and not the end I expected or wanted. I was crushed and lost. I went through some very… Continued
Dog Training in “3D”: Harnessing the Concepts of Distance, Duration and Distractions
By Joan Hunter Mayer of PPG corporate partner Transpaw Gear® At TransPaw Gear, we want people to have adventures with dogs that are safe and fun. One way to help ensure that happens is by teaching dogs a few key skills. Concepts that apply to teaching and refining many different behaviors are the 3Ds: distance, duration and distractions. Let’s look at each one in turn, including an example of how a versatile, well-fitting, force-free dog harness can help dogs and their humans achieve training successes together. Distance Distance, when applied… Continued
Dudley the Wonder Fish
By Sharon Empson It has been a little over a year since I trained Dudley as part of my Karen Pryor Academy Certification as a Pet Trainer. Not wanting to add more furry pets to our home, I chose a fish as my “other species.” I bought Dudley at a pet shop when he was about a little over an inch long. Cichlids are intelligent fish. I read an interesting article that stated you can see the intelligence of Cichlids in their hunting techniques. The N. Livingstonii buries itself in… Continued
Puppy House Training 101
By Sally Bradbury House training is all about creating good habits. Young pups have very small bladders and very little bladder control, so they need to be in the right place when nature calls. To house train successfully in as short a time as possible you must take your puppy outside as follows: • When he wakes. • After eating. • After taking a drink. • Before, during and after a period of activity. • When you arrive home. • Before you go out. • Before bedtime. • During breaks… Continued
Four on the Floor
By Donna Savoie Who doesn’t LOVE a puppy? And it is wonderful when puppies LOVE their owners’ guests. But it is also important to start teaching puppies not to jump up on guests sooner rather than later. Guests inevitably say “I don’t mind” whilst petting an exuberant jumping puppy but this strongly reinforces the jumping behavior at a very early age. Jumping up can be especially problematic later when the dog is fully-grown. Puppy Training Protocol The following training protocol will help the owner manage both the puppy and guest,… Continued
Overcoming Fear of Vet Visits
By Susan Nilson and Angelica Steinker Based in Adelaide, Australia, Petra Edwards is currently working on her Ph.D, which focuses primarily on how dogs experience visits to the veterinary clinic while also looking at possible strategies that could be implemented to reduce or prevent stress. Last year, she and her co-researchers published the papers, Fearful Fido: Investigating dog experience in the veterinary context in an effort to reduce distress and Investigating Risk Factors That Predict a Dog’s Fear During Veterinary Consultationsin an effort to see what measures could be implemented… Continued
Waving Loudly
By Morag Heirs The automatic check-in is one of the most valuable skills to teach your deaf dog. There are a couple of different options, but the principle is to instill a strong habit of visually checking in with the handler at frequent intervals. The dog does not have to actually come back to your side (as in a recall) but just make eye contact so, if you needed him to lie down or recall, you would be able to signal for this. While it is essential that our dogs… Continued
The Fearful Rescue Dog Who Changed My Life
By Gloria Schmidt *This post is the Pet Professional Guild runner up entry in our Geek Week 2020 Writers’ Competition* Back in 2011, I had accepted a job at St. Jude Children’s Research hospital that required moving to a new state, 13 hours away from home, to a place where I initially knew nobody within a five hour radius of Memphis. As an anxious and quieter type of person, I was frequently asked if this life change was the best idea for me. My constant answer was, “It will be… Continued
Rethinking Dominance in Horses
By Dorothy Heffernan In 21st century horse keeping, we require a range of behaviors from our horses. Some of these involve the horse staying near us and not leaving, such as grooming, tacking up, leading, waiting to have a head collar, halter or bridle put on, not moving away when we climb on their backs, walking next to us when led, not moving away when we ask them to lift their feet, when we use clippers, give injections, and administer medications. At the same time, we have a whole range… Continued
Good Kharma: Lessons from a Retired Greyhound
By Devene Godau *This post is the Pet Professional Guild winning entry in our Geek Week 2020 Writers’ Competition* I thought I knew everything there was to know about dogs. As a child I read everything I could and in my teens I spent my spare time working in a boarding kennel. All I dreamed of was being a dog trainer. When I graduated from college, I moved back home when my mom got a cairn terrier puppy. I was excited to start the training process with her and signed… Continued
How to Choose a Harness for Your Dog
By Joan Hunter Mayer of PPG corporate partner Transpaw Gear® Dog harnesses are a commonly chosen item, but the amount of dog gear for sale can make a pet parent’s head spin! Why choose harnesses over collars for attaching the leash on walks and adventures? And how do you choose the right harness for your pet? Harness vs. Collar: A collar can be too tight, risking physical injury – Dogs who pull while wearing a collar can put pressure on their necks, potentially injuring this sensitive area. Even without an… Continued
Project Trade: Revisited
In March of 2016, the Pet Professional Guild rolled out Project Trade, an international advocacy program promoting the use of force-free pet equipment by asking pet guardians to swap aversive gear for a discount on services. The aversive gear was identified as shock, prong, and choke collars. I was one of the initial members of Project Trade, who now number about 56 pet professionals in several nations. Together we have collected many aversive collars and freed pet dogs from the fear, pain, and intimidation that equipment once inflicted. Just as… Continued
A Creative Solution for the Dog Who Barks at Other Dogs
By Kitty Lee *This post is The Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) Australia winning entry in our Geek Week 2020 Writers’ Competition* Three years ago, I decided to become a professional dog trainer. I’d been teaching obedience classes at the local dog club and fostering rescue dogs since 2012 but I’d never had a dog of my own and I was pretty sure that was a requirement of being a dog trainer. So I started looking for a puppy. I was very specific. I wanted a sable working line… Continued
Puppies Being Puppies
By Sally Bradbury Preventing food guarding at mealtimes is usually pretty straightforward: simply allow puppy to eat in peace. If you have more than one dog, feed them separately and teach them that the presence of a human near their food bowl always means they are there for the sole purpose of adding a tasty treat to the bowl. Food Guarding Don’t be persuaded that you need to take your dog’s food away or put your hand in the bowl while he eats to make him tolerate or accept you… Continued
A Problem Like ‘Down’!
In a training class, I always find that a significant number of dogs (and their guardians, of course) have some trouble when it comes to learning/teaching how to lie down on cue. Why Teach Lie Down Anyway? If we can ask our dogs to lie down on cue, it can be really useful in terms of helping them relax and settle. Obviously, it’s great to have our dogs stay in one place and not leap all over the place or all over the furniture or our house guests, but for… Continued
Phoenix Blog Competition: Blake’s Story – Adopting a Prison Program Dog
By Rhonda York One of the many things I get to do as a dog trainer is train inmates at the Federal Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas in tandem with the Leavenworth County Humane Society. It helps both the residents and dogs and we work together to train the dogs in the program to have good manners and basic skills. Last November, one of the dogs, Blake, had finished his training but hadn’t been adopted yet. I didn’t want him to go back to the shelter, so knowing he should be… Continued
Preventing Resource Guarding in Dogs
Resource guarding is a dog’s natural tendency to protect valued possessions such as food, toys or resting locations. From a dog’s perspective, the approach of a person or animal is a potential threat to losing the valued possession. The behavior reflects a lack of trust and a fear of loss. Dogs in the wild must guard their food, water and shelter or they cannot survive. Domestic dogs will of course survive if someone takes their chew bone away, but their behavior is influenced by 32,000 years of evolution. If a… Continued
Practice Makes Perfect
By Joanna Moritz Nobody likes going to the vet’s office with a sick pet. But here are some simple rules to follow that will make your trip more pleasant for you, your dog and the office staff – and that’s a win-win-win. 1. Practice Makes Perfect The less stressed your dog is for an exam, the better for everyone involved. So: If you have a puppy or a small dog, put him on your washer or dryer occasionally and practice touching him all over – and give him treats while… Continued
Raising a Puppy
By Sally Bradbury If you’ve read the children’s book Jack and Billy: Puppy Tales that I co-wrote with Steven Goodall, you may remember that we related the tale of two littermates who were placed into two very different homes. Explains Norris (2019): “In the case of Jack and Billy, both puppies go to homes that are similar: they both have children, both puppies have access to toys, both puppies are to be crate trained and house trained, and both puppies go out for walks. But there is a big difference… Continued
How to Be More in Tune with Your Dog
How can I bond better with my dog? How do we connect more? I’m not even sure she even likes me! We care about our dogs and, as a consequence, we worry about questions such as these from time to time. Certain situations or scenarios mean they just pop into our head from time to time and, most likely, they’re completely unfounded. Having said that, there’s definitely room to think about how we can be a little more ‘in tune’ with our dogs – if we are, both our lives… Continued
Quick Cat Behavior Tip: Trimming Claws
By the PPG Cat Committee While there are a lot of cats who may not initially be terribly keen on the whole claw trimming process, there are ways to make it enjoyable and fun for both parties. This article will explain the steps cat owners can take to make it a more pleasant, stress-free experience all round. Important Reminders: Trimming a cat’s claws can prevent damage to furniture and other household items, as well as to humans, from inadvertent scratches. Often the biggest challenge isn’t the claw trimming itself but… Continued
Stumbling through Puppy Socialization
In 1983 my wife and I moved into our first home on a ¾ acre lot in a small city and could finally have a puppy. She was a black Labrador Retriever whose AKC registration name was Monona Midnight Melody, but we called her Samantha. We knew nothing about raising a puppy and there were not abundant dog trainers to work with, nor could we have afforded them at the time. I bought the best-selling dog training book available and tried to teach Samantha according to the instructions of the… Continued
Behavior Modification — A Case Study of a “Difficult” Dog
By Maren Jensen Ph.D. and Angelica Steinker M.Ed. CDBC PDBC PCBC-A The Joy and Journey of Rehabilitating a Dog with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Pica, Separation Anxiety, Noise Sensitivity and Aggression Rumble was a normal puppy. He investigated, pounced and loved all. Rum, as he is affectionately known, socialized with confidence and happiness, starting at nine weeks. He learned how to learn playing games. Maren, his owner, is a dog trainer and dog sport coach. Everything seemed on track for Rum to make a spectacular entrance into the dog sport… Continued
Do “Carbon Copy” Dogs Exist?
We love our dogs so much, but sometimes there is that one dog who just sort of raises her head just that little bit above the parapet and eats her way into our heart that bit deeper. Or maybe we’ve battled more with that one dog to overcome behavioral or medical struggles…It’s not always easy to pinpoint but it’s that unidentifiable ‘something’ that makes some dogs shine just a bit brighter in our memory. The pain of losing a dog is immense and it can take time to heal emotionally… Continued
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